> Worst segue ever was a dry one.....Sinead O'Connor "Nothing
> Compares 2 You" into J-Kwon's "Tipsy".....while this station
> (KRTI Newton, IA) is not technically a "Variety
> Hits"....they are just a very poorly programmed small town
> Hot AC....(which to me is exactly what Variety Hits or Jack
> is all about....hot ac....loose the currents....grow the
> gold....I don't see why its sooooo "visionary")
Wow, that is a horrid segue. And dry at that, ha! I think both Sinead O'Connor and J-Kwon would be angry about that if they knew.
I don't know of any Variety Hits station that would play "Tipsy". Hip hop is not part of the equation. As for the comparison of VH to small town bad Hot AC, I've heard both formats (if you can call "small town bad Hot AC" a format), and I would suggest that the difference is that VH is *much* more carefully researched as far as what songs from 1974-present that were Top 40 hits would appeal best to that P35-44 sub-demo that is being aimed for. Whereas with small-town Hot AC (where they have a little bit of everything), you can hear Buddy Holly into Billy Joel into Boyz II Men into old U2. Seriously, I once heard Buddy Holly on a small town Hot AC station in eastern Kentucky in 2000. Then again, that station bragged about playing everything from the 50s to "today", so take that as you will.
Variety Hits is imaged to sound like a "non-format", but it's very carefully crafted and built, typically with a 1,200-1,250 playlist (with a library of 2,000 or more), unlike small town radio, where it really is thrown together in many cases without rhyme or reason.
However, you're not alone in having expressed the opinion that VH isn't that different from small town Hot AC, and I respect that outlook. I just think that the research and careful crafting is what makes it work. Small town Hot AC wouldn't work in Dallas or Denver or Oklahoma City or Norfolk or most all of Canada, but the success stories there (and elsewhere) seem to back up that the format is one that works well.
As for the visionary factor issue, I do agree that it's a pretty simple thing. Hits=Ratings. If someone can make electronica or dance music into a viable commerical format, that's visionary (and I had my hopes with the late "Party" stations that Cox tried in Orlando and Miami, but alas it didn't work). But I give credit to the people who did take songs from multiple genres, put them into one format, get the first few stations to believe in it (that's the REALLY hard part), and then get the success stories to get the ball rolling.
I know that there are many people who think the format is bunk and that it's smoke and mirrors that won't last. To that end, I say: time will tell. It always does.<P ID="signature">______________
Lou Pickney
Tampa, FL
RadioHotTalk.com &
VarietyHits.com</P>
