Program Directors and Tyrannosaurus Rex

[mo rock]

This posting is in reference to a response by Neanderpaul in regards to my statement, which i still stand by, that radio stations need to stop letting listeners dictate the music. First, his response:

"Don't let the buyer decide the options on their car."
"Don't let the patron choose their meal"
"Don't let people think for themselves"

And now me:

The buyer does not decide what options go into the car when it is on the assembly line.
The patron does not decide what type of food, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc... the restaurant will serve.
and third...
The very job of a program director is to not let people think for themselves otherwise radio would be all request all day.

Bottom line, i have been in radio long enough to witness the job of program directing being anything but. program director? how about research monkey?...  a film director does just that, directs. he takes the script the actors the sets and puts them together according to his creative design, his belief in his ability to put forth the best possible product. program directors are not allowed this autonomy for the most part. i have worked under guys with 20 plus years in radio, guys that were musicians themselves at times and you need a "f...ing research to tell you what to play? sorry. don't buy that. instinct... knowledge... guts... that's how you get the job done.

and let's not kid ourselves on why some songs fail... neanderpaul pointed to my example of Eddie Vedder's Big Hard Sun, well, program directors like record execs and movie studios for that matter don't give anything much time to hit anymore. it's a great song. period. but when the masses are force-fed pablum like Nickelback, yeah, they're not going to immediately recognize something that strives to achieve rather than placate. which brings me to what the job of a program director seems to have become, to placate. that's what really "hurts". and that is really the "truth."

[mo rock]

i wanted to further clarify my point in regards to Eddie Vedder's Big Hard Sun. it really annoys me that neanderpaul attempted to cite its failure to chart significantly as reason research works. Radiohead's Creep, a song beloved by radio initially failed to chart in England upon its release as a single. it wasn't until the US broke it that some 8 months later the song became a hit in England. the movie Blade Runner was a monumental failure upon its release when it was yanked from theaters after a short run. now it is considered one of the top five sci fi films ever made and certainly the most influential. if a song doesn't make it on radio it's because of the listener's indifference... if it does, it is because of the program director's brilliance... how nice to have a position with no culpability whatsoever.

[gr8oldies]

If you dfecide that your personal taste is more accurate than "letting listeners decide what music is on the station", tghose listeners are going to desert your station in droves for another one, or a CD, an iPod, whatever. I love all these people who say that the PD should "just know" and not actually ask their listeners.

[mo rock]

there is a difference, a monumental difference in "asking" listeners and letting them, as i stated, "dictate" what the station plays. at some point, letting the listeners decide, via research only, what songs to play on the air, reduces the program director to nothing more than a program secretary, one who compiles the opinions of those actually making the choices and then regurgitates the data onto the airwaves. in that case, why is the program director so well payed? what is he bringing to the table if not his opinion? his knowledge? his wisdom gained through the years? you let listeners dictate the music and you get the same twenty morons requesting via research the same ten songs. in reference to my query of why the Blitz/ the Rock didn't play the new Cult, neanderpaul stated "the masses weren't craving new Cult." really? who exactly got this information from the "masses?" i must have been at Chipotle when they were asking. the truth is the "masses" were unaware that there was new Cult because it either received cursory radio play or none at all because some program director via research determined his listeners wanted to hear Enter Sandman one extra time in a daypart leaving no room. in reference to why the Blitz/the Rock did not play Kings Of Leon, neanderpaul wrote, "it didn't fit the brand." Nabco owns the g-damned station! it's their brand! the reason the station had to flip was because the "brand" wasn't broad enough, and why? more than likely because research told them that apparently the "brand" didn't need to be. well obviously it did. i am all for listener input. hell, i would love a PD to take into account jock input. remember the day when songs were actually broke by DJs? when those in charge of the station actually made the choices? Zeppelin's, Hey Hey What Can I Do, and Moody Blues, Knights In White Satin come to mind. Research feeds upon itself. i am all for listener input but when it overrides the PD's own instinct or wisdom it becomes a dangerous thing. i am actually pro PD? i beg for radio to put the onus squarely on their shoulders and make them live or die by their choices and their pay. is that so wrong? research feeds upon itself. satellite radio filled a void. you cannot fill a void until there is a void and that void was created by radio turning into a top ten juke box. this may sound pessimistic, but sometimes you have to tell the listener what is good. they don't always know. or at the very least, you have to tell them what's out there. and do it more than two weeks worth of half-hearted play in-between twenty spins of Finger Eleven. if only as a PD, neanderpaul were allowed to be creative as his name.

[alans613]

I totally agree with you Mo!  I remember when radio was this way, and even CHR stations didn't feature as much repetition as they do now.  Look at WNCI...instead of playing something different every hour, they play T.I.'s "Dead and Gone" almost every hour.  They did the same thing last summer with Ray J's "Sexy Can I?" and the previous summer with T-Pain's "Buy U A Drank".  Throw an unfamiliar song in there-or something, ANYTHING different, say some 90s CHR gold, and see what happens, and play "Dead and Gone" every other hour.  Yes, I understand WNCI is a Top 40 station but this much repetition is inexcusable and builds burn on a song quickly.  I know every time when I get into the car and punch up WNCI what will be playing. 

[mo rock]

haven't you heard? radio isn't interested in expanding your vocabulary, because that would mean they would have to expand theirs... and why do that when "research" shows you primarily use the same ten words a day anyway. at least, Bob and Tom do.

[mo rock]

and don't get me started on "consulters!" consulters! i hope Nabco got their money back. i could have sent that station into a tailspin for half the money! OR, i could have told them what to do to make it better for free. but no one asked me. hell, what do i know, i was only the morning guy. only the guy most listeners talked to. Blazor and Mo were near the end of the Blitz, number one TSL, first time since Howard Stern. and what does the consultant tell them to do after the flip? keep them off the air for two months and when you bring them back add 6 songs, 8 when you consider the ungodly length of Metallica. brilliant. number one time spent listening and the consultant tells you to all but silence their voice. idiotic. to quote the great Roger Waters... "The bravery of being out of range."

[alans613]

Who were/are the consultants over @ 99.7? 

[mo rock]

i believe it was the consulting firm of "Shipdit and Uckfup." i could be wrong.

[bwilliam614]

I don't know if this helps any, but i'm 28 and i work part time at a steak house in columbus.  Now being that i'm 28 you would think that i would be completely out of touch with what teenagers are into as far as rap and r&b, but whenever i make a cd of newer music people are always like "Can you make a cd for me?" or they'll tell me i should be a dj.  These are people that listen to 107.5 and yet a lot of my songs aren't on 107.5.  The point is if you expose people to new music, and you do know what sounds good in the urban/rhythmic field you will get more listeners than the station that strictly plays it by the books and is slow on breaking new music.  I don't know much about rock but "Sex on Fire" Kings of Leon should've been played on 99.7.  They played much lighter music aka "What it's like" Everlast, and people that like 99.7 now listen to 106.7 and they seem to like it more.