Why do radio stations play the same songs repetitively?
Discussion
All radio stations seem to be being taken over by "The Greatest Hits" now anyway. So not only is it like being stuck in groundhog day listening to Toto Africa at the same time every day you can't even change to a non "The Greatest Hits" channel.
For me at 47, Radio 1 is like sticking a rusty screwdriver in my ear. Absolute radio was the one saying grace but even they have sold out to "The Greatest Hits" now as well.
Might as well resign myself to listening to the same 200 middle of the road, safe, oldies for the rest of my life.
For me at 47, Radio 1 is like sticking a rusty screwdriver in my ear. Absolute radio was the one saying grace but even they have sold out to "The Greatest Hits" now as well.
Might as well resign myself to listening to the same 200 middle of the road, safe, oldies for the rest of my life.
monthefish said:
This is not specific to any radio station (they all seem to do it), and I'm talking about songs at least a year old (or much older) which long have dropped out of 'chart'.
Is it a lack of imagination? or some contractual thing?
It's a question I have asked many times, including on PH. I have never had a 100% convincing answer, but the gist seems to be:Is it a lack of imagination? or some contractual thing?
People typically only listen to the radio for limited periods and, apparently, want to hear something familiar when they do. Radio stations strive to be popular, either to sell advertising space or justify the licence fee, so they do what is needed to ensure that people get what they want.
If however you listen for extended periods, you get to hear the same tunes over and over.
However, I personally suspect that the BBC does get paid to play certain records. I also suspect that commercial stations pay a fixed price for X number of plays of a record.
monthefish said:
Radio 1 is the worst culprit (there is DEFINITELY some deals being done to promote certain artists/songs there), but all of the others seem to be nearly as bad.
Are the "Top 40" charts done based on air time / play count or just sales? I seem to recall some charts used to include radio play counts.Joey Deacon said:
All radio stations seem to be being taken over by "The Greatest Hits" now anyway. So not only is it like being stuck in groundhog day listening to Toto Africa at the same time every day you can't even change to a non "The Greatest Hits" channel.
For me at 47, Radio 1 is like sticking a rusty screwdriver in my ear. Absolute radio was the one saying grace but even they have sold out to "The Greatest Hits" now as well.
Might as well resign myself to listening to the same 200 middle of the road, safe, oldies for the rest of my life.
Reading this, listening to greatest hits radio, they are playing Toto.....For me at 47, Radio 1 is like sticking a rusty screwdriver in my ear. Absolute radio was the one saying grace but even they have sold out to "The Greatest Hits" now as well.
Might as well resign myself to listening to the same 200 middle of the road, safe, oldies for the rest of my life.
Working at home all day, i have the radio in the background, used to listen to Absolute but they are digital only now
Louis Balfour said:
It's a question I have asked many times, including on PH. I have never had a 100% convincing answer, but the gist seems to be:
People typically only listen to the radio for limited periods and, apparently, want to hear something familiar when they do. Radio stations strive to be popular, either to sell advertising space or justify the licence fee, so they do what is needed to ensure that people get what they want.
If however you listen for extended periods, you get to hear the same tunes over and over.
However, I personally suspect that the BBC does get paid to play certain records. I also suspect that commercial stations pay a fixed price for X number of plays of a record.
A friend of mine is a radio DJ and that sounds about right. Basically most people listen for a relatively short amount of time, such as driving to work. They want to listener to be pleased by hearing what's popular, so you end up with tracks being repeated.People typically only listen to the radio for limited periods and, apparently, want to hear something familiar when they do. Radio stations strive to be popular, either to sell advertising space or justify the licence fee, so they do what is needed to ensure that people get what they want.
If however you listen for extended periods, you get to hear the same tunes over and over.
However, I personally suspect that the BBC does get paid to play certain records. I also suspect that commercial stations pay a fixed price for X number of plays of a record.
Absolute radio are an exception, there may be others, with their "no repeat 9 - 5" guarantee".
Thanks for all the useful replies 
I get the bit about 'wanting to stick to what's popular', but I think what I'm struggling with is that there are so many popular songs they could select from and why they stick to particular song by a particular artist (especially when that song didn't chart particularly highly in the first place).
It's almost like the station has a bag of 33rpm vinyl singles and that's all they can choose from, whereas obviously in the digital age we know that's not the case (and therefore not the reason for the restriction).
This is particularly relevant for a station like Smooth FM which has effectively got around 50 years worth of smooth & popular songs to choose from, but still play the same 20-30 songs repeatedly.
I get the bit about 'wanting to stick to what's popular', but I think what I'm struggling with is that there are so many popular songs they could select from and why they stick to particular song by a particular artist (especially when that song didn't chart particularly highly in the first place).
It's almost like the station has a bag of 33rpm vinyl singles and that's all they can choose from, whereas obviously in the digital age we know that's not the case (and therefore not the reason for the restriction).
This is particularly relevant for a station like Smooth FM which has effectively got around 50 years worth of smooth & popular songs to choose from, but still play the same 20-30 songs repeatedly.
A quote from The Simpsons sums this up perfectly:
"How about playing some new oldies!"
There's so much music around in any genre your wonder why the same songs get repeated, I'm a rock music fan so listen to Planet Rock in my car sometimes but they went through a period of only playing Black Sabbath's Spiral Architect rather than anything else.
I put it down to the capacity of their systems, if they are limited they won't have the whole catalogue on their broadcast system.
"How about playing some new oldies!"
There's so much music around in any genre your wonder why the same songs get repeated, I'm a rock music fan so listen to Planet Rock in my car sometimes but they went through a period of only playing Black Sabbath's Spiral Architect rather than anything else.
I put it down to the capacity of their systems, if they are limited they won't have the whole catalogue on their broadcast system.
Because commercial radio works on the premise that they are terrified of you changing stations so you won’t listen to their adverts.
Therefore to satisfy the broadest, blandest audiences they will only play tracks they know ‘work’ in the sense it won’t make you change station if something ‘unusual’ comes on.
They are also all programmed out under strict playlists to ensure minimum chance of the ‘DJ’ having any sort of choice or negative impact on retention figures.
Thank god most people have a personalised music steaming device in their pockets these days - I avoid radio, specifically commercial radio, at all costs as it’s turgid, brain-dead nonsense.
Therefore to satisfy the broadest, blandest audiences they will only play tracks they know ‘work’ in the sense it won’t make you change station if something ‘unusual’ comes on.
They are also all programmed out under strict playlists to ensure minimum chance of the ‘DJ’ having any sort of choice or negative impact on retention figures.
Thank god most people have a personalised music steaming device in their pockets these days - I avoid radio, specifically commercial radio, at all costs as it’s turgid, brain-dead nonsense.
silobass said:
I listen to Absolute at work for the no repeat guarantee thing but even they will repeat a lot the next day. It's still better than hearing the same song 4-5 times a day as they change DJ's.
I don't know how long the No Repeat Guarantee has got left. Can see Bauer Media eventually dropping the NRG (and increasing ads) to drive more listeners to their Premium offering, to compete with Spotify etc.
https://planetradio.co.uk/premium
monthefish said:
This is not specific to any radio station (they all seem to do it), and I'm talking about songs at least a year old (or much older) which long have dropped out of 'chart'.
Is it a lack of imagination? or some contractual thing?
I think it's a bit of everything. Is it a lack of imagination? or some contractual thing?
Some of the bigger ones (BBC certainly) have a panel who decide on playlists.
I 'think' it's possible for some record cos to offer discounts or even allow for free play of certain tracks on radio to promote streaming etc.
Sometimes, just sometimes the DJs actually pick songs they think their audience would like!
(Radio X just plays 'Now that's what I call Indie Music 1998' on repeat)
silobass said:
I listen to Absolute at work for the no repeat guarantee...
But instead you get the same set of adverts on repeat all day instead. They had it on in the office before lockdown meant WFH. Drove me mad! Plus, Absolute seems to be disproportionately fixated on 90s Indie music, like they think that obsessively playing Nirvana makes them cool... and this isn't even Absolute 90s. Much prefer R2 with no adverts and music that doesn't make me feel like I'm stuck in a timewarp, even if it does mean the odd track being played a few times a day.MitchT said:
. Much prefer R2 with no adverts and music that doesn't make me feel like I'm stuck in a timewarp, even if it does mean the odd track being played a few times a day.
Again, given the range of songs R2 can play, there's no reason why they need to play the same song twice in any 3 month (or even 6 month/1 year?) period, but why do they? It's not like they're playing chart stuff....I always assumed like everything in the entertainment its Corruption and networking ie play what you're told to by the record labels and life will go swimmingly and quite literally whatever you want.
Although that doesn't explain the classical stations which I'm told are just as bad.
Whatever, I don't listen to any of them as I can't hack it myself. I think was it virgin radio way back when was a bit bolder and out there, before that ginger t
t bought it and made it sound like all the others.
Although that doesn't explain the classical stations which I'm told are just as bad.
Whatever, I don't listen to any of them as I can't hack it myself. I think was it virgin radio way back when was a bit bolder and out there, before that ginger t
t bought it and made it sound like all the others.monthefish said:
Again, given the range of songs R2 can play, there's no reason why they need to play the same song twice in any 3 month (or even 6 month/1 year?) period, but why do they? It's not like they're playing chart stuff....
It's to do with playlisting - promoting a certain amount of new music. R2 effectively sits where R1 did when I was in my teens - basically a blend of current chart pop and older pop with the most popular current tracks playlisted for more frequent exposure. Make of that what you will.Gassing Station | TV, Film, Video Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff