Monday, May 29, 2023
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Music Programming Theory

The Hidden Cause Of Music Repetition Perception

Radio programmers and music directors spend far more time listening to their radio station than any listener. They're highly sensitive to song repetition. But before rushing to add more songs to the library consider...

How The Pop Music Cycle Affects Ratings

Music programmers know that the strength of current music is critical to success. The more a station depends on the music, the more the pop music cycle affects ratings. When music goes against the...

Music Repetition Is A Programmer’s Friend

In some ways, Program Directors are like medical doctors. A doctor's primary goal is to “do no harm”. Removing negatives and potential barriers to listening is an irresistible emotion. But when it comes to...

Programming Secrets To Adjust In a Weak Music Cycle

Music ebbs and flows. Sometimes the hits are strong. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes there are no true mainstream, mass appeal hits at all. Other times, there are more “powers” than can fit on one...

How Music Segmentation Drives Radio Ratings

In analyzing hundreds of perceptual studies for clients, it’s clear that two primary characteristics correlate most to ratings success and stations that over-achieve: Audience Satisfaction And Passion For the Music Mix A Truly Fun...

How Shorter Attention Should Affect Song Selection

In the past, programmers generally accepted a music programming strategy that started with a code more suitable for physicians: Do no harm. That's still good advice for Doctors but it no longer works for...

How To Determine Library Depth and Song Turnover

The ratings are in. There is a TSL (time spent listening) problem. The cume went up, but average quarter hours are down. Management wants an explanation. The first thought is to examine the music...

How To Sort Music Categories: Deep & Narrow or Shallow & Wide

It's great to have music research that provides a map of what titles to play, but when it comes time to sort music into categories, it takes more than a spreadsheet with numbers. Programmers...

Win The Most Music Battle By Playing 2 More Songs Each Hour

The battle over most music rages on, though today's competition comes from new technology as much (or more) than from other radio stations. If programmers could find room to play 2 more songs every...

Don’t Just Play It: Celebrate New Music

Programmers make multiple decisions when deciding whether or not to add a song to the playlist. The criteria may vary but one principle should be the guiding force behind a new "add". Will the...
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