"Radio is doing everything wrong" Why?

[Monarca]

Radio is doing everything wrong.

That's what I've seen recently in some of the thread on CHR/Pop.

Why do you think CHR/Pop radio is killing good songs? What kind of songs are the ones that shouldn't be a success?

[rainie]

For all the shit people give radio (specifically CHR), they’re in a hard place right now imo.

For starters, pop music really isn’t very trendy right now. This isn’t to say there have been NO pop hits, but they’re much less in number and explains why CHR tends to cling onto them so much (ie Havana, Perfect, New Rules, The Middle, etc). To fill all that extra space, they have two choices — either play other popular music, which isn’t necessarily CHR friendly, or play less popular music that’s more CHR friendly. They tried doing the former last time there was a huge hip hop boom (mid 2000s), and were greeted with a dip in listeners that really only reversed in the late 2000s when the club/electropop boom begun. And it isn’t likely to be any different this time around since trap songs usually get awful CHR callout — you can usually tell when one actually gets decent scores amongst listeners because CHR will give it a big boost and take it at least top 5 (ie God’s Plan, Rockstar, Psycho). So in other words, despite CHR’s tagline of playing the biggest hits, the actual biggest hits aren’t really what their listeners want to hear.

The other problem they’re running into is they’re often far behind on songs. Due to the rise of streaming, among other things, songs often peak quicker then usual. However, radio traditionally takes at least a few months to be fully on board with a song — it’s far more complicated for a song to be added by a radio station then be streamed by a person, as they have to check callouts, program their playlist around it, etc. This leads to songs often peaking on radio far after they peaked on sales and streaming because by the time radio came on board, people already tired of it. This is one reason why multiple recent CHR #1s (Mine, Let You Down, Him and I) have peaked outside the top 10 on the hot 100, even though they previously lingered in the teens for a while. Unfourtunately for radio, this delay between the two often leads to people dismissing their playlists as outdated, especially when they’re supposed to be keeping up with what’s current.

Now this part is fully speculation, but I suspect this current climate may be one of the reasons why HAC is actually more popular (or at minimum growing faster). CHR’s target audience are more likely to be driven away by the disconnect between what they’re playing and what they enjoy, especially when they can stream what they actually want to hear. However, HAC’s target audience is less likely to care and is more likely to listen to radio over streaming. And while they may be alienated by CHR experimenting with some trap/hip hop, the majority of HAC stations specifically avoid that, while focusing more on songs that delivered great callout. Combined with the fact that HAC tends to play many older hits as recurrents, it’s no wonder why HAC tends to cater more to the middle age mom crowd.

[irice22]

^^ That is some pretty strong and in depth analysis.

[Az Paynter]

I think we're in a weird place right now where, since pop music is not the dominant force in streaming right now, pop music is much more reliant on a strong radio presence to make a solid impact on the Hot 100, and when radio instead chooses to hold on to old songs for months and months and months instead of giving that airtime to newer, upcoming songs, it cuts into pop music's ability to cut through the crowd and get noticed. And for me it's frustrating to see songs take too long to gain any traction only to die off in the 20's or the teens, when at the same time the top 10 also has a number of songs decreasing. It's like... they end up in situations where they've got all these spots in the top 10 about to open up since those songs are on the way out, but instead of boosting something else to take the spot, they're killing off the new replacements early, which effectively forces them into the position of holding onto these older hits way past their expiration date or else they've got nothing to play (since they've killed off the new stuff before it can replace the old).

TL;DR pop radio is in a bad spot and it's just making things worse for itself by eating itself alive IMO.

[tekkenguy]

I remember this has been going on for a while, now. “Viva La Vida” I remember got stuck at #11 on CHR for no good reason whatsoever. And as much as I loathe “Fight Song” its peak was much lower than it should be on the format. Meanwhile they overpushed “One More Night” because they were uneasy about the thought of a Korean Song being the biggest hit in the country. I feel it’s all politics. “Despacito” got to the top because there was Bieber, Spanish Music was less foreign than Korean, and I think more openness amongst the political left.

It’s also why active rock has been locked out of CHR for almost a decade. It has to do with the diverging demographics. CHR appeals to teenage girls and young women of all races, often with a liberal outlook. Active is a more right-wing format for white men in their 30s. CHR is no longer the melting pot of multiple genres it used to be. It’s now an urban/rhythmic centric format taking its influence from dance and rap music, with the occasional indie pop or Hot AC hit. CHR/Rhythmic just doubles down on the rap/R&B, is lighter on the dance, and completely spurns the indie/AC stuff.

[Deleted]

In an on-demand streaming world where every song is at our fingertips, it's really difficult for something like radio to get it right.

[Libra]

Jul 11, 2018 22:34:14 GMT -5 rainie said:

The other problem they’re running into is they’re often far behind on songs. Due to the rise of streaming, among other things, songs often peak quicker then usual. However, radio traditionally takes at least a few months to be fully on board with a song — it’s far more complicated for a song to be added by a radio station then be streamed by a person, as they have to check callouts, program their playlist around it, etc. This leads to songs often peaking on radio far after they peaked on sales and streaming because by the time radio came on board, people already tired of it. This is one reason why multiple recent CHR #1s (Mine, Let You Down, Him and I) have peaked outside the top 10 on the hot 100, even though they previously lingered in the teens for a while. Unfourtunately for radio, this delay between the two often leads to people dismissing their playlists as outdated, especially when they’re supposed to be keeping up with what’s current.

Part of me wonders if this is a situation that is even fixable? And it's due to the nature of the two beasts.

Like...people can go all in on songs immediately ("all in" meaning that they give the songs streaming play multiple times per day/week), whereas for radio to be able to do the same thing it pretty much requires the biggest station holders (iHeart, Cumulus, CBS) to arrange to do so in advance.

Think about that for a second. If people go all in on a given song immediately on an en masse scale - it's large amounts of people each individually choosing, essentially, to make a song big by giving it so much streaming play. ("Making the song big" isn't the underlying motive, but it is the resulting effect.) What does this end up looking like? People individually exercising their chosen prerogative. If radio goes all in on a given song immediately - it's companies choosing to make a song big by giving it so much radio play. What does this end up looking like? CORRUPTION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!!1!1!11!

[leonagwen]

The reality is most pop songs aren't doing well on streaming. Streaming is what's making the hot 100. Pop songs do well on Itunes. Just a big disparity on what's doing well on streaming and what's getting played on pop radio.