“Again the same thing”: how to form a playlist on radio stations
Almost every one of our material on how radio stations work (they are here: 1 , 2 , 3 ) can be found angry comments that modern radio "turns" the same music, which repeats from hour to hour, and in the intervals between annoying songs playing annoying ads.
In this post we will talk about how the playlist of a modern radio station is built and why the comment authors are right, but not quite.
Camilo Rueda López CC photo
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The format of the radio station is a stumbling block about which professors of journalism and employees of the ethers argue about. Someone thinks that the format of the radio station is too vague, someone is sure that this is the basis of broadcasting. Nevertheless, there is a classical division of radio stations according to formats, and it depends on which of them one or another station depends on which content, including music, depends.
So, the formats of radio stations:
Of course, there are also sub-formats, for example, soft AC or AOR (Album-oriented rock), in modern broadcasting there are practically no representatives of “pure”, classical formats. But the basis of the construction of the ether is exactly listed above.
Now, after we have dealt with the formats, it is important to understand how songs are selected for the air. At each radio station there is a person (or more often several) who choose whether this or that composition is suitable for broadcasting or not. This is a program director, an ether producer, often in the process of "tapping" all the tops that work with the ether take part.
That is, contrary to popular belief, a DJ cannot just take, open a streaming service and start a song from him that he likes and seems to fit the format of a radio station on the air (although the most courageous sometimes do so and often receive rather big penalties). Each composition is subject to rigorous selection and must be approved. In addition, you should be aware of copyright compliance. The right holder must give consent to the rotation of the song on the radio station.
There are several key rules that increase the chance of a song to get on the air (not everyone follows them, each station has its own selection criteria, but compliance with these points will be a plus in the selection process). Firstly, the composition should be a “potential hit” (which means that neither the number of downloads on the most popular streaming services, nor the millions of videos viewed on youtube, nor successful concert tours yet make the song “radio”).
Best of all, if the song is not too long (no more than 4 minutes). If you listen to famous radio stations, you can observe that even long songs of the most legendary performers are “cut” at the end.
Features of the broadcasting grid in general give more chances to short songs, it is very convenient for them to “plug” holes between the release of advertising or news and the transition to a regional bloc.
There should not be moments in the song with complete silence, because silence on the air leads to a microinfarction of the entire radio station. Nobody likes long instrumental performances, it’s better that the vocalist start singing as soon as possible and the chorus goes no later than the first minute of the song.
For this there is a special software (for example, Power Gold ). After the music library is selected, all music is divided into categories. Each station has its own division, but, as a rule, these are hits, “golden fund”, fast, slow, music for the evening, music for the day off, music for mourning, night playlist and so on. In the program, you can set playback rules - for example, tracks from which categories can stand side by side, and from which cannot. For each category, you can also set the time of day for rotation, frequency and other parameters.
There are a few unspoken rules about the compatibility of songs on the air: you can not put a few songs in a row with male or female vocals (in other words, boys are diluted with girls and vice versa), the “musical picture” should be combined in the atmosphere, so In the evening, relax, but two songs put together from these categories strongly heal a rumor.
And now, if we compare all this information, the “lost” playlist is very easy to explain. Firstly, CHR radio stations (which are most often heard by young people) are not designed for long-term listening. Because of the tight binding to the charts, the playlist on them is rather scarce, and the same songs can be heard within two or three hours. This is a normal practice.
As for radio stations with a richer record library - even they once become boring for a regular listener, because any new song passes through many checks and statements before joining the rotation and becoming a permanent resident of the radio library, while the musical "golden fund" radio station remains unchanged. So it turns out that the songs are starting to repeat, although the new tracks still get into the playlist.
Some radio stations practice “eavesdropping” with the help of their audience (someone offers to select directly on the air by voting what should get into the playlist, someone gathers an off-air focus group).
And yet, the only advice that can be given to people who dream of a new music on the air is to change the wave. At least for a while, and even better, choose several radio stations for yourself and switch between them. It is desirable to expand the format, let it be, for example, CHR, news / talk and jazz.
By the way, special attention should be paid to colloquy radio stations - because the music there does not take up most of the broadcast, it is not so quickly annoying.
PS Digest: 30 materials on portable Hi-Fi.
In this post we will talk about how the playlist of a modern radio station is built and why the comment authors are right, but not quite.
Camilo Rueda López CC photo')
It all depends on the format
The format of the radio station is a stumbling block about which professors of journalism and employees of the ethers argue about. Someone thinks that the format of the radio station is too vague, someone is sure that this is the basis of broadcasting. Nevertheless, there is a classical division of radio stations according to formats, and it depends on which of them one or another station depends on which content, including music, depends.
So, the formats of radio stations:
- AC (adult contemporary) is considered the most common format, at the heart of the playlist is modern popular music for an adult audience. As a rule, these are modern hits and music of the last decades.
- CHR (contemporary hit radio) - hot rotation of contemporary hits. As a rule, it is at the stations of this format the most meager playlists. Most of the charts dominate on the air (top-20, top-40 songs, etc.), songs that left the chart do not stay on the air.
- Rock / Jazz / Dance - these formats combine the music of the respective directions.
- Easy Listening - soft, relaxing music like trip-hop, soft rock, etc. plays here.
- Urban - on such radio stations they put hip-hop, rap and r'n'b. For Russia, this is a rather rare format, almost never occurs in FM broadcasting.
- Oldies - music of the past decades, retro.
- Gold Hits - as the name implies, live all-time gold hits.
- News / talk - conversational radio stations. In the air, as a rule, more work of the presenters: analytics, news, talk shows, conversations, music fades into the background.
Of course, there are also sub-formats, for example, soft AC or AOR (Album-oriented rock), in modern broadcasting there are practically no representatives of “pure”, classical formats. But the basis of the construction of the ether is exactly listed above.
How do songs get on the radio
Now, after we have dealt with the formats, it is important to understand how songs are selected for the air. At each radio station there is a person (or more often several) who choose whether this or that composition is suitable for broadcasting or not. This is a program director, an ether producer, often in the process of "tapping" all the tops that work with the ether take part.
That is, contrary to popular belief, a DJ cannot just take, open a streaming service and start a song from him that he likes and seems to fit the format of a radio station on the air (although the most courageous sometimes do so and often receive rather big penalties). Each composition is subject to rigorous selection and must be approved. In addition, you should be aware of copyright compliance. The right holder must give consent to the rotation of the song on the radio station.
There are several key rules that increase the chance of a song to get on the air (not everyone follows them, each station has its own selection criteria, but compliance with these points will be a plus in the selection process). Firstly, the composition should be a “potential hit” (which means that neither the number of downloads on the most popular streaming services, nor the millions of videos viewed on youtube, nor successful concert tours yet make the song “radio”).
Best of all, if the song is not too long (no more than 4 minutes). If you listen to famous radio stations, you can observe that even long songs of the most legendary performers are “cut” at the end.
Features of the broadcasting grid in general give more chances to short songs, it is very convenient for them to “plug” holes between the release of advertising or news and the transition to a regional bloc.
There should not be moments in the song with complete silence, because silence on the air leads to a microinfarction of the entire radio station. Nobody likes long instrumental performances, it’s better that the vocalist start singing as soon as possible and the chorus goes no later than the first minute of the song.
How to build a playlist
For this there is a special software (for example, Power Gold ). After the music library is selected, all music is divided into categories. Each station has its own division, but, as a rule, these are hits, “golden fund”, fast, slow, music for the evening, music for the day off, music for mourning, night playlist and so on. In the program, you can set playback rules - for example, tracks from which categories can stand side by side, and from which cannot. For each category, you can also set the time of day for rotation, frequency and other parameters.
There are a few unspoken rules about the compatibility of songs on the air: you can not put a few songs in a row with male or female vocals (in other words, boys are diluted with girls and vice versa), the “musical picture” should be combined in the atmosphere, so In the evening, relax, but two songs put together from these categories strongly heal a rumor.
And where is the fact that the same songs are played on the radio?
And now, if we compare all this information, the “lost” playlist is very easy to explain. Firstly, CHR radio stations (which are most often heard by young people) are not designed for long-term listening. Because of the tight binding to the charts, the playlist on them is rather scarce, and the same songs can be heard within two or three hours. This is a normal practice.
As for radio stations with a richer record library - even they once become boring for a regular listener, because any new song passes through many checks and statements before joining the rotation and becoming a permanent resident of the radio library, while the musical "golden fund" radio station remains unchanged. So it turns out that the songs are starting to repeat, although the new tracks still get into the playlist.
Some radio stations practice “eavesdropping” with the help of their audience (someone offers to select directly on the air by voting what should get into the playlist, someone gathers an off-air focus group).
And yet, the only advice that can be given to people who dream of a new music on the air is to change the wave. At least for a while, and even better, choose several radio stations for yourself and switch between them. It is desirable to expand the format, let it be, for example, CHR, news / talk and jazz.
By the way, special attention should be paid to colloquy radio stations - because the music there does not take up most of the broadcast, it is not so quickly annoying.
PS Digest: 30 materials on portable Hi-Fi.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/402961/
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