Would you listen to this?

[Miguelito]

Does this seem terribly unfocused and perhaps like these songs don't belong near each other on a large-market commercial station?

11:09 am In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
11:15 am Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic
11:18 am We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister
11:22 am It's Still Rock And Roll To Me by Billy Joel
11:31 am Just Like Heaven by The Cure
11:34 am Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
11:38 am Don't Stop Believin by Journey
11:42 am Family Affair by Mary J. Blige
11:47 am Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
11:53 am All Night Long by Lional Richie
{commercials}
12:06 pm It Takes Two by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock

 

[CTListener]

Looks like a pretty typical mile-wide, inch-deep "Jack" knockoff to me. Relentlessly uptempo and ultra-familiar. 11:31 to 11:53 looks like it hits an awful lot of sweet spots musically across many demographics. This station won't top the ratings anywhere, but that's not what variety hits stations are shooting for. They complement others in their clusters and tear off listeners from competing groups.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I’d absolutely listen to that. Nothing jumps out to me as problematic.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Nothing jumps out to me as problematic.

Except for the 13 minute commercial break!

 

[davideduardo]

Except for the 13 minute commercial break!

It's not 13 minutes. Subtract the run time of the last song, about 3:49, and you now have an 8 minute break. Still too long, but maybe they did some kind of service elements or some other item... or the log times are approximate.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Ok, I was looking at the songs not the break. Point taken; I didn’t think the OP was focused on that in this context.

 

[CTListener]

It's not 13 minutes. Subtract the run time of the last song, about 3:49, and you now have an 8 minute break. Still too long, but maybe they did some kind of service elements or some other item... or the log times are approximate.

Since it ran so far past the top of the hour, I figured the station had a newscast, probably network/syndicated, from approximately :00 (end of Lionel Richie song) to :06. Stations I listen to here are all in the middle of (or one song into) music sweeps at the top of the hour, breaking for a block of ads between :10 and :15.

 

[davideduardo]

Since it ran so far past the top of the hour, I figured the station had a newscast, probably network/syndicated, from approximately :00 (end of Lionel Richie song) to :06. Stations I listen to here are all in the middle of (or one song into) music sweeps at the top of the hour, breaking for a block of ads between :10 and :15.

Stations in PPM markets either run the stopsets as a doughnut around :00 and :30 or around :15 and :45. That allows as many minutes as possible in the surrounding quarter hours to be registered. A tune-out at the transition, it is felt, is better than in the middle of a quarter hour... the opposite of the diary markets due to "memory vs. reality".

 

[CTListener]

Stations in PPM markets either run the stopsets as a doughnut around :00 and :30 or around :15 and :45. That allows as many minutes as possible in the surrounding quarter hours to be registered. A tune-out at the transition, it is felt, is better than in the middle of a quarter hour... the opposite of the diary markets due to "memory vs. reality".

So this station came out of "All Night Long" at around :57, diddled its way through the top of the hour with ads, PSAs, promos or whatever, then restarted the music at :06? Is that common in the top 50 markets? I'm pretty sure I can scan the FM dial here at the top of any midday hour and hear a song playing on every commercial station that's running a music format except for the WNTY 990/96.1 classic hits combo, which may be running a newscast. I know Hartford has slipped out of the top 50, but it's still PPM, right?

 

[davideduardo]

So this station came out of "All Night Long" at around :57, diddled its way through the top of the hour with ads, PSAs, promos or whatever, then restarted the music at :06? Is that common in the top 50 markets? I'm pretty sure I can scan the FM dial here at the top of any midday hour and hear a song playing on every commercial station that's running a music format except for the WNTY 990/96.1 classic hits combo, which may be running a newscast. I know Hartford has slipped out of the top 50, but it's still PPM, right?

I said "either" top & bottom or side & side. Often, no station wants to be in spots at the time others are not, so often we see all similar appeal stations with the same placement.

Since stations that subscribe to the PPM and get additional data services can see the exact movement of meters minute by minute, there is a lot of thought and analysis that went into this 12 years ago when the PPM was rolling out.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

if this is Philly, given the board, no station that would include these songs has newscasts.

 

[Miguelito]

I'm surprised no one has asked what I thought would be the big question: "What station played that?" It was not a Variety Hits station; it was WOGL yesterday morning.

And I agree that 8 minutes of commercials is too long but have you ever sat through a set on The Breeze? I don't know how they expect literally anyone who was tuned in at the beginning of the break to still be there at the end of it!

Side note: On the afternoon of the Kentucky Derby, I was getting out of the car at an off-track betting bar just as 106.1 started commercials. As you can imagine, the place was crowded with lines of people placing their bets. We finally took care of our business and when we returned to the car, the station was still playing commercials!

 

[tvk5195]

I'm surprised no one has asked what I thought would be the big question: "What station played that?" It was not a Variety Hits station; it was WOGL yesterday morning.

I had a feeling it was WOGL. The playlist doesn't seem to be showing up on their website. I just tuned in and heard the "nobody plays more 80s" slogan I thought they got rid of followed by a song from the 90s.

 

[davideduardo]

And I agree that 8 minutes of commercials is too long but have you ever sat through a set on The Breeze? I don't know how they expect literally anyone who was tuned in at the beginning of the break to still be there at the end of it!

Keep in mind that the average listening time in the PPM world is under 15 minutes. Stations have to go for little pieces of listening several times a day, not long spans.

The main reason for "tuning out" a station are... Commercials? A bad song?

No. the main reason for stopping listening is that the radio got tuned off. You got where you were going in the car. You took the kids to the school bus stop. You went to the loading dock or a meeting.

 

[ScottBurns]

Kudos to WOGL for such an expanded playlist. When I saw the set, I figured that it had to be BEN-FM.

 

[AM/FMRAINMAN]

I actually love the direction of WOGL. The one morning I heard Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue, than Fleetwood Mac Gypsy, Rappers Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, Two Princes by the Spin Doctors, Donna Summers Last Dance. I absolutely love the variety. I would just prefer live DJ’s and not voice tracked...but very happy how the station is updating their playlists.