Re: Tight Play Lists

["'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On Mon, 26 Oct 1998, Rick Kelly wrote:

> Rotating tight playlists so that they do not sound so repetitive is
> somewhat of an art form, and it could be that WCRB hasn't mastered it
> yet.  Two things:  it could be that your personal TSL is extensive, thus
> getting the brunt of the repetition.  The other possibility is of course
> that it's only your perception that it gets played everyday at the same
> time.  Perhaps Rob has a handle on the rotations?

"personal TSL"?  I have to admit that I'm exaggerating slightly.  It isn't
really every day, only every other day.  They seem to get fixated on
certain things and play them to death.  A few years ago, they kept playing
the first movement of Beethoven's 8th symphony.  Just the first movement.
Apparently, the listeners complained a lot about playing parts of
symphonies.  

They ran a promo for awhile about their listener line and mentioned how
they were listening when listeners told them to play entire symphonies. 
They also said they were listening when listeners told them to play a
greater variety, but any change they made there isn't as noticeable.  They
changed from playing the first movement of Beethoven's 8th every other day
to playing the entire symphony every other day. 

They seem to have finally given Strauss's "Homage to Queen Victoria" a
rest, but they've got this baroque-sounding piece that they play over and
over again now, and I haven't managed to pay attention at the right time
to find out what it is.

I've criticized WCRB before, but I have to admit that I have more respect
for the idea of a playlist and a rotation in classical music radio than I
used to.  The difference is that, because of the nature of the repetoire,
it has to be done more carefully and with a wider variety.  What's changed
my mind is the simple fact that, as I listen to the stations that carry
classical music, I've found that WCRB has a greater tendency to play music
that I like to listen to.  Often, when I turn to other stations, they are
playing something I don't like.  This is especially true with WHRB, for
some reason.  I'm somewhat limited by reception -- I can't get WGBH or
WBOQ in my office, and I can't usually listen to WBOQ in my car.  But when
I check the stations out while driving, I more often settle on WCRB than
on the others, even counting the fact that WGBH and WHRB aren't always
playing classical music.

===========================================================================
 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                         617.367.0468
 15 Court Square                                      lawyer@world.std.com
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