Sounds like the jock just playing with listeners to emphasize "variety" and just to sound human.
I'm not sure I understand what you are describing and asking, but ads and music are not even scheduled by the same department and maybe not even in the same office location!
Why do you think older listeners are even seeking out a station that only plays occasional songs they can even tolerate? How would they even know that a "good song" was on KMXV at that moment in the first place? As for the advertisers, I can't imagine that any ad buy comes with the proviso of "Run only before mellow songs at least 30 years old."
They do that everyday with an old song from the 90s-00s. It's a segment called "Oh No You Didn't Play That!" They are playing a Janet Jackson song everyday because she's coming to town. The songs are usually newer than that, say 1998 or older for that segment.
I think most listeners listen to a station always and know the kind of demos they get. The songs get tested today to see if they oike them currently. I think 102.1 is figuring it out though as their playlist has shifted somewhat and ratings have gone up in the past few months.
There is no way to do this as ads and music are programmed separately and independently. And, were advertisers to have any interest in this, a solution would be found.
Music is tested among a sample group of today's listeners to each specific station and format. That is done, generally, a couple of times a year. Along with other data, that determines what is played on each station, independently.
Stations share listeners with around 4 to 6 other stations. Favorite stations change often, based on usage each month.
Every time a station test, there are many, many changes: adds, drops and increases or decreases in rotation.
I think poor programming decisions can be made though even if a song tests well. If shown "Who Let the Dogs Out?" I would probably say I like it, but would be foolish for any station to play all the time, I would think.
And, surprise surprise, programmers know how to deal with "sore thumb" songs that stand out and seem to be played more than they really are unless severely limited. Generally, novelty songs never test again after they fade off as currents.
That makes sense, though I heard Sexy and I Know for several years after it came out. As for the original topic, I think a newer or "upstart" station might benefit from having more variety at first and narrow down as time goes on.
I don't think listeners are usually aware of an older song being played, unless its a block then maybe (90s hour, for instance.) There might be demo differences certain times of the day, though.
Music listeners don't 'appointment-listen'. If you catch some at a certain time that happens to be when a station plays a feature artist or title, then it's mostly happenstance. The risk is; playing what's considered 'a-stiff', causing the loss of audience for likely the rest of that day. Sure, there may be delivery drivers who are on the road listening at that precise time each day, but that's not representative of the broader audience.
I mean…it’s not “drop AM radios from a balloon,” but there’s still no sense to this.
