Putting New Songs In Power Rotation, a problem?

[Martin Mac]

Let's say I ran a CHR, and I put some new songs into power rotation, such as "Rude Boy - Rihanna", "Ke$ha - Blah Blah Blah", "Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart", and a host of other songs that have not been in the Top 50 for very long. Do you think that this would cause problems among listeners?

 

[rapking]

I would love it but I think most people want to hear same songs ( that they know every word to the song ) over and over again. What if a CHR put a few new songs in power rotation that flop ?

 

[Roger That]

Let's say I ran a CHR, and I put some new songs into power rotation, such as "Rude Boy - Rihanna", "Ke$ha - Blah Blah Blah", "Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart", and a host of other songs that have not been in the Top 50 for very long. Do you think that this would cause problems among listeners?

Absolutely it would. The point is to play the hits. Even if these are EVENTUALLY hits, they're not yet, and the audience will be unfamiliar with them. You would get killed by your competition.

 

[Martin Mac]

So then how do stations even go about introducing new songs to listeners? A station cant play the same songs forever, its bound to be a time where they'll have to play a song listeners dont know.

 

[vaboi-83]

Well what is good for one CHR station may not be good for another CHR station, some now lean more RHY some lean more HOT AC and some are in the middle or even lean more DANCE. If those songs are power (expect for Kesha) then you seem to lean more RHY and tend to jump on New Music fast, then it could work for you if that is your audience...but if you jump on a song too fast and put it in as a power and it flopped then it could hurt you too. Just listen to the calls coming into the station or website polls on the new music to determine if a new song should go to a power that fast. If no one is calling about it or getting bad reviews on your website...then drop it from a power quickly.

 

[Roger That]

So then how do stations even go about introducing new songs to listeners? A station cant play the same songs forever, its bound to be a time where they'll have to play a song listeners dont know.

You asked about putting new songs in power, not playing new music in general.

The songs you play the most should be the songs your audience loves the most. You should absolutely introduce new music. But not by putting them into power.

It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other (putting it in power vs not playing it at all). There is balance to be found between familiar music and new music. That's what you should strive for. And that's why you have other categories that aren't powers.

 

[whit979]

Many stations will incorporate a position on their clocks, perhaps once per hour, to play a "new" song. Oftentimes the song will be denoted by a sweeper saying "new music" or something similar, followed by a title/artist introduction by the on-air personality. These "new" songs rotate in their own category.

 

[AM FM listener]

On a CHR, I hear new music spun more often at night, where the audience is younger and possibly more open to new stuff.

 

[creatiwitty]

if you put new songs on that sparse a rotate, you won't be getting a measure of how your listeners react to it; more so, if you are doing call-out / internet song testing.

one can't deny that radio has an important role to play as a 'future hit selection' medium - so the MD and PD, both, will have to pick out these 'possible future hits' and maybe, play them out in a separate category, maybe twice or thrice a day - and then test those songs to gauge listener reaction.

And I completely agree to what AM FM listener has to say - post the drive show, you could have a hotter playlist where these songs could play out.

But finally - play it by the ear!

 

[bchristi]

Set up a "new music challenge" in the evenings in which you play 2 new songs and listeners call in to vote which one they like the most. When a song wins, it goes up against another new song the next night. As far as the losing song, its up to you but I would drop it from rotation if it lost on its first night but if it won a few times I would keep it but not go power until your audience is ready for it.

 

[lovejamminoldies]

For me, since I do Internet Radio, I can see the numbers and also get requests pretty easily. Songs like Shots by LMFAO and If We Ever Meet Again by Timbaland/Katy Perry are testing very well for us. Not to mention, David Guetta's stuff. Shots is gone from the charts and I have it in B and is doing very well there. It just depends on the station.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I don't really like the idea of battle of the jams, or doing a new song vote because since many people have been trained to be close minded, if anything sounds "different" or "odd" in any way, people will call / vote in against it. I remember it happened, for example, with Craig David "fill me in" and Khandi "don't think I'm not" because people could not handle the fact that the beat tempo changed or that it was something different for once. What happened as a result, the station didn't play those songs, they blew up, and all the other stations played it instead. People tried to complain about "gotta get through this" at first on one of the two example stations I was talking about, but fortunately they weren't voting on it, but just started playing that one as new music.

What's funny is that after everyone else thought those songs were "cool", then people started requesting and wondering why the station wouldn't play it.

I do have to admit that I do love those stations that tend to deliver the most new hits during a time period, and here in Az, I believe it's KZZP. I also love stations that do the overnight new music play, which our KZON does, but sometimes wish they'd be a bit newer during the day as well. KKFR seems to be on top of things as well. Many times, the new music is just added in, so it pretty much stays fresh. Our rhythmic / rhythmic top 40's in Az. do a pretty good job and although not perfect to my tastes, I'm still happy with what we have so far.