If you have never heard OneRepublic, the bland rock band that enjoys the minor distinction of being shepherded by Timbaland, that’s probably because you no longer listen to the radio. And if you no longer listen to the radio it’s probably because of formatting decisions like playing OneRepublic’s hit “Apologize” 10,240 times last week, over 100 times on certain stations in a seven-day stretch, setting a record for “for the most plays of a song on the nation’s Top 40 stations.” At this point, we’re all very familiar with stations overplaying a handful of songs, making this bleak New York Times report the horse’s mouth confirmation of something disgruntled former listeners already know: that radio has dealt with a world where the “audience fragments and rival entertainment choices abound” by adopting a bunker mentality built around the Billboard Top 10. And the process has sped up dramatically over the past five years.
But many pop radio programmers appear keen to repeat the biggest hits as much as — or more than — ever. “Apologize” surpassed a record that had been set only in July by Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” according to the data. Of the 10 songs that have notched the most plays in one week, 8 joined the list in the last three years. And the oldest of the 10, Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated,” dates only to 2002. (The all-time most-played song across all radio formats is Santana’s “Smooth,” with more than 1.1 million total plays since it was released in 1999.)
And so the radio execs and station directors interviewed by the Times are quick to point out by way of explanation for this trend the cross-platform appeal of these songs, changes in the way radio spins are measured, basic listener demand, and the “busy lives” of today’s modern consumers, which apparently requires that stations “make sure [listeners] hear their favorite song in that 15 minutes” they might be listening. But not every industry insider feels radio is being honest with itself for its real reasons for playing one song 10k times in a week.
“What most of these folks do is retreat to a more safe position, and in radio, the safer position is to play fewer songs more often,” said Mike Henry, chief executive of Paragon Media Strategies, a consulting firm in Denver. Mr. Henry, whose firm helped develop a wide-ranging radio format known as Jack FM in the United States three years ago, added that the increase in plays of songs reflected “a fear-based response. That will only take you so far.”
While, “there will always be people who are just fine taking what they’re given,” Mr. Henry said, more and more people will be enticed by “programming their own media.”
That’s a bit rich coming from a guy who helped pioneer a format that specialized in hammering listeners with the same kitschy, feel-good hits over and over again, but Henry’s argument, that pop radio is catering to the shrinking portion of its audience that’s less than technologically adroit, points to the probable reason for the inevitable burn-out of this “fear-based approach” to securing ad sales: Even if the bulk of radio listeners aren’t ready to program their own Internet stations, you do have to wonder, aside from being stuck in a car, who would tune into the radio for 15 minutes just on the off chance they might hear that one special song, or stick around for 50 minutes just to hear it again, rather than queue it up on an iPod and hit repeat. Pre-programmed playlists trying to cater to the mercurial desires of individual listeners in an instant-hit world is a big ol’ losing battle.
Radio’s Newest Strategy: Play A Hit, Again And Again [NY Times]
Good god, I hadn’t even realized what those feebs looked like before I clicked the link. Nice Honeymooners ensemble there.
who gives a shit? anyone who hasn’t switched over to satellite radio or the left end of the dial is a lost cause anyways…
Wait, does anyone here even know people who (save for NPR) use the radio as a music discovery tool?
Great post, Jess!
I was very saddened by the Times piece on Saturday. But sadly, I was not surprised to learn that infonugget about “Smooth”.
I can’t wait to see what dennisobell and/or governmentnames have to say about this, either here or in an upcoming “100 And Single” or “Corporate Rock Still Sells”.
I have heard “Smooth” no fewer than NINE TIMES in the past week and a half, all during the brief periods spent in coffee shops/drug stores. I just needed to get thta off my chest.
Wow, if that isn’t lowest common denominator programming I don’t know what is. If you have to try to stick in a song so that someone with only 15 mins a day to listen to a radio station will hear it (like going to get a product at the supermarket), that’s just sad. Unfortunately there’s not much out there on top 40 radio that would entice me to listen for much longer than say…. 1 minute. Instead of ‘keeping up with consumer’s busy lives’ it could just be called desperation and misguidedness. Nice post.
That’s a bit rich coming from a guy who helped pioneer a format that specialized in hammering listeners with the same kitschy, feel-good hits over and over again
That’s not exactly right. Jack-FM failed for a number of reasons, but over-repetition wasn’t one of them. A typical Jack station drew from a well of songs literally exponentially larger than that of the typical adult-contemporary or classic-rock station.
I seem to be one of the last living souls who defends the concept behind Jack (the execution was something else), but here I go again. If it had worked — and hadn’t gotten as badly dayparted/demo-targeted as all other modern FM — Jack could have been one of the better concepts to appear on the radio in the post-consolidation era. I know radio observers regard Henry and his fellow Jack-creators as The Great Satan, but honestly, if they’d had the courage of their convictions and really played an anything-goes mix of hits, Jack would have been pretty great for major-market FM radio.
When CBS-FM’s Jack switch first came on the air in summer ’05, I’d go weeks before hearing the same song again. For a while I really appreciated it, contrary to most of the loudest voices you heard bitching about the switch. I only started to tire of the concept when, in a desperation move (the ratings were sinking), they starting dayparting: male-oriented rock at midday, adult-contemporary pop at drive time, etc. The randomness gradually leeched away.
I’d say the main problem with Jack, honestly, was that it promised more than it could deliver, which goes to your iPod point: in an era of massive random-access competition, in the pockets of more than half your listenership, there’s no way any high-cuming urban radio station can hope to compete with the song choices people now take for granted.
I make this point because I think you’re missing the truly sad point of the Times article: major-market FM stations tried for about three-five years to widen their playlists, the experiment didn’t take (either they botched it or the consumer didn’t accept it, take your pick), and the lesson the radio conglomerates have taken away is, Consumer wants only big hits. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Which makes erstwhile Jack-man Henry the right guy to position in this article as the anti-OneRepublic.
My full thoughts on Jack-FM – now ancient, but I stand by them - here.
when i clicked on the times link i got really distracted, because i thought the singer guy had a marge simpson hairdo and was actually wearing a crazy fedora- visor. i didn’t see the guy behind him. oopsicles.
That was a lovely attempt to make us believe that the requests are pouring in for “Apologize” — something I can’t imagine is true. Even if it HAS sold 1.6 million copies.
Also, they’re kind of playing this to death on MTV Hits, but I haven’t seen the video as often as I would have expected, given the radio barrage.
BTW, isn’t this how James Blount became an unstoppable juggernaut?
@oovy: What’s wrong with “Smooth?”
@therichgirlsareweeping: it’s been topping the trl charts for months now, for whatever that’s worth (which is not much, given that trl is a very strange alternate universe). but the soundscans on dreaming out loud were pretty underwhelming.
@jmb112485: uh, everything?
@dennisobell: if this jack character is responsible for the short lived bay area station max fm then i wholeheartedly agree. any station that would play any hit from steely dan, to anita ward, to bill dogett, to ernie k-doe without repeating for weeks on end is ok with me.
And no one is crying “payolla” yet? Follow the receipts…
“over 100 times on certain stations in a seven-day stretch”
There are only 168 hours in a week. And what percentage of that time is devoted to ads/DJ yammering? A quarter to a third? So maybe 112-125 hours is music. That’s damn near once an hour for the entire week.
@maura: Wow, I didn’t know that! I’d say I clearly need to watch TRL more, but uh, I’m NOT A GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT.
I like how they omit that the lead singer of OneRepublic (I think they used to called Republic) was Timbaland’s production assistant for five or so years.
@Ted Striker: Whaaaat? No one ever does that any more…