Should DJs Pick Some of Their Own Music?

[kevinsealy]

What format are we talking about? It matters. Some formats benefit from a little creativity in music selection while others don't.

If it's a classic hits or new rock station, for reasons specific to the format, you may want to give the personality some segments during the hour when he or she picks some of the music. It can even be an audience-building feature. In the case of a classic hits station, the personality may be able to dig out and then tell a story about a forgotten hit, forgotten artist or one hit wonder and share some fun with the listener. (I know of at least one classic hits jock in a large market who regularly programs a "forgotten 45" segment out of his own collection every evening...they sell it as a premium availability on the show.) New rock formats can give each jock a chance to spotlight an emerging artist he//she thinks has potential, and that can also be a spotlight segment for a daypart.

AC? you may be able to let the jock have a little flexibility in picking a recurrent or oldie, but not in the current music on your playlist...and it should never be a song that wasn't, at one point or another, a recognized hit, except a song a little off the beaten path that was done by one of your station's core artists.

CHR and its country cousin, modern country, are different stories. There, the station's music director or PD ought to be holding regular music meetings, and that's where the personalities as a group, under the PD's direction, ought to pick the new adds to the playlist--which in turn ought to take a fixed place in the overall music rotation. In CHR, and in contemporary country as well, the music needs to be built around the hits, and the new releases you expect will become hits, and the way the jocks break the envelope should be in what they say, not what they play.

Top 40 or CHR may be the exception because their playlists is very tight.

The may work well with Classic Rock, Oldies/Classic Hits like WCBS-FM, Aldult Urban and even AC stations across the board.



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[Groove1670]

As for classic hit stations, the two extra "lost hits" per hour would come into play.

If you mean something that charted at #38 for two weeks in 1966. The average listener will scan to another station. Not good for ratings or the bottom line.

The closest thing we had to picking your own music was a box of index cards. After a song was played it went to the back of the box. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. ;D

 

[romer979fm]

closest I've come to picking music: an extra tune or two was inlcuded in each hour...
and the jock could choose which one to eliminate. not quite the same thing...but I
was being paid to play the music the way it was scheduled. another station (same market)
did "all request weekends"...which basically consisted of soliciting calls until you got one for
something already on the log...4 times an hour. banked 'em on the reel-to-reel...and just had to
find the callers on the reel to match the log.

 

[michael hagerty]

I'm just old enough to remember when it was done...Johnny Magnus throwing tasty extended jazz cuts into the mix on KMPC, B. Mitchell Reed, Jim Ladd and Jimmy Rabbitt turning us on to tracks they'd discovered...

But here's the thing: I believed in those guys and trusted their taste. Most people would think that's crazy...even back then. None of them got huge ratings doing it. There were stations playing the hits that beat them all.

And even as a believer, I could find those guys self-indulgent. I don't ever remember Magnus jumping the shark, but when Rabbitt would decide to do half an hour of country, BMR believed that the Monkees' "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." was equal to "Sgt. Pepper" or (even today on satellite) Jim Ladd would decide that all anyone really needs to hear the next two hours is The Doors, it got to be a bit much.

 

[TheBigA]

And even as a believer, I could find those guys self-indulgent.

Exactly. Rosko playing Elmore James and reading poetry wasn't too far out of line. But Jonathan Schwatz gushing about Frank Sinatra and playing Fly Me To The Moon definitely was not cool, even though he'd try and justify it by saying Frank was Jim Morrison's favorite singer. Both were gone once the free form days were over. Rosko was the first to leave in 1970, and Schwartz was gone by 1976. A tamer version of Rosko appeared at WQIV in 1974.

 

[TheBigA]

If it's a classic hits or new rock station, for reasons specific to the format, you may want to give the personality some segments during the hour when he or she picks some of the music.

I think that only applies of you're an actual recording artist like Nikki Sixx or Alice Cooper with personal ties to certain songs or artists. Otherwise, who cares?

There was a time when DJs had a unique connection with the stars, like Murray The K with The Beatles. Today, artists can communicate directly with their fan base via Twitter, so the DJ seems like an unnecessary mediator. I'm amazed at how active classic hits artists are with social media. They may be boomers, but they get it. Too bad the radio folks didn't get the same memo.

 

[kevinsealy]

And even as a believer, I could find those guys self-indulgent.

Exactly. Rosko playing Elmore James and reading poetry wasn't too far out of line. But Jonathan Schwatz gushing about Frank Sinatra and playing Fly Me To The Moon definitely was not cool, even though he'd try and justify it by saying Frank was Jim Morrison's favorite singer. Both were gone once the free form days were over. Rosko was the first to leave in 1970, and Schwartz was gone by 1976. A tamer version of Rosko appeared at WQIV in 1974.

Back in 1974 listening to WNEW-FM I vaguely remember hearing Jonathan Schwartz playing a Big band song. Schwartz may have been the exception to play whatever he wanted even if it was out of the station's AOR format.

Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[TheBigA]

Back in 1974 listening to WNEW-FM I vaguely remember hearing Jonathan Schwartz playing a Big band song. Schwartz may have been the exception to play whatever he wanted even if it was out of the station's AOR format.[/b][/color]

I don't think I'd use the word "exception." It wasn't encouraged, and from what I've read, he was told several times to stop it, with him ultimately transfered to the AM side. Which, in a way, was explained as a promotion, because the AM had more listeners. But I believe his hours were severely cut.

The other thing Jonathan did that got some attention was gush about the Boston Red Sox. Not very PC in NYC.

 

[oldies76]

If you mean something that charted at #38 for two weeks in 1966. The average listener will scan to another station. Not good for ratings or the bottom line.

I was really referring to songs that don't air today, that charted top 20.

 

[FredLeonard]

It's a little late to ask. So few DJs left.

DJs picked their own music when DJs were personalities and nobody told them what to say either (to to tighten up the sound). Then DJs would get popular and want more money, or go to another station for more money and possibly take their audience with them. So management decided to stop allowing DJs to be personalities and make them more inter-changeable, to make the format and the overall sound the dominant part of the listener's experience and the station brand the basis of listener loyalty.

The payola scandal gave stations an excuse to stop letting DJs pick their own music (and to have management keep pay-offs from record companies, rather than DJs).

 

[WNTIRadio]

Exactly. Rosko playing Elmore James and reading poetry wasn't too far out of line. But Jonathan Schwatz gushing about Frank Sinatra and playing Fly Me To The Moon definitely was not cool, even though he'd try and justify it by saying Frank was Jim Morrison's favorite singer.

Musically I find Schwartz interesting on WNYC, but when he cracks the mic, good grief that's the sound of a man in love with himself. Plus all of the stories that I've heard from people that were at WNEW with him just turn me off.

Vin Scelsa has those moments too, but his more self-effacing outlook tends to temper them. Schwartz is the type of guy where if you asked him what time it is, he would give you a 3 hour dissertation on the history of watches and then tell you how to build one.

 

[TheBigA]

It's a little late to ask. So few DJs left.

This is a New York City board, and in New York City, there are LOTS of local DJs.

DJs picked their own music when DJs were personalities and nobody told them what to say either (to to tighten up the sound).

The only place that was the case was where DJs bought their airtime from the station, and then resold it to sponsors. That was what Alan Freed did in Cleveland, and several other late night personalities. No one told them what to play because it was their time. In Freed's case, his sponsor was a local record store, and he was playing the songs the sponsor wanted to sell. But if you're a DJ who got paid by the station, you played what you were told.

So management decided to stop allowing DJs to be personalities and make them more inter-changeable, to make the format and the overall sound the dominant part of the listener's experience and the station brand the basis of listener loyalty.

That's a rather biased way of looking at it. Most stations, even going back to the early 50s, were focused more on the station brand than individual DJs. Rick Sklar's book about WABC talked a lot about that. It was good when DJs like Dan Ingram talked up a song with a short and funny bit. But it HAD to be short. The Roby Yonge story in the book was a good case in point. Sklar hired Roby because he sounded like Dan Ingram. That was good. But when Roby diverged from the format, he was promptly fired. What was really going on at the time was the establishment of FORMAT radio. You still had some block programming, where stations did different formats in certain times of day. But once FM started to explode in the 70s, there was no need for stations to try to be all things to all people, and format specialization took over. From that point on, the format and the station brand were more important than specific individuals.

 

[FredLeonard]

BigA: Maybe Alan Freed was brokered but I am talking about personalities who were station employees pre-payola scandal. This is also pre-top 40 on WABC and pre Rick Sklar. A few stations began focusing on format earlier (McLendon, Storz) but for most stations with music programs, this came later.

Biased? No. We're talking about the same type of management thinking that caused them a generation later to get rid of highly-formatted time and temperature DJs and to start running music in blocks and commercials in blocks.

 

[TheBigA]

We're talking about the same type of management thinking that caused them a generation later to get rid of highly-formatted time and temperature DJs and to start running music in blocks and commercials in blocks.

It might also have been a change in the media marketplace, and audience behavior.

 

[HHH]

I think an occasional "spice" song is fine. If you let the DJs run wild, the station will be all over the place.

Also, possibly their selections should be pre-approved by the PD or MD to make sure that none of the deejays are going to wreck it for everyone else by accepting money for play. That privilege is reserved for the national programming officials!

 

[davideduardo]

BigA: Maybe Alan Freed was brokered but I am talking about personalities who were station employees pre-payola scandal. This is also pre-top 40 on WABC and pre Rick Sklar. A few stations began focusing on format earlier (McLendon, Storz) but for most stations with music programs, this came later.

There were literally hundreds of Top 40's across the country prior to WABC flipping to Top 40 in 1960. Even New York had earlyTop 40's with WINS, WMGM, WMCA.

The first Top 40 station launched 8 years prior to WABC's conversion.

 

[FredLeonard]

BigA: Maybe Alan Freed was brokered but I am talking about personalities who were station employees pre-payola scandal. This is also pre-top 40 on WABC and pre Rick Sklar. A few stations began focusing on format earlier (McLendon, Storz) but for most stations with music programs, this came later.

There were literally hundreds of Top 40's across the country prior to WABC flipping to Top 40 in 1960. Even New York had earlyTop 40's with WINS, WMGM, WMCA.

The first Top 40 station launched 8 years prior to WABC's conversion.

The first ABC owned station to go Top 40 was WXYZ, Detroit. The station was successful. The station manager was promoted to New York and introduced the format at WABC. In addition to group owners Storz (who is credited with inventing the format) and McLendon (who is credited with inventing the all news and sports formats), Storer operated top 40 in various markets, including Detroit and Philly.

David Carson's "Rockin' Down the Dial: The Detroit Sound of Radio" indicates 40s and 50s jocks at Storer's WJBK and ABC's WXYZ (and indie WKMH) did pick their own music.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Looks as though Bob 1370 unravelled this somewhat chicken-egg best. The option or courtesy depends on the format.

Other factors would be having to hit a network or fill a window.

New crazes (British Invasion, Disco, Punk, AoR) aren't as numerous these days as they used to be, at least vis-a-vis mass appeal. In the 60s and 70s it seemed that something new was happening every semester. A lot of that friskiness (the farm-system problem again, Bob ? :- ) does not exist. The days of WKBW playing a new Beach Boys or Rascals song and stamping their 'W K B W .... Exclusive' over it, so it would be hard for a competitor to record and play themselves, are long gone. That mass-appeal forum being diminished is a big void.

At our Philly Soft A/C we were afforded the suggestion-box idea. There'd be a list of songs on a clipboard which the jocks thought would fit. (Two of mine got added, even though I got the titles wrong: 'Mush Mush Hurry Hurry' and 'Don't Think It's Over' by Crowded House).
But the actual air shift remained on company time. There was no music choice. Fine with me ; Philly was pretty good money for a while.

I do like the idea of that one-tune-per-hour option, though -- at the newer music stations, and from 7-mid. Presumably, the person hired to communicate and represent the package of the format should have arrived with a few parallel notions that might have been overlooked by those topside.
However .... again .... a jock who got too near to that 'unique personality' stature doesn't seem to be welcomed, and hasn't been indulged for quite some time.

 

[Silkie]

Then there is the occasional smaller market where one has no choice but to slide a new one in there, because of not doing what is right in the first place.

 

[TheWitch]

Jocks should only be allowed to pick their own music if they were hired for more than the sound of their voice. They should be well versed in the format of the station or channel they are on. They should know the history and live the lifestyle. It injects some personality into their show.