When you request a song on your station...

[Battle601]

I'm curious to know what exactly happens.

You request whatever song you wish to hear, more or less something that is on their playlist. Could be either by phone, E-mail, texting, maybe even Facebook or Twitter (if the station has those options).

To the average listener, there's the impression that a requested song gets played right away.

But for us radio and music followers, station playlists run on a schedule subject to certain criteria, such as the number of times an artist can be played over a certain period, rotation status, and eventually, that determines when a certain song can be played over the course of the day.

That being said, if the requsted song is not played right away, I would assume that the request is acknowledged at some point. It could be that a request made by phone was recorded then played back later on the air OR the said request is simply announced live on the air by the DJ leading into the actual song, whenever it comes on in their playlist schedule.

In that case, does the DJ at least let the listener know the next time when their song will be played (off the air, of course)? Are they obligated to do so?

I would hate to think that I ended up requesting a song only to miss out upon hearing it with my name being announced live on the air, because say, for instance, I am at work and not allowed to have the radio on.

And if anyone wishes to share such experiences, by all means please do so. I've called in my station numerous times but never to request a song. However, I have read and heard accounts about people who have made requests, being told their song will come on, only to wait and listen for several hours and not have it played...

[Slinky]

If it's coming up in the logs, the DJ will usually tell the requester that, maybe say, "I'll get it on in the next hour" or something like that.

If not then it's, "I'll see what I can do" and it probably never gets played.

[*Who Is?*]

So basically no one can actually request a song, you either have to hope your song choice is coming up in the station log, or just not hear it at all.

This makes me think stations actually lie when they say "Hears your request blah blah blah" and that its only because so and so song came up in the log.

[tico]

^^

In essence, yes. You can still "request" a song, but you'll just have to cross your fingers and hope it does get played.

[KelownaGuy20]

At my station, we've started taking requests via text message. In doing in that way, we're able to text the listener back within a couple of songs to let them know that their song is coming up.

And I'll completely admit that I lie about requests. Sometimes you have to. It makes it seem like there's more audience interaction than there actually is. Hell, I'm not even live on Saturdays, but my inbox is exploding with requests for so and so... I've even played requests that other announcers have gotten for songs that I'll be playing.

One can just hope that your station has oppertunities to request songs. Here, we have the 4 o'clock SunOnDemand, where we play 4 back-to-back requests by a listener. We also have other oppertunities, like request lunches, and whatnot.

[@DiegoMarcondes_]

I used to request songs via www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/7/stationplaylistrequest.asp?c_let=

lol So, I won't do this anymore. Probably this is the most remote way they check our requests.

[dream<3lover]

I only called to request a song on my radio station once in my life (DFAU) and they played it 2 songs after i called. Might be because the DJ said she loved it on the phone, so it could have been more for her than my request

[Au$tin]

Back when I was younger, even before I was a member on ATRL and even heard of Mediabase, I tried to request "He Said She Said" by Ashley Tisdale on my local CHR. (This is the only time I have tried to request a song.) I called, and it took about six or seven times to get through, but after I said the song, Cooper, the DJ was confused and didn't know what song that was. So I just said, "How about "Come Back to Me" by Vanessa Hudgens?" Of course this was about the same time the song was peaking on pop radio, so of course they had it. I remember getting mad because it was an hour later and the song still wasn't played, and I think I sent an e-mail asking why and I was getting mad. Of course now I know about station playlists and how songs get airplay, etc. etc. However, they never even gave me a time frame of when the song would be played. I really think they should have. Although, they probably didn't want to play a request by an ten year old.

[jvandyck87]

I think requests mostly serve the purpose of feedback as to what songs the listeners like. While those requests may not be immediately granted, a heavily requested song will get a boost in rotation.

[@Fifteen]

What I don't get is how people call in and request songs that are played every 90 minutes...

[tico]

Nov 11, 2009 16:15:53 GMT -5 jvandyck87 said:

I think requests mostly serve the purpose of feedback as to what songs the listeners like. While those requests may not be immediately granted, a heavily requested song will get a boost in rotation.

That about sums it up right. Since free-form radio is virtually non-existent, requests (especially the ones that are put on the air) are mere tools to make radio seem more interactive to listeners. However, that's not to say they don't serve a purpose because they do. As stated above, requests can determine if the song gets more or less spins on a station. The more requests a song gets, the more spins it get. To answer Fifteen's concerns about requests for heavily-played songs: one thing you have to understand about radio (especially younger-skewing formats like CHR) is that the average listener isn't tuned in for a very long time. An audience that's listening at 2pm may not be the same as one listening at 3:30. That's among one of the reasons why some stations give their power songs huge spin totals these days.