Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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August 4, 2006

Programming Radio

I was once taught throughout my radio career that you should only play the best of the best. And one aspect of that is not having way too many songs in the library. You are not playing the absolute best songs if you take too long to come back around to something familiar to the listener.

It may contradict the "variety" type argument, but to that, I was told that people don't know what they want. They say they want variety, but they really want what they know (the solid gold songs they can sing with).

I once programmed a station this way:

---I only played artists that were recognizable to our audience (Gaither artists, major quartets, the ones creating a buzz).

---I rarely added songs that were not by a major name and if I added a lesser known group, it was after much prodding from that feeling in my gut.

---Quite often, even if the group or artist was well known, if the song wasn't a great song, it didn't get added. Again it comes in to play that if you have thousands of songs in your library... big chance they all aren't great or the best of the best. And if you adopt that principal, then you begin to think in terms of "limited real estate" and you ask yourself "is this song really worth filling up library space?"

Radio is not a talent scout. It's not our focus to search out and find young, new talent. If outstanding new talent shows up and is amazing, run with it and beat the masses. But, I would dare say that risking more than 1 or 2 horizon groups a year is too many for a successful station.

By the way, the Singing News didn't like it that I limited my new releases to such big name artists. They said I was not representing Southern Gospel as a whole. They eventually disqualified me from reporting ... (and this was Atlanta!) I learned fast that if you aren't allowed to honestly report what you play, then the dissolved charting relationship is best.

I found more time in my day, too!
-Daniel Britt

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posted by danielbritt.com @ 10:21:00 AM


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