12/13/1996
Was this planned? At the beginning of 1996, did we plan to pull the covers over our heads and take a holiday nap at the beginning of December? Or did we just eat way too much turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving, gain so much weight and lethargy that we couldn’t (or wouldn’t) put forth a big effort to close the year with a bang? Are we too tired, too lazy, too content…or, in some cases, too ignorant of the facts to make the final push that separates the big winners from the also-rans?
Or was this just another one of those famous “mistakes†that so often happens in our industry…you know, those things that “just happen†and turn first into legend, then tradition.
Or is it all my imagination?
Hello? Is anybody there?
I’m speaking of the decisions made by some record companies to curb their promotional efforts leading up to the Christmas holidays. It is evident that record companies that don’t have releases shouldn’t waste their time and efforts pushing stiffs up to mid-chart. However, record companies who make conscious decisions to decrease promotion and sales efforts in December because of a belief that airplay is tough to come by might be guilty of reasoning accurately to an inaccurate conclusion.
Often, particularly in the promotional ranks, decisions are made based on what promotion executives think radio believes. Too often, these assumptions are wrong. The symbiotic relationship that tenuously exists between radio stations and record companies is at it’s weakest during the Christmas holidays.
Record company promotional teams usually close their doors over the holiday period…some for as many as three weeks. Radio programmers work through the holiday vacations…many pulling air-shifts on Christmas Day. Certainly, no programmer or music director is allowed two to three weeks of vacation.
After Christmas means more advertising. There are sales, special end-of-the-year offerings, sales, New Year’s parties, sales, New Year’s concerts and sales. Did I mention sales?
The point is, radio has no choice except to work. The jocks are on the air, commercial logs are in the control room and music logs must be run.
Ahh…Music logs
Have we struck a resonant chord?
No matter what a record company believes or promotes or does, programmers will change the music on their radio stations every week through the holiday period. So you think that song you’re promoting has just about lost its vitality and you can put it to sleep three weeks earlier than you would under normal circumstances because it’s Christmas.
Wrong, no-bullet breath.
Programmers are looking for fresh, new product. There is probably no other time of year better than right now when you can “sneak†a song on radio stations. So many promotion people get insane because programmers don’t give their record enough time to begin to stimulate sales and requests. Quit bitching. Your time is now.
Unlike any other time of year, true promotion people can make a difference over the next couple of weeks. If you’re good enough to convince a programmer to add your record on the basis of sound (hey, how many opportunities do you get to do that?), you have the chance to get your record burning into the audience for a good three weeks before accurate information can come back to the programmer for evaluation. Few stations do audience testing during the holidays because listeners’ habits are different-but they still have the radio station tuned in. And if your record is on, they’re hearing it. Maybe they’re hearing it a lot and, if you’re lucky, liking it. Then, when Pauley Programmer starts up those call-outs after the holidays, maybe your record has enough momentum to show up big.
And guess what? All of those other promoters who didn’t bother with the station before the Christmas holidays will be a day late and a dollar short when they’re asking for adds during the first week of January. You’ll already have a head start.
Just because record companies take a long holiday over Christmas doesn’t mean radio stations do the same. The opposite is true. Radio doesn’t take a holiday. And music is critical to radio all the time…but especially during Christmas when new product can get increasingly stale.
Record companies should actively promote programmers through the 20th of this year. Don’t worry about them not being there. Trust me. They will be. And promotion should begin again on January 2nd. Again, don’t worry about a programmer not being back from vacation. The truth is, most won’t leave.
Radio people are accustomed to working over the holidays. And because many record company promotion teams are “over and out†during the same period, a good promotion executive can find quality time with a programmer simply because there’s nobody else around. I’m not suggesting you to call on Christmas Day, but the days leading up to Christmas can prove a lot more productive than all those other days when the call-waiting feature on the music line was overloaded. It is a promotion person’s job to find better ways. This is an easy one.
Record companies with hit records will promote during the Christmas holidays. Those that don’t, probably won’t, but is it happenstance that those who continue to work harder have hit records?
I think not.