Music Daze

5/27/1994

If you’re in the record business, Mondays are manic, Tuesdays you panic, Wednesdays are for paperwork filing, Thursdays you’re smiling and dialing, Fridays you hurry and on the weekends you worry. Why? Because radio does the music on Tuesdays. And therein lies the rub.

Why Tuesdays?

It is a fact that our business is abnormal in almost every facet. But our work week sometimes seems way out of whack. Is there a single day in any other industry that is as important as Tuesday is to ours? Does Reebok get that load of shoes on Tuesday? Does Apple incorporate their new software procedures on Tuesday? Do the airlines only fly on Tuesdays? Does the stock market depend on Tuesday’s Dow Jones to gauge the week? Does the Defense Department only go to war on Tuesdays? (Hold that thought. After a cursory check, it seems that an inordinate number of the USA’s actual police actions did begin on Tuesday. Maybe there is a hidden connection with the CIA.)

Most industries begin their weeks on Mondays and end on Fridays. Isn’t this how we invented weekends?

Not the radio and record industries. No. Hell, no. We may be dragged kicking and screaming into the norm some day in the future, but not, by God, this week.

With all the changes going down in our industries in the Year-Of-Our-Clinton 1994, some on the record side thought it might be time to push the envelope even further. Why not, they asked, have radio report playlist changes on another day? What day, I asked. Thursdays, they said. Why? Because if radio stations reported adds on Thursdays, we could leave early on Fridays and relax all weekend.

There were other considerations, of course. If radio added records on Thursdays, then record companies would have three solid days for set-up and pressurization. Now, record companies usually schedule set-up meetings on Wednesdays. Targets are set on the same day. Thursdays and Fridays are spent calling radio. But it’s sometimes hard to convey the urgency of an add that won’t happen until the following week. Programmers have an easy out on Thursdays and Fridays. The famous, “Looks good…call me next week” phrase has led more than one promotion person down the road to sin and destruction. Plus, even if you get a commitment, the programmer then has the weekend to think about it and possibly have a change of heart. Or worse, it gives a promotion person from another label two full days to fly the programmer to Hawaii and offer a better deal.

Thursday adds would work better for many record companies. But what about radio?

Ah. And therein lies another rub.

Several months ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek Editorial that questioned why radio began doing music on Tuesdays. I made up quite a compelling story that became gospel to may in the industry. The real story isn’t so black-and-white.

Radio began doing music on Tuesday years ago for one simple reason: It works best for radio. Radio generated requests beginning on Mondays. Radio needed weekend requests to make the tabulations accurate. Ditto for sales. Weekend sales information was crucial to determine the hottest records.

Times haven’t changed that much.

In the past several months, as different trade magazines have jockeyed for position with the diminishing influence of R&R, many have tried to dictate to radio. All have tried to mandate different policies under the guise of being “good for radio.” Fortunately for Network Forty, few of these trades bother to ask radio. We always attempt to reflect radio’s position. And we continue to do so.

After canvassing radio programmers from the smallest markets to the latest, the consensus is that Tuesday is still the best day for radio to prepare music.

Why?

The answers vary.

Comfort plays a big key. Programmers are comfortable the way it is. Radio programmers; weeks have been set up to do music on Tuesday for years.

Along with the comfort comes the simple fact that it ain’t broke, so why fix it?

Although SoundScan provides data on Wednesdays, most radio stations still receive their in-house research either on Mondays or Fridays. Either way, Mondays are generally spent reviewing the research. Final decisions are made on Tuesdays.

It’s important for radio to add new music on Tuesday or Wednesday. This gives programmers several weekdays to daypart songs if necessary or to determine the strength of new music via requests or on-air sound. The information will then be used to decide whether or not to schedule the songs over the weekend. This lead time is necessary.

Another important fact concerns music scheduling. There was a time when new records were just put in the control room and the jocks played them when they wanted. No longer. Each day of music is now carefully scheduled in advance. Music directors need time to input the new songs into their music scheduling software. They also need time to actually schedule the music. If music were done on Thursdays, music directors would have to schedule Friday’s music late Thursday night, then turn around and schedule three complete days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) in one day…Friday, when everyone wants to get out early.

With changes prevalent in the industry today brought on by Plays Per Week, BDS, SoundScan and other retail research, programmers are constantly searching for the special edge that will make them winners in the their market. They have no time for unnecessary wallpaper touch-ups (such as changing music days) that have little to do with their daily operation.

As one major-market programmer said, “I’ll be happy to give the industry my adds and rotations on Thursdays. But I’ll continue to do them on Tuesdays just like always.”

Sometimes, trade magazines tend to run on their own, hidden agendas. We all need to remember that Tuesday is playlist day because it is best for radio. What works best for radio works best for Network Forty.

Besides, we have a hidden agenda. If add day was move to Thursday, we couldn’t take Friday off!