High Levels of repetition on KIIS-FM, even on Golds.

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

I haven't done this in a while, but a year or two ago I used to check out the live music radio stations around the country late at night on the iHeart app, usually after 10 or 11 PM Pacific Time. Most of them wouldn't have jocks on the air at the late or overnight hours, but would just be jukeboxes of music with sweepers (the produced voice elements ID-ing the station between the songs) and commercial breaks. What I found amusing was you could bop around several markets in the same time zones, particularly on Adult Contemporary, Hot AC, and Classic Hits stations and they would be playing IDENTICAL playlists with the same songs in the same order. Because some had longer breaks than others and they weren't lined up by exact time, there would be up to a five minute variance or so between the stations, but it was both amusing and sad because they weren't even trying to program uniquely anymore. Just send a signal to have all of the like-formatted stations play the same playlist. It might as well be a Carl's Jr/Hardee's franchise....different names on the door, but generally the same selection on the inside. I actually never checked an hour or two later in the Western markets to see if they were playing the same lists, but I would assume they were.

Interesting ! So.........these stations are outsourcing their playlists. They are purchasing generic playlists already created, like a franchise restaurant. - Daryl

 

[TheBigA]

Interesting ! So.........these stations are outsourcing their playlists. They are purchasing generic playlists already created, like a franchise restaurant. - Daryl

No, they are likely owned by the same company. No need to buy something that can be created within the company.

About 25 years ago there was a consulting company that would create playlists. But it went out of business about 10 years ago.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

So..........it's like the corporation aired a syndicated show over all of their stations at the same time. For example, if the Gary Bryant show is on not just KRTH on Sunday nights, but all Audacy stations ( or all Audacy stations with a CHR format) at the same time. For example, like NBC-TV sends out a national show to all their affiliates at the same time.

 

[Weiserguy]

Interesting ! So.........these stations are outsourcing their playlists. They are purchasing generic playlists already created, like a franchise restaurant. - Daryl

I think you're taking away the wrong message from what "powers" and "BigA" wrote. It's not that a station is outsourcing their music selection, it's that they've centralized it under a corporate format captain (or music director, or whatever the person's title is). Instead of 20 oldies -- uhh, Classic Hits -- stations, each programming their playlist from the same pre-researched, pre-approved library of songs for their individual markets and achieving very similar sounds, now one person does it once, and either feeds the music to those 20 stations in real time, or feeds them the master playlist, which their scheduling system uses to slot the songs in the right order at about the right times, with localized tweaks for their particular spot load and localized elements. Ultimately, what does it matter? The number of listeners who are ever going to notice that WXXX is playing the same songs in the same order as WBBB and KCCC right now is infinitesimally small, but the money saved on all those loacl salaries is significantly big.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Interesting ! So.........these stations are outsourcing their playlists. They are purchasing generic playlists already created, like a franchise restaurant. - Daryl

No, they are doing the music list at corporate format HQ and sending the music part of the logs to each station. Or they are defining the playlist at a central programming office and having each station employ the same list locally.

There are, in that way, two ways of doing things: first is to actually schedule one music part of the station "music" log (which is actually everything except commercials) and then have each station in that format in the company import that to the music software. Second is to create the music library, scheduling rules and clocks and have the local station run the log locally, following the group's format specialist weekly changes in categories and the like.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Thank you to everyone who replied ! To me, this is a very interesting topic, because I've always been fascinated with going behind the scenes to learn how the production process occurs. Thanks again, 😊 from Daryl

 

[semoochie]

So..........it's like the corporation aired a syndicated show over all of their stations at the same time. For example, if the Gary Bryant show is on not just KRTH on Sunday nights, but all Audacy stations ( or all Audacy stations with a CHR format) at the same time. For example, like NBC-TV sends out a national show to all their affiliates at the same time.

Gary Bryan, no "t".

 

[Brandon1993]

Didn't KIIS play some 80s music in the mid-90s?

And I once stumbled through an aircheck of WHTZ playing You Shook Me All Night Long in 1994.

Yes they did play some 80’s music like Prince back in the 90’s.

 

[ATSFGuy]

Gary Bryan, no "t".

Gary Bryan's Show "Rewind with Gary Bryan" used to be on Saturday nights 8pm-10pm some time back in the mid 2000's. I believe it first appeared on KRTH in 2003. At the time it was called "Inside the 60's". Around 2009 or 2010 is when both the name and time slot changed, 8pm-10pm became 12am-2am. The show format also changed from oldies to classic hits.

 

[oldies76]

but twenty-year-old songs with 90 minutes to 2 hours between plays and even several plays over multiple days seem out of line. Maybe someone in the business today can enlighten me.

This was also the case on another L.A. radio station playing select 25 year old songs, roughly 5 times a day back in the 2000's and early 2010's, day after day, week after week. In fact, they called themselves K-Eagles for a time to promote that group and its music as classic hits. Thankfully, that futile experiment ended many years ago. But yeah, if they're hits today, might as well play them all you want, right?

 

[oldies76]

Gary Bryan's Show "Rewind with Gary Bryan" used to be on Saturday nights 8pm-10pm some time back in the mid 2000's. I believe it first appeared on KRTH in 2003. At the time it was called "Inside the 60's". Around 2009 or 2010 is when both the name and time slot changed, 8pm-10pm became 12am-2am. The show format also changed from oldies to classic hits.

I do recall that show for a time. It was a nice feature for an evening slot on K-Earth.

 

[ATSFGuy]

This was also the case on another L.A. radio station playing select 25 year old songs, roughly 5 times a day back in the 2000's and early 2010's, day after day, week after week. In fact, they called themselves K-Eagles for a time to promote that group and its music as classic hits. Thankfully, that futile experiment ended many years ago. But yeah, if they're hits today, might as well play them all you want, right?

The hits are the songs that get played today. The stiffs were songs that used to be hits around in the 70’s and 80’s. But they do not get played today.

 

[oldies76]

The hits are the songs that get played today. The stiffs were songs that used to be hits around in the 70’s and 80’s. But they do not get played today.

Fortunately many of those “stiffs” in fact do get played on local radio where I reside now. But they also play songs deemed as hits today too, so it’s a mixed bag of songs which I enjoy. There are many retirees in our area and many songs pass the test as they say here. In larger cities, some may not play due to the demographics. It really depends on the area ATSF.

 

[DavidEduardo]

There are many retirees in our area and many songs pass the test as they say here. I

No station with enough money to do a music test is going to test anyone over about 50. There is no money and no hope if aiming to program to 50 and over.

 

[ATSFGuy]

No station with enough money to do a music test is going to test anyone over about 50. There is no money and no hope if aiming to program to 50 and over.

Aha I was right! Hits are played today on the radio. Stiffs are not. The younger end is where the money is. Seniors are a much harder sell than those who are 25-54.

I’m keeping a close eye on this train to make sure it doesn’t derail. If you know what I mean

 

[cer1992]

When I looked at KIIS's Mediabase chart a week ago, "Sure Thing" by Miguel (which came out in 2011) was listen at 7 and I was surprised to see a song that old charting among the currents and recurrents. What makes it more odd at that, back in 2011 (when "Sure Thing" was a current), KIIS didn't even touch it at all.

Perhaps this will be a new thing where older songs will resurge and chart as if they were new? I also suspect that this has to do with the fact that nowadays very little youths (teens and 20-somethings) listen to FM radio anymore since most prefer streaming and such. Or it could have something to do with the common opinion that current is no longer as good as it once was, which would explain why these current-based stations resort to Golds.

 

[TheBigA]

When I looked at KIIS's Mediabase chart a week ago, "Sure Thing" by Miguel (which came out in 2011) was listen at 7 and I was surprised to see a song that old charting among the currents and recurrents.

Correct. Not unlike Running Up That Hill was revived as a current after almost 40 years. Apparently there was a run on the Miguel song on TikTok, that revived it in the Hot 100. So now it's being added as a current:

Miguel’s 2010 Hit ‘Sure Thing’ Reaches New Heights On Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart As It Trends On TikTok

R&B sensation Miguel has new music on the way, but he didn’t plan on his 2010 single, “Sure Thing,” going viral beforehand.

news.yahoo.com

In January, the song became a trending sound on TikTok, allowing a new generation of teens, college students and young adults who set the tone for what’s hot to discover the track. The song is a sped-up mix of the initial version. Miguel celebrated by posting a video on TikTok with the caption, “YOU GUYS GOT ME CHARTIN BEORE I GET THIS NEW ONE OFF! APPRECIATE ALL THE LOVE FOR SURE THING!”

So it has nothing to do with either option you mentioned. But it shows that TikTok can impact the chart, and then affect airplay.

 

[34james]

Gary Bryan's Show "Rewind with Gary Bryan" used to be on Saturday nights 8pm-10pm some time back in the mid 2000's. I believe it first appeared on KRTH in 2003. At the time it was called "Inside the 60's". Around 2009 or 2010 is when both the name and time slot changed, 8pm-10pm became 12am-2am. The show format also changed from oldies to classic hits.

It's now on 10 pm to 1am Sunday nights on K-earth 101.

 

[Brandon1993]

When I looked at KIIS's Mediabase chart a week ago, "Sure Thing" by Miguel (which came out in 2011) was listen at 7 and I was surprised to see a song that old charting among the currents and recurrents. What makes it more odd at that, back in 2011 (when "Sure Thing" was a current), KIIS didn't even touch it at all.

Perhaps this will be a new thing where older songs will resurge and chart as if they were new? I also suspect that this has to do with the fact that nowadays very little youths (teens and 20-somethings) listen to FM radio anymore since most prefer streaming and such. Or it could have something to do with the common opinion that current is no longer as good as it once was, which would explain why these current-based stations resort to Golds.

Yeah the only station that played “Sure Thing” was KJLH back in 2011.