All music radio formats suffer through cycles of ratings ebb and flow based on what’s happening in the format’s core music genres – or in the genres of other formats that compete for listening. Country has been there at times; so has rock; and even Classic Hits suffers when one of the more contemporary genres are hot. Current pop has been in decline for several years now, and it’s affecting Top 40 and Hot AC (and, soon, AC as well). As we noted in our last post, many Top 40 stations are seeing the worst callout scores ever for current powers, and current pop has weakened at Hot AC.

In our last post we recommended four key content principles around and between the music that can help shore up ratings in down music cycles. But is there anything we can do about the music itself? In this post we’ll focus on things that can help you better cope with a weak supply of current music.

#1 – Make the most of what you’ve got. In a music cycle slump there are fewer actual, big, mass-appeal hits; when you find and develop one, stick with it. Tighter rotations usually help in a slump…if there are fewer really good records, adapt your system to the reality.

#2 – Protect your strategic balance. When one genre weakens, another tends to fill the vacuum…and radio stations often follow the fad over a cliff.  In this case, hip-hop and other urban based styles are on the rise – much like what happened in the ‘90s. In the 90s, pop radio followed the fad and saw its ratings suffer. If your audience is looking for a variety of current music styles, you don’t want to repeat that experience. Pay attention to flow.

#3 – In order to accomplish that strategic balance, or tempo needs, you may have to take an occasional reasonable risk on a song that helps you. There’s a lot of crowd-following in current-based formats, and if the crowd doesn’t like a song it has little chance of making it on the national charts. Sometimes a label just doesn’t believe in a song enough, or can’t allocate the resources to do what it takes to get the spins. Sometimes the crowd rejects a song because it’s different…when “different” may be exactly what the format needs. I often see songs that are going backward nationally, but doing really well in one or two markets because the leading stations in those markets needed that kind of song and believed in that specific one enough to stick with it long enough for the audience to catch onto it. That’s happening in a top ten market as I write this.

Many label folks think callout research kills hits. I believe the misuse of callout kills hits, but having callout can actually help you take a chance on a song/sound you need. At least you’ll know whether it’s working for you – after you give it enough spins to find out.

#4 – Keep telling the labels what you need. They aren’t in the business of making records for radio, but the smarter label folks know that radio is still the primary music discovery platform. If they know that the kind of song you need will get a chance to make it on radio, they’ll be more likely to take a chance on releasing and supporting it.

Part I of “What Do You Do When the Music Sucks?” addressed non-music actions you can take during a slump. If you missed that, you can read it here.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Send them to alan@burnsradio.com or jeff@burnsradio.com