• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Why is the Variety Hits format Rock Based?

R

robthomas

Inactive
Inactive User
The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play a disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing wrong with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with ONLY rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they don't play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great and maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???

Also, I had read elsewhere that no one caters to the 90's crowd and I have to agree with that. You know I have XM and I listen to 90's on 9 all the time and it is a greta presentation. There is so much variety in there it isnt even funny. Of course you'll hear repeats of songs, but I'll tell ya, that station was a HUGE selling point to me (I got it Christams 2003, so I was 25 at the time). I would like to see a format in FM that focuses on 90's MUSIC(with maybe some 1989 and 2000 songs thrown in there too). And not the same tired old
songs we always hear from the 90's, but I mean something to give the "WOW" factor. Someone said on the NYC board that they heard JACK play Roxette "Joyride" and had a "WOW" moment. I hear that plenty on 90's on 9.

Any comments?
 
I agree wholeheartedly that no one is catering to folks who want to hear 90's music. BEN-FM has some interesting things thrown in that might appeal to that crowd. I think I've heard some 90's stuff on there like Ace of Base and maybe Bonnie Raitt.

The reason you're not hearing adult urban stuff on your Variety Hits station is two-fold: #1, You have at least three other stations in town that can--and do--play those songs...and #2, Variety Hits is very tightly researched to play only the biggest hits that will be favorites with the largest possible portion of the target audience. If any song is gonna turn off too many people, it doesn't make it on the air.

Not to worry: This whole thing is a fad. It's like a bad dream. And it'll be over soon. Infinity (and, of course, GM Philadelphia) will be scrambling madly on the morning they wake up to find Bobby Ewing standing in the shower.*

<font size="1">*- If you get that reference, I am going to have to pay out some sort of prize.</font size>


> The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I
> remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play a
> disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing wrong
> with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with ONLY
> rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they don't
> play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great and
> maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still
> considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???
>
> Also, I had read elsewhere that no one caters to the 90's
> crowd and I have to agree with that. You know I have XM and
> I listen to 90's on 9 all the time and it is a greta
> presentation. There is so much variety in there it isnt
> even funny. Of course you'll hear repeats of songs, but
> I'll tell ya, that station was a HUGE selling point to me (I
> got it Christams 2003, so I was 25 at the time). I would
> like to see a format in FM that focuses on 90's MUSIC(with
> maybe some 1989 and 2000 songs thrown in there too). And
> not the same tired old
> songs we always hear from the 90's, but I mean something to
> give the "WOW" factor. Someone said on the NYC board that
> they heard JACK play Roxette "Joyride" and had a "WOW"
> moment. I hear that plenty on 90's on 9.
>
> Any comments?
>
 
Uh huh....

> The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I
> remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play a
> disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing wrong
> with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with ONLY
> rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they don't
> play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great and
> maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still
> considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???
>

Yep...sounds like yet another kid bitchin' about too much rock and not enough what they like. Look, whether you want to admit it or not, Philly is STILL a rock town, bottom line. Sure, they will try to tell you it's more New York scaled back....BUT! The blue collar far outweighs the white collar aspect. Hence, you need to play rock to make a dent in this town. <P ID="signature">______________
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
Re: Uh huh....

Actually, he was simply asking a format question. You sound like the broken record (again--and again--and again--and again). I will never understand why rock fans/rhythm-haters on this board get so defensive--to the point of being obnoxious.

Don't take it personal. Just stating a very obvious fact.


> > The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I
> > remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play a
> > disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing wrong
> > with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with ONLY
> > rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they
> don't
> > play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great and
> > maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still
> > considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???
> >
>
> Yep...sounds like yet another kid bitchin' about too much
> rock and not enough what they like. Look, whether you want
> to admit it or not, Philly is STILL a rock town, bottom
> line. Sure, they will try to tell you it's more New York
> scaled back....BUT! The blue collar far outweighs the white
> collar aspect. Hence, you need to play rock to make a dent
> in this town.
>
 
Re: Uh huh....

>you need to play rock to make a dent
> in this town.

Like Arbitron Rated #3 - WDAS-FM?
Or Arbitron Rated #5 - WUSL?
Or maybe Arbitron Rated #7 - WRNB?

The ONLY Rock station in the top TEN is WYSP - which is largely driven by Stern's morning numbers.
 
> I agree wholeheartedly that no one is catering to folks who
> want to hear 90's music. BEN-FM has some interesting things
> thrown in that might appeal to that crowd. I think I've
> heard some 90's stuff on there like Ace of Base and maybe
> Bonnie Raitt.
>
> The reason you're not hearing adult urban stuff on your
> Variety Hits station is two-fold: #1, You have at least
> three other stations in town that can--and do--play those
> songs...and #2, Variety Hits is very tightly researched to
> play only the biggest hits that will be favorites with the
> largest possible portion of the target audience. If any
> song is gonna turn off too many people, it doesn't make it
> on the air.
>
> Not to worry: This whole thing is a fad. It's like a bad
> dream. And it'll be over soon. Infinity (and, of course,
> GM Philadelphia) will be scrambling madly on the morning
> they wake up to find Bobby Ewing standing in the shower.*
>
> *- If you get that reference, I am going to have to pay out
> some sort of prize.
>
Having watched Dallas beginning to end, I get that reference completely...what's my prize?

Jack/Ben/Bob/Joe/Frank/Apu may be a fad...but I don't think it will follow the trend of the spectacular jammin oldies flame out. As has been said in other posts, this so-called variety hits format is basically oldies for a new generation, but without the stigma of the name. Throwing in some current hits makes it a little different, but at its core, they've just brought down the age of the oldies. With low overhead, I think we'll see the format go on for a while (maybe not in every city, and I don't think there will be many Jack vs Jake wars like the old top 40 battles).

That all said, to me, the mixing of songs on Ben isn't all that different from what some of the last great MOR stations did before they gave way to more tightly formatted FM stations. WIP would go from Madonna to Frank Sinatra, from Heart to the Beatles. Heck, that's more of a change up than Ben delivers sometimes.
 
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

>
> Yep...sounds like yet another kid bitchin' about too much
> rock and not enough what they like. Look, whether you want
> to admit it or not, Philly is STILL a rock town, bottom
> line. Sure, they will try to tell you it's more New York
> scaled back....BUT! The blue collar far outweighs the white
> collar aspect. Hence, you need to play rock to make a dent
> in this town.
>

I'm not a kid, I'm 30 years old. It has nothing to do with too much rock either. It's the fact that if you are gonna play dance or urban cuts on a station that "plays everything" or "plays whatever they want" (Whatever happened to what THE LISTENER WANTS???) then maybe they should reconsider.
 
Re: Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

> I'm not a kid, I'm 30 years old. It has nothing to do with
> too much rock either. It's the fact that if you are gonna
> play dance or urban cuts on a station that "plays
> everything" or "plays whatever they want" (Whatever happened
> to what THE LISTENER WANTS???) then maybe they should
> reconsider.
>
At the end of the day, it's not about the LISTENER, singular, it's about the LISTENERS, plural, and what the greater number of ears is projected to prefer. If your research points you to rock based having the best shot, what would you go with?
 
Re: Uh huh....

> Actually, he was simply asking a format question. You sound
> like the broken record (again--and again--and again--and
> again). I will never understand why rock fans/rhythm-haters
> on this board get so defensive--to the point of being
> obnoxious.
>
> Don't take it personal. Just stating a very obvious fact.

Interesting point...BUT! What would be more of a broken record?

My rants...or...

"Station X sucks, they should flip dance"

"What this town needs is a dance station"

And we've gone through why we rock fans get defensive. We're told we're out of touch, dare I say old...and it's always "why don't you give it a chance". I've been to nightclubs and, ok it's a stretch, passed by (insert trendy fashion store name here). I've heard it....I don't like it. Whatever happened to individual choice? You like dance, (not necessarily you) that's fine! Don't jam it down everyone else's throats. I am very comfortable being the minority on these boards. I call it a delicate balance.


>
> > > The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I
> > > remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play a
> > > disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing wrong
>
> > > with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with ONLY
>
> > > rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they
> > don't
> > > play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great and
>
> > > maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still
> > > considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???
> > >

There's a BIG difference between variety and just being all over the place. There has to be some kind of structure. Sure, we radio geeks would check out "Trainwreck Radio", but it wouldn't drive sales, and that, sadly is the bottom line. I think we can ALL agree that sales, not programming, drives radio in 2005. I can also say Variety Hits is NOT the savior of terrestrial radio....far from it!

> > Yep...sounds like yet another kid bitchin' about too much
> > rock and not enough what they like. Look, whether you want
>
> > to admit it or not, Philly is STILL a rock town, bottom
> > line. Sure, they will try to tell you it's more New York
> > scaled back....BUT! The blue collar far outweighs the
> white
> > collar aspect. Hence, you need to play rock to make a dent
>
> > in this town.
> >
>

Point of reference, robthomas is 30. I am 35, almost 36. To me, sorry, he's a kid. Maybe I should have used "young whippersnapper" *giggles - hand over mouth*<P ID="signature">______________
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
Re: Uh huh....

I guess you don't get it. He wasn't ramming anything down anyone's throat but you jumped on the opportunity to do just that. Never mind, man.

> > Actually, he was simply asking a format question. You
> sound
> > like the broken record (again--and again--and again--and
> > again). I will never understand why rock
> fans/rhythm-haters
> > on this board get so defensive--to the point of being
> > obnoxious.
> >
> > Don't take it personal. Just stating a very obvious fact.
>
>
> Interesting point...BUT! What would be more of a broken
> record?
>
> My rants...or...
>
> "Station X sucks, they should flip dance"
>
> "What this town needs is a dance station"
>
> And we've gone through why we rock fans get defensive. We're
> told we're out of touch, dare I say old...and it's always
> "why don't you give it a chance". I've been to nightclubs
> and, ok it's a stretch, passed by (insert trendy fashion
> store name here). I've heard it....I don't like it. Whatever
> happened to individual choice? You like dance, (not
> necessarily you) that's fine! Don't jam it down everyone
> else's throats. I am very comfortable being the minority on
> these boards. I call it a delicate balance.
>
>
> >
> > > > The name of the format says itself is VARIETY HITS. I
>
> > > > remember when WMGK was all 70's hits, they would play
> a
> > > > disco song and a classic rock song. I saw nothing
> wrong
> >
> > > > with it. Why are they pigeonholing themselves with
> ONLY
> >
> > > > rock. I mean rock the way we all think rock, and they
> > > don't
> > > > play ANY older urban...A George Benson song is great
> and
> >
> > > > maybe a Groove is in the Heart, but they were still
> > > > considered POP/ROCK. Where is the other VARIETY???
> > > >
>
> There's a BIG difference between variety and just being all
> over the place. There has to be some kind of structure.
> Sure, we radio geeks would check out "Trainwreck Radio", but
> it wouldn't drive sales, and that, sadly is the bottom line.
> I think we can ALL agree that sales, not programming, drives
> radio in 2005. I can also say Variety Hits is NOT the savior
> of terrestrial radio....far from it!
>
> > > Yep...sounds like yet another kid bitchin' about too
> much
> > > rock and not enough what they like. Look, whether you
> want
> >
> > > to admit it or not, Philly is STILL a rock town, bottom
> > > line. Sure, they will try to tell you it's more New York
>
> > > scaled back....BUT! The blue collar far outweighs the
> > white
> > > collar aspect. Hence, you need to play rock to make a
> dent
> >
> > > in this town.
> > >
> >
>
> Point of reference, robthomas is 30. I am 35, almost 36. To
> me, sorry, he's a kid. Maybe I should have used "young
> whippersnapper" *giggles - hand over mouth*
>
 
Re: Uh huh....

> I guess you don't get it. He wasn't ramming anything down
> anyone's throat but you jumped on the opportunity to do just
> that. Never mind, man.

Exactly...whatever!

And, FOX NEWS ALERT: I never said HE was ramming anything. Just the dance crowd/record execs in general. Nonetheless....it's all blah blah blah to you anyway.

Just look before you leap. What's not to get?<P ID="signature">______________
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
Re: Uh huh....

Get a life.


> > I guess you don't get it. He wasn't ramming anything down
>
> > anyone's throat but you jumped on the opportunity to do
> just
> > that. Never mind, man.
>
> Exactly...whatever!
>
> And, FOX NEWS ALERT: I never said HE was ramming anything.
> Just the dance crowd/record execs in general.
> Nonetheless....it's all blah blah blah to you anyway.
>
> Just look before you leap. What's not to get?
>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom