MusicFan2009 said:
I would greatly appreciate if a member of this board could please explain the process of recurrent hits. I noticed in the past couple of days that 104.7 and 101.5 have been playing "I Hate This Part" by the Pussycat Dolls several times per day. How do recurrent hits work on a playlists, stations? I've always wondered why I hear songs that came out several years ago are in rotation on CHR type stations. What is the purpose of recurrent hits? Why are old songs brought back and I don't mean by request.
It's enormously simple. Recuerrents are recent hits... things that have been high enough on the playlist to warrant continued play, but at a reduced level compared to a current hit.
Most current based stations employ some form of research, such as their own call out, national call out, etc, to determine whether to continue playing a song, and how often. That same kind of research process (remembering that research is a tool PDs use, not a magic wand) helps determine if a song is still a hit, but just not enough of one to play as often.
Even then, it's not uncommon for a recurrent to have a more favorable audience reaction than many new, current songs. But at some point, to keep the station fresh, a PD may decide to override a song's score and reduce play to let some new songs in and to avoid burning out a big song. That is particularly true for older songs by the same artist... even if they are still quite positive, keeping them in the highest rotations will prevent playing a new song by the same artist.
Remember, too, that currents may be divided into 4 or 5 categories, rotating as often as about everry 90 minutes, down to ones that play every 3 or 4 hours, or maybe just at night or just in weekday daytime hours if the station is dayparted.
There is more to it than that (otherwise even i could be a CHR PD) but I hope this gives you an idea of what is going on.
