Modern Rock Radio Guidelines?

[savethewave]

I listen to radio the way that many people watch TV, and I have all but given up on commercial music stations.

I love alternative and modern rock, but I can't find one I like anymore. This is my "wish list" of things I wish a modern rock radio station would do.


<strong>Ten Things that Modern Rock Radio Should Do:</strong>

1. Stop denigrating other radio stations with your slickly-produced station ID bumpers. Those kinds of bumpers only put the station in a negative light, especially when the current programming is so similar. It smacks of hypocrisy. Concentrate instead on raising the quality and variety of music played.

2. Stop using the slick station bumper between every song. This insults your listeners’ intelligence. Fans of alternative rock are informed listeners. They KNOW to what station they are listening. Save the bumper for commercial breaks.

3. Stop doing those “45-minute music sweeps.” It lets listeners know exactly when they should switch the station so they don’t have to listen to the commercials. If the station gets them excited enough about the music, they’ll sit through more evenly-spaced commercials to hear what is coming up next.

4. Hire local talent, and let the DJ’s cue up and play actual CD’s, not punch up buttons on a computer. This guarantees that the alternative rock fan will never hear anything other than a single version of a song. The DJ is relegated to the role of babysitter. The listeners KNOW that a computer is being used, anyway, and it makes the station less “special,” which is an all-important factor to the alternative music fan.

5. When the station plays back-catalog music, don’t choose the same songs which every other station does. Instead, look at the kind of music that WHTG played back in the 80’s, and what stations like KROQ, WLIR, and CFNY were doing in the 1980’s, and play some of that kind of music. For example, New Order has songs OTHER than “Bizarre Love Triangle,” and your listeners will enjoy Ramones songs besides “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Try playing the extended version of “Forever Young” by Alphaville or “The Different Story” by Peter Schilling, and watch the phones light up!

6. Keep many of the songs that the station is now playing; just stop playing them so often. There are many newer songs that the station should add. There are Adult Contemporary pop stations with playlists THREE TIMES deeper that a modern rock station's!

7. Do special programming, live feeds, special Holiday programming (like a “Retro Fourth of July” for example). Connect with the community at events that fans of alternative rock attend. Bring back the Underground and Local Music Shows, and allow the DJ’s who host Retro Shows more creative freedom. The listeners will thank you for it.

8. Do musical research before conducting interviews. The interviewer should have at least a passing familiarity with the artist’s work, so that he or she can ask questions other than the standard ones heard everywhere else. Try to be the alternative rock equivalent of Charlie Rose, not Tabitha Soren.

9. Take chances; put the station on the map! Playing it safe, as modern rock radio is doing now, will almost certainly lead to failure. Get the hordes of rabidly loyal fans of alternative rock excited about the station. Never forget the power that the “wow factor” has on alternative rock fans.

10. Fans of alternative music are not a majority, but are a programming niche that cries out to be exploited. For a station playing music, their loyalty is second to none. It is only in modern rock radio's best interest to snare this disenfranchised audience.

[fritzb]

I couldn't agree more!

I gave up on commercial radio years ago. No matter what the genre, they play the same damn songs every day, usually at the same time of day. "Oh, there's that crummy song again... must be 11AM!" Hire a real DJ for Christ's s

[ghosty]

Despite my limited flirtation with commercial radio, I've observed a few things that simply defy logic but seem to be common:

Most radio stations spend a good deal of time and money emulating other radio stations they're envious of, and when they're A

[ghosty]

I should also add that commercial radio survives in it's anemic state because it DOES appeal to listeners who could'nt even conceive that it could be different. They're more than happy hearing the same hits over and over again. These people (and they outn

[devildog]

I hate to say it guys, but it is all about money. I have known radio insiders who have given me details about how playlists are generated these days. It is all about marketing surveys and focus groups that determine which songs get played.

They will

[pikeprof]

I hate to sound like a broken record-but here it is: The reason why you don't see adventurous commercial radio anymore is because of consolidation. Stations are "cost centers" of media companies and have expectations (usually way too high) for performance