Attention Radio Programmers

This is a call to all radio programmers. I get radio has faced a lot of challenges over the years but the biggest challenge is how stations are programmed.

A lot of the companies have similar playlists across multiple stations. For instance Corus has a playlist very similar on the BIG and Boom stations, Edge Calgary and Power 97 Winnipeg, Fresh/Beat/Energy/Jump similar.

Bell did the same with Bounce, Move, Virgin and Pure.

Rogers with the rock formatted stations as well as Jack and Kiss and the country stations.

The problem I have with how these stations choose playlists and even on air talent, is what might work in Toronto may not work in Vancouver. Or even closer areas. Sonic in Edmonton is a legendary station, but Sonic in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver, not so much. In fact the entire original lineup of hosts in Vancouver have all been let go. Currently there is only one host and it is the morning show host from Jack Victoria. Even amongst stations in Ontario Energy and The Beat are so close in signal range that basically someone could listen to almost the same station on two frequencies. Same with FM96 and Y108. One is London, one is Hamilton, both have the same hosts for 12 hours a day, as well as the same playlist for the most part.

Radio needs to be more creative again at least with the playlists. Play what is popular and going to attract more ears in your markets.

Recently Durham Radio took over 3 stations, 1 in Lindsay, 2 in Peterborough. Durham operates KX country in Durham and Hamilton so it was no surprise that they launched KX to replace Pure Country, but in Lindsay they took Bounce and made it Y91.9 which is similarly formatted to The Grand and CKDO. Currently Move radio in Peterborough is stunting, and my guess is they will move to a more Rock focused station but I think they are looking to mix it up and maybe compete more with The Wolf and FREQ.

This way it might help foster some good competition but at the same time allow them to mix the playlist up to have a wider range of music, compared to The Wolf and to a degree with FREQ.

I just think all companies that operate stations in multiple markets both big and small should look at how they operate and look at how stations are programmed. Before Bell sold a bunch of stations, they operated Move radio in smaller towns in BC as well as in Vancouver. Playlists were very similar, midday and evening shows as well as weekends were basically the same hosts. But what happens in Fort St John or Penticton is different to Vancouver. Also, the population in those cities are all different. It is hard to relate to people in each of those places when having generic shows outside of morning and afternoon drive (which were local) and when the playlists sound exactly the same.

I think anyone programming a radio station should look at where the station airs and do local music surveys to find out what type of music people want to listen to. Find out what matters locally and incorporate that into the station going forward.

It is ok to have a company that uses a generic name for a number of similarly formatted stations but those stations need to be programmed locally for the community they serve. For instance just looking at a playlist of recently played songs on Move radio, I saw a lot of pop songs but then I saw a few songs that are more dance songs, that would sound good in a club in 1999. Sure that might work in Vancouver but would it work in say Fredricton? or Ottawa? Probably not. Especially in Ottawa where they have a Kiss station and Jump Radio, as well as Jack FM from Smiths Falls, and now there is Mix 98.5 playing a format very similar to Move.

Another good example of stations that should have different playlists, Jack FM. Programmers could easily take Jack FM in each city it operates and have a playlist that is bigger than it currently is, and in one market it could lean more Rock. For instance in Vancouver 2 of the top stations in the market are CFOX and Rock 101. Jack could be programmed strategically to take listeners from those stations. Which could mean that Breeze FM could be programmed to take listeners from Move, Z95.3 and to a degree Virgin radio. Sonic could move to a more classic alternative, playing songs from 80’s and 90’s with some 2000’s but say nothing new than 2005 or so. Which means The Peak can continue to play alternative from the 2000’s to current. It would basically allow stations to be programmed based on demographics in different places. All these stations would need is great on air talent to hook people in to the stations.