Teasing a song but not playing it

[kevtronics]

With thick smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfing a large part of the U.S. today, the morning show of an AC station here in NJ mentioned the Sanford-Townsend Band song "Smoke From a Distant Fire" and even played a clip of its hook, but never played the whole thing. Why not?

They do still play some late '70s songs, so a Top 10 hit from 1977 wouldn't be terribly out-of-format. It's a tight, bright, uptempo tune, so it wouldn't break the rule that morning shows don't play ballads. And as they pointed out, its title is relevant to a major current event.

And this is not the first time I've encountered them teasing a song or artist but not playing it. They frequently give out as prizes concert tickets for artists whose music would fit the format, but never get played. If you think an artist or group has enough appeal to your listeners to run a contest for them to call in and win tickets to see them in concert, then why not actually play one of their songs while you're doing it?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Generally: Jocks aren't allowed to play whatever songs they want. While "Smoke from a Distant Fire" may be topical, no one told Selector that when the music for the day was generated.

Similarly, when contesting, you'll often have "be caller #9" prompts every hour. Playing any artist once an hour is usually too much on a gold-based format.

It would be weird to contest for a band that you don't play at all. We did a promotion for Eagles tickets at a country station I worked at. I'm sure it has happened at bigger stations than mine, too.

 

[davideduardo]

With thick smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfing a large part of the U.S. today, the morning show of an AC station here in NJ mentioned the Sanford-Townsend Band song "Smoke From a Distant Fire" and even played a clip of its hook, but never played the whole thing. Why not?

They do still play some late '70s songs, so a Top 10 hit from 1977 wouldn't be terribly out-of-format. It's a tight, bright, uptempo tune, so it wouldn't break the rule that morning shows don't play ballads. And as they pointed out, its title is relevant to a major current event.

And this is not the first time I've encountered them teasing a song or artist but not playing it. They frequently give out as prizes concert tickets for artists whose music would fit the format, but never get played. If you think an artist or group has enough appeal to your listeners to run a contest for them to call in and win tickets to see them in concert, then why not actually play one of their songs while you're doing it?

One thing is to use a song that is known but "over" as a theme for further discussion and another is to play the whole song that has to stand on its own when you know that it's likely that a lot of listeners will be gone after 30" to a minute.

The average under-60 PPM meter carrying person today has about three favorite stations. They use each one a bit more or a bit less each week, and that is mostly due to mood and opportunity. Stations know that some songs don't test at all, and some test fine but are not a good fit in their station's playlist. What programmers do know is that a song that is rather negative among lots of listeners will cause immediate tune out and there is no reason to play it completely.

Stations often give tickets to artists that are not core to the format, but they know that many of their listeners will like winning them. Perhaps they do like the artist, but don't expect to hear them on their station or they know their SO or family member loves the artist and they try to win to surprise them with a nice gift.

When I was managing a country station in the Southeast, I monitored the oldies station and the AC station and tried to be part of shows coming to town with artists that were not country but were big names with our audience. So we'd give away tickets and even "albums" (it was back in the CD era) by artists we did not play.

Similarly, on a very female AC in LA, we looked at Scarborough data on our listeners and found they actually were soccer fans. So we worked a deal to give away Galaxy tickets and got on their ad budget as a result.

 

[kevtronics]

Today they're giving away Jackson Browne tickets, but they don't have any songs by them in their playlist -- not even "Somebody's Baby".

But they do play Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", in its seven-and-a-half-minute entirety. I know there are lot of Billy Joel fans in the NYC area, but I'd think that song would be a tune-out.

And don't the Eagles count as Country? "Lyin' Eyes" was a Top 10 Country hit. Then in 2007 "How Long" almost reached the Top 20 on the Country chart.

 

[gr8oldies]

Today they're giving away Jackson Browne tickets, but they don't have any songs by them in their playlist -- not even "Somebody's Baby".

But they do play Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", in its seven-and-a-half-minute entirety. I know there are lot of Billy Joel fans in the NYC area, but I'd think that song would be a tune-out.

And don't the Eagles count as Country? "Lyin' Eyes" was a Top 10 Country hit. Then in 2007 "How Long" almost reached the Top 20 on the Country chart.

Even the News-Talk station will give away tickets (and even featured in their stage shows) when a former "The Voice" winner from here is in concert. As far as I know, he's never been added to an A/C or CHR playlist, but has been interviewed on morning shows and on the N/T station

 

[PTBoardOp94]

And don't the Eagles count as Country? "Lyin' Eyes" was a Top 10 Country hit. Then in 2007 "How Long" almost reached the Top 20 on the Country chart.

I don't recall ever hearing the Eagles on country radio. Obviously they must have, but I wasn't around in 1975 to check.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't recall ever hearing the Eagles on country radio. Obviously they must have, but I wasn't around in 1975 to check.

When the group I was with bought Country WTNT in Tallahassee, it was consulted by a programmer who believed in broadening the genre and played Eagles, the Everly Brothers and a lot of other borderline material. I hired Rusty Walker and worked closely with Phil Hunt and we pulled about 800 songs from the 1400 song library.

The station had already been #1 due to having the exclusive rights to the Seminoles games. But with the tightening of the list and elimination of borderline songs, we just about doubled our share.

 

[gr8oldies]

I don't recall ever hearing the Eagles on country radio. Obviously they must have, but I wasn't around in 1975 to check.

I did, at least Lying Eyes. It went to #8 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. I've heard Country with a top 40 approach and heavy crossover done well.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't recall ever hearing the Eagles on country radio. Obviously they must have, but I wasn't around in 1975 to check.

There was a lot of country music that didn't get played on country radio in the 70s, mainly because it wasn't made in Nashville and wasn't supported by the country establishment. It was a cultural distinction rather than a musical one. Having said that, several Eagles songs were recorded by country artists (notably Conway Twitty's Heartache Tonight) and became hits. By the 90s, several country artists collaborated with members of the Eagles, such as Trisha Yearwood & Don Henley or Tim McGraw & Tim Schmidt. Then in 1994, the country establishment banded together to record a tribute album to the band. The song Desperado is considered by many today to be a country standard. Johnny Rodriguez had a hit with it in 1976.

 

[TheBigA]

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[JackindaBox]

P

One thing is to use a song that is known but "over" as a theme for further discussion and another is to play the whole song that has to stand on its own when you know that it's likely that a lot of listeners will be gone after 30" to a minute.

The average under-60 PPM meter carrying person today has about three favorite stations. They use each one a bit more or a bit less each week, and that is mostly due to mood and opportunity. Stations know that some songs don't test at all, and some test fine but are not a good fit in their station's playlist. What programmers do know is that a song that is rather negative among lots of listeners will cause immediate tune out and there is no reason to play it completely.

Stations often give tickets to artists that are not core to the format, but they know that many of their listeners will like winning them. Perhaps they do like the artist, but don't expect to hear them on their station or they know their SO or family member loves the artist and they try to win to surprise them with a nice gift.

When I was managing a country station in the Southeast, I monitored the oldies station and the AC station and tried to be part of shows coming to town with artists that were not country but were big names with our audience. So we'd give away tickets and even "albums" (it was back in the CD era) by artists we did not play.

Similarly, on a very female AC in LA, we looked at Scarborough data on our listeners and found they actually were soccer fans. So we worked a deal to give away Galaxy tickets and got on their ad budget as a result.

Probably KOST 103.5 which is their only AC that is not a sub genre. I think AC stations may also do Eagles tickets, TSO tickets for the Christmas season, and even Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift tickets. It could be 104.3 My FM too since they are also female based and a Hot AC. Both are owned by IHeartMedia. Btw most of these female based Mainstream AC stations play all-Christmas/Holiday music during the Holidays anyways.