WOGL - How not to program a week-long special

[OldNumber7]

For the holiday week, WOGL is doing an A-to-Z by title of all the Number Ones from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Turns out there is almost exactly 47 hours in total music and commercial time. They started at 6 am Monday and finished the first go-round at 5 am Wednesday. So what did they do when they started over? They started from the top -- meaning all the music is repeating in the same daypart that it was played the first time around! The same songs, in the same order, barely an hour off the time they played two days earlier (and of course, the same songs relegated to late night and overnight that were played the first time in those hours). They should have "skipped ahead" a few hours down the list when they recycled. How do pros not know to do this?

 

[mjb1124]

They should've just done what WCBS-FM did with their A-Z #1 countdowns, and stop the countdown in the overnights. I know they do that partly because their overnights are voicetracked, but I still think it's a good way to avoid situations like this and maximize the audience for different parts of the countdown. Still, it's a nice change of pace from their normal playlist.

 

[OldNumber7]

Sheesh. They did it again this morning! The second rundown went about 47.5 hours, and they promptly recycled back to the start, so all the tunes are playing today (Friday) in exactly the same order in exactly the same daypart as they played Monday and Wednesday. Really mindless.

 

[DToTheJ]

This will all be moot once WOGL starts adding 90's songs to their playlist - then you'll have about 64 hours of music to work with! :

/shudders to turn on WOGL and hear "Macarena" or "Mambo No. 5"

 

[JH_Radio]

How many non radio geektypes notice this? Sure I agree with ya even WSTW stopped the countdown overnights), but seriously who else notices these things?
But then that's why the boards exist here right? For those of us that are way into this stuff.

 

[imhomerjay]

Somewhere between zero and none.

Besides, if they stopped overnights, we'd have someone complaining about ignoring the third-shifters, not being committed to it full time, etc.

 

[observer2]

When they played the French language song from the 60s this afternoon, for the second time this week, I'm sure folks noticed. I know I did.

 

[Seltzer]

This will all be moot once WOGL starts adding 90's songs to their playlist - then you'll have about 64 hours of music to work with! :

/shudders to turn on WOGL and hear "Macarena" or "Mambo No. 5"

It'll be awhile before the 90s show up. The weakest decade in pop music.

 

[DToTheJ]

When they played the French language song from the 60s this afternoon, for the second time this week, I'm sure folks noticed. I know I did.

Was it "Dominique"? And since it's Friday, wouldn't that have been the third time this week WOGL played whatever song that was? :

 

[OldNumber7]

How many non radio geektypes notice this? Sure I agree with ya even WSTW stopped the countdown overnights), but seriously who else notices these things?
But then that's why the boards exist here right? For those of us that are way into this stuff.

Maybe not many, but that's not the point. Music scheduling software was created to prevent even one song from being repeated in the same daypart in a given week. The purpose, of course, is that the commuters and people listening in workplaces won't detect repetition. I guess the WOGL example throws out that notion. Again, they could have built in a "stagger" of a few hours overnight. It wouldn't hurt and it might do some good for the station's reputation.

 

[imhomerjay]

Never mind that commuting and workplace listening this week was at its lowest point with the holidays. And their reputation is just fine.

 

[mook]

Maybe not many, but that's not the point. Music scheduling software was created to prevent even one song from being repeated in the same daypart in a given week. The purpose, of course, is that the commuters and people listening in workplaces won't detect repetition. I guess the WOGL example throws out that notion. Again, they could have built in a "stagger" of a few hours overnight. It wouldn't hurt and it might do some good for the station's reputation.

And just how is music scheduling software going to help in this case when it's AN ALPHABETICAL COUNTDOWN....duh.

 

[Radio Wreck]

At least WOGL played some songs they don't normally play, unlike WMGK who had a Top 500 Countdown of the same boring Chicken Rock songs they play every 3 days in their regular rotation.

I'll go on record as saying that WMGK is the worst station in Philadelphia within the last 20 years. Probably longer.

 

[Seltzer]

At least WOGL played some songs they don't normally play, unlike WMGK who had a Top 500 Countdown of the same boring Chicken Rock songs they play every 3 days in their regular rotation.

I'll go on record as saying that WMGK is the worst station in Philadelphia within the last 20 years. Probably longer.

WMGK was the gold standard of AC stations in the 80s and early 90s. Competition and some bad programming judgment caused the station to lose its way and now B101 is the AC champion in Philly, having knocked off all challengers.
Part of MGK's pronlem is they are really a Classic Hits station and not Classic Rock although they call themselves that.

 

[JH_Radio]

They lean harder on the rock tracks though.
Remember in the mid to late 90's when they were "102-9 MGK: Philadelphia's Classic Hits Station" with "7 songs supersets?"
They were softer on the rock tracks. You wouldn't hear harder zep tracks at all.

 

[imhomerjay]

You'd also hear some pop tracks from the era that have since been banished.

 

[DToTheJ]

...WMGK... had a Top 500 Countdown of the same boring Chicken Rock songs they play every 3 days in their regular rotation...

Everybody knocks the late WYSP, but one thing I liked that they did in their final incarnation was "The Top 10 Songs From The Rock You Grew Up With", i.e. lists of ten songs from a certain year. I'll miss that.