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From: dya@unc-c.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: How radio stations work: playlists, rotation, life, the universe, etc.
Message-ID: <1414@unc-c.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Jun-84 11:12:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc-c.1414
Posted: Mon Jun  4 11:12:13 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Jun-84 05:40:18 EDT
Lines: 43

References: ssc-vax.174


     Oh my God, he's from the Buzz Bennett school of broadcasting. Yes, some
people use hot clocks.  This is absolutely what is wrong with radio today,
a carryover from the days of scheduled programmes and such.

     Here is a fine example of how radio station programmers have assumed that
"regular as the effect produced by Ex-Lax" programming is what people really
want.  Of course, they have been conditioned this way.  Of course, I must
disqualify myself, having worked in major market radio too (before deciding
that you can't make money at it...as a jock.)

     Hot clocks, three cuts and a commmercial is generally regarded as bad
programming practice EXCEPT for contemporary hit radio stations (and then it
is still a bad practice in my opinions.) Why didn't you mention the obligatory
"drums and call letters" jingles before each song, or those jingle packages
which end on every different note of the scale so that you get a smooth, sexy
transition into the next cut.

     My station was the first in the U.S. to run DC-Disco from Drake-Chenault,
which is automated.  What was really wild was that they actually advocated
throwing away the book entirely. No hot clocks. Sweep the quarter hours. Long
music sets.  No "progressive stimulation" ala Muzak(tm).  Other stations in
this market played disco records on a hot clock.  The result: the largest
ratings increase in Charlotte radio history in a single book.  The station
now runs SuperSoul (medium mix) and is still # 2.

     I think that contemporary hit radio stations in general could learn quite
a bit from the experience.  There is no "formula" for success, and it certainly
can't be described on a hot clock.  Now, there are stations (like WRVQ in
Richmond) which use a computer to select music, but there is absolutely no
proof whatsoever that these techniques can improve ratings.

     The shotgun approach to ratings increase never works for long (unless you
are in a major major market where there are enough people to support even a
100 % India-indian format ).  Narrowcasting works so well in TV (:-.

     I don't doubt that there are stations which still use hot clocks and try
to be as predictable as the motion f the sun.  This is obsolete thinking, and
certainly isn't the way to play hardball.

dya