M
Michael1973
Guest
At the risk of opening a can of worms, I want to make a comment or two about the ways radio stations try to create the illusion that they have more "variety" than they acutally do. And I'm not referring to the way the songs are programmed -- I understand somewhat how that works, and why the playlists tend to be more limited than I'd like. I'm referring to the way the "variety" is actually addressed on the air, and what bothers me about it. Let me give you two examples.
There's an AC station that I listen to sometimes, which has a very narrow playlist to begin with, but which occasionally has "flashback" weekends, where they hype the fact that they're "bringing back all your favorites from the 70's and 80's all weekend long." Usually, though, the "flashback" songs are ones you hear all week as part of their regular music mix. It's like they're trying to distract listeners from noticing that their weekend mix is identical to their weekday mix.
Another example would be when these stations that do have a wider playlist have their "we play anything" or "forgotten favorites" weekends. I love hearing these types of shows, but it makes me cringe when a DJ or announcer proclaims, "Here's a song I bet you haven't heard in YEARS" and then plays a song you hear every weekend on that station, and probably on every other station with that format.
I know what you're going to say. It makes no difference as long as the average listener is hearing music they like. But to me it's very noticeable. I do understand that you need to limit your song lists to the most familiar songs, but why create the illusion that what you're doing is so big and different, when in reality it's not? Is it really such a small percentage of listeners who really notice?
There's an AC station that I listen to sometimes, which has a very narrow playlist to begin with, but which occasionally has "flashback" weekends, where they hype the fact that they're "bringing back all your favorites from the 70's and 80's all weekend long." Usually, though, the "flashback" songs are ones you hear all week as part of their regular music mix. It's like they're trying to distract listeners from noticing that their weekend mix is identical to their weekday mix.
Another example would be when these stations that do have a wider playlist have their "we play anything" or "forgotten favorites" weekends. I love hearing these types of shows, but it makes me cringe when a DJ or announcer proclaims, "Here's a song I bet you haven't heard in YEARS" and then plays a song you hear every weekend on that station, and probably on every other station with that format.
I know what you're going to say. It makes no difference as long as the average listener is hearing music they like. But to me it's very noticeable. I do understand that you need to limit your song lists to the most familiar songs, but why create the illusion that what you're doing is so big and different, when in reality it's not? Is it really such a small percentage of listeners who really notice?