Question about radio stations

PAYOLA......................

That's why I stopped listening to top 40/rock/pop radio stations. I lived in Dallas and discovered this great classical station, WRR 101.1  www.wrr101.com I think is the web site. I figured with 500+ years of music to choose from, they could never possibly play the same thing in a week.
Well, I was wrong about that, but at least it wasn't "Takin' Care Of Business" every day, a song I loved when it came out but was played to death.
Sometimes here I'll switch to the local rock station, 96 Rock, but last week, they played 2 of the same songs on consecutive nights during my 40-minute drive home from work!
But, if Herb is reading, they do have a "Locals Only" show on Sunday night when they play songs from, uh, locals. I'm thinking of submitting something...
Oh, WRR has an interesting history. When I lived in Dallas, it was the only municipally-owned commercial radio station in the country. It may still be. It started as a Dallas police dispatch radio station in the 1920s and eventually became commercial.
Before I moved back to NC in 2002, some company offered the city $20 mil for the station, but I don't know what happened since then.

Well, in this case it's impossible to make a long story short. Let me see if I can make sense of the "radio" end of the music industry. This has become more complex with the advent of "internet radio". I'll try to be basic.
Radio stations are owned by entertainment companies, indidviduals or corporations that rely Advertisement Income to survive. The talent they promote is provided by other parts of the corporation or "syndicate" that they have signed on with. Regulators, either independant or goverment based give them guidlines on content. Rebel stations aline with "syndicates", General stations take everthing they can get, PBS does what it can.
I'm sure this hasn't cleared up any of your questions. The only way to know is to enter that end of the music industry and see what "decisions and deals" are made in regards to... incoming revenue controlled by....?

If Clear Channel, or another of the (few) Majors doesn't want to air it, it won't get aired.  And, they are interested solely in what makes the money.  It's greed, pure and simple.   The rotation repeats over and over, and the money rolls in.  Apparently, their research tells them that listeners only want to hear 15 songs per day, but over and over again....

Not only do big conglomerates own nearly all of the market, but they also tape their broadcasts ahead of time and bem them across the country to the many stations that they own.  So now, it all sounds the same.  AND repeats itself.  No matter where you go.  No matter where you live. 

I'm crazy lucky here in San Diego with a completely, truly independent radio station - 94.9.  It plays all my favorite alternative stuff from the 70s punk to 2000s chill.  And Clear Channel doesn't own it.  It's on the web too, if anyone is interested in streaming it. 

On to the college station thing... At my school (Muskingum College, WMCO 90.7 fm), we had a music director who worked VERY hard previewing and listening to music that literally poured in every day.  Every indie label sent everything they had our way, as soon as it was released - granted, our station was often given awards at the National Association of Broadcaster's conventions, and pretty well known both for independent music and newscasting - but that's the name of the game.  Make a record, send it to EVERYONE who might play it.  

The Music Director spent hours every day in his studio previewing and researching... I was lucky enough to be a close friend.  Got some great promo stuff back in the day.

Most of us had a four-hour show once a week - a few had two four-hour shows.  We usually picked which time slot we wanted/were available for, and that dictated our show's format, as the shows were all pre-determined according to our station format.  Mostly, the evenings were reserved for "New Music".  At our station, "New Music" was that indie Stuff I was talking about.  But there were other shows as well.  One of my profs had a kind of folk thing Sat mornings, where he'd bring his own discs, and the Music Director had a techno show, which he actually spun live.  He was awesome. 

I had a New Music show, and we were also allowed to bring in our own stuff, too- I don't think we logged anything (at least I don't remember doing so), and I believe we weren't beholden to the normal rules of artistic payment for plays, etc... I could be totally wrong about this, and someone correct me if I am.  This was in the early to mid 90s. 

If Jimmy or Janet sent their CDs to my Music Director, he *might* have put it on the air.  IF he had someone who had a show in which it fit. 

I'd actually highly recommend any college or community college station.  No, not every dj will be great (they are there to learn, after all), but some are fantastic.  Just because it wasn't good at 6:00pm, doesn't mean it won't totally rock at 11pm!!

Mamabear


Thanks guys.  I suppose I could do a little research myself.  Maybe it's because we're musicians that we get tired of the music faster.  I don't know.  It just seems strange. 

Strange doesn't even come close.

Hey Julibee!

Muskingum College; I'm in Columbus, not too far away.  Originally from NY here.  Best,
Ed

Hi,

Having had a long history og being near radio, not quite on it until I did my own music show on the Internet, which I am working on doing again ... I have a lot of notes on that subject but many might suggest that they are not ... ... ...

In general, one of the best examples is this ... my friend was on the air and started playing from Golden Earring's Moontan album and ... the other DJ in the station stuck his mouth in the microphone and said "it's not rock'n'roll" .. to which my roomate and friend immediately replied ... "who cares ... it's great music!" ... and he is single handedely responsible for many things in those days like Gentle Giant, Supertramp, Golden Earring, Tangerine Dream, Alan Stivell, Nektar, Man, Amon Duul 2, Can and so many others ... that helped the Southern California import explosion ...

In general, because people are so tuned to their iPods and the lack of variety and choices for musics in a lot of the services on the Internet ... I am not sure that the majority of people that ended up in radio stations even have an ear for music ... I can easily tell you that all of us liked the idea of getting a go with the girls because "we were somebody" and their friends were not ... simply because we were in the air ... for my part, I was not immune to that but I was more worried about the music and playing it than I was about anything else ... I'm sure you can see that passion even when I write things here. The girls were nice ... but sorry ... Tangerine Dream and many other musicians are still my wives! They never left! ... and they always gave you more!

In general, the music business main concern is to make sure they get their money and then some ... and to that end, advertising and videos convince you and others that something is good ... and since we are (still) in one of those politically correct days ... it is not right, or you are not a friend to your friends, because you are different ... and this is worse exponentially as you go away from New York, LA and San Francisco ... Seattle and Chicago have their scene, but you can not do anything else! And they are not very good at experimentals at all ... and there is no radio that will bunk all that.

It had been my hope that Internet radio was going to kill the "conglomerates" ...  but it hasn't ... and we're sucked in by Sirius and XM and people are convinced that they are "important" when they have almost no musical talent whatsoever ... it is exactly the same music that has been there all along ... and while Howard and others have had their moments and say, in the end, they are not about the "music" either ... they are about the money and the ratings ...

I'm still hoping that the likes of Live365 and other internet radio conglomerates can get better and more attentive ... you can actually hear King Crimson in there! ... not just one small cut buried in nowhere land classified as 70's Rock ... and in the middle of all the other radio garbage and std's! Which is what you mostly get! You don't want to hear about that ... trust me!

julibee


Keith, I can't speak to what's happening right now with the taxes issue on the mom & pops, but I DO remember that it was the DE-REGULATION of media that lead to this mess.  And allowed Clear Channel et al., to become so irrevocably HUGE.   

I certainly don't follow this stuff... it only turns my stomach in the end... I'd rather just, you know, actually listen to some music, or play some myself...
 
But my understanding is that the latest attack on the independent internet stations is coming by way of the recording industry -- the issue of performance royalties, and the various interests and dealings therein, and which in the end does not jive with the terms "small" and "independent" as far as radio goes... Let's face it, there are the corporations that make and are worth billions of $$$... then there's everything else. Fact of life.
 
http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2009/08/articles/broadcast-performance-royalty/senate-judiciary-committee-hearing-on-radio-performance-royalty-and-platform-parity-for-webcaster-royalties/
 
http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2009/04/articles/broadcast-performance-royalty/congressman-boucher-to-nab-accept-performance-royalty-how-much-would-it-cost/
 
http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2009/03/articles/internet-radio/soundexchange-settlement-with-microcasters-a-royalty-option-for-the-very-small-webcaster/
 
 

Crg

julibee


Keith, I can't speak to what's happening right now with the taxes issue on the mom & pops, but I DO remember that it was the DE-REGULATION of media that lead to this mess.  And allowed Clear Channel et al., to become so irrevocably HUGE.   

I'd have to agree. If Clear Channel is just another radio station, who do you apply to to get on their palylist?
Therein lies the problem.

You mean you don't know? Here's a hint... get in touch with this guy:
 

 
... he'll hook you up...
 
 
 

Back in 1973 I took classes to get my 3rd class fcc license, I had a desire to get into radio as a disc jockey. The classes were given at an AM radio station that aired from sun up to sunset. Once I passed my test and got my licence, they allowed me and all of the others in the class, maybe five guys total, to play a three hour show once a week for three weeks. You did the live commercials, read the news from the AP wire service teletype (word for word, no editorializing permitted), and played records. There was a rack of 45's on the counter, and four or five to the side that had to be played every 90 minutes. You could pick the rest of the songs from that rack only.

Of course, at 18, I had a great collection of albums,and friends who would be more than happy to lend me their collections if I would ask. So, I had to ask the station manager, who was also the program director, owner and teacher of the class, about the idea of playing records that I brought in myself. The answer was a distinct and emphatic "no", and, at that age, "no" was not good enough. So I asked why.

His answer made sense. He got paid to play the four or five songs every 90 minutes, just the same as he got payed to play or read commercials at the exact time slot the clients had paid for. The rack was a group of songs that he got paid to play, but they were not as important to him as the four on rotation, since they paid less and only for one play a day. Then, as today, as tomorrow, money makes the world go 'round.

He also said that if I would develop a program that specialized in a certain type of music, oldies, polkas, classical, whichever genre I would like, detail the entire collection that I would be working from, album name, singer/songwriter, publisher, etc. and do a demo of the type of "banter" that I would present in between songs, he would be happy to try to sell it to some local sponsors. But, without the demo he could not entice sponsors, without those sponsors he could not afford to do the show, since the record companies would not be putting up any money. Seems that in order to get record company sponsorship I would have to limit my collection to artists that were signed to that company only.

There are places, college radio, some "pirate radio' stations, etc, that will take music "off the streets", submissions from un-signed artists might be welcome, but they had better fit the profile of the station, or they will be tossed. But for the larger market commercial stations, you have to submit to the program director, through promoters who he knows who have the financial backing of the production company that will be paying to air the music.

It seems restrictive and controlled, a close knit community of high dollar executives scratching each other's backs at first glance. But the truth is, money makes it work. Without the money, nothing gets done.

By the way, on my last show at that station, I snuck in a couple of my own albums, played three of four songs from them before I was escorted from the premises, never to see the inside of that station again. But if I could have accepted the system as it was and learned how to play by the rules that were written long before I was born, I might have made it in the business. I had the right voice, I could read without a local accent, do the vocal acting necessary to sell a commercial, pronounce the foreign names correctly, etc.

Gave up on that dream, though. Just couldn't wear those shoes...

Later
Albert

Radio sucks. I rarely listen to the radio  of my own accord any more.

Whenever I'm tied to the computer at home, I put Last FM on and let it surprise me.

To quote 10cc, "Art for art's sake, money for God's sake."

I spent 1981-1992 in "the biz" starting with music, moved to news/info, and finally producing a talk show before exiting for more fulfilling destinations.  There were some exciting times, and I got to meet some people that I never would have had the chance otherwise. 

There were also a lot of years of frustration because so long as the money was coming in, management wasn't interested in raising the bar or pushing the envelope to make the station better.

I do miss a number of the very creative and good people I worked with in those years... but I do not miss the work or the business philosophies that drove it.

Yeah.... we're not breaking the payola laws.... (wink..wink)

Payola still exists, but they don't pay cash and drugs any more. Where do you think the concert tickets, cars, motorcycles and everything else the radio stations give away come from?

 
Byron ... you forgot one of them ... the clap! ... or was it the crabs?

S Cowboy--That must be what's going on.  It makes perfect sense!  :-) 

That's funny that you wrote my name that way.  One time my husband ordered a cake for me (we were in a foreign country at the time.)  It ended up saying 'Happy Birthday Jane X'   LOL