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From: bristol@hou2h.UUCP (N.BRISTOL)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: How radio stations work
Message-ID: <480@hou2h.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Jun-84 19:18:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: hou2h.480
Posted: Tue Jun  5 19:18:18 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Jun-84 06:11:34 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 31


In Stuart Lewis' article on playlists, he says
that the disc jockeys and the program managers
fill keep track of how many times a cut from 
an album is played.  This information is passed
on to trade journals such as Billboard.  If disc jockeys
and program managers use the Billboard list
to determine the station's play list, the process
seems to be self-perpetuating.  If an album is considered hot,
a certain cut gets played alot.
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.

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

Radio stations play music that is selling well.
But listeners have a tendency to buy what
they hear.  How does this cycle get started?

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?

Gil Bristol
hou2h!bristol