Statistically the average CHR listener is 35 year old female. The question is who is making music for you?
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Power 96 shifts to gold-friendly CHR
- Thread starter 101tm
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Statistically the average CHR listener is 35 year old female. The question is who is making music for you?
Main target is 25-44 women, but they try to get matching men, too. But it is usually around 60/40 female to male composition.
It used to be that more of the men in that range went to rock stations... today it appears that the men go to Urban or Churban stations instead (or stream to get the full and delightful lyrics).
Is 18-24 off the radar now?
Don't songs make it in the top 40 and then stall though? Is the research even out yet when a song is new on a chart, but stations don't play it?
Depends on the song, artist, and circumstances. We've discussed this before. By the time a record label releases a new single, they've already done their research, surveyed the potential, and have it all ready for presentation. The goal is to have a good first week, create a strong impression, and then build word of mouth.
What I mean is why do they stall if they've done research and a lot of stations do not play them? For example, the XG song Left Right or Mother by Meghan Trainor largely does not get played much, yet is on the top 40.
I don’t think Power 96 has their mix show at Sunday at 2 am any longer. It was mostly House that was played.
It’s a shame what this station has become 🤷🏻♂️
It’s a shame what this station has become 🤷🏻♂️
Everybody has an opinion. Not everyone agrees. Right now the top spinners for Mother are Daytona Beach, Spokane, Des Moines, and a few more. It's only been out a month or two. It got a slow start. They didn't have a good first week. So they have work to do.
How did they launch this song? Did they book a big TV show like Kelly or Jimmy? Or did they just throw it out and hope for the best?
Do they even have research for a song like that? Stations all over jumped on Made You Look, yet strangely were very reluctant on that one, and many still only play it in small increments, same with Cinderella Snapped by Jax (Victorias Secret also was quickly picked up.)
Once again, how did the label release the song? Was it snuck out on Spotify to see public reaction? Give stations a reason to want to play it.
People still listen to Megan Trainor and her Diana Ross imitation?
A station does not know, ever, how their listeners will precisely react to a song they have never played. And it takes about 100 to 120 spins, per many, many PDs and researchers, to get a song to the point where it can be "tested" decisively.
Labels have tried to test songs before release or to pick an album cut for release as a single. They never got useful results. That is because it takes multiple "listens" for a person to go from "it sounds nice" to "I like it" or "I love it" or, even, "I don't like it at all" or "it does nothing for me".
Even if a song gets loads of online plays, we don't know if it fits our station and format until we ask our own listeners to score it.
Of course, PDs develop to one degree or another an "ear" for songs and artists. But we are enclosed in radio offices, in a different environment. We listen to songs for a living. We get loads of free concert tickets and live the format. So we can be wrong without actual listener research. And at times we think a song is great, only to find that the majority of listeners think it sucks big time.
And that brings up Bill Drake's famous "Turntable Hits". Songs that did not generate sales at a time when sales were the primary measure of a hit... long before callout research and the like. But Drake realized that there were songs that people liked to hear, even if they did not ever buy them.
Or you can see how impressive a song is playing on Spotify.
Looking at the Spotify chart, Mother has too few streams to chart. Most of its streams are in Europe.
NGL I did like “All about the bass”. That was so long ago 🤷🏻♂️
I wonder if company management has any say in what gets added. Back in 2014, KMXV would be cautious about adding a lot of newer songs (particularly rhythmic tracks) under Wilks until Steel City took over in October and suddenly the "sound" changed and it sounded a lot newer (even tracks in the 40s-50s were played which never entered the top 40 like The Weekend by Eden xo), all while Ponch was PD. Several other stations experienced changes when they first took over including KCKC (mentioned here before) and country KBEQ. Those changes didnt last.
That is far less useful than you think, as the Spotify streams are not going to tell you if your own listeners will like the song.
First, some one who notices a song making an impact... in this case on Spotify... has to listen and consider if it might be of interest to their station's listeners. Then the song is considered for weekly adds along with all the rest of the new product.
The songs that seem to be the best fits go on first, with "new song" rotations. Once they have played about 100-120 times, they can be tested as that is enough plays for a station's P1's to have heard them 5 to 7 times. That is the point where a song transitions from being "interesting" to being "liked"... or not!
Management does not influence that unless you are at a tiny owner operator station. What happens, often, with new owners is they order some research or get a consultant and they try to improve the product.
Steel City only owns stations in Pittsburgh and KC. There was an article which stated they thought they could improve the stations. I think in the case of KBEQ someone said a consultant "wrecked havoc" on their playlist, as many within the station did not like it.
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