RADIO BASICS

Commercial Formats

Commercial radio has a word for what music people call "genre"...it's "format". A format is like a category of automobiles... trucks, cars, SUV's, station wagons, etc; each category is made up of different makes from different manufacturers, but no matter where in the country you go, everyone understands what you mean when you say "truck"... you simply have to specify what make and model you are referring to.

Same with radio. A commercial radio format is a collection of types of music that are similar, from different artists. Most of the broadcast day will stick to the format, and every station in the country that is of that particular format will play the same types of artists. The purpose of a format (on a commercial station) has to do with how a station sells advertising, but we won't go into that now. Note: Formats do not really apply to non-commercial radio, and especially not to college radio.

Below are the main new-music formats in the United States; most U.S. cities will have a station for each one. Canada is similar but smaller, and with many French stations too. The formats below are sorted (roughly) by the number of stations in each group. Note, however, that this does not correspond to the number of LISTENERS there are. The number of listeners (or "ratings") of a format or station will be covered at a later time. Also, these formats are broad groups; you most likely would only promote your music to a portion of a particular group. The formats are...

COUNTRY: 2,300 stations. Country is the real "top 40" of the U.S., because of its popularity. "Young Country" and "Hot Country" appeal to the younger listeners, using newer artists, younger DJs, and a more energetic approach. The whole "new" approach really took hold about the time Garth started gaining popularity. More traditional country stations (sometimes known as "Heritage" stations) are sort of the "oldies" of country radio... but they also are specific in which new artists they play.

One special sub-category of Country is the "Americana" format. It is a cross between rock and country, and it has about 100 stations, most of which are small. Americana is an interesting new format, with some really eclectic artists and new labels.

RELIGIOUS: 1,900 stations. Includes Christian in several music styles, Gospel in many styles, Praise and Worship, and Ministry. Although a big format, hundreds of these stations offer less chance for new music because of the large amounts of talk, satellite programming, and older songs that they play. There is no absolute number of religious stations which play new music; instead it is a variable, and a particular station can play anywhere from one hour to 24 hours of new music.

ADULT CONTEMPORARY: 1,500 stations. Also called "AC". Includes "mainstream AC", "modern AC", "hot AC" and "soft AC". AC is similar to Religious, in that hundreds of the stations have limited capacity for new music because of the talk, satellite or sports programming they carry. Nevertheless, AC still remains as one of the melding pots for new artists on small labels. By this I mean that there are enough small AC stations (which play new music) for a new artist to stand a chance... if promoted correctly.

ROCK: 800 stations. Includes "modern rock", "alternative", and straight-ahead rock. Most people know of these stations. Problem is, they are tougher for independent artists to get played on. One thing saves the day, however... their specialty shows.

SPANISH: 600 stations. All variations included.

TOP 40: 400 stations. Called Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR), it includes "rhythmic crossover" stations; i.e., Top 40 with a beat. A very difficult format for indie artists. But again, specialty shows (and mixshows) save the day.

URBAN: 300 stations. Includes Urban, R&B, Hip Hop, and Urban AC. Also very difficult for new artists, but thankfully it also offers mixshow support.

CLASSICAL: 150 stations.

JAZZ: 150 stations. Includes "straight" Jazz (i.e., traditional), and "smooth" Jazz. Straight Jazz is a viable format for an indie artist. Smooth, however, will take some serious promotion.

KIDS: 50 stations. These mostly are your Radio Disney stations, and they are all programmed from the Disney home office.



COMMERCIAL STATION EMPLOYEES

DISC JOCKEY: He/she is also known as a DJ, talent, airstaff, or jock.

SPECIALTY-SHOW OR MIXSHOW HOST: Does a one or two-hour show, usually on the weekend or late at night, using music that may not be suitable for regular airplay (rotation).

MUSIC DIRECTOR: Handles most of the telephone calls from record companies and indie promoters; opens most of the mail from record companies.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Decides who and what goes on-air.

PUBLICITY DIRECTOR: Decides what free-mentions will be given, sometimes within special show-segments designed to highlight local activities.

SALESPERSON: Also known as an AE (account executive) or rep (representative); works with local and national companies, attempting to get them to advertise on the station.

GENERAL MANAGER: Oversees programming, talent, sales, news and engineering. Very often, the GM comes from a sales background.

WHO DECIDES ON AIRPLAY
On commercial stations, the program director (PD) is the person who decides which artists gets played and how much (i.e., the amount of "rotation" or number of "spins".) If someone other than the PD tells you your CD is playing, then you may not be getting accurate information. The music director (MD) does provide input to the PD, but the DJs generally do not. Thus, calling and talking to a DJ on-the-air is of no use. As for specialty shows and mixshows, the individual hosts do pick their own music, but just for their one or two-hour show that airs usually late at night. (These shows are sometimes called "new music" or "cage match" shows.)

P1, P2, P3
These are the sizes of the audiences of a station. For example, a "P1" station might be a top rated station in Austin, while a "P3" station might be the bottom rated station in Austin. However, a middle-rated station in New York would still be a P1, since it has so many listeners, while the top-rated station in a very small town would be a P3, since it has very few listeners.

MULTIPLE-STATION OFFICES
One of the first things your promoter will have to adjust to when calling commercial stations is that several differently-formated stations will have the same office, phone/fax, and employees. When you are calling a Country station and you hear Alternative music on hold, this is why.

STATION REVENUE
Stations make money with one thing...advertising. Advertising is when a company pays the station to create and air a commercial which advertises the company's product. This is why the station was built, why it operates, and why the station employees get up and go to work each day. A commercial station is in the advertising business...it is NOT in the music business. Its job is to accumulate listeners, and then sell these listeners to advertisers. It makes no money when you sell your CD, and it makes no money when it plays your CD. As a matter of fact, they actually PAY money to play your CD, through BMI etc. (albeit, very little.) So it all boils down to advertising...the more listeners (ratings) a station has, the more each advertiser pays to advertise. Note: 80% of a station's advertisers are in the same city that the station is in.

THE WEB
Still a troublesome novelty to stations, the web is certainly gaining in importance. Commercial stations use their sites to get listeners to stick around longer.

What is needed to promote to these types of stations?

MAILING
Although mailing your CD to stations is not considered "promotion" in-and-of itself (promotion requires phone calls), it nevertheless must be done, and when doing it is recommended that you do your own mailing instead of using a mailing service (or worse, a compilation CD service.) CDs from mailing services, which are sometimes sent with a magazine, tend to get lost. Also, they are sometimes delivered with many other CDs, which can dilute your project. If you do use these services, do so in addition to doing your own mailing, i.e., consider it as an advertisement.

SPECIALTY SHOW VS. ROTATION
On commercial radio stations, specialty spins (also known as tests, spikes, new music shows, local music shows, or dayparting) is what many bands mistake for regular rotation. As a matter of fact, one of the uses of a specialty show is for a station to put songs that it can't really play (but doesn't want to tell the artist/label this.) The average new artist/label will be very happy to hear that they are "being played", because the artist/label doesn't realize that this means only one or two spins.

Only regular rotation can sell large quantities of records (IF you have a full-time salesperson calling the stores)...but it is also (by far) the most difficult to get. Specialty shows (and mixshows) however, while not nearly as powerful as regular rotation, do still have uses...for example, building the buzz, introducing a song to a station, or providing airplay practice for a new label or artist. And many times, the person at the station who does the specialty/mixshow also sits in on the same music meetings with the music director and program director.

PROMOTERS
Also called radio promoters, airplay promoters, radio teams, promotion departments, etc., promoters are the people who call the stations and give them the information they need to play your song. (Faxes are also used.) You will find promoters who work at labels who only promote the artists on their label, and also promoters who work independently (these are called "indies") and are for hire by labels and artists.

The main thing that a promoter does is try to make it appear that a big picture is developing: Adds are happening, spins are increasing, interviews are occurring, great comments are being made, and if pertinent... sales are occurring, shows are selling, and press is printing! All of this is updated and repeated every week to every station (50 to 1500 stations, depending on the promotion level...most often it is 50 to 500.)

As for indie promoters, they vary in the reports that they give you (some don't do them at all,) the stations they call (some do only one genre, others do more,) the promotions or advertising they handle (some don't do this,) and the accessibility that they give you (some are easy for you to reach, others never answer the phone and hardly ever call back.)

TRADE ADS
Buying printed advertisements in the radio airplay magazines would be the first step that a serious label/band would consider as their next step beyond simply hiring a promoter. These printed advertisements (1) show stations that you have a serious project, (2) get critical info to the stations in a high-profile and timely (weekly) manner, and (3) greatly increase your chances of an editorial review in the magazines you advertise in.

STATION ADVERTISING
High-level airplay promotion, which consists of buying time on broadcast stations (and which understandably may be beyond the indie label) is nevertheless a staple of medium and large labels. Advertising on stations does several things:

1) Lets the public hear samples of several of your songs.
2) Tells the public where to buy the CD.
3) Tells the public about your gigs.
4) Gets the attention of the station management, who pays more attention to the ads than they do the music.
5) Greatly increases your chances for airplay, because the station is now making money from you.

...And with a little extra work on the part of the promoter:

6) Gets your CD onto the shelves of large chain stores.
7) Gets you gigs in larger venues which you could not get otherwise.


MIXSHOW

A specialty show or a mixshow is a one or two hour show on a commercial station, usually late at night, and many times on the weekends, which plays music that the station normally does not play. A disadvantage of these shows is that you get only one or two spins per week on any particular station (which is even less than some college stations give you.) The advantage of these shows, however, is:

(1) The number of listeners to these commercial stations is much higher than with college stations, since commercial stations have promotional budgets which they use to attract listeners (billboards, vans, bus benches, TV ads, etc.)

(2) Commercial stations have a steady listenership level year round (compared to college,) although, listenership does peak somewhat in the spring and summer because of increased outdoor activities. Interestingly, with many more people tuning into radio via the web, commercial radio may just get increased listening during other parts of the year too.

(3) A song's prominence on commercial stations is higher, due to most commercial stations' higher visibility.

(4) One more often-overlooked asset of specialty/mixshows on commercial radio is the fact that the folks who host these shows, many times, also sit in on the music meetings with the station's music director and program director. So if your long term goal is to be in regular rotation on these stations, the specialty/mixshow route is a great preliminary step.

Speaking of long term goals on commercial radio, if you envision any type of radio advertising/promotion for your band, then starting out with the specialty/mixshow circuit (on these same stations) might be a good idea.

The specialty and mixshow circuit is about as far as you can expect to get without getting into some heavy commercial promotions. With college radio, heavy promotion is not required, but since specialty and mixshow shows are on commercial stations, you should start looking into this area.

Specialty/mixshows are generally alternative, rock, techno, dance, urban, jazz or blues, and there are separate charts for each of these. Relative to college radio, specialty/mixshows are fewer in number (usually less than 100,) but are more difficult to obtain. Relative to regular rotation on commercial stations, specialty/mixshows are far less costly to work.

Regarding your CD type, specialty/mixshows require fully-manufactured CDs (with lithographed graphics)...not the computer-printed CDRs. Fortunately, however, CDRs can still be used for college radio.

How do you choose between promoting to specialty/mixshow and college radio? Well first of all, larger labels would do both, and possibly commercial regular rotation on top of this. But most of you will need to choose between specialty and college. Here's how (genre permitting)...

Have limited CDs? Go with specialty...the most you'll need will be 100 for a charting campaign.

Have only CDRs? Go with college...they'll take almost anything.

Hate commercialism? Go with college.

Wanna sign with a label? Go with college...you'll generate more "paper" chart results to put in your press kit. For the same number of dollars, you won't get far in commercial.

Wanna build your label, sell records in stores, and add other artists long-term? Go specialty...it will prepare you for commercial regular rotation...which is what sells the most records.

Wanna do some regional appearances? Do college, because there are many more stations to pick from in any particular region. But if you are going to eventually try commercial regular rotation, then go ahead and choose specialty now.

These are, of course, just rough guidelines, but the most important aspect to any radio campaign is that, whatever you choose, stick with it and see it through to the end. Stopping a 10 week campaign at 5 weeks (or a 6 week campaign at 3 weeks) will guarantee that you will get almost zero results.

Creating a Story

When working with the mass media (radio, TV, papers, magazines), one thing to keep in mind is that they are just that... MASS... and anything you can do to let radio know that you are building a mass story for your artist will help tremendously in your ability to get airplay. A special note here: This info is not intended for an individual artist (or one-person label) to go and try themselves; it is beyond what an individual can do. Even if you had the time (40 to 120 hours per week), you would not enjoy the process.

Commercial radio wants to build a "star", and the first step of doing this is by building a story. A "star" is an artist who's one particular song is being played all across the country at the same time. Radio wants to be part of the other media building this star. Commercial radio (especially) does not want to be the only media doing it, or much less, be the only radio station doing it. As a matter of fact, by definition, a single station (or two or three stations) cannot "build a star", no matter how much they play an artist. It takes a group of stations, across the country, doing the same thing at the same time with the same artist.

Let's start with radio itself. In a promoter's daily phone calls with the program directors and music directors, one of the most important things to inform a station about is what other stations have just added the artist. "Add" information is SO important that it is often the ONLY thing that is talked about, especially in the early stages of a campaign. Nothing in commercial radio happens without the add. It might start out like this: "We have adds last week in Tacoma, Austin, Orlando, Fresno, Wichita Falls and Dearborn, and commitments from Miami, Seattle, Dallas and Chicago."

Next up on the airplay menu are spins. Starting with the P1s and then the P2s and P3s, and starting with the highest (or most exciting) spins, the whole list is gone over with the station, describing (and thus somewhat proving) to the station that action is developing. This information is applied to each station in a way that is designed to make them want to jump on the bandwagon.

As things develop, the promoter goes for quotes from the stations...like "Mary's record is getting great calls!" or "The XYZ song is moving into power...it's strong females for us!" The quotes are then fed to every station that is talked to; it might take two weeks to get the message to everyone, even with full-time phone calls.

Finally, as the campaign progresses, the promoter might move into telling the stations which stations are doing what type of give-aways, which ones are doing visits, or which ones are doing any number of other things which help the "story" look like it is building.

Moving on from radio, other pieces of information are also fed to stations, thus helping the stations to decide if a particular artist is worthy of adding...

What performances is the artist making? What are the attendances? Is the artist being invited back? Did the artist get a letter of reference from the venue? And most important, did/will the artist perform in the station's particular city? (And, is the venue an advertiser on the station?)

How about retail? If CDs are only available at the gigs, how many are moving at each gig? If the CD is distributed, who is the distributor(s)? Have there been any past sales of this artist? Most importantly, what stores is the CD on the shelf at (and what are the sales at those stores) in the city where the STATION is located? Are any of those stores advertising on the station? This process is repeated with each and every station every week.

Finally, the process is applied to press information (newspapers, magazines, TV, web). Stations are shown a building of interest, especially when the press are in the same city as the station, and when the press mention the station by name.


Why You Have To Promote To Radio

One of the most misunderstood facts of marketing a record is that you must promote it to radio. Notice I did not say SEND it to radio, I said promote it. Sending your release to radio, and getting them to play it, are two separate things. The biggest misunderstanding of everyone releasing music is this: They think that you mail it to radio, and if everyone starts playing it, then it's a hit, and if they don't start playing it, then it's no good. This is NOT how radio works. Even the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) says on its own website, "When you hear a song on the radio -- this didn't just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive." Direct quote.

This misunderstanding stems from a few different sources: (1) Radio itself will tell you to "send it, and if it's good we'll play it"; (2) People see a song "start out" on one station, then "spread" to others, and assume it just "grew" because it was good. Then, when these people "send out" their own music to lots of stations, and it does not catch on, they assume it must have been bad. Not true. There is a giant promotional vehicle in place behind every successful song. And this promotional vehicle is something you can have with your songs too. Let's compare this whole situation to something which you can understand: Soda pop.

Suppose you like to invent new drinks, and you came up with a great soda pop that everyone liked. All your friends liked it better than Coke and the rest. You did a blind test with people you did not even know, and they liked it better than Coke and the rest. So, you decide to market it.

You manufacture a thousand cases, with 24 bottles per case, and discover you can sell it to retailers for only $10 per case, undercutting the $12 they normally pay for Coke and the rest. Thus, your product tastes better, and costs less, than every other soda available to all retailers.

So here is what is going to happen: The mom-and-pop stores in your city are going to call you and order several cases each. Next, stores like them in other states will do the same. Next, Ralphs, Delchamps, Costco, Walmart and all the other large chains are going to call you and order several HUNDRED cases each (you see, it's "growing"). Next all the Coke and Pepsi machine vendors are going to put your soda in all their machines (because your soda tastes best and cost less). Next, airlines, stadiums, and all the restaurant chains will place their orders. Eventually, the newspapers, TV, and yes even radio are going to report on these events, because finally everyone is starting to realize that it is the QUALITY of the product (taste) that counts, and not the marketing. Now, if your product would have tasted BAD, it would not have spread like this. But since it tasted GOOD, even to people who didn't know you (and also, since it is priced right), it spread rapidly and became a hit.

OF COURSE this is how it works. After all, since your product is now available nationwide, and you have PROVEN that it tastes best, all those companies surely would not make the mistake of continuing to order Coke and all the other sodas, when everyone now agrees that your soda is best. They could not conceivably continue to offer the other sodas, which THEY now even agree tastes worse than yours.

Now, since hopefully you realize that this is not going to happen to you and your soda, NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT IS, maybe you can start to understand that radio is not going to play your music NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT IS unless you MARKET IT TO THEM, giving them business reasons why they should play it. And we are not talking about one or two small college stations, we are instead talking about hundreds of stations (the bigger the better) all over the country, playing the same music from the same artist (you) at the same time, thus CREATING THE HIT.

Airplay vs. Sales

"Sales" is one of the most common goals that people have when they promote their music to radio (second only to "awareness".) And now is a good time for sales, since 2000 was the top year in history for both the number of CDs sold, and the amount of money spent on them (it was also the top year in history for the amount of money spent on radio advertising, and advertising in general.)

Yes, airplay is the most important force in selling large quantities of CDs, especially in areas where you cannot play live. But I need to emphasize that the term "selling CDs" does not mean that your phone will start ringing with orders from websites and stores. To cause large sales to happen, you need to contact store buyers. You may get a few web orders, but most of your sales will be retail (97 percent of all CD sales in 2000 were in-person at retail stores.) Your final sales will be a result of (1) your airplay, (2) your distribution (consignment, self, indie or major), and (3) how well you sell when you call the stores. With this in mind, here are some rough airplay-to-sales guidelines...

College radio is the starting point. If your music is playing several times a week on a particular medium or large college station, you can probably sell one CD per week in EACH store that is in the same town that the station is. This is a realistic goal for an artist/label that has not done this before. Labels that HAVE done it before (and do ONLY college radio) top out at around 30,000 units of their best title, and maybe 2000 for their worst, after one full year. But these labels know what they are doing. Your sales will not be this high.

Commercial specialty/mixshow radio, if done by itself, would probably have about the same sales ceiling as college radio by itself. But most labels that are going for "sales" (and not just awareness) do specialty/mixshow and college radio together. Thus, their best titles top out around 20,000 to 40,000, and bottom out around 3,000, after one full year. But remember, they are doing two separate radio campaigns together, and they probably have 3 people doing just the retail sales (full time).

Commercial regular rotation is where the real sales occur. But to do it properly (meaning, to do the radio and the sales together) is extremely difficult. It is possible, of course, to do commercial regular rotation for just the awareness value alone (i.e., not attempting sales,) but in this article, we are incorporating sales into the concept.

Rock, pop and urban releases on indie labels have the capacity to top 100,000 if distributed by a major, 50,000 if distributed by an indie, 10,000 if self distributed, or 5000 on consignment, after one full year. But these are expensive radio campaigns, ranging from $10,000 to $150,000, and they require a strong effort at retail (3 to 5 full-time people to sell 100,000 units). PR and touring would be nice, too. Other genres, like AAA or smooth jazz, are much more limited in sales, because there are fewer stations and because their listeners buy fewer CDs.

Considering all the above, here are some of the big variables which will determine your final sales (assuming that both the artist and the label are new, and assuming that this is all separate from your web efforts)...

1. Your airplay
2. How much listeners like the music.
3. Radio advertising (an additional cost).
4. How often you call the stores to make a sale.
5. Press
6. Touring
7. The amount of time you spend on the campaign.

Final point: If you don't have someone calling the stores to get them to place an order, your sales will basically be zero no matter WHAT radio you do.

Happy selling!

The Add Date

Unless you have worked for the radio department of a label, or else you have worked for an independent promoter or radio magazine, you probably have never heard of an "add date". But the "add date" is probably the most basic building block of both commercial and college airplay, and it is used in every successful airplay charting campaign there is, so we better cover how it works.

The closest analogy there is to an add date is the "street date". A street date is when a CD is "available" to the public. It is supposed to tell retailers when to "make available" the release to customers. That is where the similarity ends, however; radio goes on to be far more complicated.

A radio "add date" is supposed to tell stations when to add a record to its playlist. It is completely separate from, and has little else to do with, the street date. The add date can be before, the same as, or after the street date. Regardless, an add date simply MUST be used with any serious airplay attempt. A negative side effect, however, surfaces: You have one chance... and one chance ONLY... to make a particular song or album go at radio. After all, the date is printed right there on the package. You cannot come back next year and ask a station to reconsider it (and, we are talking here about new artists/labels.)

Everything a radio promoter does when talking to stations centers on the add date...

Four weeks before the add date, the promoter is describing the package to the stations (and for commercial stations... the consultants are handled too,) giving the stations a rough idea of what to expect musically. Also, a fax goes out, showing the release.

Three weeks before the add date, the promoter is describing the artist and the music in more detail, describing the spine of the CD, and scheduling resends for stations with changed personnel/addresses.

Two weeks before the date, the promoter solicits PDs/MDs for their initial interest/non-interest, and continues resends. Also, the details of any pertinent tour dates, press articles, or retail events/carriage are presented. It is also at this time that the first trade ads (advertisements, not "adds") will run... scheduled and worded by the promoter.

Finally, one week before the add date, the promoter fishes for commitments from the most-interested stations; re-words the next trade ads; sends a second round of faxes; re-affirms to each station that they know the correct add date; does a final round of re-sending; scans for possible early adds; and finally, makes one last contact/message with each PD/MD in hopes that the station can be swayed at the last minute... while they are deciding on which record to add. This is done with 50 to 800 stations every week, depending on the campaign.

That's the easy part. Now the real work starts... getting spins to occur after the add date; being "added" does not necessarily mean you are being "played". Being added simply is the step you have to go through, "officially", before spins occur. That's why the "add charts" are separate from the "spin charts" in radio magazines. Your goal for the first charting week of every radio campaign is to get on the "most added" chart first, and you have only one week to do it. Thereafter, your focus becomes the main spin chart. And one by one, every week, the promoter contacts/messages each PD/MD, and attempts to get more and more of them on the bandwagon. Artists with bad music, or with no support, will struggle to get new stations, and probably won't be "most added". Releases with great music and good support will easily make the most added chart, and will then jump onto the main chart, with several new stations coming on each week (again, assuming we are working a new artist/label.)

The promoter's work then continues: A non-commercial campaign may go 5-10 more weeks; A commercial campaign (for a single song) may go 3 to 12 more MONTHS, depending on results.