Variety is not what you think it is. In almost every competitive music radio ratings battle, the station playing the fewest songs has been the one that came out on top. Why is that? Because when the listener stops on the ‘tight list’ station, he or she are more likely to hit on a hit song. What’s a hit song? It’s a ‘favorite’ song. Most guys coming into the music radio arena either as a pro or a high-level amateur think they’ll revolutionize the format and gain big listenership with “a wide variety, not the same songs over and over.” If we are wagering on the odds such a station will get much beyond a few hundred loyal listeners, I’ll bet against it every time.
It happened a number of times during my consulting career. A couple of weeks after I started work, the GM or Owner could say something like: “Wow, we sound better already! What did you do?” Answer: I pulled the crap music out of the library.
To a radio listener, ‘variety’ is “my favorite songs and a few new ones.” What you have to do is to format and present those songs that you select for your station with your own unique flair. Two things are important with each of your rotation groups or Categories. 1) How many times do you want to play each song in each category. 2) Where are the repeat-plays going to fall.
And always keep in mind: What’s ‘between’ the songs is very important to establish your identity.
