hit me baby one more time
My friends with small children tell me that one of the more annoying things about that otherwise endearing demographic is that they love to see/hear/read the same things over and over and over. Perfectly rational parents are rendered insane by Shrek overexposure.
So I’ve long wondered why commercial radio plays the same few songs over and over. Surely some programmers have toddlers and know the effects. I was aware that some of my disinterest in radio was due to this effect, but I had reason this week to see just how strong an aversion it was. My local radio station, like some others across the country, is finishing up playing its entire catalogue, A to Z. Hearing it announced, I thought it was a mildly interesting gimic that would get old.
In fact, I’ve been addicted to my radio like no other time in my life. Whether it’s music I’ve never heard before or something old and well-loved, I find myself avoiding leaving the car to hear what’s next, streaming it on the computer while I work, trying to catch everything. If the alphabet is closing in on a favorite, I take the long way home to make sure I catch it. Last night, I stayed glued for hours just to make sure that “Texas Flood” came up, which was completely stupid because at any point I could have listened to it on my iPod, computer or CD.
So I got wondering, which is it? Is variety really the spice of life, or does practice make perfect? Are programmers treating us like three year olds, or am I an anomoly? My radio station is asking listeners if they like this thing, and at least some people are complaining. Don’t know the numbers. So I do what I do when I get curious, I googled: variety vs. repetition.
One thing I found out was that in a study of severely developmentally delayed adults, 75% preferred varied tasks to repetitious ones. Score one for the adults.
More to the point, I ran across a New York Times article on the subject:
Radio’s Newest Strategy: Play a Hit Again and Again
According to the article, one very scary reason for the amount of repitition:
…“Apologize” deserved such heavy airplay because it had received “off the charts” results in listener research testing, and added that the song is devoid of content that might prompt more conservative pop stations to limit its airplay
And a more benign (but equally misguided) one:
“There’s a very limited window. If they’re going to listen 15 minutes a day, you want to make sure they hear their favorite song in that 15 minutes. It’s really the fast-paced life style that we all live.”
Thanks for thinking of busy me, dudes, but that’s the sure way to kill a song. Except for this addictive A to Z thing, I only listen during my commute, and my station with otherwise excellent taste has succeeded in making me loathe both “Gravity” and “The Story” - songs I think I’d kind of like if they weren’t played every time I get in the car.
So, am I weird? Where do you fall? Do you like hearing the same songs over and over, or do you like it mixed up? While I’ll get stuck for a day or two on a song on my iPod, I definitely prefered th variety on the radio.
Anyway, a couple of things worth hearing this week:
Soulshine, Gov’t Mule
Voodoo Chile, Jimi Hendrix
and I’ll be mining this one for post titles for eternity:
I Do the Rock, Tim Curry
categories: music
tags: Gov't Mule, Jimi Hendrix, radio, Tim Curry
posted by what at 09:07 pm
What,
What radio station do you listen to?
Not everyone is lucky enough to have a FM station available
to them that will do an A to Z.
KFOG is on the Ws.
The oldest FM rock station in KC just had it’s doors closed with no notice. It went from being the best station in KC to one with very few listeners. Their problem was repetition of about 365 songs, over and over again.
The new station is being billed as “Adult Alternative”. Their target audience is 35-50 year olds. They’ve been on the air for about 3 weeks playing non-stop music, with no dj’s. It’s been awesome so far. I hate dj’s and commercials, one reason I don’t listen to much radio. But they are playing music from 1970-2008.
They will have dj’s after Feb 1st. But at last a station that is playing new music.
That was my biggest complaint about radio stations in KC. No one was playing new rock. We had two classic rock stations, one hard rock station, 3 soft rock stations, and numerous bubble gum pop stations. I switched to my ipod about a year ago.
I guess only time will tell if the change is good, but all my friends so far like the new station. We are in the 40-50 year old range.
Myself, I would have to say I prefer variety. I get bored easy.
On the radio, I prefer variety. If I hear a song I really really like I can buy the CD and play the crap out of it myself.
Put me down for variety. The lack of variety is the main reason I don’t listen to radio except for limited times in the car. Although I remember when I was younger I really liked when my favorite song was played over and over again - so perhaps it is a matter of maturity and a willingness to go outside your own comfort zone. However, the radio stations should take note - not too many kids are walking around listening to the radio on their headphones - the ones I know have very diverse playlists.
Nice job from your station!
I switched from listening only to the all news radio station on my daily commute to the classic rock station most of the time. It did get annoying during the build-up to the Led Zeppelin concert when they would replay Immigrant Song constantly. And I had noticed an irritating number of plays of Jumpin’ Jack Flash, but for the most part, they do play a variety of (all male except for Magic Man, what’s up with that?) classic rock.
Long winded way of saying, put me down for variety too.
As T&Jam says, if I want to listen to a song over and over, I’ll buy it.
Put me down for variety…it is what I dislike most about radio is the cycling song lists. I have about 4 stations programed in my car so I can force a little mix when I drive. I only listen to radio in the car going to and from work, on long trips I take my CDs so I am in control.
damn you, now I can’t get that song out of my head!
I think most of us are here because we like variety. The majority of people (broad statement) just “bop” their heads to whatever they are told to by the record producers/promoters, money grabbers, etc. I’m guilty though, as I like a lot of the “hits” playing on the radio. It would be easier for me to list the music that I DON’T like, over the music that I DO like (shorter list).
I’m lucky here in the Los Angeles area, in that there are many stations to choose from (I’m all over that dial!). Currently, Indie 103.1 has grabbed my attention. Most is alternative, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff there. Music doesn’t have to have a “meaning” or “soulful” quality for me to like it. It doesn’t have to have impeccable instrumentals, or border on “genius” for me to appreciate it. It can be nothing more than just “fun” for me.
Here are a couple of artists (one local talent, and one from the UK) I currently like:
Mike Barnet (genre: Urban Folk)……… local musician just trying to make ends meet, and from what I know/read is a hell of a nice guy!
http://www.myspace.com/mikebarnet
Duffy (genre: Pop/Alternative) ………. I really like “Rockferry”!
http://www.myspace.com/duffymyspace
I haven’t listened to the radio much for years. Most stations are either urban crap or the same old oldie tunes they’ve been playing for 30 years and I’m tired of it. I also find myself less stressed listening to my ipod through the car speakers than all the commercials, news, and traffic I can’t avaid anyway. If I forget my ipod I usually flip through the country stations since they have the widest mix of everything non-urban. I look for a song with a real melody - everything else is background noise.
I actually am listening to way more radio now than any other time in my life. Actually more in every modality: CD, download and live. Well, maybe not more live, but more variety live. I’m like eastonwest in that I don’t want all music to be meaningful and certainly not “soulful” (I mean, look at the Tim Curry thing above). I can’t qualify what works for me. Good groove can trump most other problems and so can wit (that, by the way, is true in non-musical circumstances as well). But that’s so ill-defined as to be useless for descriptive purposes.
But I’ve been thinking more on this rotation thing. Other than getting way more variety, the alphabet thing is otherwise a kind of stupid way to select music. I mean, literally stupid, requiring no thought. What would be a better way, to give the variety and also some thought? I think I’ll go back and revisit Pandora - I tried it when it was the buzz a year ago, but haven’t revisited in months.
And with all the gnashing about the state of radio and the music biz in general, I’ll say a couple more things I find interesting about my station: they do in station live concerts with an amazing range of people, they sell a compilation of those as a fund raiser for good causes, they actively solicit CDs from any musicians who want to send their stuff in for consideration: a budding Taylor Hicks could have sent In Your Time or Under the Radar and possibly gotten air play. And, get this: they’re owned by Clear Channel. All is not lost.
What,
What radio station is that? Do they stream online?
mw, it’s kbco.com, and yes, they do stream online. They’ve got a brandnew “stream on-demand” of their in-studio live recordings. I’m listening right now for the first time: Steve Earle doing John Walker Blues and Jerusalem. I’ve barely begun to browse, but lots of people we’ve talked about here. I’m going for Alternate Routes and Ryan Shaw after this one, I think.
WXRT in Chicago does a lot of the same things - live in-studio performances (and a limited edition annual compilation disc for charity), time slots devoted to local bands,jazz, blues, a slot where guest hosts play their favorite music (called the Eclectic Company), and more. They can be a little too hipper-than-thou but have a pretty broad playlist. CBS bought them a while back and pretty much let it be.