Radio Holiday Weekends

[Michael1973]

96.5 WTIC, a Hot AC station out of Hartford, is passing the long weekend by playing a "top 965" flashback countdown.  Now if this isn't a reminder of what variety on the radio should sound like, I don't know what is!

The songs are primarly 80's hits, with one from the 70's or 90's thrown in.  And they've been tossing in some songs you almost never hear on the radio anymore.  Good listening indeed.

My question is, if stations are willing to do things like this on holiday weekends and not worry about alienating listeners, why can't they do it all the time?  I don't mean that they should add hundreds of old songs to their regular playlists, just why can't they throw three or four of these "forgotten" pop songs into their mix every day?

Any thoughts?

[Love Plastic Love]

My station used to do an 80s weekend and then an 80s night...but they got so many complaints they stopped
I think a few random old songs thrown in is ok...but I dont want a current pop station playing too many random old songs.

[tico]

We just had a format change in Jackson, with the classic hits station WTYX changing to the Jack format. Right now, they're jockless and commercial free for the weekend. It's not a bad station. They play a lot of older songs other stations in the area aren't playing.

[reception]

KFMN, an AC station on Kauai plays oldies during the holiday weekends.

[reception]

Hot AC KNUI-FM on Maui (a Westwood One Bright AC) station is playing 80's oldies this weekend.

[reception]

KUCD Star 101.9 a Clear Channel alternative station is playing songs recorded live in concert this weekend.

[djkc28]

Our station in Hutchinson, KS, "My 93-1", a Hot AC, went to an all 80s weekend beginning Friday morning at 6 til Labor Day at 6pm. We basically dropped all the 80s songs we have into 2 separate rotations and let 'em rip all weekend. Had a ton of calls and e-mails....people loved it!

[Michael1973]

See, that's what I mean.  People always seem to respond very favorably to things like this, and yet stations as a rule refuse to expand their regular playlists for fear of losing listeners.

I would not expect to see this sort of thing on Pop stations, since they favor current music, but I think more Hot AC stations should be expanding their lists of "Gold" songs to include some of these forgotten favorites.  If people love hearing them on holiday weekends, why wouldn't they want to hear them every once in a while during the average week?

[djkc28]

Well, our station DOES do that. We have 300 90s songs and 300 80s songs in rotation at one time...a lot of stuff no one's heard in a while. Being in a small market helps us. Clear Channel or Entercom wouldn't let their PDs program their stations like that, I'm guessing. But it works for us. We've been on the air about 2 years and jumped to #1 the 2nd ratings period.

My guess is stations don't normally have that many songs in rotation at once, and/or don't "dig" in their library for old 80s and 90s tracks (like Color Me Badd, Paula Abdul, etc) because those songs don't fit in with current Hot AC very well, which is heavily rock based. For example, that's why REM's "The One I Love" fits in better and is heard on a lot of Hot AC stations even though it wasn't even a top 10 hit.

Personally I think there is a tendency for programmers to "geek out" with all the rules and theories on programming, and they forget what it's like to be a listener. My philosophy has always been PLAY THE HITS, and that goes for past and present. People like familiarity and playing "I Adore Mi Amor" in the daytime right next to Maroon 5's "This Love" is ok. The average listener doesn't rationalize the different music styles the way most programmers do. It's just two good, familiar songs.

[reception]

reception said:

KUCD Star 101.9 a Clear Channel alternative station is playing songs recorded live in concert this weekend.

They are doing the same thing this Thanksgiving weekend.