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Program Directors and Tyrannosaurus Rex

M

mo rock

Guest
This posting is in reference to a response by Neanderpaul in regards to my statement, which i still stand by, that radio stations need to stop letting listeners dictate the music. First, his response:

"Don't let the buyer decide the options on their car."
"Don't let the patron choose their meal"
"Don't let people think for themselves"

And now me:

The buyer does not decide what options go into the car when it is on the assembly line.
The patron does not decide what type of food, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc... the restaurant will serve.
and third...
The very job of a program director is to not let people think for themselves otherwise radio would be all request all day.

Bottom line, i have been in radio long enough to witness the job of program directing being anything but. program director? how about research monkey?... a film director does just that, directs. he takes the script the actors the sets and puts them together according to his creative design, his belief in his ability to put forth the best possible product. program directors are not allowed this autonomy for the most part. i have worked under guys with 20 plus years in radio, guys that were musicians themselves at times and you need a "f...ing research to tell you what to play? sorry. don't buy that. instinct... knowledge... guts... that's how you get the job done.

and let's not kid ourselves on why some songs fail... neanderpaul pointed to my example of Eddie Vedder's Big Hard Sun, well, program directors like record execs and movie studios for that matter don't give anything much time to hit anymore. it's a great song. period. but when the masses are force-fed pablum like Nickelback, yeah, they're not going to immediately recognize something that strives to achieve rather than placate. which brings me to what the job of a program director seems to have become, to placate. that's what really "hurts". and that is really the "truth."
 
i wanted to further clarify my point in regards to Eddie Vedder's Big Hard Sun. it really annoys me that neanderpaul attempted to cite its failure to chart significantly as reason research works. Radiohead's Creep, a song beloved by radio initially failed to chart in England upon its release as a single. it wasn't until the US broke it that some 8 months later the song became a hit in England. the movie Blade Runner was a monumental failure upon its release when it was yanked from theaters after a short run. now it is considered one of the top five sci fi films ever made and certainly the most influential. if a song doesn't make it on radio it's because of the listener's indifference... if it does, it is because of the program director's brilliance... how nice to have a position with no culpability whatsoever.
 
If you dfecide that your personal taste is more accurate than "letting listeners decide what music is on the station", tghose listeners are going to desert your station in droves for another one, or a CD, an iPod, whatever. I love all these people who say that the PD should "just know" and not actually ask their listeners.
 
there is a difference, a monumental difference in "asking" listeners and letting them, as i stated, "dictate" what the station plays. at some point, letting the listeners decide, via research only, what songs to play on the air, reduces the program director to nothing more than a program secretary, one who compiles the opinions of those actually making the choices and then regurgitates the data onto the airwaves. in that case, why is the program director so well payed? what is he bringing to the table if not his opinion? his knowledge? his wisdom gained through the years? you let listeners dictate the music and you get the same twenty morons requesting via research the same ten songs. in reference to my query of why the Blitz/ the Rock didn't play the new Cult, neanderpaul stated "the masses weren't craving new Cult." really? who exactly got this information from the "masses?" i must have been at Chipotle when they were asking. the truth is the "masses" were unaware that there was new Cult because it either received cursory radio play or none at all because some program director via research determined his listeners wanted to hear Enter Sandman one extra time in a daypart leaving no room. in reference to why the Blitz/the Rock did not play Kings Of Leon, neanderpaul wrote, "it didn't fit the brand." Nabco owns the g-damned station! it's their brand! the reason the station had to flip was because the "brand" wasn't broad enough, and why? more than likely because research told them that apparently the "brand" didn't need to be. well obviously it did. i am all for listener input. hell, i would love a PD to take into account jock input. remember the day when songs were actually broke by DJs? when those in charge of the station actually made the choices? Zeppelin's, Hey Hey What Can I Do, and Moody Blues, Knights In White Satin come to mind. Research feeds upon itself. i am all for listener input but when it overrides the PD's own instinct or wisdom it becomes a dangerous thing. i am actually pro PD? i beg for radio to put the onus squarely on their shoulders and make them live or die by their choices and their pay. is that so wrong? research feeds upon itself. satellite radio filled a void. you cannot fill a void until there is a void and that void was created by radio turning into a top ten juke box. this may sound pessimistic, but sometimes you have to tell the listener what is good. they don't always know. or at the very least, you have to tell them what's out there. and do it more than two weeks worth of half-hearted play in-between twenty spins of Finger Eleven. if only as a PD, neanderpaul were allowed to be creative as his name.
 
I totally agree with you Mo! I remember when radio was this way, and even CHR stations didn't feature as much repetition as they do now. Look at WNCI...instead of playing something different every hour, they play T.I.'s "Dead and Gone" almost every hour. They did the same thing last summer with Ray J's "Sexy Can I?" and the previous summer with T-Pain's "Buy U A Drank". Throw an unfamiliar song in there-or something, ANYTHING different, say some 90s CHR gold, and see what happens, and play "Dead and Gone" every other hour. Yes, I understand WNCI is a Top 40 station but this much repetition is inexcusable and builds burn on a song quickly. I know every time when I get into the car and punch up WNCI what will be playing.
 
haven't you heard? radio isn't interested in expanding your vocabulary, because that would mean they would have to expand theirs... and why do that when "research" shows you primarily use the same ten words a day anyway. at least, Bob and Tom do.
 
and don't get me started on "consulters!" consulters! i hope Nabco got their money back. i could have sent that station into a tailspin for half the money! OR, i could have told them what to do to make it better for free. but no one asked me. hell, what do i know, i was only the morning guy. only the guy most listeners talked to. Blazor and Mo were near the end of the Blitz, number one TSL, first time since Howard Stern. and what does the consultant tell them to do after the flip? keep them off the air for two months and when you bring them back add 6 songs, 8 when you consider the ungodly length of Metallica. brilliant. number one time spent listening and the consultant tells you to all but silence their voice. idiotic. to quote the great Roger Waters... "The bravery of being out of range."
 
i believe it was the consulting firm of "Shipdit and Uckfup." i could be wrong.
 
I don't know if this helps any, but i'm 28 and i work part time at a steak house in columbus. Now being that i'm 28 you would think that i would be completely out of touch with what teenagers are into as far as rap and r&b, but whenever i make a cd of newer music people are always like "Can you make a cd for me?" or they'll tell me i should be a dj. These are people that listen to 107.5 and yet a lot of my songs aren't on 107.5. The point is if you expose people to new music, and you do know what sounds good in the urban/rhythmic field you will get more listeners than the station that strictly plays it by the books and is slow on breaking new music. I don't know much about rock but "Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon should've been played on 99.7. They played much lighter music aka "What it's like" Everlast, and people that like 99.7 now listen to 106.7 and they seem to like it more.
 
Mo Rock: I understand where you're coming from and agree with most of what you said. I programmed and jocked in various formats. Research, which can be highly valuable, can also be the enemy when not coupled with "ears" and "gut feeling" and your own "street" research. One of the problems that radio got into is that it relied TOTALLY on research.

Just because certain titles in any format test "through the roof" doesn't mean that those who participated in the test want to hear ONLY those titles. It's what I used to call the "Research Black Hole" where you only play the best-testing titles. Frosted Flakes may be the best-testing cereal ever in a taste-test but would you seriously want to eat only Frosted Flakes? I mean for breakfast, lunch and dinner? I think the same principle applies.
I know there will be people who disagree with this but I really couldn't care less. I got out when the getting was.....well.....not so good, actually. Best of luck to one and all.
 
bwilliam is right. Kings of Leon, "Sex On Fire" was the perfect brand broadening song for the Blitz! and more of the same could have prevented the flip. 25 to 54 demographics were out there to be had without competing with Qfm. i was the demographic. i spoke to that demographic. songs that were released from bands that were of that demographic were completely ignored! Silver Chair released a fantastic song, "Straight Lines" i believe, that i implored us to play! a healthy portion of 25 to 54 came up on Silverchair! why are we not playing this great song when i am still hearing tracks from Frogstomp?! i agree with you too, al timiter, research can be helpful as a guideline, but when it becomes gospel... and yes, what about street research. i spent three years at a station known as the Blitz, i spoke to, let's say conservatively, for the purposes of my statement, 1,000 people. whenever the subject of the station came up, categorically the chief complaint cited by not most, but all of the 1,000 people spoken to, was the station played the same songs in too great a repetition. there were other things said by some, but this was the ONLY thing said by all. HOW DO YOU IGNORE THAT?! i was looked at like an idiot when i would relay this. every one i talk to has the same complaint but somehow research can data that away. i felt like i was in an episode of the twilight zone many times. but we spun the hell out of that new Metallica which i think even the band got bored with after 7 minutes while great rock tunes from the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club,... who?... precisely my point.
 
It's not what they say, it's what they do that counts. They can say all daythey want to hear unfamiliar songs, but they turn them off when they come on.
 
they don't turn the station off. that's the misconception. research caters to the P1s. the P1s are not going anywhere especially in the case of the Blitz which was the only station playing new rock. i won't mention names or dates but i sat with someone using a research tool that allowed them to disregard anyone in the research that had opinions slightly out of the brand, so in effect, you are eliminating everyone that you might bring IN to the brand and catering to only those that are already there. you want ratings? you need NEW people. to systematically exclude them borders on ridiculous. if you like a place that serves tacos and there the only place that serves tacos the way you like them you are not going to stop going because they added fajitas. even if you don't have any interest in fajitas, but what you will do is bring in people sick of tacos that want a fajita. everyone wins! that's why i said research feeds upon itself. neanderpaul wanted to cite numbers, here's a number no PD wants to cite, the number of people leaving radio in droves causing pay cuts and layoffs. why listen to the listeners requesting the same ten songs and not the masses telling you to add more? makes no sense. rock, above any other musical genre is experimental by nature. you can juke box top 40 or hip hop, but rock demands diversity by its very nature. the same parameters cannot be applied to rock radio. let me make it clear, i am not attacking any PD at all, but the nature of what the job is. one poster said that it is bad to think your opinion matters over the listeners, and people may read the post i have submitted and call me arrogant, you know what? so be it. you have "director" in your job description, you better f...ing believe your opinion is greater than others.
 
People have been complaining about repetition since the 50s while still listening to the same songs. You don't gain the "I only like my iPod" people by playing unknowns and unliked. The audience isn't going to sit through what they don't like..they can push that button in an instant.
 
no one likes every song their favorite station plays. pushing the button to change the station when a song i dislike is on will have no effect on the station if for the most part i like that station. the station is still mine and when the arbitron book comes i am still going to put that station down. i don't like every movie tom cruise makes but if someone asks me i will still say tom cruise is a great actor. there are a myriad of excuse not to play more music, the fact remains no one is listening to their ipod because radio has too much variety. more and more people are not buying what radio is selling, and the fact that the product is free makes it all the more pathetic. the point... my point... is not to play something no one likes, but to figure out how radio decides no one will like it before they play it? and the reason people were complaining about repetition in the 50's was because there were only 5 songs back then. (that was a joke) Programmers need to stop being afraid of people pushing the button. i push the button more because i am tired of a song than because i don't know the song.
 
before any action is taken as far as a bounty, we should probably hire a consultant to make sure that's a wise move.
 
Stations like Z-93 in Dayton, around 1990, when they had their 13+ shares, were breaking new and unfamiliar music all the time. Why can't stations break newer and unfamiliar music like they used to?
 
a guess... job preservation? no one wants to put themselves out there to be judged anymore. better to be able to point to research. what fault is it of the PD if "research" told him or her this is what would work?... laziness? no one wants to actually have to listen to new music and make a judgement. better to just look at the charts. works done for you... apathy? you have guys in radio that could care less about the music or the format as a creative outlet. all that matters is the bottom line. thinking, that in the end, adversely affects the bottom line.
 
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