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It's 2015! Time to get rid of the '70s.

Music Lover said:
As I've said before, I've seen a variety of blogs and forums over the years contradicting things you've said here that I've become skeptical.
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There are plenty of bloggers who give opinions based on unsubstantiated opinion or misinformation.

And there are blogs with very accurate, verified information.

It's sometimes hard to tell the difference. In this case, the poster is off by several decades in his timeline about the elimination of DJ choice from programming. In another post, you mentioned a Q&A board where people were guessing, all incorrectly, about how songs got on the radio; that one was totally ill-informed people who had no clue about how radio worked.

Heck, there is even a DVD "documentary" that was promoted here a year or so ago about consolidation ruining radio. I bought it and found so many errors in fact that I lost track; the producer had an agenda and nothing was going to stand in his way to make his point... even if it was wrong.

You are just going to have to make up your own mind, keeping an awareness that most listeners don't care how the sausage is made, so they have no insights or knowledge of the process.
 
CTListener said:
Also, DJ choice and listener requests are still very much alive on the BBC's local stations across England. A couple of stations have shows in which the DJ tosses out a "theme" and the listeners call, e-mail or Facebook song titles -- everything from Elvis to U2 to Michael Buble. Of course, this is the non-commercial, publicly-funded Beeb we're talking about. England's commercial stations sound much more like their U.S. counterparts -- or did until a couple of months ago, when access to them via the Internet was cut off in response to the continuing RIAA fee gouge.
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I like this kind of thing... ask listeners to suggest a thematic song fitting a particular date or event or mood. Then pick one and play it. It's not a request, it is interactive radio and it leaves the final choice to the station. It builds anticipation, and can even create talk and social media posts.

I think "make it or break it" has run its course. I'd rather make this sort of thing interactive online like the common listener and viewer polls... then update it on-air with the results and a spin of the winner. Let them hear a song clip of each, take the vote and then let them see the results so far.
 
TheBigA said:
But what you mainly want is music. People talking about the music isn't the kind of presentation you want. And the artists of that era aren't available for interviews. Even if they were, listeners mainly want the music. "Where Are They Now" type shows aren't really exciting.
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Actually, what we want is entertainment. Music is entertaining. Spoken word content can be entertaining. It's too bad that the suits don't test the DJs to get rid of the stiffs who dominate the airwaves today. If a radio station had DJs who were as entertaining as a reasonably good stand-up comic, I think people wouldn't complain. The problem today is that too many DJs are more annoying that Gilbert Gottfried.

oldies76 said:
I always hear of the "You Light Up My Life" dilemma. I was only 10 in 1977, so I don't remember, but people today always say it was played way too much and hated it. But yet, it was #1 for ten weeks, due to sales and airplay. If the song was hated so much, why was it so popular?
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It started out very popular, but it was burned out through overplay. Another example is "The Way", by Fastball. For that matter, take most of the tested, proven "hits" on the radio. They're all pretty much burned out through excessive overplay.

DavidEduardo said:
This is a good place to make a point that Avid, Oldies 76 and others don't seem to recognize:

Different programmers and management teams will have different approaches. There is no one size fits all approach.
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I get it. I'm not demanding that every single radio station on the entire face of the earth plays only what I want to hear. I just want ONE FREAKIN' STATION that I can pick up on my radio that doesn't play the same tight little playlist of used up, burnt out, overplayed hits that have been absolutely RUINED through over exposure. Is that so damn much to ask for? In a market with several dozen radio stations on the air, why can't just one of them loosen up a little and sound like there are human beings involved in deciding what goes on the air, not spreadsheet studying robots!
 
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oldies76 said:
That's all good, but many stations still did not play my requests. (KOLA, KRTH, KBIG, KOST, XTRA, to name a few). That tells me that their approaches were similar in nature.
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Perhaps all your requests were also similar in nature. We got lots of requests that are similar to Stump The Band. They're clearly trying to come up with the most obscure songs they can think of, and almost dare us to play them. We don't. That's not what we do. We also track their phone numbers, so we know when someone is trying to play a game.
 
TheBigA said:
Actually they do. Over and over and over. Every time a DJ opens his mic, he's being tested. Constant evaluations.
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You mean those lame sounding stiffs that are on the air are the GOOD ONES? I shudder to think what the bad ones must sound like!
 
oldies76 said:
That's all good, but many stations still did not play my requests. (KOLA, KRTH, KBIG, KOST, XTRA, to name a few). That tells me that their approaches were similar in nature. This was way before I had figured out things like rotations and playlists.
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On Internet stations I check out, they will mention on their websites and Facebook pages about FM and AM having strict formats, limited playlists, ignoring comments from listeners, and so on. Here's a couple of examples:

http://stormsignalradio.com/corporate/about/

http://lite99.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-variety.html
 
As I said, everyone has something to complain about. And everyone will say things that promote themselves. That doesn't mean they're right.

No one is forced to listen to the radio. Throughout this thread, I've consistently told you about alternatives. If you don't like the playlists, the formats, or how we handle requests, try something else.
 
Avid Listener said:
It started out very popular, but it was burned out through overplay. Another example is "The Way", by Fastball. For that matter, take most of the tested, proven "hits" on the radio. They're all pretty much burned out through excessive overplay.
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"The Way" by Fastball (1998) and "Out of My Head" ('99) which charted lower are really two good songs. Maybe classic hits will add those to their rotations as well in time. But since about 10% of all top 20 classics are being played, I'll have to give those two about a 10% chance of ever airing. Ha!
 
Avid Listener said:
If a radio station had DJs who were as entertaining as a reasonably good stand-up comic, I think people wouldn't complain.
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The problem is that a stand-up comic only needs enough material to fill an hour or so on stage. And they have instant feedback from the audience in case a new bit or joke does not work. And since the people at one show will not be the ones at the next one... which may even be in a different city, new material does not have to be added very often.

A morning show host on radio has to do enough new content every day to fill 10 to 15 minutes each hour, or nearly a full hour of stuff every day. Five hours a week of content. 20 hours a month. So you can't expect the same level of entertainment as you would at a comedy club. And since morning shows can't afford a team of writers like the late-night shows have, you are not going to get much additional material other than from the show's own staff.

If you expect more, you will not get it. The idea of morning shows is to entertain a bit, get in and out of service elements and play some music. And the rare exceptions, like Stern, seldom come along and rapidly price themselves out of the single station market.
 
Music Lover said:
On Internet stations I check out, they will mention on their websites and Facebook pages about FM and AM having strict formats, limited playlists, ignoring comments from listeners, and so on.
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Ignoring listeners comments. Wow!

See, being in retail, we try to please as many customers as we can and since we're scored upon, this is crucial. As for radio not listening to their OWN "customers" or simply...listeners is just wrong. I understand not every last drop in the bucket can be pleased, but if someone sincerely wants something, especially a song they have not heard in ages, you had better make it happen. You basically eat it to make someone happy, no questions asked.

In retail, the customer always comes first. Sure there may be some crazy exceptions, but usually you go all out and make them happy so that they return and keep you employed.

In radio, it should be the same way. I don't need some DJ to tell me that a song might air within an hour and basically lie, instead of telling me honestly, we cannot play this song, it's not in our format. Fortunately there is a station locally that has a lunch-time all request hour and many requests are actually taken and played. It's Cruisin' 950 in Denver.
 
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oldies76 said:
In retail, the customer always comes first. Sure there may be some crazy exceptions, but usually you go all out and make them happy so that they return and keep you employed.
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The listener is not the ONLY customer. How much do you pay to listen to a radio station? The person paying also has a say, and they want to reach the largest number of people. So radio stations program to reach the largest audience. Not specific individuals. It's a very different kind of "transaction."
 
Music Lover said:
On Internet stations I check out, they will mention on their websites and Facebook pages about FM and AM having strict formats, limited playlists, ignoring comments from listeners, and so on.
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Maybe I should give my two-cents on certain stations out west.....just maybe!
 
DavidEduardo said:
The problem is that a stand-up comic only needs enough material to fill an hour or so on stage. And they have instant feedback from the audience in case a new bit or joke does not work. And since the people at one show will not be the ones at the next one... which may even be in a different city, new material does not have to be added very often.
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Clearly, you've never worked as a stand-up comic.
 
TheBigA said:
The listener is not the ONLY customer. How much do you pay to listen to a radio station?.
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Actually, in my case, a few thousand dollars, if not more in 45's and downloaded music since the mid 1980's, thanks to their airplay and the electricity it has used since then to power my radio and stereo equipment. Sure I'm being technical, but you asked.
 
oldies76 said:
Actually, in my case, a few thousand dollars, if not more in 45's and downloaded music since the mid 1980's, thanks to their airplay and the electricity it has used since then to power my radio and stereo equipment. Sure I'm being technical, but you asked.
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None of the money you spent went to anyone at any radio station. Your gripe is with the artists and record labels, not us. The only thing we get from you is your ears. We can count them as audience for our advertisers, who pay for your free listening.
 
Avid Listener said:
For that matter, take most of the tested, proven "hits" on the radio. They're all pretty much burned out through excessive overplay.
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I think "Hotel California" has probably been played more times just this past year on certain stations, than Debby Boone since 1977.
 
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