This has been on my mind for years now:
Why do most radio stations insist on playing the same selection of songs over and over?
I imagine it must be a copyrights thing? Pay for usage of this particular catalogue for a year?
Don’t those DJs get absolutely sick of it after a while?
When I worked at a warehouse almost a decade ago, the person in charge of the PA system would pipe in music from the local dad-rock radio station. I would hear the same 15 to 20 songs at least three or four times a shift. if it weren’t for the commercials I would have thought it was a mix CD on random.
Time to switch to a radio station that’s not bought by some big money agenda?
I recently got back into somafm again, after many many years hiatus.
In my personal time I prefer just listening to albums on a usb stick if you catch my drift. It’s at work where it bugs me.
GeorgeFM doesn’t. It plays great music, they have segments during the weekend with a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard. It’s great. You can get it on the Rova app I think
This topic reminds of a song from the early 90’s:
I don’t get it either, OP. If the DJs don’t go mad how do the listeners retain sanity? It’s madness. (No, really. You have trades people who listen to the same station day in day out and they play the exact same songs, over and over, every day. Those listeners are demented. At that point you’re just listening for the ads…) Tune into the local community stations. All the commercial stations are just repeat rubbish. You’ll find variety and local music on the community stations. They likely need your financial support too. It’s sad seeing these stations shutter one by one…
Radio stations used to have actual, human DJs. They were smart, funny and they knew what people really wanted. After the ClearChannel takeover, almost all of those stations are automated. The music playlists are decided by corporations and have no connection to the real world.
And the Clearchannel takeover was set loose by the Telecoms Act of 1996. Prior to that, it was illegal in the US to own more than 7 units of media - any combo of radio or TV stations, magazines, newpapers, etc. There was too much media for the billionaires to own it all under the old regulations.
Jack FM was a joy to listen to - at least in the early days - because they got rid of DJs. They wanted the effect of listening to mp3s on shuffle. I have never enjoyed DJs and I think it’s pretty common. Just play music and back announce the tracks.
Good DJs can play a set and back announce the tracks. Jim Ladd on KLOS comes to mind as a DJ I would specifically tune into back in the early 00’s. This was because of the awesome sets he’d produce, intermixing top hits with b-sides and deep cuts, truly expanding my knowledge and love of classic rock.
Shout out to KEXP 90.3 FM Seattle / KEXC 92.7 FM Alameda/San Francisco. All real live DJs all the time, picking amazing music across genres.
I’ve never listened to KEXP on the air but their YouTube channel is amazing. It’s how I’ve found a good chunk of real obscure music that I’m in to. Can’t recommend them highly enough, might tune in on a digital radio service & give them a go!
Sounds awesome!
There was a radio station who’s whole thing was that they would never play nickleback. Then one day they accidentally played nickleback. The Playlists were coming from some head office 5000 miles away, and they missed pulling a nickleback track once it got to the local station.
Elvis Costello explained this back in 1977: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD_24nDzkeo&list=RDeD_24nDzkeo&start_radio=1
Payola.
The new underground radio is keying your CB microphone at the speaker from your 8-track player. /s
Im unreasonably upset about radio in my area still playing Party Like its 1999. Its not a good song, I can see it having been fun to listen to around new years eve up until 2002. It has no business being a radio staple in the 2020s. It was written to celebrate a very specific time, it was barely good enough to do that, its time to bury it.
Not only that, Prince has SO much more material to be discovered by the average Joe. Obviously that goes for most artists but it just irks me that typical radio is somehow in it’s own bubble.
Right before David Bowie died he released blackstar which for me was a huge discovery at the time. What did the stations do when he died? Play the classics. Mfr, honour the man properly and play his new material.
When they tried playing different stuff, people didn’t like it.
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Radio playlists are a science like marketing. Half the budget is wasted, you’re just never sure which half.
Stations have a target audience. They will have focused grouped this. They know their favorite music, how long on average they listen, and how much they will expect to hear certain artists. The DJs are mere announcers, they have little to no choice in what they play, and they are grateful to have a job. So like anybody working in retail during Christmas, they can tune out the music in their heads.
Yeah it sucks, when I started commuting longer I started to out on the radio as I got kind if bored of my music, at first it was awesome, then like a moth th passed and I couldn’t stand it anymore, listening to ads just to hear a repeated song again.
Its like they put the same block of songs at the same time if day so when you are in traffic each day you just hear the same shuffled playlist
Radio stations play what’s popular. What’s popular is what’s on the radio. It’s a vicious fucking cycle of self-reinforcement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola
TL/DR: music corps push radio to play their “fashionable” tracks.
