2023: Fewest Consensus Hits

[TheBigA]

Why are CHR ratings down? Why are CHRs playing more Gold? Consultant Guy Zapoleon has the answer: Fewer consensus hits!

That's what radio needs to exist. More consensus hits mean less repetition, more new music, better TSL:

It’s still the worst Doldrums of all time as we ended 2023 with an all-time low of 17 consensus songs.

Guy Zapoleon: 2023 Marked Fourth Year Of Worst Music Doldrums For Top 40 Radio.

So much around us is changing and changing fast. The world is at war, we live in a country divided, AI is a benefit and a threat to music and

www.insideradio.com

Why now? Call it the TikTok syndrome.

With the success of TikTok, the creation of music is moving from the record labels into the hands of your average music consumer.

What's next? #1: Don't depend on major labels to find the hits. Fast Car by Luke Combs was not an official radio single. Radio found it, played it, and it resonated into a two-week cross genre hit at the same time that Luke's official radio single was in the chart.

Which leads to idea #1: Don't fear playing two new songs by the same artist. This year, several artists were competing in the charts for the same ears. If listeners want to hear three new Taylor songs, play them. Don't wait for one single to peak before adding the second one.

Radio stations can help listeners find their way through the overwhelming amount of new music by focusing on certain potential hits and playing them to get response. So maybe those songs won't be Top 10. Zach Bryan keeps churning out new music. Not all of his songs will be radio hits. But that's no reason not to play him.

 

[tbolt909]

What's next? #1: Don't depend on major labels to find the hits. Fast Car by Luke Combs was not an official radio single. Radio found it, played it, and it resonated into a two-week cross genre hit at the same time that Luke's official radio single was in the chart.

How did Radio find it? "Fast Car" isn't a new song. Tracy Chapman made it famous in the late 80s. The Combs version just created news because he took a song written by a gay Black woman and "Countrified It".

Ratings may be down for many reasons. CHR stations don't want to air songs with profanities. Listeners can get the unedited versions in many other places. Radio needs listeners, but people no longer need Radio to find music...

 

[TheBigA]

How did Radio find it? "Fast Car" isn't a new song.

It was on Combs' album. Once the album was released, the song was available for radio to play. We're talking about NEW MUSIC here, not 35 year old songs. The Combs version is pretty authentic to the original. Not "countrified." It's 4:30 in length. No edit for radio. Stations just played the album version in several formats, and the research was great.

Radio needs listeners, but people no longer need Radio to find music...

But radio can help people sort through all of the new releases and help them create their own favorites lists.

 

[Kelly A]

Why are CHR ratings down? Why are CHRs playing more Gold? Consultant Guy Zapoleon has the answer: Fewer consensus hits!

I didn't read anything all that earth shaking. *Play music geared toward an older audience. *Cut spot load (these days good luck with that.) *Research music outside the normal channels.

 

[TheBigA]

I didn't read anything all that earth shaking. *Play music geared toward an older audience.

I didn't see that. What I saw was don't be afraid to play music outside the genre, which I what I've been saying for years.

 

[tbolt909]

I didn't see that. What I saw was don't be afraid to play music outside the genre, which I what I've been saying for years.

CHR or Top 40 is supposed to play the hits. The same songs 10 times a day. If "hits" are not being written and recorded, then the genre is obsolete.
Radio doesn't exactly have a stellar track record on finding compelling content. Many great songs have never made it to Radio playlists. Dwindling ratings can partly be blamed on lack of risk taking. As you say, Radio needs to do something different. They generally aren't willing to try...

 

[Kelly A]

I didn't see that. What I saw was don't be afraid to play music outside the genre, which I what I've been saying for years.

First sentence under "recommendations":
"Musically we need to review how we test music to ensure our research target is old enough to represent existing listeners."

Also, where does this music magically appear? TikTok? Deep album cuts?

 

[DavidEduardo]

How did Radio find it? "Fast Car" isn't a new song. Tracy Chapman made it famous in the late 80s. The Combs version just created news because he took a song written by a gay Black woman and "Countrified It".

But the label did not promote it when a couple of influential stations decided it was worth playing. As a rule, country PDs don't go perusing old CHR playlists to see if what we used to call a "B" side might be playable. The conclusion is that someone heard the new version on the "album" release and said, "that is a better cut" than the label's selection; it's a big artist so it's safe to try it.

And it worked.

In my experience, I've found cuts on an album that I thought my listeners would like better than the label release. And in one case, my PD at an LA station picked a cut on an album from a very, very famous band. The label tried to get us to stop playing it, and even threatened us! The song went on to be the group's biggest hit ever.

Ratings may be down for many reasons. CHR stations don't want to air songs with profanities.

Actually, they want to air hits. But they depend on a government license. The government will fine us or initiate license revocation proceedings, and even if we win it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

Listeners can get the unedited versions in many other places. Radio needs listeners, but people no longer need Radio to find music...

That is fine for a demographic that has the time and fanaticism for music discovery. Most people, though, are much more passive.

Heck, when I was about 11 I'd go to the record store on my Schwinn bike every week and ask if there was a new Buddy Holly record. For emphasis, I'll repeat "when I was 11". At some point, folks who don't work in music or radio stop exploring and depend on curated playlists... some don't even care about new songs all that much.

 

[tbolt909]

It was on Combs' album. Once the album was released, the song was available for radio to play. We're talking about NEW MUSIC here, not 35 year old songs. The Combs version is pretty authentic to the original. Not "countrified." It's 4:30 in length. No edit for radio. Stations just played the album version in several formats, and the research was great.

It became "Countrified" because a White dude recorded it and Country Radio stations played it. How many Country stations would be willing play Chapman's version or even let jocks refer to the original when playing Combs version? As for Radio "finding" new music, they don't try to. Lots of great songs have been totally ignored by Radio formats...

 

[Kelly A]

As for Radio "finding" new music, they don't try to. Lots of great songs have been totally ignored by Radio formats...

The problem is you don't dare play unfamiliar music just because the PD thinks it sounds good. Great for college stations, but tune out time for a pop station. And if you spend money to research unfamiliar music, expect the results to come back mostly negative simply because it's unfamiliar.

 

[101tm]

It became "Countrified" because a White dude recorded it and Country Radio stations played it. How many Country stations would be willing play Chapman's version or even let jocks refer to the original when playing Combs version? As for Radio "finding" new music, they don't try to. Lots of great songs have been totally ignored by Radio formats...

I’ve heard it mentioned on AC that it was a cover of Tracy’s song, but that’s probably the only format that’s going to be willing to play, or would sort of be expected to play both versions.

I’ve witnessed the consensus issue personally. It’s even in places other than radio. There’s to a lesser degree the same issue with TV. Everybody follows their own thing and artists now. There aren’t shared experiences and content like there used to be. I’m finding music harder to talk about to some people because they’re all in their own zone listening to their own thing and aren’t really
Willing to give something outside of that a try. I’ve never heard of the new stuff they’re listening to (mainly albums), and they’ve never even heard new songs like “Flowers” (which I personally loved). All we can talk about is the older stuff that we sort of all “shared” until 10-15 years ago.

 

[DavidEduardo]

CHR or Top 40 is supposed to play the hits.

But, since the format originated 62 years ago, the stations in that format first have to submit to listeners their "picks" of each week. Most of the time we were wrong, and our picks were stiffs. But we got enough right to keep listeners interested.

There is a website with nothing but old station hit lists: ARSA | The Radio Surveys / Record Charts Site Pick a few of the big stations of the 50's and 60's and look at the "hitbounds" or "picks of the week" and note that most were NOT hits.

The same songs 10 times a day.

That is the base for Top 40 (CHR is just a now-gone trade magazine's re-naming of that format to make their list "better" than the ones in FMQB, Hamilton, Gavin and others (you do know that those are the publications that radio used, right?).

If "hits" are not being written and recorded, then the genre is obsolete.

And getting them exposed is why labels "created" payola and give away concert tickets and merchandise. Today, they can do that with "trend setters" online where they are not regulated.

Radio doesn't exactly have a stellar track record on finding compelling content.

Sure it does. It does a better job than the labels themselves, based on history. Heck, "their" label did not want to release the Beatles in the US when they first had hits in the UK!

Many great songs have never made it to Radio playlists.

How do you know they are great?

Dwindling ratings can partly be blamed on lack of risk taking.

Stations do a better job today than ever. And the format you named, Top 40/CHR, essentially "created" pop/rock as a format when its original content of the early 50's "surrendered" to the parade led by Rock Around the Clock and all the new stuff from the mid-50's which was exposed only on radio as TV would not initially even invite the artists to the variety shows.

As you say, Radio needs to do something different. They generally aren't willing to try...

Actually, radio has always tried to catch "the latest". Go back to the beginning of Top 40 radio where stations in that format presented rock 'n' roll itself, the British Invasion, Motown, Surfing, "acid rock", disco, hip hop, reggaetón, rap, and lots of other subsets that became mainstream due to radio.

 

[tbolt909]

The problem is you don't dare play unfamiliar music just because the PD thinks it sounds good. Great for college stations, but tune out time for a pop station. And if you spend money to research unfamiliar music, expect the results to come back mostly negative simply because it's unfamiliar.

Then they continue to circle the drain. If CHR ratings are sinking due to listener apathy, they have to try something. Or just unplug and close shop...

 

[DavidEduardo]

What's next? #1: Don't depend on major labels to find the hits. Fast Car by Luke Combs was not an official radio single. Radio found it, played it, and it resonated into a two-week cross genre hit at the same time that Luke's official radio single was in the chart.

Labels can be wrong. As mentioned before, the U.S. division of a big UK label did not want to release the Beatles here. They were wrong. People who are too close to the product tend to do that as they don't "get" the listener's tastes.

Which leads to idea #1: Don't fear playing two new songs by the same artist. This year, several artists were competing in the charts for the same ears. If listeners want to hear three new Taylor songs, play them. Don't wait for one single to peak before adding the second one.

It's always been the labels that have tried to keep stations from playing cuts that are not on their scheduled promotional plan. I've even been threatened by legal action for "playing the wrong cut" and causing damage to the label (since when is making a hit damaging?).

Radio stations can help listeners find their way through the overwhelming amount of new music by focusing on certain potential hits and playing them to get response. So maybe those songs won't be Top 10. Zach Bryan keeps churning out new music. Not all of his songs will be radio hits. But that's no reason not to play him.

Radio has always done this, but most of the restrictions have come from the label and artist management.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Then they continue to circle the drain.

Some are "off" their peak. Others are doing just fine. You are horribly exaggerating when saying this.

CHR/Top 40 has been cyclical for the last 70-some years. I can name a half-dozen periods where the format had lulls, mostly due to the record industry being in a "what's going to replace disco" type of stagnation.

If CHR ratings are sinking due to listener apathy, they have to try something. Or just unplug and close shop...

But some/most CHR's are doing just fine. KIIS in LA is Top 5 in 6+ and one of the nation's highest billers. There are plenty of successful CHRs. In general, where the heritage CHR is not doing as well it is because there is a strong Rhythmic CHR, reggaetón, hip hop or Churban station that takes a big hunk of the younger demo listening.

And, as always, there are some stations that just don't have a good PD or have corporate limits put on it that prevent success. Even P&G is only successful with new products about half the time.

 

[TheBigA]

Also, where does this music magically appear? TikTok?

I have had two record label CEOs tell me they scan TikTok daily for artists to sign. In fact, the artist with the #1 country song of 2023, Bailey Zimmerman, was discovered just 20 months ago on TikTok.

 

[Kelly A]

I have had two record label CEOs tell me they scan TikTok daily for artists to sign. In fact, the artist with the #1 country song of 2023, Bailey Zimmerman, was discovered just 20 months ago on TikTok.

All well and good, but then does a pop station wait for a label to sign someone off TikTok before playing the music? Seems like that's exactly where we're at now.

 

[TheBigA]

Radio has always done this, but most of the restrictions have come from the label and artist management.

Apparently, those restrictions are gone. There are fewer label gatekeepers than ever.

 

[TheBigA]

All well and good, but then does a pop station wait for a label to sign someone off TikTok before playing the music? Seems like that's exactly where we're at now.

The music has to be licensed in order to play it. But if the artist licenses it, it's ready for airplay.

 

[Kelly A]

Then they continue to circle the drain. If CHR ratings are sinking due to listener apathy, they have to try something. Or just unplug and close shop...

In business neither of your suggestions are an option. If you play unfamiliar crap just to try something different, you get crushed. Obviously, giving up is even more ridiculous.