FEATURE:
Single Minded
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Could Radio Stations Dig Deeper?
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I realise that this is quite…
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a niche article and, having covered it before, I am minded to return. Not that everything I do is propelled by Kate Bush, but she is an artist whose incredible back catalogue is limited to the singles. I am not saying that this is a bad thing – any airplay she gets is great -, but there are so many terrific artists whose music is defined by the hits and the songs everyone is familiar with. I listen to BBC radio – so independent stations might be better -, and it seems rare when an album track is played. This is a time when more people than ever are listening to the radio, and I think the comfort and variety it offers is what we all need. I have been listening a lot lately and, apart from the mandated playlists – which can be very boring and bled to death before too long – we rely on the mix of older and new music. In fact, not only are the major acts the ones who have their singles prioritised: there are artists/albums from the past few years where we hear the same music. Over the past few days, I have heard Madonna, The Stone Roses, and Radiohead played. In each case, it was the big hitters that were played and, refreshing my memory, I am struggling to think when non-singles from those artists were featured. I know some D.J.s like to go off the well-trodden road and dig deep, I wonder whether radio stations are limited when it comes to artists and which songs are played.
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I know it can be a bit risky playing an album track that few people have heard but, when we are being encouraged to buy albums to keep labels and record shops in business, does it not make more sense to widen the scope and open things up? Everyone from Kate Bush to The Stones Roses through to Joni Mitchell have immaculate songs that are free to use. There is no restriction from the artists themselves, so I wonder whether it is a sense of reliability and comfort playing the same big songs. Some artists get their discography dissected and explored, but there are a lot where we will hear the most entrenched and commercial songs. An article from 2016 shed some light on FM radio stations and rotation playlists:
“It’s true – radio stations do have a bias towards certain tracks. A song will last as long as it needs to on a station (some would say too long), but there’s more going on behind the scenes than you would think.
The choice of which songs a radio station will air is not a simple one. There are a hundred different factors behind the choice, but let’s start at the basics.
Radio play works in rotations. When you hear that a track has ‘been added to rotation’, it means it joins the list of currently airing songs on that particular station. Additionally, these lists are tiered; the highest level of rotation can see a song being played as frequently as every hour (or less!) and the lowest can be well, pretty damn low.
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How does a song make it to rotation? Often it’s a toss-up between the song’s popularity and it’s sound. A FM station that exclusively plays classic rock won’t ever rotate a Flume banga even if it’s copping the #1 spot on the ARIA chart.
Two of these news songs are hugely popular international hits, and the third is a home-ground Aussie anthem from a much smaller (albeit totally fantastic) local band. This is where the role of the music director comes in. For FBi radio, that’s Stephen Goodhew.
We had a quick chat with him to find out just how his role differs from that of a more commercial station’s music director.
“Well I have to listen to much more music. I would listen to anywhere between three and four hundred entries per week, and a commercial director would listen to about thirty or forty. A commercial station is looking for something that has a narrative around it already.”
In terms of rotations, Goodhew explained that Fbi’s programming is a bit of a juggling act.
“You have to strike the right balance between name recognition and stuff people don’t know. There needs to be an entry point for listeners”.
I have mused before, but I do think it is strange that new and established artists are treated the same. Often, when a single is out, that will be added to a playlist and repeated as much as possible. When that artist has brought the album out, the same single is played. I do not understand why an album track can’t be played instead – as the station is no longer promoting that single, and the artist is not on their playlist.
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I can appreciate radio stations playing a familiar track in the hope that people will love it so much they seek out the album or more work by the artist. What I run up against is the lack of imagination when it comes to huge artists, and the assumption that people just want to hear the singles. I will not mention Kate Bush again but, every time you hear her music on the radio, it is the singles – often only taken from two or three albums. There are so many terrific album tracks that have never been played that deserve focus. The same is the case with bands like The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac, for instance. You might occasionally get a nice surprise and hear a rarely-played track on the air, but there is that stubbornness from stations to keep things familiar and the same. Maybe there are reasons to do with listener figures and demands, but I find it hard to believe that mainstream stations and the independents need to be so tight and samey regarding playlists. Many will say that, if you want to hear album tracks and not the singles, then go and listen to the albums yourself! That is not really the point, is it. Radio has always been vital, but now is a moment when radio is a lifeline and joiner together. We cannot go to gigs and interact like we used to, so this is a massive moment for a fantastic medium. Maybe it is just me, but I do get weary of the formulaic and ‘reliable’ playlists – songs that people recognise and mainly sticking to the singles. As I mentioned, some artists get a wide range of their stuff played, but so many acts do get defined by a handful of tracks. It seems strange. I do feel that, with a little tweak of playlists that allowed room for album tracks, it would strengthen radio’s golden grip and…
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GET even more people listening.