^I know I'm posting out of ignorance here, but IMO both Pink Floyd and the Stones released notable amounts of crap that really shouldn't be played on the radio, so not every track in their library should be played; also, methinks the royalties required are greater for playing a bunch of tracks once each than playing a few tracks several times, like the royalties per play of a track decrease with the number of plays in a week.

Anyway, I'm surprised that WRRM (Cincinnati) hasn't started playing "Call Me Maybe"; it's an Adult Contemporary station popular with Baby Boomers and with restaurants who want to play inoffensive music and can't afford Muzak, and it frequently plays recent upbeat tracks like "Come On Get Higher" and "The Edge of Glory" and "The Climb" and "The One That Got Away" and "Raise Your Glass": http://www.warm98.com/OnAir/Whatwasthatsong/tabid/446/Default.aspx

I mean this is crazy

6/8/2012 12:47:06 AM

One thing PDs take into consideration is how long a person is listening. That data is compiled during the Arbitron ratings periods. People participating in the survey must indicate when they listened, what station they listened to and for how long. Typically, the average listening time is 15 minutes, which is why they play the same songs so close together, because they assume the chances of hearing it back to back are slim. Unfortunately, that's just not how it really works.

They rolled out a new survey device a few years ago called PPM (Portable People Meter...I think) that the participant takes with them everywhere for the survey period. It automatically detects which station they are listening to, and the duration, and reports it back to Arbitron for data collection. I doubt there has been a significant impact in the results that have warranted any programming changes.

The stations are more concerned with how they rank over the other stations (market share) than what their listeners ultimately want to hear. Most PDs will just stick so close to their shitty format, regardless of what listeners email them, request, etc. The reason 96.1 won't change is because they have no rival in this market. They won't play new rock because they feel that the demographic for that music doesn't make enough money to be worth catering to, so they target the 35-55 demo who grew up listening to music that was released over 20 years ago, because they feel these listeners are established, have income and can buy the products and services offered by their advertisers. The problem with that sales formula is that it's getting phased out and is dying, just like Terrestrial radio...

tl;dr

6/8/2012 4:57:40 PM

^I call BS on the average listener stats. My dad listens to the radio all day at work. It used to annoy me when I worked with him. Plenty of people also spend over an hour a day traveling in their car because of where they live in relation to the location of their job. Plus most stations have call in contests for their loyal listeners. They are able to play these games since thousands of people listen to the same station all day, everyday.

6/15/2012 10:09:29 PM