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The Hits Just Keep On Comin': A Guide To Radio Formats

The Hits Just Keep On Comin': A Guide To Radio Formats image The Hits Just Keep On Comin': A Guide To Radio Formats image
Parent Issue
Day
11
Month
April
Year
1975
OCR Text

Comic strip of bearded person listening to radio. "...That was 'Move On Up & Keep Truckin' in the Groove," by the Outasites! And YOU can move on up in a new Dodge Hustler! It's 'right on' the money. Dodge Hustler is hip--when you go on your trip..."

Aargh! On some of these FM stations, the commercials are as repulsive, and the DJ's as shallow as they are on AM radio!

"Now on rockin' radio for the fourth time in the last hour, that heavy hit from the Buffalo Chips' 27th album, the title 'Universe Truckin'!' Waaaaaaaah...Yoonaverse truh-kin..."

Actually, some of the Chips' early stuff isn't too bad! But this format really stinks!

"...Then, we head some Herbie Hancock, Janis Joplin, two live cuts by Hendrix, Bob Seger, and side one of Commander Cody's new album!"

Hey, this station sounds all right!

"Now, here's a little glitter rock from the 'Gold Mascara'! The slid into town with 'Smooch' last night--decadent & raunchy as hell, but you ate it up, didn't you, kids? Actually, I'm the only one around with any musical taste...ooo, baby...I'm the lord of your levi's…"

Sigh. This area sure could use a radio station that's good all the time!

 

On March 3, 1975, WABX-FM radio dropped its traditional "Free-form" policy and became a "formatted" station. From that day forward, music played on WABX would no longer be selected by individual disc jockeys, but by the two "program directors," Dennis Frawley and Jim Sotet.

Radio listeners probably haven't noticed any differences yet, but the change at WABX really shocked those people who are close to the station. WABX had faithfully stuck to its free-form policy for the past several years even while most other rock stations throughout the country were becoming increasingly formatted. Now that WABX has changed, free-form progressive rock radio is virtually nonexistent in the United States.

Free-form progressive rock radio was started in the early sixties as an alternative to the rigidly formatted "top 40" AM radio stations. (WABX was the first of the progressive stations in the Detroit area.) Back then, free-form progressive radio catered to a small audience while the masses still listened to top 40, which was CKLW in Detroit.

In time, progressive FM rock became increasingly popular and more and more stations were born to serve this trend. In the Motor City there was WKNR-FM (now defunct), WRIF, WWWW and Canada's CJOM. The competition was fierce between these stations and ratings became very important. Formats were thought to be the key to attracting a mass audience.

For a long time, WABX maintained that they weren't concerned with competition, that they didn't care about ratings very much. They continued claiming that they were addressing a special group and they remained free-form.

Recently, though. WABX General Manager John Detz decided that some changes were necessary. According to a source within the station who asked to remain anonymous: "The financial situation here began to get really bad. There were serious cutbacks in advertising. Ad buyers were looking at our ratings which were declining while those of RIF and W4 were climbing. Consequently, Detz felt there was a need to establish a consistency at WABX. The result was a music format."

Jack Broderick, an ex-DJ at WABX declared, "The format at ABX is very mild and not as regimented as those of RIF and W4. The DJ on the air is required to play seven records per hour that have been selected by the program directors. This leaves enough time for the DJ to play four or five tunes of personal choice."

Broderick continued, "The seven required records are picked by the DJ from two bins. One is filled with established popular records and the other contains new releases. Of course, Frawley and Sotet refill the bins periodically."

It should be mentioned that Anne Christ's fine all-nite show on WABX, beginning at 2am on weeknites, is still freeform. WABX is still quite loose and varied compared to the other rock stations.

It's too soon to determine if the new format at WABX is improving their ratings. WRIF and WWWW, however, who've been strictly formatted for a long time, claim that the heavily formatted system has been the key to their success.

WRIF-FM, along with WXYZ-AM, belong to the ABC broadcasting network. WRIF has had the highest ratings of any Detroit area rock station for quite some time (W4 recently took the honor away from them.) WRIF also has the most restrictive, complicated and bureaucratic format. Naturally, they claim that this is why they've been number one so much.

The WRIF format was instituted in the fall of 1971 . Like WABX, WRIF had begun as a free-form station, one of the best in the country.

WRIF calls their format "democratic." Their music is allegedly determined by what people purchase, not by the whim of a DJ. A WRIF promo sheet explains: "This music is determined daily by meticulous research, utilizing both national and local surveys of record sales ..."

A WRIF request line records what listeners want to hear although it never really influences what is played. Local record shops are polled for sales and trade magazines tabulated. Nothing is ever played unless it is or was a hit.

WRIF goes to all this trouble just to get ratings which in turn please advertisers. Ratings are stated by the American Rating Bureau (ARB) which periodically takes random samplings of radio audience listening patterns. Ads are sold on the basis of a station 's ability to show that it has a large number of listeners.

WRIF's target audience is the 16 to 30 age group, the primary consuming population. To attract their listeners, the WRIF format juggles a pre-set group of current hit singles and albums while occasionally throwing in past examples of the same. Different music is played at different times - for instance, no hard rock during normal waking hours.

An ex-DJ for WRIF recalled: "DJs are instructed to keep their personalities to a minimum and are allowed only 20 seconds of announce time after record sets. The call letters must be constantly repeated to encourage listener recall and identification at rating time. All WRIF music is listed on three-by-five cards in two small card files - the record library of only several hundred LPs is rivaled easily by many private collections." The ex-DJ described WRIF's format even further: "Each card is coded for tempo, type and running time. Here the DJ performs the only human function required on the job, that is, to determine the correct mixture by selecting the correct cards and then listing them on a 'music sheet.' This music sheet is rigorously checked daily by the music and program directors to insure no one has 'cheated,' that is, played music out of sequence or broken any of the rules."

These rules that he refers to are where the manipulation comes in. In order to insure a specific audience certain assumptions are made about the listeners and the music is geared to that. "If the program directors want more young women listeners," explains the ex-DJ, "then the DJs will be told to play more Cat Stevens or some other group that is popular with young women."

Furthermore, even though WRIF operates technically from Detroit, a city that is half black, DJs can't play a record by black musicians unless nine songs by white artists have been played. It doesn't matter how many black artists have hit records at the time.

The assumption by WRIFABC is that their target audience consists of suburban racists and therefore don't want to hear very much black music. This attitude perpetuates itself: whites become that much more isolated from black culture and this shows up in record sales.

WRIF DJs also aren't allowed to play two women vocalists in a row. One WRIF program director said that the reason for this was that it's a "turn-off factor" meaning that listeners will turn the dial if they hear a succession of female singers.

Both WRIF and WXYZ have hired large numbers of minority and women non-air personnel but neither than changed its all white, all male staffs of DJs. Lee Abrams, former WRIF program director, felt that women and minority voices on the air were "turn-off factors." This policy still prevails at WRIF.

WWWW - TRYING TO BE NUMBER ONE

W4 is the youngest of the progressive rock stations. Their ratings have gotten better and better during recent months until now it's a toss-up as to which station has the biggest mass appeal: W4 or WRIF.

Not surprisingly, W4's format is quite similar to WRIF's. Hence, it is unnecessary to go into details of W4's format.

However, to get an idea of what's happening at W4 one might consider the following conversation-interview with W4's program director Paul Sullivan that was published in the April edition of Extra Creem:

Sullivan, when asked if strict radio formats are unfair to DJs, replied, "I don't think it matters whether it's unfair to the jock. He's here to perform a certain function, and when he walks into the control room, he's screwing the bolt on the side of the Chrysler down on the line."

Later in the interview, Extra Creem asked Sullivan: "Do you see your job as something of a policing function?"

"Ultimately that's what it becomes, once the machine is oiled and running properly," answered Sullivan.

"Do you see disc jockeys as overgrown babies," asked Extra Creem.

"Well," laughed Sullivan, "I'll get into trouble if I start into that . . . but it's true."

CJOM - ACROSS THE RIVER

While WRIF and W4are very similar, WABX and Canada's CJOM are quite the same. CJOM, in the past, has stayed away from the heavy competition.

Also like WABX, CJOM has a light format. Music on CJOM is divided into categories such as new, established hits, jazz, comedy, etc.

"The disc jockey at CJOM," explained an ex-DJ from that station, "must play records from each of the categories within prescribed time periods but the DJ can choose the individual records. It's not too bad."

FREE-FORM VS. RIGID FORMAT

The question arises - is free-form really that good? Those opposed to it usually say, "Formatted radio stations have the highest ratings so this proves that is what people want to listen to." Of course one might reply that mass appeal doesn't mean quality.

Jack Broderick, commenting about WABX dropping free-form, said, "I feel sad. The listeners have lost out in the end. There's an audience out there that isn't being served." Probably all disc jockeys would somewhat agree with Broderick. After all, the difference between free-form and formatted radio is the degree of responsibility that the DJ has. It could be said that in free-form radio, the disc jockey is self-managed.

Some observers have stated that public radio is the ideal format. This might be true, but there never has been a large enough audience to support public radio. WDET-FM in the Motor City is an example-- they're always begging for money. It seems that obligations to private donors are more of a hassle than obligations to commercial interests. What's more, when public radio stations apply for a license, they make commitments to religious and public service organizations for a precentage of their air time. Commercial stations don't have to bother with that to a large degree.

Perhaps someday in the future, freeform radio will be revived and given another chance. Maybe it will be accepted the second time around. In any case, it appears as though radio listeners are going to be stuck with formatted radio programming for a long time. The hits will just keep on comin'.

(Reprinted from the Fifth Estate.)

In the next SUN - a look at WIQB and WCBN in Ann Arbor.

WRIF TELLS YOU WHAT YOU LIKE TO HEAR