Someone solve this

[kwthom]

<...>
As for "proof" ... sorry, dude, that's proprietary information.

Agreed!

Plenty of posts here from @davideduardo about the nuts and bolts of the testing process that our OP can go find and read. He's provided a wealth of info on that process over the years - how it was done in the early days as well as how it's being done recently.

What "proof" does our OP need? Well, isn't that what's on-air RIGHT NOW?! I mean, that song that just ended <<doesn't matter what it was>> had to have been tested for that audience on that station, which is why it's in the rotation.

🤦‍♂️

 

[K.M. Richards]

What "proof" does our OP need? Well, isn't that what's on-air RIGHT NOW?!

He thinks CH programmers still schedule music based on either personal preferences or where a song peaked on the charts when it was a current, decades ago.

Since that is bound to upset him, let me reassure him that if I programmed based on either of the above criteria I wouldn't still be employed.

 

[TexasTom]

Broadcasting not narrowcasting? It's like putting Elton john on a rock station like 107.1,makes no sense... Sunny used to be a decent light kinda station without heavy crap like Nirvana.

I suspect that the average age of the people who want to hear what used to be on those "light kinda stations" is older than I am, and I'm in my 60s.

Adult Contemporary got its start playing the softer end of Top 40 currents and oldies because that is what adult listeners wanted to hear 50 years ago. Those adults had grown up in a time when rock wasn't the dominant sound, so they liked those softer songs. Those folks didn't want to hear harder rock music, so stations accommodated them and got large numbers of adult listeners.

But decades have passed, and that's no longer who these stations want to reach. And those who grew up on pop and Top 40 radio in the 80s and 90s grew up with stations that played the harder stuff. Bon Jovi And, yes, that includes Nirvana. So it makes perfect sense that they'd play songs from a band that had multi-format success in the 90s.

A couple decades ago, I was driving somewhere in East Texas and was listening to an adult contemporary station when they played "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Now that's not a song that was heard on AC stations twenty years ago, so it was a bit of a surprise. But it also did make sense, because the song was probably around 25 years ago at the time. That meant that someone who turned 18 when it was a hit was now 43 -- right in the prime demos for AC. And while it seemed to take a while for stations in larger markets to figure it out, I'll note that the AC and classic hits stations both play that particular song quite a bit.

And if you can play that in an AC format, why not Nirvana -- a band whose music is now over 30 years old?

 

[vchimpanzee]

Nirvana were trendsetters for the new grunge movement in 1991. Albeit, grunge wasn't NEW but it broke out in that year. It's no different than hair metal, hip hop, disco, etc. Just because they're not YOUR cup of tea doesn't mean they didn't change the music landscape. Alternative rock taking over was the changing of the guard from hair metal.

I was listening to one of those Casey Kasem type shows when their first hit was popular. The DJ said this was something big, and he compared it to "My Sharona" by The Knack. That was supposedly the beginning of New Wave, and this DJ seemed to think Nirvana was introducing the next big thing.

 

[vchimpanzee]

A couple decades ago, I was driving somewhere in East Texas and was listening to an adult contemporary station when they played "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Now that's not a song that was heard on AC stations twenty years ago, so it was a bit of a surprise.

I heard it on an adult contemporary station a few years after was first popular. A small local station, but I think it was adult contemporary.

A new adult contemporary station had just debuted in the same town. It was going to stick closer to the songs on the Billboard chart than other stations. I concluded that was one of those other stations.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I was listening to one of those Casey Kasem type shows when their first hit was popular. The DJ said this was something big, and he compared it to "My Sharona" by The Knack. That was supposedly the beginning of New Wave, and this DJ seemed to think Nirvana was introducing the next big thing.

Nirvana was not New Wave. That started in the late 70's/early 80's. (The Knack wasn't considered New Wave either. Just annoying.)

 

[Mediafrog+]

Nirvana was not New Wave. That started in the late 70's/early 80's.

To me New Wave was either European in origin, or heavily influenced by European groups. It was quite distinct from what was considered typical Rock at the time.

You are correct about the time frame.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Nirvana was not New Wave. That started in the late 70's/early 80's. (The Knack wasn't considered New Wave either. Just annoying.)

I was making the point that the DJ said The Knack seemed to be introducing a new era of music, and at the time, I thought The Knack WAS New Wave.

And then Nirvana was doing something comparable. If The Knack wasn't truly introducing a new era of music, then the DJ was wrong.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I was making the point that the DJ said The Knack seemed to be introducing a new era of music, and at the time, I thought The Knack WAS New Wave.

And then Nirvana was doing something comparable. If The Knack wasn't truly introducing a new era of music, then the DJ was wrong.

I'll agree with you on all that. The DJ was wrong, The Knack were more a reaction to the Disco era (honestly, I never thought they were even as good as "Rock & Roll Hootchie Koo" by Rick Derringer) and the term New Wave was just starting to be used so I can see a lot of people -- yourself included -- not having a better ide of what it was ... and wasn't.

I thought even less of Nirvana than I did The Knack, to be honest.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Why is it, every classic rock,adult,and classic hits, alternative station have to play Nirvana?
I gotta hear the answer...even Sunny 103.1 ? Seriously?..
To me,they were mediocre at best....

Your answer is right there. “To me.” That’s irrelevant.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Why is it, every classic rock,adult,and classic hits, alternative station have to play Nirvana?
I gotta hear the answer...even Sunny 103.1 ? Seriously?..
To me,they were mediocre at best....

Your answer is right there. “To me.” That’s irrelevant.

Earlier in this thread, you challenged me about music research done by stations. Please understand that we go with the consensus, not individual listeners' opinions. David (Eduardo) Gleason has a term for people like you who buck the consensus ... outliers.

You are entitled to your personal opinion about Nirvana. Personally, I am not a fan of theirs either. But the research says that the majority do like certain songs by them and in a format that includes the 90's -- Classic Rock, Adult Hits, Alternative, Classic Hits -- they are part of keeping the core audience happy.

If you don't like that, we're not exactly sorry to see the naysayers stop listening. It's less of a headache to program without your complaining. So, Mr. "Critic", you can call yourself that all you want ... but no one with the power is going to listen to what you say, if it's all going to be along the tones of what you have said here.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I had to change stations yesterday because the oldies station played AC/DC. Normally there are a lot of good songs. Sometimes they play more songs that I don't like, but usually the station is good.

I changed to this station.

1110 New Format

What's your guess? I know I'm not the first to guess this, but I bet it'll be sports-talk, WFNZ simulcast. I also predict the calls will change to WFNZ, and 92.7 will become WFNZ-FM. I hope I'm wrong on that, I think 1110 should stay WBT. But I predict 107.9 will change from WBT-FM to WBT, and...

radiodiscussions.com

But I came back.

 

[kwthom]

So.....

It seems the answer is "outliers are gonna be outliers". 🤔 One listener isn't going to sway that station owner.

Those consensus (for any station) selections will continue to be played, according to the desires of the people who pay the bills AND BUY THE ADVERTISING for the station.

 

[TexasTom]

I had to change stations yesterday because the oldies station played AC/DC. Normally there are a lot of good songs. Sometimes they play more songs that I don't like, but usually the station is good.

I have the same reaction to AC/DC, and I was surprised when "You Shook Me All Night Long" started popping up on oldies, er, "classic hits" stations. That song peaked at #35 back in late 1980 or the beginning of 1981 and got absolutely no airplay on any of the Top 40 stations that I listened to at the time.

But I guess it serves as a reminder that even on classic hits the songs get played based on their popularity today, not their popularity at the time that they first came out.

Another example of that is "Carry on Wayward Son" from Kansas. It charted higher than "You Shook Me All Night Long" when it first came out (it peaked at #11) but didn't get a whole heck of a lot of Top 40 airplay either. And once it fell off the chart, it was completely gone from Top 40 radio. Unlike "You Shook Me All night Long", it's also one of my favorite songs from when I was young so I did pay attention to what happened with it and saw that it eventually became a classic rock staple. And from there it must have gained enough familiarity with the classic hits listeners for it to cross over to what is essentially a pop oldies format. Because now I hear it a lot on classic hits stations, not just classic rock stations.

Again, it isn't based on what Top 40 listeners thought of the song way back when, but rather how classic hits listeners today feel about it. And while usually it is songs that got a lot of Top 40 airplay that live on, both of those songs are reminders that it doesn't always work that way.

 

[vchimpanzee]

"Carry on Wayward Son" wouldn't make me change stations. It has good parts.

But this oldies station where I heard AC/DC goes all the way back to the 50s sometimes, and a lot of the songs are soft. I even heard "Everybody Loves Somebody" by Dean Martin! I didn't even know they played songs like that.

Still, 20 years ago a full-power oldies FM in the area played both Kiss and Sinatra.