Play Music The Way It's Scheduled ...

Everybody’s got an opinion, and that’s as it should be. But When it comes to commercial contemporary music radio, your opinion about the music should not interfere with the duties of your position. Here's a tune that air personalities will hear from time to time, "Play the music scheduled in the order it's scheduled." When you don’t follow the plan, you’re messing with the formula that's being used to appeal to the majority of the targeted audience.

No Prima Donna's ...
You might disagree with the music choices and rotations, but it's not your place to override the Program Director or Music Director and play music the way you want to. Disagree off the air with the powers that be. But the disagreement needs to stop there.

It Makes No Sense ...
It is hard to believe, but even with Mediabase monitoring music, some personalities still play games with what's scheduled to play. There is a difference between being creative and following programming directions and procedures. I have always understood creative miscues, but not following directions is insubordination. Sometimes an air talent might be right about the station’s presentation of music, but it's not their place to change things as they see fit when they're on the air.

There's A Method ...
Commercial contemporary music radio is a whole lot of business thinly disguised as an art form. Music stations try to increase the possibilities of playing what most of its targeted listeners want to hear. To make an 'Intelligent Gut' decision on what to play, stations rely on a number of factors. There are four basic types of research - Auditorium Music Test (AMTs), Perceptual Focus Groups, Call Out, and Mscore. On the social/digital side decisions about what to play are a part of the selection process too. There's Shazam, YouTube views, download statistics, TikTok, retail figures, and anything else that pops up on the music consumption horizon. And some of you are just rearranging the scheduled music because you know better. Really? No, you don’t.

Get It Straight ...
There are many audio, visual, and lifestyle choices people can spend time with other than terrestrial radio. A listener’s format of choice had better be playing a perceived hit song. Commercial music is a product just like Geico Insurance or Budweiser. Once a station decides what music to play, the goal is to play the music enough times for audience exposure (That's how impressions are measured.) It’s about playing what the audience wants to hear and not what you think they should listen to. The job for a Program Director is to reflect and not direct. For air talent, it's simple, but I'll say it again, "Play the music scheduled in the order it's scheduled."