The Cause of Radio Playlist Predictability?

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I'm writing an article about this for my school's paper. I was just wondering if anybody who has had experience working in radio has any insight to how playlists are determined, and if anyone could point me to some statistical information regarding what gets played and what doesn't. Discussion is also welcome, how big a role does ClearChannel play, that sort of thing. Thanks

― Zach Ayres (Z_Ayres), Thursday, 29 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.jonesradio.com/MusicProgramming/index.html

http://www.jonesradio.com/MusicFormats/index.html

― (Jon L), Friday, 30 April 2004 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

classic alternative

― (Jon L), Friday, 30 April 2004 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

go actually talk to someone who works in radio. If you're writing for your school's paper, quotes from the radio people in your area will have more impact on your readers anyway. However, go to the interview prepared with scenarios that your research has shown are common to the industry because some radio people will always choose PR over truth.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 30 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I'm doing that even as I speak, er...type, actually. I'm more or less just looking for good statistical resources.

― Zach Ayres (Z_Ayres), Friday, 30 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

It would also be appreciated if anybody had any insight to the process of demographic research and auditorium tests.

― Zach Ayres (Z_Ayres), Friday, 30 April 2004 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Trace the history as well. The Telecommunications Act pushed by House Republicans but signed by Clinton that allowed Clear Channel to become a monopoly and narrow playlists even further...Or how about writing about Lee Abrams who turned early 70s free-form radio into formated Album Oriented Rock(AOR). Ironically enough I believe Abrams now works for one othose satellite radio companies.

― Steve Kiviat (Steve K), Friday, 30 April 2004 02:01 (twenty-two years ago)

nineteen years pass...

About the best thread I can find...I was out having coffee, and whatever station they had on played Rob Base's "It Takes Two" and Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" back-to-back. Unless there's some new format I'm not aware of, having a hard time figuring out what kind of station would do that. (Definitely the radio, not a playlist.)

― clemenza, Friday, 7 July 2023 00:46 (two years ago)

(I approve wholeheartedly, even though I'd happily replace the Phil Collins side of that with a few hundred comparable songs.)

― clemenza, Friday, 7 July 2023 00:49 (two years ago)

it wasn't a slightly more adventurous than average jack-fm/bob-fm type?

― dyl, Friday, 7 July 2023 04:11 (two years ago)

three months pass...

Thought this was interesting:

Sean Ross, a longtime journalist and radio consultant who writes the Ross on Radio newsletter, reignited my interest in top 40 with a column he did a few weeks ago. Citing Guy Zapoleon, another veteran consultant who keeps track of the number of "power rotation" tracks top 40 radio will play in any given year, 2020 was considered a slow year with 30 power tracks. This year, 2023, there will be 17 or 18. And Doja Cat's "Paint the Town Red," as of about 10 days ago, is only track less than 10 weeks old.

...

Now, the era of the aggressive promotion by record labels of songs to radio is just about extinct, replaced by streaming. "Increasingly, labels won't bring a song to radio without a 'streaming story', and radio doesn't want them to," Sean Ross said. "Radio doesn't want the responsibility [of choosing hits]. One of the reasons you don't recognize anything beyond the top 17 [in a year] is that the pipeline from labels to radio has broken down. Labels don't want to spend the money, and it's not necessary."

― jaymc, Monday, 23 October 2023 23:11 (two years ago)

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