The Songs You Want To Hear

[MindGoneHaywire]

Good story about radio programming with focus groups. My wife did a couple of these for a "Lite FM" type station a couple of years ago. Brutal stuff.


>radio's reliance on research prevents stations from providing the variety they tell pollsters they crave. Because advertisers want to reach a defined demographic group -- say, women ages 25 to 34 -- stations have no qualms about alienating people who fall outside their target audience. In the heyday of Top-40 AM radio, a station's success was measured by the raw size of its audience; by just playing the hits, no matter the genre, a station could win 20, 30, even 50 percent of the local audience. Today, by using research to identify the songs that appeal especially to those 25-to-34-year-old women, a station on a much more crowded radio dial can trumpet its success with a 4 percent slice of the audience. That puts all the more pressure on stations to identify the right songs necessary to deliver the right slice of listeners.

>The challenge at the Holiday Inn was to find the songs that might bring in younger folks without chasing away older, core listeners.

>Allan's task was to push the average age of WBIG listeners down from 48 without losing overall audience. "We had to move to more '70s music, because, sadly, in America, if your average age is over 50, your money's no good here anymore," he said. "Once you hit 45, American business doesn't believe you're going to spend any money." WBIG was playing 45 percent '70s music, and this test wasn't showing much tolerance for more than that.


So they play all these songs that people have heard a million times, and...well, you know. Advertisers are only interested in people who want to hear the same thing over & over...and then COMPLAIN about it.


>And then the same people complained that the stations they listen to play "the same songs over and over,"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that advertisers think so lowly of their target demographics.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...011601081.html

[icarus]

I have always been disapointed with the music on my local radio station, and by the above given information I can deduce that I dislike my radio station due to the fact that I do not fit into their target age range. On what side of the age range im on, well thats just getting a little personal.

[ForeverAutumn]

I have always been disapointed with the music on my local radio station, and by the above given information I can deduce that I dislike my radio station due to the fact that I do not fit into their target age range. On what side of the age range im on, well thats just getting a little personal.

I'm guessing you're not "25-to-34-year-old women".

I get monthly emails from our local "alternative" station to do a survey which rates specific songs that they play. I used to do it every month, but I found that they still played the same old crap. So I figure that either I'm in the minority of responses or the surveys are just a scam to make their listeners believe that they care what we think. I know that I'm not their target demographic. But, apparently, I have much better taste than that demographic because despite my critical input and great advice they continue to play mostly garbage.

[bobsticks]

I want WaxTraxFM radio. To whom do I send the memo?

[Mr MidFi]

See, this is why people have flocked to MP3 devices over the past few years, IMO. No one wants to listen to a 50-song rotation of the same-old, same-old...regardless of music format or demography.

By the same token, no one wants the hassle of bringing hundreds of CDs with them in the car, to work, whatever. Or selecting which one of them to play every 50 minutes or so, for that matter.

I use a very modest 20GB player, and it's only about 80% full at that. But I could play it continuously, 24 hours a day, and never hear the same song for 10 straight days. And every single track is one I thought highly enough of to buy (or at least, ahem, acquire for myself).

To hell with the radio. I have no need for it anymore.

NP: Peter Gabriel's Security, chosen by the "album shuffle" function

[Resident Loser]

...seem OT but everything today has something to do with marketing...I mean even this place...while it is ostensibly a site for folks with a similar interest to exercise their fingers, is run by (or, pardon me, is a division of) a marketing company...

jimHJJ(...or weren't you aware of that fact?...)

[nobody]

I want WaxTraxFM radio. To whom do I send the memo?

got this?

Black Box

[Dusty Chalk]

That's the first thing that came to my mind, as well.

[bobsticks]

A pox on both your houses, now I must own this.

[JoeE SP9]

Give www.pandora.com a listen. Set up your own radio stations and hear stuff that's new to you. The feed sounds at least as good as satellite radio.

[bobsticks]

Hey Joe,

Dusty hipped me to pandora a few months ago and it is indeed good. However, I always find myself listening to some Croatian ambient music rather than old-school techno/industrial. A solid recommendation nonetheless...

[Luvin Da Blues]

For all you blues fans

Alvin Lee - The Bluest Blues or anything from this guitarist from Ten Years After
The guy is so smooth (can you spell E.Clapton)