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Minor 6 Music Shake-Up

Started by Sebastian Cobb, April 03, 2021, 02:04:19 PM

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poo

Yep. Fuck me so much whinging.

Phil_A

Quote from: amateur on April 06, 2021, 08:49:40 AM
Bang on.

People who listen to a radio station all day always hate the playlist. That's because generally, most people don't listen to one radio station all day - average listening is about an hour or something.

The idea should be that you get a flavour of everything if you listen for an hour - playlist, old stuff, new stuff, features etc. It doesn't always work like that, but that's the idea. Playlists aren't designed to piss people off.


Except they do, because in practice playlists are a terrible idea. No station has ever been improved by going from a free music selection to an enforced playlist. Case in point, XFM pre-Capital takeover and afterwards.

And lots of people do listen to one radio station all day, especially in the office where you don't always have a choice of listening. Playlists are the bane of the drudge worker's life.

I mean okay, to be fair 6 isn't like Magic FM or something and the DJs have a good degree of choice in their selections, but that just makes the playlisted songs feel all the more redundant. Why does a station like 6, which I believe has one of the biggest audience shares on the digital platform, still need to insist on every daytime show including the same tracks?

Pauline Walnuts

Didn't they find they played less music on BBC Radio 1 when they scraped the playlist?

Camp Tramp

I certainly think that there should be a hard maximum on how often a playlist song is aired, once a day perhaps. Maybe a timelimit as well?  I'll have the radio on for about 6 hours a day and I get fed up of certain songs which are overplayed.

Expand the playlist so that more and new bands get their chance to gain exposure.

Sebastian Cobb

I had a summer job working on a weighbridge at a tip with just a radio for company and even Radio 2, which is a lot better than the commercial stations, still depressed me in a sort-of groundhog day fashion with each presenter playing the same tunes.

In the end I was coming in with a handful of cd's under my arm. And one of the blokes that worked on site gave me an Amon Duul cd to listen to.

amateur

Quote from: Phil_A on April 07, 2021, 08:57:44 AMAnd lots of people do listen to one radio station all day, especially in the office where you don't always have a choice of listening. Playlists are the bane of the drudge worker's life.

The figures don't bear that out. From the last listening figures (PDF), the average listener takes in 20.3 hours of live radio a week which is just over three a day. Radio stations are going for that average listener who doesn't spend the whole day listening. If the average listener did listen to a station eight hours a day, you'd hear songs on a much longer rotation.

Quote from: Camp Tramp on April 07, 2021, 09:09:59 AM
I certainly think that there should be a hard maximum on how often a playlist song is aired, once a day perhaps. Maybe a timelimit as well?  I'll have the radio on for about 6 hours a day and I get fed up of certain songs which are overplayed.

Expand the playlist so that more and new bands get their chance to gain exposure.

Seven plays a week for a new artist/song isn't great exposure. A playlist lets stations support an artist and throw some weight behind them in a way that would be much more fragmented if left to each DJ.

It also stops tracks getting over played if certain DJs love a new band - that's the other side of the coin.

Camp Tramp

Quote from: amateur on April 07, 2021, 10:20:52 AM


Seven plays a week for a new artist/song isn't great exposure. A playlist lets stations support an artist and throw some weight behind them in a way that would be much more fragmented if left to each DJ.

It also stops tracks getting over played if certain DJs love a new band - that's the other side of the coin.

This makes sense, though hearing St Vincent multiple times per day gets a little irritating. I don't mind St Vincent but 6 Music seem very keen on her at the moment. She hardly qualifies as a new artist.

Sebastian Cobb

They do manage to do that every now and then. There was a brief period where they couldn't stop blowing smoke up Vangoffy's arse despite them being a shit artist with a shit name.

The Culture Bunker

Been interesting to read this thread, as I've barely listened to radio for over a decade now. Last consistent spell would have been 2007 when I worked in an office that let me choose the station to have on - I picked up on a local (Manchester) effort called Revolution that was OK. Played a fairly eclectic mix of indie, funk and soul. But I must have been one of about 10 people listening as it got bought out and went all modern pop.

I usually pick up new sounds these days by browsing random youtube videos until I find something that clicks with me, or the odd recommendation from others. Only time I remember listening to the radio these days is if I'm on a car trip with my dad, and we tune into R2 for Pop Master. Even that these days I don't do as well as I used to, as anything post 2000 I'm generally clueless on.

Phil_A

Quote from: amateur on April 07, 2021, 10:20:52 AM
The figures don't bear that out. From the last listening figures (PDF), the average listener takes in 20.3 hours of live radio a week which is just over three a day. Radio stations are going for that average listener who doesn't spend the whole day listening. If the average listener did listen to a station eight hours a day, you'd hear songs on a much longer rotation.

Seven plays a week for a new artist/song isn't great exposure. A playlist lets stations support an artist and throw some weight behind them in a way that would be much more fragmented if left to each DJ.


My feeling is that the idea of playlists being there to help out the plucky newcomers sounds very noble, but the reality of it, especially in the commercial radio arena at least, is very different. 6 Music, to give them some credit, do put new artists on their playlist, but this has to be is a rare exception outside of BBC stations.

There's certainly nothing philanthropic about the way playlists are employed on any station owned by, say, Global, they aren't there to give a leg up to newcomers, rather to barrage the listener with the same few major label acts - a few years back it was Robbie Williams, Pink, Eliza Doolittle, Daft Punk etc, hardly struggling artists - over and over again to the point of inciting violence. I've been in workplaces were the radio(or multiple radios in some cases) is tuned to Heart FM as the only station all day, every day (usually environments were headphones/phones/mp3 players are forbidden so there's no escape from it with your own music), and it was sheer torture. It was so bad I started to formulate conspiracy theories that it was some kind of secret government brainwashing experiment as I could not figure out how anyone could stand it.

This has left me with a somewhat jaded view of the practice of radio playlists and I'm bit bemused why anyone outside of the business of radio itself would feel the need to defend it. I've always felt that's it's something no presenter really likes but it's tolerated as part of the job.

Sebastian Cobb

On work used to pipe capital into the bogs. seriously worried if I hear Little Mix' Woman Like Me in Morrisons checkout it'll prompt a horrid pavlovian response.

amateur

Morrisons in-store radio is fucking brilliant, in fairness.

Quote from: amateur on April 07, 2021, 01:55:06 PM
Morrisons in-store radio is fucking brilliant, in fairness.

Home Bargains always seem to have decent tunes on when I'm in there. I don't know if it's a corporate-mandated playlist or the manager of my local store really being into classic soul and new wave, but I'll take it.

Absolute have a "no repeat 9-5" policy, which I would have appreciated back when I worked in an office with a radio. Sure, it's Absolute, but I still have PTSD from hearing Lifted, Baker Street and Mr. Blue Skies at least five times a day each, every day for five years when the old ladies insisted on Wave 105.

idunnosomename

Heard Sultans of Swing in Morrisons once. Had to stay in there till the outro solo.

amateur

Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on April 07, 2021, 01:57:27 PMAbsolute have a "no repeat 9-5" policy, which I would have appreciated back when I worked in an office with a radio. Sure, it's Absolute, but I still have PTSD from hearing Lifted, Baker Street and Mr. Blue Skies at least five times a day each, every day for five years when the old ladies insisted on Wave 105.
Absolute's no-repeat workday is great - only lasts the day though. You'll hear all the same songs the next day, just in a different order.

But so what? Radio is thriving. It reaches 88% of UK adults. The vast majority of people don't care about playlists or ads, it's just something that's there. And there's plenty of options for people who don't like those things.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: amateur on April 07, 2021, 01:55:06 PM
Morrisons in-store radio is fucking brilliant, in fairness.

I've noticed this, most of it's decent but you seem to get one or two quite unexpected bangers per shop.

Chriddof

#136
...

poodlefaker

"Girlie Girlie" by Sophia George on Asda FM yesterday. Lovely stuff.

pigamus

The worst is Wilko - they play this rerecorded stuff - it's awful

pigamus

Quote from: poodlefaker on April 07, 2021, 05:51:32 PM
"Girlie Girlie" by Sophia George on Asda FM yesterday. Lovely stuff.

Overkill by Men at Work in mine, I was mildly delighted

Sebastian Cobb

I remember my mate could get Asda FM on their satellite box back in the analogue days.

The Roofdog

How did I miss that Brexit Liz was gone? I am delighted. Only thing better than her losing her show would be if she had to keep coming in to do the agonising handover call at the end of Huey's show every week, then go home.

Dusty Substance


I used to love 6Music so much. We were together for several years, from 2005 until around 2012. We didn't have a big bust up or anything, we just drifted apart and before either of us knew it, we were seeing other stations. These days I'm very happy with WFMU but every now again I'll accidentally hear a bit of my old flame, remember the good times, but am quickly reminded why were never meant to be. FMU is my true love forever.

thugler

Quote from: Wayman C. McCreery on April 05, 2021, 11:44:54 PM
Not having a playlist always sounds like a fun idea, but mainstream radio stations need one. Stations need an identity and ratings, and 6 Music would lose both if Steve Lamacq chose the music for 15 hours a week.

And I'm going to guess that it's in the BBC's remit to make sure that the music played represents the diversity of the station's audience. A playlist helps enforce that.

Fuck ratings and identity. The whole point of the station is to offer something else to the rest of the bbc stations. It's a publicly funded station and doesn't need to chase ratings. Playlists simply make otherwise interesting shows more mediocre and boring. Noone is listening for the playlist. They could do with trimming a few more dj's, lamacq, keaveny, and garvey most of all need axeing. Stop peterson from inhaling his farts quite so much too, though i do enjoy his show. Overall the station is fine, if fairly middle of the road.

PaulTMA


good times

Quote from: pigamus on April 07, 2021, 07:12:23 PM
The worst is Wilko - they play this rerecorded stuff - it's awful

I'm not sure if they still do it (or even if it was just this one particular store) but once when I was in Subway they had this awful cheesy pop music on which seemed too shit to be real, with dated sounding production and surreal almost stream of consciousness but somehow still mainstream lyrics

Intrigued I started googling random lyrics from songs and there was basically no evidence of these songs existing

The only explanation I have is that Subway had commissioned session musicians to make in store songs for them, or that it was some compilation of unsigned bands put on by someone who worked there.

Possibly not the latter, as I'm fairly certain I heard similar tunes in at least one other store of theirs a while later

Anyway to stay on topic, I'd rather listen to Subway FM than Chris Hawkins on 6 Music.

Sebastian Cobb

On the wilko/muzak stuff there are companies that basically sell a 'musak box' that connects to the internet and plays royalty free shit to keep PRS happy and you can add messages to stuff.

moodmedia are one such company, one of their devices was featured in a 'Gene' Cinnabon sequence in Better Call Saul.


But previously 'offline' devices have existed all the way back to record/cassette multichangers and long cartridge based systems as any Techmoan viewer will know.

popcorn

This has reminded me of that incredible album of "get a job, you losers" songs commissioned by a California welfare office in the 90s. Amazing listening for anyone who hasn't heard.

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJapuW1img&ab_channel=GeofryLawton

Podcast about the story: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/magic-bureaucrat-riverside-miracle/ 

Hat FM

Quote from: Phil_A on April 07, 2021, 08:57:44 AM
Except they do, because in practice playlists are a terrible idea. No station has ever been improved by going from a free music selection to an enforced playlist. Case in point, XFM pre-Capital takeover and afterwards.

And lots of people do listen to one radio station all day, especially in the office where you don't always have a choice of listening. Playlists are the bane of the drudge worker's life.

I mean okay, to be fair 6 isn't like Magic FM or something and the DJs have a good degree of choice in their selections, but that just makes the playlisted songs feel all the more redundant. Why does a station like 6, which I believe has one of the biggest audience shares on the digital platform, still need to insist on every daytime show including the same tracks?
i used to love xfm pre capital takeover but you could tell that only about ten people were listening.  i used to win every competition i entered. although the callback function worked which helped. Ricky Gervais picked the phone up once which was weird. I listen to the ed gamble and matthew crosby pod on xfm and can't believe how broad the music on either side of the chat is. just various incarnations of oasis members and red chili peppers. i guess the indie lads that listen just dont want to hear anything slightly challenging.

pigamus

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 08, 2021, 11:54:56 AM
On the wilko/muzak stuff there are companies that basically sell a 'musak box' that connects to the internet and plays royalty free shit to keep PRS happy and you can add messages to stuff.

moodmedia are one such company, one of their devices was featured in a 'Gene' Cinnabon sequence in Better Call Saul.


But previously 'offline' devices have existed all the way back to record/cassette multichangers and long cartridge based systems as any Techmoan viewer will know.


It's not muzak though, it's re-recorded versions of original songs - like, you go in and it's Fleetwood Mac, and you don't take much notice, but then you think, "hang on...what?"

Appalling