Re: Billboard charts

[FMradio1@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/30/98 10:13:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
dlh@donnahalper.com writes:

<< Seriously, my clients have always used the Billboard charts because they
 are more on accurate about what the passives like -- R&R always seemed to
 be based on the airplay claims of their reporters, whereas Billboard since
 1992 has had a more reliable system (BDS) to find out what stations in top
 200 markets were really playing.  >>

Billboard magazine has fallen out of favor with radio folks in recent years.
A few years ago they changed their formula in compiling their charts to
reflect more single sales than airplay.  If you look at the top ten singles in
any given week, you'll see a lot of rap or hard rock titles that get little or
no airplay but since they do well saleswise they chart high.  Meanwhile, a
song like "I'll Be There For You" (the theme from "Friends") never appeared on
the Billboard chart despite the fact it was the number one played song on the
radio across the country for several weeks a couple of years ago.  Billboard
has become a good retail trade mag, but it offers little to radio now.

Most of the stations I've been at (CHR and AC's) subscribe to R&R, Gavin,
Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB), Network 40, Hitmakers and Hits.  The first
four publications offer the best airplay tracking of current songs which is
the information most PD's and MD's want to know these days. Some of these
trades use BDS or Mediabase monitoring exclusively when reporting the most
played songs, so the station reports are much more accurate than in the past.
IMHO, national sales data is useless as far as local programming is concerned.
I'd rather have local sales data to help determine music decisions.  Because
of this, I don't think I'll be subscribing to Billboard anytime soon.

Mike Thomas, WXLO & Premiere Radio Networks 

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