Radio Drops #1: Care for Drive-Time Repeats

Launching a Mini-Blog

While talking with the owner/manager of a station in Georgia a few weeks ago, I went into one of my rambles about this thing we do, music radio. We chatted a while, then the guy said you oughta’ have a podcast and talk about this stuff, he said. I don’t think so, said I. No audience for it. People like to listen to the radio, they are not much interested in hearing about how we do it. Ah, but radio people will be, said he.

I have had similar suggestions before and have had this rolling around in the back of my head for a few years. That guy’s enthusiasm tripped my switch, so here goes. I’ll talk about things I have learned and observed over the course of my long career. I title the series: Radio Drops and will produce these on an irregular schedule, as time allows. I’ll keep ’em short.

Care for the Drive-Time Songs

We are in the business of playing the same songs over and over. It is our craft to make it feel like we are not playing "That song I don’t like" over and over.

Watch the video on YouTube: Radio Drops #1: Watch The Drive Time Songs

Going to Work, Coming Home

If we were in television, they’d call us showrunners. But we’re in radio, so we’re music directors or program directors, and we’re in the business of playing the same songs over and over. If we don’t, we’re not going to have a very big audience. People want to hear their favorite songs over and over, with a few surprises.

And if we’re playing the same songs over and over, we’ve got to do everything we can to avoid sounding like we’re playing “that song I don’t like” over and over. What’s important is to control where the song plays next time.

Here’s what I used to watch: the 8:00 hour in the morning and the 5:00 hour in the afternoon. People are in their cars going to and from work, and anybody working an eight-hour shift has the same kind of listening pattern. So I pay particular attention to the songs people hear going to work, and again coming home.

If I’m playing my hots, say, seven, eight, nine times a day, I want to make sure the hots in the 8:00 hour today don’t repeat in the 5:00 hour this afternoon.

Let’s say it’s just the top 10. Out of the top 10, there’s always one or two songs you don’t like. If you hear that song going to work and again coming home, my feeling is you’re going to think that radio station is not all that great. They play the same songs too much.

On the other hand, if it’s their favorite song, and they hear it going to work, coming home and again tomorrow morning, you’re the best station in town.

That is the tightrope we have to walk. Watch where the song is going to play next time, especially your currents, power golds and recurrents. You want those to play in all the dayparts before they repeat in any one daypart.