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Too much musical diversity?

B

Boss Radio

I'm one of the first ones to rail against short playlists for oldies/classic hits stations. But Pete Povich is making that case with some of his choices for the morning show on WJPA.

On Monday, he played some lengthy, wailing Jimi Hendrix track in the 7 a.m. hour, and today it was James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" at 6:50 a.m. Neither is especially appropriate for the hour. I'm not saying he has to play "Unchained Melody" or some other burnout special, but there ought to be some common sense about what fits at what part of the day. Pete's been around forever and should have better radio sense than that.
 
Little guys can get away with doing stuff that makes no sense because there are no consequences. Listeners know it's not the major leagues so they tend to tolerate more.

If 3WS did this there would be 80 posts up by now.
 
Hold the phone... a good jolt of Hendrix, The Chambers Brother,or some get down disco at 7am in the morning with a can of Diet Mountain Dew gets my old carcus going at that hour of the day. I worked at WXIL in Parkersburg in the mid 70's and Kemosabie Joe Johnson was the PD and morning man, he had a theory if you play Moris Albert and Debbie Boone people will go back to sleep...wake em up with some good old rock and roll. I give 2 thumbs up to WJPA for thinking outside the 200 song playlist box Stations like WJPA and music hours on 620 WKHB make in car listening more fun. Want the same old same old 94.5 is the place to be.( Just my opinion)
 
Well, it depends what Hendrix song you're talking about. "Fire", "Crosstown Traffic", "All along the watchtower", Purple Haze", ok, that's outside the box for an oldies/classic hits station at that hour. Further afield than that is just doing a show for your own amusement.
 
Despite all this talk about how radio stations ought to sound like an "iPod on shuffle" or that "the listeners want more
variety in the music," there are indeed such things as too much musical diversity, too many songs on the playlist and
certain songs that don't belong in certain dayparts.

There are only so many titles that are popular with the audience and/or demographic you are trying to reach. There
are only so many titles that are appropriate for the format position you are trying to occupy. In research terms, the
appropriate questions to ask are "Does it test?" and "Does it fit?"

This is getting dangerously close to the treatise I nearly posted on why stations play "the same songs over and over"
(and I might do that yet), but my experience as a programmer has been that the listening audience agrees en masse
on a relatively short list of songs, and that, in general, "tight is right" and a narrow focus yields broad results.

C.
 
"Some lengthy wailing Jimi Hendrix track in the 7 a.m hour". How dare they show some creativity in the music they play. Seriously, this station needs to be applauded, not criticized. I wish more stations would think "outside the box" like this one does. Personally, I got tired of
"Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady" years ago.
 
There's outside the box, and there's just plain old bad small-market radio. I'd guess this was more a case of the latter.
 
Parttimer
We agree to disagree and that's O.K. I didn't hear the broadcast nor have I ever heard the station, but I applaud any commercial radio station that ignores the tight, repetitive playlists that has somehow been accepted as interesting radio. Leave the boring playlists to the DVE'S of the world.
 
My only complaint is that in certain places of Allegheny County, it's hard to pick up WJPA's signal. I would listen to JPA all the time if I could get their signal to come in better. They are what I am looking for in a radio station; one that has the guts to have some variety in their playlist. Way to go Pete.
 
For poster Jim Trefney, there's a lot of ground between "Morris Albert/Debby Boone" and the two selections I noted here. I like WJPA's diversity. It's the only music station I listen to. I just felt like the two tracks I mentioned didn't belong in those hours. Deep playlist? I'm all for it. But don't play Saturday night tracks on Monday morning. That should be basic.
 
Parttimer
My post isn't "relevant" because you don't agree with it? These posts are opinions only. Neither you nor I have the definitive answer. No, I have not heard the station in question because I have moved away from commercial radio. IN MY OPINION, listening to commercial radio is very frustrating, between the repitition and the commercials. If you enjoy listening to the same songs over and over for years and years, that is O.K. I choose satellite and other sources for my listening pleasure. That is O.K too.
 
pghfmradiosucks said:
Parttimer
My post isn't "relevant" because you don't agree with it? These posts are opinions only. Neither you nor I have the definitive answer. No, I have not heard the station in question because I have moved away from commercial radio. IN MY OPINION, listening to commercial radio is very frustrating, between the repitition and the commercials. If you enjoy listening to the same songs over and over for years and years, that is O.K. I choose satellite and other sources for my listening pleasure. That is O.K too.
Click to expand...


Look, I'm not trying to rip you here, but think about what you're saying....you're congratulating a station you never heard for playing a song you didn't hear, just on the theory that anything different has to be better. Based on that assumption it would then be OK for WLTJ to play "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" in morning drive.
 
Boss Radio said:
and today it was James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" at 6:50 a.m.
Click to expand...

Hey, nothing like a jolt from the Hardest Working Man in Showbiz blasting through your clock radio
to get you up and out of bed! YYEEEEEOOOOWWWWWW!!!!
 
All I have to say is that Clear Channel is very lucky WJPA's signal is not reaching the PGH metro area, otherwise, 3WS wouldn't have the great numbers they've had over the years.
 
olds442 said:
All I have to say is that Clear Channel is very lucky WJPA's signal is not reaching the PGH metro area, otherwise, 3WS wouldn't have the great numbers they've had over the years.
Click to expand...

3WS was a pretty good Oldies station in its day, but Clear Channel is very lucky WJPA's signal does not reach the Pittsburgh
metro area right now. The real Oldies listeners, who must be trying to crib a station together out of what's playing on WJAS,
WEDO, and WKHB/WKFB (unless they can hear WJPA or WPKL/WKPL), must be about ready to immolate themselves. But the
over-60 listeners are out of the demo, so should Clear Channel care? I doubt it. 3WS, although not the 3WS I remember, is
doing very well in the ratings.

C.
 
cingram said:
3WS, although not the 3WS I remember, is
doing very well in the ratings.

C.
Click to expand...

A couple years ago, my boyfriend and I were at a party and they turned on 3WS since they were playing that 80s show they have on Saturdays. We were all like "Oh God!! We're partying to 3WS! WE'RE OLD!!" I think they're getting away from that, but there are still people out there who equate the station with things geriatric and are too jarred by hearing anything past 1973 on there to enjoy it.

They stuck with the 60s music for SO long, just because the baby boomers are a larger demographic with more $$$, and now that that demo is in the "old people don't buy stuff" mode, the change just kind of grates.
 
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