An Open Letter to Radio Stations Across the US

[sabotai]

Please play the song "Headstrong" by Trapt more. I do not think it gets enough airplay.

Thank you.

[Ksyrup]

People still listen to radio? Why?

[The Afoci]

Please play more Vanilla Ice too. His music is very undervalued in our society. New Kids On The Block are good people too.

[Senator]

Enuff Z Nuff already!

[Draft Dodger]

personally, I think Evanescene's "Bring Me To Life" needs to be played about 7,000,000 times each day.

oh wait, it's already happening

[Ksyrup]

I guess for me, there's very little, if any, music that I want to hear that I don't want to own. So, if there's a song on the radio I like, I already own it. If, like 99% of what I hear, it's a song I don't like, why do I want to keep listening to it?

Radio was good when it had a purpose, when it actually introduced new music to listeners. Now, it's just a matter of whether the same 25-30 songs are on 1, 2, or 4 hour rinse, lather, and repeat cycles. Yuck.

[sabotai]

"People still listen to radio? Why?"

I only listen to the radio at work. It's the only thing i have to create background noise. So it's either that or work in total silence...which will not happen.

And I agree with DD.

[Ksyrup]

When I listen to music at work, it's CDs. I usually don't bother, though, since I'm on the phone a lot.

[clintl]

I listen in the car, but that's about it.

[Franklinnoble]

I listen to mostly talk radio... sports, Bible messages, and news... I agree... radio is tired...

[Fonzie]

NPR and baseball games are about all the radio I can stomach. The rest of the dial makes me want to tear my spleen out and give it to Kodos.

[Alan T]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
People still listen to radio? Why?

I tried running my laptop connected to my network mp3 share on my hour drive to work.. but the ethernet cable kept getting unplugged somewhere around Worcester... Now I just settle for radio on the drive...

[ice4277]

In defense of top 40 radio...

While there are a lot of people who think the same songs are waaaaaaay played out (myself included) you would be surprised at how many requests people make for a song that plays every 20 minutes. For the most popular songs, you can have finished a song five minutes ago, and already have three or four calls requesting it. Kinda messed up, but its giving the people what they want.

[sabotai]

"When I listen to music at work, it's CDs. I usually don't bother, though, since I'm on the phone a lot."

That's all fine and good when you have a CD player at work. :)

(To make a long explaination short, no, I can't take one with me.)

[sabotai]

dola,

"In defense of top 40 radio..."

The two or three radio stations I listen to the most are not Top 40 radio stations, and there are a handful of songs they play constantly. One being "Headstrong".

I know it's giving people want they want. And that's the problem...people. They all suck.

[clintl]

FWIW, commercial radio has been bad for a long time. Here in the Sacramento area, it's actually better now than it used to be 10 years ago, and for as long as I can remember before that. When I was in college, the campus radio station was the only one in the area worth listening to.

[Craptacular]

I listen to nothing but Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" on repeat at work.

[Ksyrup]

In my experience, there is very little room for requests, whether or not the songs are popular. If anything, numerous requests for songs already heavy in rotation are just coincidental, there is no cause/effect. The playlist has already been determined.

Although I've never been much of a radio listener, I finally gave up on radio back around 1996, when my favorite band released a single from an upcoming album. They gave a list of radio stations that had the song and encouraged us to call to request it. One of the stations just happened to be in Tallahassee. So, one Saturday morning, I called up and requested the song. The first DJ couldn't even pronouncing the band's name, and said she would look for it but didn't think she had it. The second huy who had the afternoon shift, knew who they were, and told me he'd get to it. The third guy, handling the night shift, knew who they were andthought they were great. He promised he'd get to it. I called him 4 times, and finally on the 4th call, he told me that in one shift, he's llucky if he can squeeze in one request because the playlist is laready laid out for him. Finally, at around 10 pm or so, he played the song (it just happened to come on as Al Leiter was recording the final outs of his no-hitter for the Marlins, which made it all the more frustrating).

So, I spent about 12 or more hours listening to the radio, waiting for them to play one simple request. It happened, but it wouldn't have had I not been a persistent pain in the ass. F*ck radio.

[CamEdwards]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
People still listen to radio? Why?

hey pigfucker, that's not funny.

by the way, I wasn't going to call you pigfucker, but I figured that was better than calling you "lawyer". :D

[Dutch]

Well, some of us old folks with wives and kids and jobs don't know every single band and song out there on the planet and need "help" from other sources such as radio to know what's good.

I don't have the time of day to buy a CD and listen to it 50 times to learn to appreciate track 13...radio has a great advertising purpose for certain demographics.

[ice4277]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
In my experience, there is very little room for requests, whether or not the songs are popular. If anything, numerous requests for songs already heavy in rotation are just coincidental, there is no cause/effect. The playlist has already been determined.

No, individual requests are never usually put through, unless it is a special request show or something like that; however, listener requests do heavily influence how many spins songs will get each week. We log them and the music director uses that to help determine how heavy of a rotation songs get.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by CamEdwards
hey pigfucker, that's not funny.

by the way, I wasn't going to call you pigfucker, but I figured that was better than calling you "lawyer". :D

Actually, I was referring to music radio, since the original comment was about a certain song being played. I do listen to a bit of sports radio on occasion, but that's not really what I was focusing my comments on.

[CamEdwards]

I know. I was just trying to be funny... and failing, apparently. :)

[Butter]

For those of you with the computerized means, who don't live in the Dayton-Cincinnati area try www.woxy.com (http://www.woxy.com).

A great station that has tons of stuff I guarantee you've never heard. One of the last true independent stations in America as well. I've got hundreds of CD's I never even would've heard about just from music they've played. They play a lot of styles, too, from Outkast to Rage Against the Machine, though their main focus is what used to be known as "Alternative".

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by CamEdwards
I know. I was just trying to be funny... and failing, apparently. :)

Well, it's possible my comment might have hit a bit too close to home. Not that I thought you were seriously offended, of course, but to me, "radio" and "talk radio" are two separate animals, one of which continues to shoot itself in the hindquarters repeatedly.

[Bee]

I haven't listened to a non "sports talk" radio station for so long I forgot they still existed.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally posted by ice4277 however, listener requests do heavily influence how many spins songs will get each week.

As a former music director for a charting station, I'd have to caution that what you describe has become increasingly the exception to the rule.

Even before I left the station side of the business nearly a decade ago, the influence of requests was becoming less & less, in some cases the influence was non-existent.

"Focus groups", "call-out research" & marketing by the labels were already the dominant influence on playlists. The situation has turned even more in that direction as the number of decision-makers has dwindled dramatically since de-regulation.

I can pro & con either side of the issue, but would have to say that requests carried darned little weight with me toward the end of my tenure as it was clear that 95% of your requests came from less than 5% of your listeners. It's simply too small a pool to allow too much influence and the demographics of your request line callers don't usually reflect the station's core demo nor its target demo.
I'm not at all saying what you describe isn't still done, I'm just saying that it shouldn't be cast as the norm.

[mckerney]

Get XM.

[ice4277]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
As a former music director for a charting station, I'd have to caution that what you describe has become increasingly the exception to the rule.

Even before I left the station side of the business nearly a decade ago, the influence of requests was becoming less & less, in some cases the influence was non-existent.

"Focus groups", "call-out research" & marketing by the labels were already the dominant influence on playlists. The situation has turned even more in that direction as the number of decision-makers has dwindled dramatically since de-regulation.

I can pro & con either side of the issue, but would have to say that requests carried darned little weight with me toward the end of my tenure as it was clear that 95% of your requests came from less than 5% of your listeners. It's simply too small a pool to allow too much influence and the demographics of your request line callers don't usually reflect the station's core demo nor its target demo.
I'm not at all saying what you describe isn't still done, I'm just saying that it shouldn't be cast as the norm.

No, I certainly did not mean to imply that listener requests were the basis for the majority of programming, however I may have made it sound that way, sorry for the confusion. I guess I shouldn't post before 6 am ;) What I was trying to say was more along the lines that, while individual requests rarely receive any attention whatsoever, they can be useful when viewed as a whole; but as you say, it by no means is the biggest influence in what is being played. One exception I have seen to this, though, is when a song that is not getting any spins, but is getting played by a competitor is heavily requested; this may help influence the MD to put it in rotation, albeit in pretty light rotation at first.

[CamEdwards]

Originally posted by mckerney
Get XM.

Okay, now I do take offense to that comment. :)

[mckerney]

Think about it Cam, if you worked for an XM station us FOFCers could listen to you from anywhere, not just OKC. And you could swear all you want.

[CamEdwards]

That's true. And once I'm on XM then you can support it. Until then, support local radio. :)

In the immortal words of Jack Black: It's all about me, baby. Me.

[Easy Mac]

Also in the immortal words of Jack Black:

I'm gonna Fuck you softly
I'm gonna screw you gently
I'm gonna hump you sweetly
I'm gonna ball you discreetly

[CamEdwards]

that's fucking teamwork.

[Ksyrup]

Have you guys ever seen Tenacious D in concert? I haven't, but I have a couple of bootlegs, and they are effin hilarious. Jack Black is brilliant.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally posted by ice4277 however I may have made it sound that way, sorry for the confusion.

Not a problem. I had a pretty good idea that you didn't mean it that way but I could see where someone outside the business could have interpreted it that way.

And we didn't even get around to discussing how different formats weight requests differently ;)

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Craptacular
I listen to nothing but Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" on repeat at work.

Are you one of the Zappa brothers? :D

That made me dial up TJ on WinAmp....I also will listen to "Kiss" (normal and extended versions. The song always reminds me of a vignette from Playboy's Wet and Wild II), "You Can Leave Your Hat On", and "If I Only Knew".

As for the radio...coming to work I listen to "Mike & Mike", going home I listen to "Don & Mike". That's about it.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by clintl
FWIW, commercial radio has been bad for a long time. Here in the Sacramento area, it's actually better now than it used to be 10 years ago, and for as long as I can remember before that. When I was in college, the campus radio station was the only one in the area worth listening to.

Probably the best radio show here in Sac is Grant Napier on AM 1140 (sports radio) - 5pm-7pm, I think. I call his show a few times a month.

Right after Napier is Jim Kozimore, and I think he's kind of faggoty.

The Rise Guys on 1140 aren't bad, but I usually listen to AM 710 from 6:30-7:45 while driving in.

[Easy Mac]

Originally posted by CamEdwards
that's fucking teamwork.

oh, and Cam,

Whats your favorite posish? Thats cool with me, its not my favorite but I'll do it for you. And whats your favorite dish? I'm not going to cook it but I'll order it from Zanzabar.

[Fonzie]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
oh, and Cam,

Whats your favorite posish? Thats cool with me, its not my favorite but I'll do it for you. And whats your favorite dish? I'm not going to cook it but I'll order it from Zanzabar.

...and then I'm gonna love you completely
and then I'll fuckin' fuck you discretely
and then I'll fuckin' bone you completely
but then...I'm gonna fuck you hard!

[Marmel]

Howard Stern in the mornings and WSAK radio with Dr. Jap in the night.

[CamEdwards]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
oh, and Cam,

Whats your favorite posish? Thats cool with me, its not my favorite but I'll do it for you. And whats your favorite dish? I'm not going to cook it but I'll order it from Zanzabar.

You are my Wonderboy, Easy Mac.