CKRM Revamps playlist

[Karen]

I'm in Regina and Saskatoon for a few days on a work project. I found this story in Saturday's Leader Post and have been waiting patiently all day to get it posted.
By the way, the near zero temperatures in this area at the end January are quite enjoyable!

CKRM revamps playlist format

Variety over repetition for new feel

BY JEFF DEDEKKER, LEADER-POST JANUARY 28, 2012


Regina's 620 CKRM is bucking the trend when it comes to programming its playlist.

The vast majority of radio stations currently use consultants that, in addition to recommending artists, songs and schedules for playlists, provide guidance in other areas of the business such as advertising and on-air personnel. When CKRM's latest contract with its consultant expired, station management decided to move from a limited title, high repetition format to a formula more representative of its audience.

Jason Huschi, CKRM's general manager, believes the connection between the station and its audience provides ample information and direction when it comes to creating a playlist.

"Our choice to go this route wasn't because our consultant took us in a wrong direction," said Huschi. "We believe here that we have, through our surveys, through our discussions and interactions with our listeners and within our advertising community, all the necessary information. There was a void that was created when we stopped doing what we were doing best. It's time, we feel, that we can serve a lot more people a lot more effectively going back to what we were known for.

"There seemed to be a disconnect in a lot of cases of really what we were there to be. And that's what we've turned our branding back to be. We're a country music station at heart but news and information are a big part of what we do."

The trend of a limited title, high repetition playlist best fits FM and urban stations and their respective audiences. Statistics indicate that these type of stations have listeners that tune in for 90 minutes per day on average. CKRM, on the other hand, estimates that its listeners tune in for three to four hours per day on average.

Given the larger daily listening window, CKRM felt it was counterproductive to maintain a playlist that would repeat a song numerous times during the course of a day.

"We felt that with some feedback we got and who our audience is, we were just burning these people out with repetition and very little variety," explained Huschi. "It made sense to us to go back to our roots, expand our playlist, open up our genre ... and head back to the roots of country and what made country big today."

For many in the radio industry, consultants are a sensitive issue. While consultants do have their supporters, there are those who feel they are the poster boys for everything that is wrong in radio.

Robert Townsend, a business executive credited with transforming Avis Car Rental into a global success, has a famous quote that is often repeated by those who see consultants as villains: "Consultants are people who borrow your watch, tell you what time it is and then walk off with the watch."

While consultants no longer fit into CKRM's current plans, Huschi emphasized they can be a valuable tool.

"Anytime when you can rely on experts to give you direction, we're all going to benefit from it," said Huschi. "Consultants have, through their line of work, the ability to work with several different radio stations, several different announcers and share a lot of good ideas.

"A lot of what they do isn't necessarily 100 per cent of the music you play. They're coaching your announcers, they're helping you build your clocks, they're giving you promotional ideas or sharing those sorts of things.

"It comes down to how the management team uses the information and the tools."

Huschi is confident CKRM's new playlist will meet the expectations of its listeners.

"We certainly still cover the Top 20, without a doubt, but we expanded our list to bring back top songs from the last 20 years of country and the top artists," Huschi said. "There is still a place for bringing back the heritage and the roots of country music. The '80s were great years in country, so were the '90s. Garth Brooks is back - he was huge, then he left for a while and he's back now. You've got to keep that timeline in place when you're thinking of what country really is and who you are serving."

jdedekker@leaderpost.com

twitter.com/ThePloughboy

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post


Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/entertainment ... z1kuywVCDH

[PMC]

I am waiting for Pave to say `Always blame the consultant'

[pave]

Always blame the consultant.
And while we're at it - let's take the "Research"-guys and throw them into the same pit! (Throw them high, as well. The extra hang-time gives them a greater opportunity to consider the evils they have done.)

[Anotherwpgguy]

Here's where I must display my ignorance relative to that of my good friend of 45+ years.

So what is wrong with doing research? I mean ..... where's the harm in asking your listeners what they like? Isn't it somewhat analogous to having a conversation with a stunningly pretty blonde with a million dollar set of legs over beers in a bar in a desperate search for common conversational ground so you can continue to spend time with her?

The problem isn't so much with consultants .... (Lord knows I've done well being one in another field) ..... the issue is the people who are given the information, and what they do with it. Is it a small part of the overall operational plan, or is it the guiding lighthouse beacon to those foundering ship's Captains almost on the rocks after being lost at sea in the ocean of broadcasting.

So, my good buddies ... continue to educate me.

AWG

[pave]

Zo, zis is vat happens to a pilot after years of failing to vear his oxygen mask above 14,000 feet!?

Meanwhile, we are agreed that if a Consultant is hired and the (alleged) high quality strategies provided by the same are not implemented, the Consultant is definitely off the hook. ("The Invoice, however, still stands, you sunovabich!")

As to Research: It is my contention that the wrong question is being asked, particularly when it is framed as "What do you want (in a Radio Station)?" This is based on 3 assumptions. 1.) Individuals know what they want. 2.) Those individuals can articulate what they want. The more important and number 3. on the list: That they can guarantee they will support what it is they just said they wanted.

Historically and based on Research, radio stations have become music machines and have utterly gutted the Talent-pool. This, I submit, has been as a result of quizzed audience-members responding with (essentially) "We want more Rock and less Jocks! And while you're at it - lose the commercials."

If Detroit (car manufactures) depended on such research, they would have been building Ladas with roll-cages that delivered 50 mpg at the price of a Filter Queen vacuum cleaner - and disappeared from the automotive map. If Detroit (Motown) had relied on research, they would have been producing Nat King Cole or Wayne Newton records. No Tops. No Temps. No Gladys. No Diana. No Pips. (That one, for AWG, would be akin to an IFR-approach in a blizzard with 60 mph crosswinds during a sneezing fit and a violent attack of Montezuma's Revenge -- too terrible to contemplate. Even here.)

No. The responsibility on Radio Programmers and, for that matter, designers of any consumer product or service is to develop those things to which people will respond - emotionally! This, whether the consumer has awareness of or can even describe their experience of the product or service.

It's no wonder (to me) that so many Programmers lament about how they provided exactly what the audience said they wanted, but the numbers just never came in. This is understandable, of course. But, it sure ain't satisfying.

By the way, I wouldn't put a dime into Research. Not for a radio station. I'd take those funds and give them back to me as a Programming Trainer. No self-interest in this boy. No, Siree!

And now, my work here is done.

[45 RPM]

The Mighty 620 comes in pretty much like a local here in Central Alberta. It's refreshing to hear some classic country in the mix now. Also noticed at 1PM (CST) they feature #1 songs from this date in
years gone by. Yesterday I heard Why Me by Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash's Flesh And Blood along with others that i haven't heard for years. A pleasant surprise this morning was hearing former
Sunny 94 gal Gloria Evans on the morning show. I wondered where she had moved on to.

The one thing that would stop me from listening for longer periods of time is the annoying imaging voice that is on all their splitters/promos/intros etc. The guy has a very affected voice and he sounds
like a kid on the air at his first job trying to sound like a big city boss jock.

I wish a few more stations would get back to the basics and tell their consultants to get lost.

[albertaboy4life]

The imaging voice is that of former LG73 jock, Al Murdoch - http://www.almurdoch.com/clients2.html

He also does the imaging for 'QR in Calgary.

If he was still alive, I'd suggest CFAC's Jim Kunkel in place of Al.

[pave]

What's the point in having a "Liner Guy" in the first place... so they can sound Big City Slick? They're not Big City and they're certainly not Slick. Maybe, then, it's "Consistency". Consistently what, specifically? Pretentious, perhaps?

This is an internal Radio issue that comes from an innocuous and questionable history. It has nothing to do with audience enhancement whatsoever.

Better to find some intelligent and witty Performers and get 'em on the air - fast! Otherwise, they run the risk of continuing to insult an audience that deserves better.

It's a mistake to expect that whole radio stations can be smuggled through Customs forever without, at some point, having to pay the duties and fees. It's not like juggling the playlist is going to make them deserving of an Order of Canada.

[TRENT310]

The one thing that would stop me from listening for longer periods of time is the annoying imaging voice that is on all their splitters/promos/intros etc. The guy has a very affected voice and he sounds
like a kid on the air at his first job trying to sound like a big city boss jock.

They should go back to the old jingle. I liked that one. But it still has 'the guy' you don't like.
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=8884&p=12802384&hilit=CKRM#p12802384

I think Jeff Rechner sounds good on the Newcap country stations (and CKYL).

[Neumann Sennheiser]

I think Jeff Rechner sounds good on the Newcap country stations (and CKYL).

Jeff Rechner sounds good - period. Proof too that nice guys don't always finish last.