Plays Per Week

4/22/1994

It began as one small step by The Network Forty over two years ago. This week, it became a giant step for the radio and record industries.

With this week’s issue, even the venerable R&R begins charting records based on actual airplay. It’s been a long time coming, but the change has come.

With the industry now relying on actual spins instead of adds and chart moves, a new age of honesty id dawning. No longer will radio programmers be able to respond to pressure from record promoters by simply adding a song to their chart. If a record is being played, it is an add. And if it isn’t being played, it is not an add.

This is truly the dawning of anew age in our business. What began as a glimmer of an idea two years ago in the halls of The Network Forty is now reality. I want to give credit to those who believed from the beginning. Pat Gillen, Dwayne Ward and Brian Burns worked within the framework of The Network Forty to shape the format and convince the radio and record industries that PPWs were the wave of the future. And though radio has been extremely supportive in the past year, some special thanks are due to those who supplied their plays before I became “the thang” to do. They are: Steve Wyrostok, Tom Poleman, Sean Phillips, Rick Stacy, John Ivey, Chuck Beck, Leslie Fram, Bill Webster, Randy Ross, Casey Keating, John McFadden, Kris Van Dyke, Stu Smoke, Mike Steele, Roger Scott, Neil Sullivan, Ken Scott, John Jaynes, Steve Bender and Jim Richards. That’s to these people, its working.

For years, record companies have accepted adds without play (or put into lunar rotation) as a last resort to show activity on particular records. Although it’s hard to find any executive who would condone paper adds, it’s equally difficult to find anyone who hasn’t accepted a paper add at one time or another as an acceptable way to keep a record moving up the chart. Sometimes the ends justified the means, because radio programmers who followed charts would see continued activity on a record and possibly consider it for airplay. More often, however, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to prop up records that were not hits. The system was wrong, but record companies were comfortable with it, so it continued.

And it wasn’t just record companies that caused these inaccuracies to grow and prosper. Radio programmers who couldn’t say no (or who needed promotions to make their station more exciting) used the system to their advantage. The record might not be right for the radio station, but if the promotion was offered, many found ways to add the record without play. It was the best of both worlds. Radio programmers got the promotion without having to play a record that didn’t fit their format.

With PPWs and BDS, we can all kiss that easy out good-bye.

Now, programmers must judge each record on merit. Promotions will still be used to make marginal records “sound” a little better, but, by and large, the determining factor will be merit.

Record companies are more careful. A bigger commitment is made before the record is released.

Programmers will have to believe as well. Once a programmer believes, a commitment must be made. Records will have to be played. No more “add it, but don’t play it.”

You can run, but you can’t hide.

The dishonesty inherent in the old system is gone. And many programmers, who perpetuated the distrust and dishonesty, must accept the fact that there are no more secrets. Many of us added records in the past with little or no airplay for various reasons. Keeping rotations a secret was a necessity. Many hid behind the weak excuse that they needed to keep the competition in the dark. Let’s be perfectly honest. That was never the real reason. Any competitor worth his salt would always be able to determine rotations on your station. And now, with BDS monitoring, these are no secrets.

Programmers who refuse to provide accurate information regarding actual airplay are suffering from delusions. You’re lying to yourself. Face up to reality. There is no need to play games. There are no reasons to hide. Many programmers seem to believe that they operate in a vacuum. Your list is not sacrosanct. What you play is on the radio. People hear it. BDS monitoring makes it easier, but here’s a news flash…people listen. Anyone with a little time can determine what’s on the air and how often songs rotate. Wake up and smell the coffee. It’s boiling out of the pot.

The record community wants honesty. A record company may not like the fact that you don’t believe in the merit of its record, but the label needs that information. Whether or not record companies have been dragged kicking and screaming into the age of awareness isn’t the point. The fact is that in today’s world, record companies want, need and expect honesty.

As do your peers.

So give it to them!

The overwhelming majority of radio programmers are completely behind accurate airplay reporting. Without radio’s help, The Network Forty couldn’t have begun the Plays Per Week system two years ago. Without radio’s commitment, no trade magazine could post a PPW chart. If you are a programmer who is reluctant to provide information on actual plays, ask yourself why. Others will certainly be asking that question about you and may be coming up with answers that certainly aren’t to your benefit.

Is there any reasons for a programmer to refuse to report PPWs if he isn’t playing games or being blatantly dishonest? If there is, please let me know. I will be glad to provide a forum for other reasons. I just can’t come up with any on my own.

To quote the Eagles, “Did you do it for love? Did you do it for money? Did you do it for spite? Or did you have to, honey?”

In the ‘90s, honesty is the best policy. Open communication is the key.

“Who is gonna make it? We’ll find out in the long run.”

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