Question Of The Week

What are the three most important factors
you look at when evaluating new music for airplay?

Rick Vaughn/WIOQ: Artist, texture, market airplay and market sales, digital sales, myspace action, and callout.

Tony Waitekus/WIXX: The sound of the song, my perception of its hit potential with my target audience, and stories in other markets.

Christy Taylor/WFLY: If it’s memorable, charts, if it sounds cohesive with the rest of the mix of the station.

Chris “Hollywood” Mann/WERO: The panel of stations I look at nationally; what the record’s doing regionally (Raleigh/Richmond/Greensboro); ideally it needs to be a Rock/Pop type feel for us to be early on.

Tias Schuster/WKRZ: First and foremost the lyrics and emotion of a song; gotta have a hook; it has to have the “it’ factor (has to have a good vibe).

Natalie Randall/WFBC: We look at everything: requests, online, text messaging…we have so much stuff but what it really comes down to is what we like, what the charts are telling us and the buzz on it. Balance is also a factor. If we’re Rock heavy we may need to wait on a Rock record we really like.

Toby Knapp/WIHT: 1) Does it turn women on? 2) Does it turn our MD Gillian Sussman on? 3) Does it scare Jeff Kapugi?

Sean “The Rabbi” Tyszler/WMMR: I refuse to give away the secrets to our success, LOL!!!

Maxwell/WNCI: A catchy hook, relatable lyrics, name recognition.

Trey Morgan/WKCI: Research, chart position, phones.

Karson With A K/WHBQ: My gut, does it sound like our station, sales.

Keith Allen/WQEN: Whether it fits my competitive situation in my market, gut feel, the track record of the artist.

Bob Patrick/WXLK: Is it a good song, does it have a good hook, and is it a core artist for our station.

Chris Reed/KSMB: Requests, street/club reaction, Soundscan.

Billy The Baby DJ/KHTT: Gut feeling, how are other stations doing with it, chart position.

Mike Rossi/WSTW: It’s gotta sound good, is there something happening with it outside of radio (movies, TV, other media), is it having success elsewhere.

Dave Universal/CKEY: Do I like it, do the women I play it for like it, how often has it been brought up to me.

JJ Rice/WBLI: Really just this – Will it be a mass appeal Power for the radio station? If not – why play a marginal record?

Brody/WDCG: The artists past success, are other stations having success with it, early phones/gut feeling.

Stan Priest/WKSS: Do I think I have a hit, where it fits and does it help my competitive situation, has it been proven to be a hit and is it testing.

Rich Davis/WRVW: It all starts with my gut and goes from there.

JT Bosch/WLAN-WKHF: Is it right for our station. Sound. Are there any research stories.

Riggs/WKXJ: Genre needs. How it’s performing and overall sound with our gut.

Alan Fox/WRHT: The song needs to fit the sound of our station. We’ll look at some other similar stations we respect and if the song has a vibe in the market.

Mase/WKZQ: If it could have mass appeal, is it an interesting song and do I like it personally?

Greg Rampage/KFMA: Gut instinct, sales figures and what other stations playing it. Oh, and of course, if there’s a hot chick in the band! (Kidding!) 

Carolyn Stone/WRWK: Is it a good song? What is the band’s history? And what sort of push is it getting in other media?

Capone/WHRL: Does it sound good? Does it sound good to me and to my listeners? Do we have previous equity in the band, or is it a new artist?

Leslie Scott/WFXH: How well it fits the overall sound of the station, what kind of history the band has with the station and how much I like the song personally.

Mud/WSFM: Our audience, other DJ’s opinions and the strength of the song itself.

Maynard/WCPR: Is this the kind of song my audience is used to hearing? Is there anything that differentiates this song from others? And three, how many of my peers are taking a chance on it?

Adam Chandler/WIHN: Does it have a catchy hook? Also, how does it sound with the library of the station? Is it different enough that it won’t get lost in the shuffle? Can it stand out on its own? We also look at listener reaction. Some bands come to my attention from listeners who find them on MySpace rather than from record labels, so we test them in the “fight club” feature.