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From: ab3@stat-l (Rsk the Wombat)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: How radio stations work
Message-ID: <91@stat-l>
Date: Fri, 8-Jun-84 04:15:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: stat-l.91
Posted: Fri Jun  8 04:15:55 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Jun-84 07:43:29 EDT
References: <480@hou2h.UUCP>
Organization: Pucc Unix Systems Group
Lines: 43

> The cut stays on the Billboard chart because it gets alot of air play.
> The cut gets alot of play because it's on the chart, and so on.

	Precisely.  The limiting factor is that Billboard charts are, I
believe based on playlists *and* sales.  Translation: Once everyone who's
going to buy the single buys it, it begins dropping off the charts.  Less
airplay follows, and so on.

> Mr. Lewis' article answers some questions but raises a few others.
> What makes an album hot?  How are the certain cuts selected?

	Most albums that radio stations receive come with a sticker on
the front cover titled "Suggested Cuts"...this has a listing of all the
cuts on the album, along with their timings and other information.  Where I
worked, Friday afternoon was our traditional time to sit around and listen
to bits and pieces of new records; if something sounded interesting we'd
put a check mark by that cut's name on the sticker.  Some jocks would write
comments on the sticker, or on the jacket as well...

	One thing that makes it harder for new artists to break in is that
music directors, jocks, and whomever are much more inclined (usually) to
listen to some cuts from, say, The New Steve Winwood Album, than, say,
the debut from Omaha Sherrif.  Or Thunderhead.  Or Tata Vega.  This is
why you get to hear "Arc of a Diver", and not the other stuff.  Some of us
tried; some still are...but it's difficult to get listeners to open their
ears to new stuff.  This may explain why (for instance, in Chicago) WMET
and WLUP, which both play sort-of-top-100-album-rock, attract more listeners
than WXRT, which plays new stuff, blues, jazz, old obscure stuff, and anything
they can get their hands on.
  

> Occasionally, several stations will play the same oldies.  Is this a 
> coincidence or are they playing "me too"?  Or is the decision on what 
> oldies to play made outside the station?

	Sometimes it's coincidence...sometimes a jock hears something on
another station and decides to play it...sometimes it's an external factor,
maybe the band has just announced a concert date in town, or was just
featured on page 1 of Melody Maker or Rolling Stone or whatever...
-- 
Rsk the Wombat
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