Music selection, auto, DJ?

Going Forward

Do DJs choose, or are they allowed or encouraged to select music for their shows?

One of the local stations seems to have the most dire playlists with no dj input, cant play requests for the odd song for example, then playing something like Girls wanna have fun for a boy celebrating his tenth birthday!

marno21

With the majority of stations, all the music is playlisted, and what's playlisted is contorolled by the Music Director of the station. This is to ensure the station has a "sound" and for example, the daytime shows don't sound out of place with each other. You'll notice (especially on the CHR stations), that it's usually the same music played by different DJs on different shows.

gavindowd

ALL commercial stations in Ireland have playlists and the music is put on rotation, not just to give a station a consistent sound, but also to make sure that presenters play what people like to listen to; songs that have been tested to work well with the target audience and songs that are in the charts.

There are some exceptions, for example: specialist dance shows on SPIN 1038, all the music is chosen by the presenters themselves. And personality-based shows may allow the presenters to have an input into what they are playing ie. Tony Blackburn on KMFM in Kent, UK - chooses all the songs he plays on the show (he would have come from a generation where jocks had to pick the music) .

wnolan1992

It always comes across that Today FM give their presenters some lee-way in what they play. D'Arcy and KC (and Ray Foley before him) seem to mix between the playlist set out by Today FM and their own choices.

Not sure if that's actually the case, but that's how it sounds.

catch--22

Basic rule of thumb is between 7am and 7pm almost 100% playlisted. Sometimes DJ's will get a couple of choices - but from a set list - i.e. pick a song from current A/B/C list.

From 7pm-10pm semi playlisted depending on the show.

10pm onwards - specialist shows with free reign over what they play.

This varies per station but should give you an idea.

giftgrub

Playlisting is common place

The larger stations will also do audience testing...they'll bring in a focus group and ask people what they think of certain songs, or do it over the phone.

Going Forward

giftgrub wrote: »

Playlisting is common place

The larger stations will also do audience testing...they'll bring in a focus group and ask people what they think of certain songs, or do it over the phone.

I think playlisting is a very impersonal experience, you almost always realise that the presenter is just going through the motions, that cannot be an enjoyable experience for either listener or presenter. Its even at the stage now where DJs are presumably inadvertently reffering to the "machine" picking out the songs.

I know it's subjective, but I hate knowing that I'm being fed an analysed clinical selection based on cold stats.......-and the music is still sh1## after all that!

DJ should be given IMO 50% choice, albeit whilst fitting in with station ethos, audience etc.

Variety is the spice of life....