Question for music DJ's out there...

[NewtotheNasti]

Probably a dumb question, but what's up with the lost art of giving the artist name (and year for music a little older) and possibly a little history behind the song or artist after playing a song or run of songs???

Seems like this was done all the time when I was a kid (70's), now I seldom ever here it done. Is it a corporate thing--are DJ's dicouraged from doing this???

Thanks

 

[radiofriend1]

if u R talking oldies, classic rock, etc., those 35+ targeted formats------it's cuz it's been done ad-nauseum.

for newer music stations the info is still pertinent and should be part of rock/chr/hot ac/country jocks daily content

 

[Marc0n1]

This issue is not local and not new. It started in the 1980's when stations decided to cut back on "clutter" (defined as anything that's not a song playing) by reducing non-musical content wherever they could.

Let's see, you sure can't include commercials on that list, and of course station promos are important, and teasing upcoming songs is essential, and sponsored billboards are good profits, so what's left? Ah!! Identifying songs!

It got so bad in the late 80's and early 90's that record companies, fearing that new songs weren't being bought because listeners didn't know what they were hearing, started sending stations their DJ copies of new records and CD's with a sticker attached: "When You Play It, Say It!" They also put ads in trade publications with the same slogan.

It's only gotten slightly better since then.

 

[Toddy-0]

One word: CONGLOMERATION

 

[titoisradio]

One word: CONGLOMERATION

Actually if Marcon1 is correct, then no the deregulation if anything made this better not worse. I know that most CHR programmers believe that you shouldn't back sell as the station should always be moving forward, so this philosophy has probably been bled to other formats as well.

My opinion is you should where possible announce what song is playing, even with RDS technology which may or may not be available on the listeners radio. However this is very wrong as shown by my listener emails from my net station, which every song is displayed in the player, I get 1-2 emails per week asking what song is currently playing. So listeners do want to know this piece of important information.

 

[WyllyWylly]

Probably a dumb question, but what's up with the lost art of giving the artist name (and year for music a little older) and possibly a little history behind the song or artist after playing a song or run of songs???

Seems like this was done all the time when I was a kid (70's), now I seldom ever here it done. Is it a corporate thing--are DJ's dicouraged from doing this???

Thanks

A few other observations:

• For older music, you don't want to date the format. The music may be older, but you want the format to feel current.
• Trivia, history, etc - with shorter attention spans and plentiful alternatives, you have to be careful not to give too much information, and no listener cares about chart positions.
• After a block of music, a backsell is only appropriate for the previous song. Your audience changes constantly, so backselling a song that played ten minutes ago can be counterproductive.

I've heard varying statistics on callers; one being that very few (generally your P1s) pick up the phone and punch the digits. Personally, I think that's crap, because listeners who want to know what a song is or was will call if they really want to know.

Tito makes a good point about keeping the station moving forward; most stations nowadays follow this trend.

 

[KevinFodor]

Oldies station have routinely done year/artist/title/tidbit information for years. It was encouraged at every single oldies station I worked for, and I encouraged it as an Oldies Programmer. It was expected of the jocks.

Our country station allows for artist/song information...and we backsell every song we play (title and artist)
at the conclusion of every music set. We also promote the "last songs played" list on our website in every
single jock break.

What most people wrote here was accurate. Many stations backed off on title/artist information as a means of reducing clutter. I think they later found the audience didn't consider it "clutter" provided, you didn't stop the flow of the music in order to give it. It's simply not clutter if it's something the audience wants to hear.

 

[radiofriend1]

yes but like a lot of things "we've always done" listeners get tired of it. same ole/same ole.........how many times do U think you can say CCR never had a number-one hit before listeners say "WE KNOW-WE GET IT!!!"

after 20 yrs. of it.........yyuk. i'd rather hear where the playstation3 is selling or what the hot new movie is or where the latest traffic jam is

 

[titoisradio]

yes but like a lot of things "we've always done" listeners get tired of it. same ole/same ole.........how many times do U think you can say CCR never had a number-one hit before listeners say "WE KNOW-WE GET IT!!!"

after 20 yrs. of it.........yyuk. i'd rather hear where the playstation3 is selling or what the hot new movie is or where the latest traffic jam is

While I agree with you there, listeners still want to hear what the hell is playing on the radio now, especially if its new. If its an oldies, classic rock, or even a gold on a CHR then it may or may not be necessary to let the listener know what song it is if the song is familiar. Ie most oldies listeners would know that they are hearing Elvis sing Jailhouse Rock.

 

[snack_pack]

yeah i never really got the no backselling thing either since any time i read an article on what the audience wants, backselling was always high up on the list. IMO, in current music anyway, you should always backsell at least the last song and possibly the song before it. i think 3 is a bit too much. i understand the whole value for the station in liners, but i can't see a listener sitting there saying, "god, i wish he would stop talking about the music and tell me how much i can save save save at Bob Dunski toyota".

 

[KevinFodor]

yes but like a lot of things "we've always done" listeners get tired of it. same ole/same ole.........how many times do U think you can say CCR never had a number-one hit before listeners say "WE KNOW-WE GET IT!!!"

after 20 yrs. of it.........yyuk. i'd rather hear where the playstation3 is selling or what the hot new movie is or where the latest traffic jam is

That's fine if you're in your 20's. Again, you appear to be operating from the perspective of a CHR jock and, in that arena, I agree with you. There are many artist infobits that can be done that aren't repeated a hundred times over.

Nonetheless, you'd be surprised. I've used that CCR bit at dances and had people come up to me and say "I never knew that!"

 

[radiofriend1]

yes but like a lot of things "we've always done" listeners get tired of it. same ole/same ole.........how many times do U think you can say CCR never had a number-one hit before listeners say "WE KNOW-WE GET IT!!!"

after 20 yrs. of it.........yyuk. i'd rather hear where the playstation3 is selling or what the hot new movie is or where the latest traffic jam is

That's fine if you're in your 20's. Again, you appear to be operating from the perspective of a CHR jock and, in that arena, I agree with you. There are many artist infobits that can be done that aren't repeated a hundred times over.

Nonetheless, you'd be surprised. I've used that CCR bit at dances and had people come up to me and say "I never knew that!"

the ccr at dances thing is anecdotal at best-u have a couple hundred people half-drunk and basically held captive. different repeating it ad-nauseum on the oldies station for 20+ yrs

and your comment about being int he 20s and CHR...........THAT kinda thinking is why so many oldies stations have such a tuff time selling---the "moldy oldie" perception. do U not think people in their 50s aren't looking for ps3's for their kids or grandkids for xmas? only people in their 20s go to movies??????

good luck

 

[KevinFodor]

Here's how the CCR reference is valid: Not everyone listens to radio every minute of the day. Not everyone hangs on every single word that comes out of a DJ's mouth. (Except radio geeks, of which I count myself as one.) There's always someone listening who doesn't know "basic" music history stuff. That's why those types of facts get repeated. But, there's always lots of facts about that music that are new and different that can be aired (like..."have you seen John Fogarty's new DVD? Packed full of all the big hits that made him famous with CCR?") And, certainly, good jocks look for those types of things.

But, I think we're getting off point here. The question I was responding to originally was the suggestion that very few stations do title/artist and artist info information. My point was: there are still stations that do, and that's fact.

And, I'm certainly not against stations/jocks being in the "here and now" and talking about topical, popular things. By all means, they should. Even oldies stations have never tried to "live in the past". They talked about current events, while offering historical facts about the music and artists they played. I just bristle a bit at times reading on boards such as this how everybody on radio should be talking about what's hip for the day. There are different types of stations aimed at different types of listeners. And there is not, nor should there be, a "one size fits all" solution to how you reach different demographics.

 

[radiofriend1]

if we are oldies lovers we have heard nearly every one of those little tidbits dozens & dozens of time in the 20 yrs or so the format has been around.

tell me where john fogerty is touring around my town instead. is there a new box set coming out w/one of our cool groups? THAT i wanna know about.

that creque alley is a true story about how the mamas n' papas got together-------duh heard it/get it/pls. move on

classic rock and oldies stations that wreak of nostalgia -not including the music- are the ones getting killed

 

[tcsnrayp]

if we are oldies lovers we have heard nearly every one of those little tidbits dozens & dozens of time in the 20 yrs or so the format has been around.------duh heard it/get it/pls. move on

classic rock and oldies stations that wreak of nostalgia -not including the music- are the ones getting killed

True and true. But if the question is strictly id-ing the artist/title/cd then it is still a rational service element. As are so many things in the biz, we "know them all" (artists, the stories, etc). But we do not represent the mindset of Joe Average listener. Even with those Classic Hits the 45 minute a week TSLers are not as familiar as we wish.

Point: it does not take more than 3 seconds to pop in an artist/title on the front or back. Backsell preferred. I've been hearing Hot AC's doing recorded tags on every song in the library with a hip MTV type approach of just that. The live jock or the recorded promo follows it and frankly it SOUNDS good.

 

[radiofriend1]

if we are oldies lovers we have heard nearly every one of those little tidbits dozens & dozens of time in the 20 yrs or so the format has been around.------duh heard it/get it/pls. move on

classic rock and oldies stations that wreak of nostalgia -not including the music- are the ones getting killed

True and true. But if the question is strictly id-ing the artist/title/cd then it is still a rational service element. As are so many things in the biz, we "know them all" (artists, the stories, etc). But we do not represent the mindset of Joe Average listener. Even with those Classic Hits the 45 minute a week TSLers are not as familiar as we wish.

Point: it does not take more than 3 seconds to pop in an artist/title on the front or back. Backsell preferred. I've been hearing Hot AC's doing recorded tags on every song in the library with a hip MTV type approach of just that. The live jock or the recorded promo follows it and frankly it SOUNDS good.

if joe avg. listener has been listening to oldies for 20+ yrs he has heard all of this stuff a hundred times. u are right about basic backsells, to a pt.

the music isn't the only thing fried on oldies stations. it's the constant barage of trivia factoid stuff too. yeah, mr. dj, we all know X song hit #4 in the summer of 66----who cares?

 

[WyllyWylly]

I can't think of any reason a listener would care about chart information. Trivia factoids, onward ho! Male listeners in particular like trivia, there's always something that you didn't know. Even better if the artist is currently up to something, even if it's not local. For example, the Eagles are recording a new record... things like that keep the format current, even if the music isn't.

 

[radiofriend1]

new eagles material isn't *trivial factoid*. it's current and interesting info. much more relevant than the 300th version that they used to be ronstadt's backup singers over & over again for 20 yrs

 

[WyllyWylly]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear - I was throwing it out as an example of one way to keep the format current even if the music isn't - separate and apart from trivia factoids, which also have their place - used sparingly.

 

[Kahuna1]

as K-Fod (sorry can't help myself) mentioned earlier, K99's been doing this since almost day one. Title and artist of every song they play. Why, because they listened to thier focus groups who said they wanted that information. What a refreshing concept, listeniong to your listeners and giving them what they say they want ??? It a defining part of thier programming and on air presentation at every break and it seems to be working fairly well, just look at the numbers.