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Radio Airplay 101:
Commercial Stations, Part 2
by Bryan Farrish - December 2000
Back to Radio Promotion 101
In Part 1,
we covered the basics of a commercial station. We now talk about what is needed to promote to these types of stations.
MAILING
Although mailing your CD to stations is not considered "promotion" in-and-of itself (promotion requires
phone calls), it nevertheless must be done, and when doing it is recommended that you do your own mailing instead
of using a mailing service (or worse, a compilation CD service.) CDs from mailing services, which are sometimes
sent with a magazine, tend to get lost. Also, they are sometimes delivered with many other CDs, which can dilute
your project. If you do use these services, do so in addition to doing you own mailing, i.e., consider it as an
advertisement.
SPECIALTY SHOW VS. ROTATION
On commercial radio stations, specialty spins (also known as
tests, spikes, new music shows, local music shows, or dayparting) is what many bands mistake for regular rotation.
As a matter of fact, one of the uses of a specialty show is for a station to put songs that it can't really play
(but doesn't want to tell the artist/label this.) The average new artist/label will be very happy to hear that
they are "being played", because the artist/label doesn't realize that this means only one or two spins.
Only regular rotation can sell large quantities of records...but it is also (by far) the most difficult to get.
Specialty spins (and mixshows) however, do still have uses...for example, building the buzz, introducing a song
to a station, or providing airplay practice for a new label or artist. And many times, the person at the station
who does the specialty show also sits in on the same music meetings with the music director and program director.
PROMOTERS
Also called radio promoters, airplay promoters, radio teams, promotion departments, etc., promoters are the people
who call the stations and give them the information they need to play your song. (Faxes are also used.) You will
find promoters who work at labels, who only promote the artists on their label, and also promoters who work independently
(these are called "indies",) and are for hire by labels and artists.
The main thing that a promoter does is try to make it appear that a big picture is developing: Adds are happening,
spins are increasing, interviews are occuring, great comments are being made, and if pertinent... sales are occurring,
shows are selling, and press is printing! All of this is updated and repeated every week to every station (50 to
1500 stations, depending on the promotion level...most often it is 50 to 500.)
As for indie promoters, they vary in the reports that they give you (some don't do them at all,) the stations they
call (some do only one genre, others do more,) the promotions or advertising they handle (some don't do this,)
and the accessibility that they give you (some are easy for you to reach, others never answer the phone and hardly
ever call back.)
TRADE ADS
Buying printed advertisements in the radio airplay magazines
would be the first step that a serious label/band would consider as their next step beyond simply hiring a promoter.
These printed advertisements (1) show stations that you have a serious project, (2) get critical info to the stations
in a high-profile and timely (weekly) manner, and (3) greatly increase your chances of an editorial review in the
magazines you advertise in.
STATION ADVERTISING
High-level airplay promotion, which consists of buying time on broadcast stations (and which understandably may
be beyond the indie label) is nevertheless a staple of medium and large labels. Advertising on stations does several
things:
1) Lets the public hear samples of several of your songs.
2) Tells the public where to buy the CD.
3) Tells the public about your gigs.
4) Gets the attention of the station management, who pays more attention to the ads than they do the music.
5) Greatly increases your chances for airplay, because the station is now making money from you.
...And with a little extra work on the part of the promoter:
6) Gets your CD onto the shelves of large chain stores. 7) Gets you gigs in larger venues which you could not get
otherwise.
Next issue... the details of CMJ magazine.
Bryan Farrish
is an independent radio airplay promoter. He can be reached at 818-905-8038 or airplay@radio-media.com |
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