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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!stuart
From: stuart@ssc-vax.UUCP (Stuart Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: How radio stations work: playlists, rotation, life, the universe, etc.
Message-ID: <174@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Jun-84 17:05:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.174
Posted: Fri Jun  1 17:05:14 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Jun-84 08:00:21 EDT
Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
Lines: 113

In following the recent discussion on Top 40 music formats, I feel the need
to throw out some factual information.  Before going to Boeing for better
pay, I worked for 4 years as an F.M. album rock jock at 3 different stations.
The last station I was at was bought out and went album country so I figured
that was the final deciding factor.  Anyway....

Music rotation works like this.  Every studio has a pie chart on the wall
which represents the clock face into which the playlist is divided.  There
may be up to 3 different charts for different times during the day, i.e, one
for morning drive (which is usually the same for afternoon drive), a late 
morning/early afternoon chart and an evening chart.  As far as all-nighters
go, the jock usually has a pretty free hand in most of his music.  O.K., now
you have the guide - what to play.  

There will usually be a maximum of 5 or 6
super-hot albums that normally get a 2 hour rotation - sometimes as high as
1 1/2 hour or as low as 2 1/2 hour rotation.  This works out to 2 hot albums
an hour.  The super-hot albums right now are probobly the new Rush album, Huey
Lewis and the News, possibly the Cindy Lauper album and so on.  They are usuallyplayed at the top of the hour and at the bottom of the hour and in sequence, i.ewhen say Rush is played it goes to the bottom of the 5 album pile and is not 
played until it has rotated up again.

Also note, the jock must right down everything he plays so that the music dir-
ector can compile a weekly report that he sends in to either Walrus, Billboard,
or any of the other music journals that compile and publish best selling lists.
This is always done on a seperate log sheet and sometimes on the album jacket
itself.  A 3X5 notecard is usually taped to the jacket and when it's played,
the jock will right down the date, time and cut he played.  This is because 
when the next shift comes on the jock rarely looks at the log sheet past the
previous hour.  The jacket method prevents the playing of say an oldie twice
the same day.

Next is the warm pile.  There are usually 15 to 20 or so albums in this pile
and it is made up of albums new on the scene that the music director expects to
rise and albums that have already peaked and are on the way down or off the 
charts.  These records are usually played 5 or so times an hour or a rotation
of anywhere from 2 to 5 hours.  A good example of our present topic would be
the new Sprinsteen album.

Then there is a selected group of oldie albums that the stations music director
selects.  Usually up to 50 albums or so that get a 2 per hour rotation.  This
pile may be changed every week, every other week or once a month depending on
the size of the pile.

Last is the d.j.'s choice which is usually only 1 or 2 an hour - 3 if he's 
lucky.  These are taken from the album library which is not on any of the 3
previous piles.  The all-nighters usually compile 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour to
this grouping however.

A typical format goes something like this:

Top of the hour station i.d. (required by F.C.C - station call letters and
city which must be +- 5 minutes from the top of the hour)

A hot cut,      jocks choice,        warm

commercial break

warm,           warm,                selected oldie,

bottom of the hour commercial break

hot cut,        warm,                selected oldie,

commercial break

warm,           jocks choice,        jocks choice or selected oldie,

top of the hour and start all over.

As you can see, the typical format is 3 cuts and a commercial break - this is
usually in 15 minute segments - listen close next time and you'll see that
nearly all F.M. stations follow this format pretty closely.

In between all this the jock has to keep 2 or 3 logs.  The legal station log
which includes a typed format with exact times for legal i.d.'s and commercial
spots listing the length and buyer, disc jockey on / off.  A music log (not 
required by law), and the transmitter log which either the jock on duty or a
chief engineer must sign.  The transmitter readings must be taken every 3 hours
and at sign on / off if the station is not 24 hours.  This is required by law
and any discrepancy must be noted.  In addition to thes daily readings, A chief
engineer (one who hold an F.C.C. 1st Class Radiotelephone License) must period-
ically sign a form stating that to the best of his knowledge everything is in 
proper working order and that they are transmitting on the proper frequency,
etc.

In the legal station logs I stated that the exact times were listed for timed
or required events, i.e. "12:00 : Legal I.D."
			 "12:15 to 12:16 : Charlies Pizza"  
			 "12:16 to 12:16.30 : Larrys Chevron"
			 and so on
The jock on duty then has to put the actual times the events occured and initialbeside every event as he does them - if he fails to do so he must explain why
i.e. "Charlies Pizza not played due to cart machine failure 'initials'"
He must sign his legal name at the top and bottom of each log sheet, time on
and time off.  These logs must be kept for 2 years before being destroyed.

Also of interest, if say the jock has a live person on the phone over the air
and that person cuts loose with some obscenities, he must right down the words
and the time they were said.

Now, in addition to all this, most stations have a recording machine that runs
24 hours a day - this is to protect them in the case of an F.C.C. inquirey.  
The tape is about 2" wide and the recording head goes back and forth the tape
rather than down the middle, and it runs VERY SLOOOWWW.  Quality is poor but
it's only a safeguard.

Well I'd say this is wordy enough so I'll stop.  Hope this throws some light
on what goes on behind the scenes of radio.

				    Stuart Lewis
				    ssc-vax!stuart