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KEGL

The only potential difference I see is a little wider selection of 90s alternative.

All the "heavier" artists 103.7 plays - and that list is fairly small - have already been heard on that station for many months.

I see little discernible difference between 103.7's playlist and most of the other Audacy alternative stations.


KVIL should send Christmas cards to Ben and Skin and the Mavs for letting them continue to have any ratings.
 
Did they test Sabotage by the Beastie Boys?
Even if they did, music research is considered highly proprietary. At many stations, even the airstaff does not have access to test results.
If they tested Tears for Fears and everyone liked it, would they play it?
Depends on "fit". Translated, that means "if you like the song, do you expect to hear it on my station?" This can often be determined by cluster analysis that sort of determines how far away from the core of the station a song is.
And because some unknown poster on a message board says it, should I "rest assured those songs were favorites of other people just like me!"?
No. One of the classic example is that station staffers are too close to the music to judge how actual listeners react to it. Thus, we ask listeners what they think.d
 
Did they test Sabotage by the Beastie Boys?

While I know you were being sarcastic, I will answer as if you weren't, just to maintain a serious level of discussion. David will probably be along in a few minutes to amplify my response.

In general, a station only tests songs that make sense within their format, but the main exception is when a station is doing music testing in preparation for a flip, in which case they would test songs for the new format. So your question is rhetorical because it's fairly obvious that the Beastie Boys (in general) would not fit the new KEGL direction.

If they tested Tears for Fears and everyone liked it, would they play it?

If a station tested a T4F song, they would already have some inkling of what artists "fit" and would only test it if it did fit. Again, I know you are being sarcastic, but music tests rarely stray from the genre of the station doing the testing.

And because some unknown poster on a message board says it, should I "rest assured those songs were favorites of other people just like me!"?

To use David's favorite word, such a poster would be an "outlier" and even if they were a participant in a music test, their POVs and song ratings would be so much at variance with the average that their entire set of responses would be excluded.

Plus, no programmer who knows what they are doing would use a message board post to determine library selection.
 
Did they test Sabotage by the Beastie Boys?

If they tested Tears for Fears and everyone liked it, would they play it?

And because some unknown poster on a message board says it, should I "rest assured those songs were favorites of other people just like me!"?

As I said earlier in this thread, the relationship between radio stations and listeners has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Today, with music consumption changing from buying to streaming, I feel radio stations need to place a disclaimer on their 'recently played' lists:

There will never be a music format on the radio that will ever satisfy anyone and everyone 100% of the time. Every radio format that I'm aware requires a certain amount of tolerance by the listener to sit through something they're not going to like, or that they've heard a lot. The ONLY way to get what you want 100% of the time is to make your own playlist using an on-demand music service. Otherwise, there will always be some songs you won't like. How you handle it is up to you. That's a basic disclaimer that applies to radio.
 
Did they test Sabotage by the Beastie Boys?

Yes, probably.

If they tested Tears for Fears and everyone liked it, would they play it?

That's an 80s New Wave Pop song and it's doubtful they would choose to test a song that doesn't fit the Rock format.

That's the thing about music testing, though. There's still a human gatekeeper deciding what songs to consider testing in the first place. Poor filtering by that person (or that committee) would produce flawed test, wouldn't it?

There's an old saying, 'don't test what you don't want to play'. And there are programmers who make extensive use of that philosophy to make the testing fit their own wishes. See previous threads about Mike Kaplan's Alternative stations for some likely examples.

And because some unknown poster on a message board says it, should I "rest assured those songs were favorites of other people just like me!"?

Apparently you missed my laughing icon meant to indicate sarcasm. 😂

I've seen old photos of auditorium music tests (thanks David Eduardo), and the participants do not look like people I'd want picking music on my behalf, or even on my parents' behalf since they would have more likely been in the intended target range.
 
There's an old saying, 'don't test what you don't want to play'. And there are programmers who make extensive use of that philosophy to make the testing fit their own wishes. See previous threads about Mike Kaplan's Alternative stations for some likely examples.

Just a reminder that radio stations don't play music based on their own personal taste. They play music that attracts an audience they can sell. The radio employees have lots of time to play the songs they want to play when they get off from work.
 
Music testing works by first identifying the target demographic and then testing 'to/within' that demographic and proceeding accordingly. Thats the 'secret' (or non-secret). It wasn't ever about just picking the single most popular music style no questions asked. Why? because we don't know if that genre fits an audience advertisers want. Rather, its about knowing the demo advertisers want ahead of time and testing within that demo.
 
Back to Sabotage.

KVIL probably plays that twice per day. KEGL needs to do everything in it's power to set it apart from KVIL.

But we're talking about a station who's keeping Ben and Skin in the afternoon, so at this point, why argue?
 
So your question is rhetorical because it's fairly obvious that the Beastie Boys (in general) would not fit the new KEGL direction.

Huh??? What makes you think so, K.M. ?

Beastie Boys is a common library artist among mainstream / active rock stations.

Perhaps you don't spend much time actually listening to such stations?

93X in Minneapolis played one of their songs around 6PM yesterday. I hear them on WRIF and even WLLZ in Detroit regularly. KLOS plays them, too. Multiple SXM rock channels play them as well.
 
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Beastie Boys is a common library artist among mainstream / active rock stations.

That is surprising to me because I never heard them get airplay on AOR when they broke in 1986/87 nor did they have any rock cred. I only heard them on CHR back then. Now suddenly they are rock artists.
 
That is surprising to me because I never heard them get airplay on AOR when they broke in 1986/87 nor did they have any rock cred. I only heard them on CHR back then. Now suddenly they are rock artists.

They got regular airplay on AOR WNEW-FM when they were new. Aerosmith's Walk This Way with Run-DMC opened the rock world to rap. The Beasties were among the first to capitalize. It helped that the Beasties were from NYC and very accessible to the radio station.
 
That is surprising to me because I never heard them get airplay on AOR when they broke in 1986/87 nor did they have any rock cred. I only heard them on CHR back then. Now suddenly they are rock artists.
Look at how many rock stations play groups such as Nine Inch Nails these days (answer: a TON) despite the fact their debut album ("Pretty Hate Machine") received little mainstream airplay when it was brand new.

They fit into the Rock genre a little more easily than Beastie Boys, but back in the day, hardly anyone (aside from some alternative stations) on the FM dial touched industrial/electronic rock acts such as NIN.

Once MTV began introducing such groups to the masses, radio became more accepting.
 
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Any reason why the Eagle is still running a few liners from the freak? and the constant “portions of this program were prerecorded?” Do programs directors not look at nexgen and realize what’s running on their station anymore?
 
Ah Ben and skin started today. don’t like the move but iHeart needs to honor their relationship with the mavs and firing someone who works for the Mavs isn’t a good idea
 
This might be the weirdest station in the history of radio. B&S have survived three different format flips. there’s no promotion for this show on anyone’s social media accounts. Just very, very weird
 
So using that logic, KEGL shouldn't play Chili Peppers?

Hmmmmmmmm - I dunno. SABOTAGE which never charted on ROCK and barely charted on Alternative OR a band who's had multiple top 5 songs on the ROCK charts.

You guys are sitting around hemming and hawin' over a song that never charted a station's format - defending it. THIS is exactly why we are where we are now. You play the hits. Simple. Play the songs your AUDIENCE likes. Look at the Eagles Facebook page, they're TELLING YOU what they like and don't like, and they for damn sure don't like Sabotage or 21 Pilots. SO WHY PLAY IT? Have a great morning show, play the right music, have some interesting people on the air, do promotions that matter and that the audience cares about, and go on about your day. But no, we gotta play horsesh*t music, bring on Ben and Skin, bring on the Mavs . . . it's BASIC stuff. BASIC. So if you want to have a 2.5 or 3 MAX, keep doing this. And we'll be right back to play SPIN THE WHEEL OF FORMATS in another 2 years. When they go bluegrass, I wonder if the Mavs and B&S will stay?
 
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