Familiarity Breeds Yet Again

Since Original 106fm stopped broadcasting I’ve been giving this expression a fair amount of use: "When one studio door shuts, another opens".

Although when it comes to continuing the Showcase, which puts unsigned and independent music on the radio, people seem to be cowering behind the studio door, fingers in ears, exclaiming the idea to be “dangerous”.

Well, dangerous might be a small exaggeration, but what I’m finding is that playing "new music" on commercial radio is seen as a bad idea because, the theory goes, listeners want familiar songs. Songs that they know and love and have heard many times before.

If they don’t hear a familiar song they’ll change channel.

And that’s even with the new music put into a “new music show” with a presenter telling you that there is “new music” about to come on.

It’s surprising the ‘familiar’ theory is so prevalent because pop radio has been with us for over 40 years and by now we should be used to hearing the occasionally different song.

The only person widely associated with broadcasting new music the late BBC broadcaster John Peel and bizarrely enough he became popular before joining the BBC playing new and different music on a pirate radio station.

So even in the late 60’s pirate radio fell into the trap of playing safe.

The message is loud and clear: commercial radio plays music you already know and new music is the BBC’s remit.

Commercial television doesn’t have a problem with untried talent. If you went to ITV chief Michael Grade and suggested he should drop “The X Factor” and “Britain’s Got Talent” I am sure he’d suggest you did something unprintable.

These two shows are their biggest ratings winners and although the format maybe familiar the acts aren’t. It is a sure bet that radio wouldn’t have discovered Leona Lewis or Will Young.

I’ve recently been reminded that “radio is a village”. A great analogy to be sure but, to my eye, commercial radio’s current attitude appears more like local gentry, living on a big hill near the village, with a loud speaker on the turret, expecting everyone to love them because of the familiar songs they broadcast.

The only time these gentry visit the village is to collect money from traders, or hand out prizes when ratings are being counted.

If, on these rare visits, they were to collect a few new songs from the village and then expand on that interaction, they might engender some respect, loyalty and more importantly for the traders - show they have a connection with the community.

Advertiser’s current worry is their message falling upon deaf ears because, if people are listening to familiar songs on the radio, are they really “listening”? Are they just treating it as background music?

Of course the other question radio should be asking is “How many times do people switch when they hear a song they are familiar with?”

Commercial radio is an excellent medium for musicians, listeners and advertisers to co-exist but for me the current trend of safety will widen the distance between the station and the community.