HELP FOR COLLEGE ALTERNATIVE STATION!

[wvjc89]

Hello guys:
Recently I've taken over programming at WVJC 89.1 FM an alternative station and yes it's a college station (Wabash Valley College) in Mt. Carmel, IL (Evansville, IN market).

Any suggestions on a playist? Right now we utilize various charts to get our currents - where we seem to struggle is in stuff that's no longer charted.

Any suggestions for handling this stuff - do we play 90s stuff when trying to attact HS and college age listeners - or just go 2000 and beyond? What about spin ratio for older stuff, how many do we keep, how often do they play?

And does anyone want to share their entire playlist - especially those 90s and early 2000s cuts??? ;D

Thanks for any help!

 

[marko83]

Here's an idea: since the students are most likely paying to keep the station on the air with their tuition money, ask them what they want to hear.

 

[cadillacjack]

We've had excellent results with our RadioX format on Long Island. It's a mixture of current alternative, 2000s and 1990s (with a small collection of 80s) based on artists instead of "hits".

You can hear it live at www.radiox.fm or email me at bob at bigsticksbroadcasting.com and I'll send you a sample playlist.

 

[Saladressing]

Instead of asking them what they want to hear give them what they want.

I mean- they're gonna tell you one thing but in reality would be more than happy (and listen longer probably) to another.

Test out different methods to find out what works best. A consistent format that they can get used to that "doesn't suck" is what they really want. Just find out what that is through subtle trial & error.

 

[AllMightySting]

As a former program director for a college alt rock station, perhaps I can be of assistance.

What kind of audience are you hoping to reach? Are you wanting to be a campus radio station? Or a station that competes with the commercial guys in and around town. I see you've got 50,000 watts, plenty of power. And from what I can see, you really don't have any other alt. rock stations in town.

We aim towards more of a "mass" audience at my station, not just campus. We take a lot of the hits from the charts, and mixed it in with stuff that we thought was good, but might not have been charting. So you'd end up getting songs from RHCP and Incubus mixed with stuff like The Format and Brand New. And we mix in 3 or 4 "former hits" per hour as well....stuff from the 80s and 90s. We've had a fair amount of success with that.

Do you have any kind of live assist or automation programming....or just spinning CDs?? Here's a sample of a recent hour on my station:

6:03pm - Modest Mouse - "Dashboard"
6:07pm - Smashing Pumpkins - "1979"
6:11pm - Dashboard Confessional - "Stolen"
6:15pm - Stars Of Track And Field - "Movies Of Antarctica"
6:19pm - Foo Fighters - "This Is A Call"
6:23pm - Shiny Toy Guns - "Le Disko"
6:27pm - Between The Trees - "White Lines and Red Lights"
6:32pm - Radiohead - "High And Dry"
6:36pm - The Ataris - "Not Capable Of Love"
6:40pm - Brand New - "Sowing Season (Yeah)"
6:44pm - The Cardigans - "I Need Some Fine Wine...."
6:48pm - Urge Overkill - "Sister Havana"
6:52pm - Idlewild - "A Modern Way Of Lettng Go"

 

[wvjc89]

Thanks for the input. First and foremost - our students are involved in all that we do. We have a music committee comprised of our students that tries to tackle these type of issues. So student input is vital.

As to the question about goals of the station. We feel that our 50,000 watt stick allows us the opportunity to be more than just a campus station. We do want to try to fill the alternative void - which as one poster pointed out - exists in our area. But still we want to skew younger - 12-24.

Yes we have automation/live assist - currently using DL4 - but hoping to leave that soon for another company.

And boy did you hit it right on the head about giving them what they want... my first mistake was asking what our audience wanted!!

Thanks for all the input thus far - and keep it coming!

 

[AllMightySting]

Yeah, my college station is completely student run as well....with a faculty member overseeing the process, along with a couple consultants. Having a student run "professionally modeled" radio station is very possible....and probably preferred with that 50K watt stick. As long as you've got students who are passionate about broadcasting that is.

Skewing younger is fine, and pretty easy to do while remaining an "alternative" rock station at the core. Bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Head Automatica, and All American Rejects will certainly appeal to that "younger" audience.

Saladressing is right about the consistancy, gotta have that. Take that and add in good music and a "professional" sounding presentation and I don't see why you can't have a popular little station over there.

As far as finding out what the listeners want, what I did when I was PD is create an online survey to have the listeners fill out. Stuff like age, gender, favorite artists, least favorite artists.....general questions. Might want to try something subtle like that, rather than flat out asking "what do you want in a radio station." I got a lot of good info from doing that.