2/10/1995
Call-out research…not this week…not unless I get a big promotion with it…I’ll add it at number one!
What phrase doesn’t fit?
That’s easy. “I’ll add it at number one.†All the other phrases strike fear into the hearts of record promotion people the world over.
Call-out research is on the lips of a lot of people in our business this week. In a previous Country Commentary, I outlined Network 40’s plans to publish a weekly chart of the nation’s most popular call-out records. After reading the commentary, many of you (in both the radio and record industries) called with your thoughts about such a list.
Programmers and music directors were generally positive. Most of those in radio know the value of research and look forward to a chart that would accurately reflect the top call-out records in the nation.
There were some concerns. Many of you wanted to know how a national call-out chart could accurately reflect your market. There’s a simple answer to that: It can’t. However, since Country radio is not as formatically splintered as Top 40, a national call-out chart can give you a very good barometer of how certain songs are testing across the country. It should be used in conjunction with your own local call-out research to define more accurately the tastes of your particular audience. It can also be used as a verification of your own guy instincts and ears in determining what records to play and how long you should play them.
Network 40 is the first publication to gather and publish call-out information for our readers. It’s interesting to note that after Network 40 announced this feature, R&R began soliciting support for a call-out venture covering the Top 40 format. Another person (who might be suspicious of R&R’s intent and who might be prone to attack R&R’s research, data and ultimate purpose) would probably write a scathing Editorial in response to such an obvious ploy, but certainly not us. We would never stoop to such a thing. It is a much higher plane we seek. (Besides, we’ve been there and done that!)
We are publishing a call-out chart because we believe it will assist our readers… particularly those in radio…in doing a better job. As stated here previously, the Network 40 call-out chart can be used as a tool by those who can’t afford call-out research of their own and as a comparison by those who do their own call-out.
However, as I also stated, too much reliance on research, specifically call-out research, is one of the main reasons the Top 40 format has suffered from a declining and fragmenting audience. Country radio needs to be careful to avoid the same ultimate fate.
Call-out research is best used as one of many tools in determining what is best for your radio station. Call-out research is best at telling a programmer when a record is burning out. Call-out research can help a PD get an additional read on a record when sales and requests are initially weak or have begun to diminish.
Call-out research cannot predict a hit record. If it could, record companies would never release records that test poorly. Call-out research is best at determining the feelings of the audience once they are familiar with a record. By the very nature of the research, new records are unfamiliar and test that way. This does not mean those records will not ultimately be hits.
Call-out research (or, for that matter, any other kind of research) should never take the place of a programmer’s gut instincts or ears in deciding what records to add to a station’s playlist. Any PD who depends on research for all music decisions or computers for all programming decisions should be working for IBM.
The radio business is about talent; a PD either has it or not. Research can make a programmer better, but it can’t be used to make the ultimate programming decisions. A computer print-out can tell you if it looks right. Only a talented programmer’s ears can tell if it sounds right.
Network 40’s Country section is dedicated to providing different elements that will help programmers make key decisions. Network 40’s Country section is also dedicated to exposing and researching new artists and new music. The future of Country music and the Country format lies in breaking new acts and sounds. A fine line must be drawn between too safe and too unfamiliar. Swaying too far toward either side spells disaster…be it a slow, lingering death or immediate doom.
Network 40’s Country section will devote an entire page to new artists and new music. We will also devote an entire page to Hot Country reaction records picked by PDs across the nation. Network 40’s Country section will feature the most requested songs from our reporting stations. Network 40’s exclusive PPW chart will list the most popular songs in the nation. Network 40’s Country section will also feature a Call-Out Chart. It is just one of many features designed to give programmers an overall picture of what music is best for their individual stations.
Network 40’s Country Call-Out Chart will also be heavily recurrent-based. We believe our own research. Our Call-Out Chart will focus on the hottest recurrents…the chart will not attempt to predict the future popularity of records. Our other features will help do that.
To our radio reporters, we ask that you use the Call-Out Chart as one of many tools. It is not designed to help you pick records that are right for your radio stations. It is designed to help you identify the best testing, most familiar records.
To those in the record business, we ask that you embrace call-out research as a necessary tool for overall successful programming. Not for predictions.
To those in both radio and records, we say, “Try us. You’ll like us.â€