Category: Commentaries

10/4/1996

The beautiful girl who everyone wanted to dance with at the beginning of the prom has aged perceptibly under the harsh glare of the spotlights.  She finds herself sitting alone wearing the once-fashionable, but now obsolete, Doc Martens.  The style-setting glass slippers that fit so perfectly at the beginning of the dance are now dirty, passé and cutting into her feet, growing tighter with each minute that ticks off the clock towards midnight.

Is the carriage about the turn into a pumpkin, the horses into mice? Is the Alternative format, the belle of the ball in the 90s, about to be relegated once again to sitting in the singles line, dancing mainly with the small but loyal group who likes her because she wears funky clothes, has a tattoo and puts out in the parking lot?

Top 40, the most resilient format in radio, whose death has been predicted at least once each decade since Gordon McClendon invented it in the 1950s, is tuning up the guitars and warming up the crowd for a familiar round of “Another One Bites The Dust.”  A format that tries to be all things to all people survives by doing just that.

In the 60s, it was R&B and the British invasion that split the format; next came Rock; disco ruled for a while, Urban and Alternative has been the darling of the 90s. Now what?  Check out next week’s Editorial.

The fact that Alternative music is losing popularity in the Mainstream isn’t surprising.  What is surprising is that people who should know better are surprised by this turn of events.

Alternative music, by its very definition and nature, is an hors d’oeuvre.  You can eat it as a main course for a while, but in the long run, you’ll want something that draws from all of the food groups, rather than just one.  Like my mama used to say, “Too much of even of good thing is worse than not enough.”

The bloom is off the Alternative rose… which doesn’t mean that Alternative isn’t a viable format, just that it won’t automatically pull the numbers it once did.  And that’s no real surprise either…nor should it be.

Too many radio stations made the Alternative move for all the wrong reasons.  Many GMs saw the success of the format in larger markets and made the switch.  PDs understand that a lot of GMs are as ignorant about programming as the Editors of Hitz.  In smaller markets, the GM is almost always a former sales manager who has a tendency to look at the short term rather than the long.  Let’s face it, most of these people got into radio in the first place because they couldn’t cut it in the used car business.

At a glance, the Alternative format is skewed to the 18-34 year-old male (and often, female demographics) that advertisers love.  The format is also music-driven and cheap to run.  Most promotions center around lifestyle or music and can be underwritten by labels.

Hey, let’s hire a lot of cheap talent, play a bunch of weird music and book three club remotes a night.  For a while, it worked.  But in the long run, it hasn’t.  Why?  Because many aren’t good radio stations.  To weather the storms, you must have a knowledgeable captain at the helm.

Is it the recipe or the cook that is the most important?  Although there are obvious arguments on both sides, let me come down solidly on the side of the cook.  A restaurant with great ambiance, friendly waiters and a super location can get by for a while with mediocre fare.  But to survive the food has to be good.

Kevin Weatherly has been crowned the King of Alternative Radio and rightfully so.  He made KROK the prize against which all other Alternative stations are judged.  But is Kevin an Alternative guru?  Nope.  He’s much smarter and deeper than that.  Before he was an Alternative King, he was a Crossover Prince.  The only reason he wasn’t a Crossover King is that KKLQ was in San Diego and you can’t be King unless you do it in New York or Los Angeles.

Is Brian Phillips an Alternative guru?  (See above.)  He was equally successful in other formats (and will be again, shortly) before taking WNNX to the promised land.

There is no doubt that Alternative music became more popular in the past few years, but I believe that exceptional programming took many of these stations past formatic barriers to the top.  Many gave all the credit to the music and not enough to the director.  Take a closer look.  A lot of bad Alternative stations are playing KROQ’s or WNNX’s list and still losing.

The same is true outside the Alternative genre.  Jay Stevens has made Crossover the #1 format in Washington, D.C. Ditto Robert Scorpio at KBXX in Houston.  Up until a short time ago, Steve Smith had Urban leading the way in New York.  And does anyone want to try and explain Michelle Mercer’s Spanish-driven KPWR in Los Angeles?  What about Steve Rivers, who has taken Top 40 stations to the top in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston?

Steve Kingston, who moved Z100 closer to the edge, and Weatherly got together in New York.  Everyone said WXRK was a slam dunk, but a fool by the name of Frankie Blue comes into hopelessly outmanned WKTU, turns it Dance, for Heaven’s sake, and is #1 in his first book.

So what is the point of this Editorial?  None, really, except that we, as an industry, are guilty once again of being too quick to bury Top 40 and quicker still to coronate the successor.  We too often choose the easiest answer.  It would have made promotion easier if Alternative could have evolved into Mainstream…ditto Disco or Crossover or all of the other hybrid formats. But it won’t happen.  These formats began because they are Alternatives to the Mainstream, not embryos struggling to become Mainstream.

Alternative will live on, but in a more modest neighborhood.  Good Alternative music will sell well. Great Alternative music will rise above the format and become Mainstream hits.  What will change?  The successful Alternative stations will programmed by knowledgeable PDs.  No longer is the music enough to drive the signal to the top of the heap.  Programming will become more focused…the core audience will be catered to more and record promotion will become harder edged.  It’s already happening.

The Alternative for is re-evolving to what it is:  Alternative.

9/27/1996 

There is no phrase in the world of promotion that will cause more trauma than the dreaded, “Your record isn’t researching well.”

Absolutely nothing is worse.  A good promotion person can come up with a lot of excuses for lack of sales, requests or a programmer’s preference, but what  can you say when the PD tells you your record is testing poorly? Your palms get sweaty, your throat gets dry, and your eyes begin to water.  Through parched lips, you might mumble or stammer a whimper or two, but for the most part…you’re done.

There’s almost always no argument.  Why?  Because most promotion people don’t understand research, so there’s no way they can argue the subject intelligently.

I’m confounded by a lot of things in our business, but nothing embarrasses me more than promotion people who don’t know anything about research.  It is ludicrous.

What word do most programmers use when talking about hit records?  Research.  What word do most PDs use when a record isn’t added?  Research.  What word do most PDs use when determining the number of spins a record receives?  Research.

So why do promotion people loath to gain an understanding of something that can mean the difference between failure and success?

Understanding the basic concepts of research doesn’t take a lot of time.  It certainly doesn’t take a lot of intelligence.  Remember, its radio people who are quoting the figures, so it can’t be that tough to learn.  (It’s just a joke, Kingston.  Smile.  Remember, I’m a programmer so I’m really making fun of myself.  And yes, I think you’re just as smart when you aren’t programming a station as when you are.  Sure.)

You want to learn about music research?  All you have to do is ask a programmer.  Most will take the time to teach you the basics.  Most are proud of their particular system.  If the person you ask isn’t forthcoming, call Mason Dixon.  Mason has one of the most innovative research systems in radio and he’s happy to share the basics with anyone who will ask.

Will knowing about research automatically get your record added?  Of course not, but it will give you an argument.  And that’s all a good promotion person needs.

Of course, understanding the basics of research doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always be able to interpret the end results correctly.  It’s an interesting concept:  Most research is objective, yet the interpretation is subjective, depending upon who is reading it and what objectives the reader is trying to obtain.

Many programmers who pride themselves on their knowledge and use of research are missing the boat in today’s marketplace.  Actually, they’re missing more than the boat; they’re missing the entire marina.

I was discussing the changes on the surface of today’s musical landscape (can I turn a phrase, or what?) over lunch with Reprise VP Promotion Marc Ratner, who is one of the few record people who actually understands research.

Many Top 40 programmers are having particular trouble finding the Alternative songs that are right for their format.  Fewer Alternative “hits” are crossing Mainstream Top 40.  Many PDs are having trouble understanding what’s going on.

Well, it’s not Marvin Gaye.  And the answer could have more to do with the resurgence of Dance music on Top 40 than Dance music…if you get my drift…but that’s next week’s Editorial.

Mr. Ratner’s theory, which I share and endorse, is that the research on Alternative hits is accurate…it’s the interpretation of the research that is causing problems.

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Alternative format has been becoming more and more Alternative lately.  Those who thought the format would evolve into a more Mainstream stance need to wake up and smell the dwindling profits.  In the past few years, as Alternative music became more acceptable to the masses, bits and pieces of the format were whittled away by Top 40, AOR and A/C stations.  Then came the formats that were alternatives to the Alternative…AAA, Modern Adult, etc.

Alternative is fast becoming what it was in the beginning…a young, cutting-edge, male-driven format.  Since Top 40 has always depended on females for its core, it isn’t shocking that today’s Alternative hits aren’t crossing into that format.

Today, 95% of Alternative hits appeal to males.  Top 40 PDs who pick the cream of the Alternative crop more often than not find themselves playing mid-charting records because their audience is mostly female.  What PDs should be doing is checking the Alternative mid-charters for Mainstream hits.

By the definition of today’s audience, an Alternative record with strong female appeal will probably mid-chart on Alternative radio.  That same record could be a hit on Top 40 because it has enough female “legs” to appeal to the femininaty (did I just invent a new word?) of the format.

This is why so many records are being released simultaneously to Top 40 and Alternative.  Record companies want Top 40 stations to go on these records before they stiff at Alternative and create a negative.

It is Mr. Ratner’s opinion that the Alternative mid-charting of a record with female appeal is not a negative for Top 40, but could indeed be the positive that proves the record a Mainstream hit.

I concur.

A few years ago, at the height of Alternative’s acceptance, the audience had nowhere to go except the Alternative station to get their fix.  So what if the station was a little too male-driven for the female taste…there was no other alternative.  Now, with so many slivers of the format devoted to the specific tastes of particular slices of the pie (younger and older females, older males, etc.), the listeners have many other place to get off.

So, what’s next? Ashes to ashes…The Alternative format will re-evolve from the beautiful butterfly accepted by the masses to what it was in the beginning…a caterpillar that is appreciated by a smaller, yet loyal fan base.  And Top 40 will survive its “once each decade” prediction of doom to become the format for the Mainstream.

How do I know this? Research, baby.

9/6/1996 

I am I said…to no one there…and no one heard at all…not even the chair.

The key phrase in that sentence being, of course, “no one heard.”

I had the most interesting Labor Day weekend.  Unfortunately, I had to spend it with a bunch of industry hypes…I mean types…so there wasn’t a lot of joy in my house.  Then again, they had to spend the time with me, so maybe they’re feeling a little “off-balance” also.

Our business, or more appropriately, the people in our business make it hysterical.  I guess it is the business that makes us all a little odd, but at the same time, it’s hard not to laugh out loud at some of the people, places and things we wind up witnessing…or doing ourselves.

One of the absolute best parts of our idiocrasy is trying to explain a new group.  I don’t mean a group we can hear on the radio, I mean a group who hasn’t yet put out a record.  First of all, trying to explain music in pedestrian terms is difficult enough under the best of circumstances.  But at least, if the record is out, you can describe a guitar solo or quote some of the lyrics.  If the group hasn’t cut a record yet, the descriptions are a bitch.

“Wait until you hear this new group I signed, Cagle, it’s a Guns ‘N’ Roses meets Aerosmith with a Bobby Brown flavor.”

“She’s a cross between Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin with the attitude of Grace Jones.  All this…and she’s white.”

“She’s a Black Mariah Carey/Melissa Etheridge/Alanis Morissette with a New Kids On The Block teen appeal.”

I can’t wait to hear all of them.

The real interest of this past, or any other weekend, is playing the “I” game.  It’s the latest craze that’s sweeping the fad capitol of the world and it’s open to people of all ages.  It’s not difficult to play.  It’s quite simple, really.  What you do is count the number of times a person you’re with says “I.”

What’s so difficult about that, you ask?  You aren’t allowed to use a calculator.

Oh, my God!

Also, to make the game more interesting, it must be divided into segments.  These segments are up to you.  There are no real hard and fast rules.  (Milton-Bradley has yet to put out the board version.)  You make it up as you go along.  I prefer to count separately during drinks, salad, entrée and desert.  If you don’t break it up, you’ll hopelessly lose count.

The best way to play the game is to get partners and make bets.  You and someone else can choose a particular person before the rest of the group arrives.  Maybe you take Ted and your opponent takes Alice.  Then, you wager as to who will refer most to themselves during the different courses of dinner.

If you choose this game, you must decide early as to whether of not you can “lead” your “horse” into making comments in the first person.  Questions like “What did you do over the weekend” or “Who did you meet with today” may be allowed or not, depending on the game.

Usually, arguing over whether or not to allow leading questions is a moot point, especially if you’re dining with a programmer.  (Okay, it was a cheap shot…but accurate.  Many record people are just as bad.)

Why is it that we feel it is important to make ourselves important in this business?  Is it possible to spend time with one’s peers and actually learn something…rather than say something?  Is it possible that someone else has something more important to offer than you?  Is it possible to spend one evening listening rather than trying to engage the whole table with your “inside” knowledge?

Too often at gatherings in our business, only one opinion matters…that being the one of the speaker.  Nowhere else have I met so many people who know exactly everything there is to know about every subject in the universe.

I’ve got a news flash for you:  As a whole, we aren’t the smartest group around.  Loudest, maybe.  Smartest?  I don’t think so.  Here’s just a small sample of this past weekend.

Politics? “Dole doesn’t have a chance.  It’s because people won’t vote for someone that old and who has spent his entire career in the House of Representatives.”

Iraq’s raid on the Kurds? “Of course we had to fire missiles.  What we really ought to do is send the bombers to take out the Ayatollah.”

On sports?  “I knew the Red Sox were going to make a comeback.  I told everybody that.  And everybody knew the Cowboys were going to be terrible.  I know I bet on them, but I really didn’t think they were going to win.”

On the #1 record? “I knew that record was a hit the first time I heard it.”

On a record that isn’t making it? “I knew that record was a stiff the first time I heard it.”

You don’t have to have an absolute opinion on every subject.  Those of you who are stupid enough to dominate every conversation should know we don’t think you’re smart…we think you’re boring.

The next time you have the occasion to be with several people over lunch or dinner, why don’t you stun everyone and keep quiet? Here’s a new term for you: Listen.  Look it up in the dictionary.  You’ll find it helpful.

Here’s another hint: Ask the others around you questions.  I know, it does seem strange that someone as smart as you might dare to show there is something you don’t know by asking a question, but try it anyhow.  You might learn something with the answer.  And better yet, you might learn something about the person who is giving you the answer.  You might be surprised.  They will certainly be surprised that you asked.

Can we make a vow for next week?  Let’s promise that at one lunch or dinner, we won’t offer an opinion.  We’ll only listen. We may ask questions, but not disagree.  Instead of giving, can we gather information?

If nothing else, we can all play the game. And I’ll post the results in a future Editorial.  Who can set the record for counting the most times someone else uses “I” at a dinner?

And just in case you were keeping score, I used “I” 29 times in this Editorial.

I’m so ashamed.

Oops.  That’s 30.

7/5/1996 

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of radio programming and record promotion in the 1990s.  Are we having fun yet?

Unfortunately, that question is answered more often in the negative of late.

The evolution of both the radio and record industries have changed the way we do promotion.

Over the past few months, several Editorials have dealt with the ever-changing relationship between programmers and record promoters. New theories have been expounded about those relationships and all agree that promotion in the 1990’s is a different animal.  However, when push comes to shove, it too often boils down to, “…how many did we get?” at the end of add day.

Promotion people are caught between a rock and a hard place.  The marketing concept calls for a well-conceived game plan involving point-of-purchase displays, television appearances, tour support, promotions, advertising and, oh yeah, radio airplay.  It’s all about marketing…until add day.

The days of “200 out-of-the-box” are long gone.  Don’t get me wrong.  There are still those artists with the right songs who can boom the big numbers in one week.  But more often, we’re looking at building an artist and song over the course of several weeks…or even months.

And it’s not easy.

Programmers are quick to say that they aren’t interested in what other stations are doing; they’re only interested in what’s happening in their own market and what’s right for their audience.  One week later, the same programmers are just as quick to point out the lack of total adds for a record.

What’s a mother to do?

It is imperative, in today’s climate, for record promotion people to understand the programming philosophy of every radio station in their territory.  Mainstream Top 40, Country, Adult Top 40, A/C, Hot A/C, Alternative, Rock, AAA, Urban, Crossover, Dance…all of these are broad strokes.  As we all know, it’s the short strokes that count.

Every radio station is different, as is each programmer.  The philosophy behind the programming stance is often the key.

When a record comes down the pipeline in a record company, it is often “tagged” with a particular label.  Promotion people must look past this label to find what particulars about the record will “talk” to the programmers in their region.

How do you find out this information?  By talking with the programmers.  I don’t mean a casual conversation about life and programming in general.  Take the time to get specific.  Ask them to explain their programming philosophy in depth.  Ask questions.  Gain the knowledge you will need for the time when you’re working them on a particular record.

I don’t know of any programmer who won’t take the time to explain his or her philosophy.  There are two reasons:  First, as programmers, we are an egotistical group who believe we’ve found the cure for cancer.  We like to talk about ourselves and about our stations…what else is there to talk about?  Programming is an abstract art.  We like to postulate on our unique qualifications and beliefs.  Besides, we have great voices and we like to hear ourselves talk.  And who knows?  We might hear ourselves say something important.

Second, by explaining our programming philosophy, it should make future meetings about promotion much simpler.

The one main gripe from programmers about record promotion people is, “They don’t understand.”  If you understand, you’ve gotten past the first big hurdle.

Much was made in the Top 40/Rhythm/Dance/Latin/Whatever circles last week when KPWR Los Angeles APD Bruce St. James announced that he would no longer take record calls on Thursdays.  Bruce didn’t want to take time out of another day to tell record promotion people “no.”  Many felt Bruce was over the line, yet I don’t know of any programmer who is more accessable to the record community.  The simple fact is that Power 106 is virtually unpromotable.  It is a street radio station that is truly unique in the country.  Promotion people who know that (and who know when they have a record that is reacting on the street level) always have an open door with Power 106.  Those who try and fit a round peg in a square hole are the ones who don’t get calls returned…Thursday or any other day.

Harry Nelson now programs two Country radio stations in Boston.  Although they share some of the same audience, each is programmed for a different demographic.  Promotion people need to understand the difference between the two to intelligently promote Harry on what records will fit where.  Trying to get the same record added on both stations just because Harry programs both is a simplistic, and inaccurate, assumption.

What’s the point of this Editorial?  It’s a suggestion that all of us should spend more time doing our homework.  Record promotion people should take the time to get deep information about the programming philosophies of each of their stations.  Programmers should make the time to spend with those promoters who truly want to know the nuts and bolts operations.

In today’s promotion circle, it’s not all about adds.  It’s about increasing spins.  Familiarity with a station’s programming philosophy and the audience can help in talking to a programmer about increasing spins.  Just saying, “Play it more,” isn’t enough.

The magic number that is being bandied about in the record community is 2,000…as in 2,000 spins is the figure when sales really begin to react to airplay.  At 2,000 spins, a record should begin to kick.  To reach that number, a promotion person needs to be loaded with ammunition to convince programmers to continue increasing spins without substantial sales information to serve as a back-up.

Of course, all of this is information is in the Promotion 101 handbook.  As is the promotional trip to Hawaii if all else fails.

As I’ve said before, every record sounds better in Maui!