Rotation (broadcast)

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In radio and music television, rotation is the frequency with which individual music titles are played repeatedly over a period of time.

General

Which music titles are played on radio and television is (mostly) not decided by the presenter first in / during a program , but beforehand. Programs that listeners can call can be an exception. But even with these there is the possibility of recording calls and putting together something suitable for the format from these requests. The intended music titles are usually placed in advance on a " playlist for a certain broadcast time". This playlist corresponds to the character ( broadcast format ) of the broadcaster and contains those pieces of music that match this format. With pop broadcasters it contains hits , with oldies broadcasters therefore oldies , with hit parade radio the current hits.

The observation that certain music tracks are broadcast (repeatedly airplayed ) more frequently by one broadcaster every day than others is not due to the forgetfulness or indolence of the editors. Behind this is the methodological goal of preferring certain music titles over other pieces. The frequency with which a music track is repeated is also specified in the playlist. The more often a song is played, i.e. the higher the rotation , the smaller the playlist. As part of marketing , record labels influence radio and television stations with the aim of ensuring that a new release gets into the playlist if possible, and ideally also into the rotation , see Payola .

species

Is a song only one included time in a Playlist, he does not belong to the rotation . The "C-Rotation" ("low rotation") starts with the first repetition of the same song, while the "A-Rotation" ("heavy rotation") starts with 7 repetitions per week. For chart-oriented stations, the A rotation is around 30 repetitions per week. In between there is the “B rotation” (“medium rotation”). These species are more abundant in the United States. New releases start here with “low rotation”, ie 5–15 times a week, after a maximum of 2 weeks the music title is increased to “medium rotation” (10–25 times), then it increases to “heavy rotation” with around 50 repetitions per week. The playing of the tracks from the playlist is now computer-controlled via selector programs that take the given rotation frequencies into account.

history

For the first time, the rotation was deliberately used in the playlists of the hit parade radio of the USA with a limited playlist concept. The radio station owner Todd Storz is considered to be the first to provide his radio stations with the Top 40 format and to introduce rotation . As the first radio station, he acquired KOWH in Omaha in April 1949, which presented the top 10 hit parade from 1952. Storz had observed how the jukeboxes were operated by the guests in restaurants and bars . They tended to always play the same of the mostly 40 records. That was the core of the "music rotation", according to which the most popular songs should be played more than others. From May 1953, other stations also adopted this hit parade concept, so that the expression "Top 40 radio" stood for a radio format in which the hit parade is played on the countdown principle with the number one hit at the end. In August 1954, KOWH in Omaha had a market share of 48% of all radio listeners through this concept. The rotation at a top 40 station consisted of repeating the top 10 in particular often.

In the Payola fraud scandal, the 1958 hearings revealed that the widespread rotation of the top 40 radio was related to the power of radio disc jockeys . Disc jockey Alan Freed had broadcast the song Maybelline (recorded on May 21, 1955) by Chuck Berry in "heavy rotation" and thus contributed to the popularization of a song in which Freed was registered as a co-composer. Freed had played the song on the radio station WINS (New York) in July 1955 every two hours during its broadcast.

Since around 1990, both private radio stations and public broadcasters in Germany have fundamentally restructured their popular music formats (popular music or popular music ). With the aim of strengthening the bond with the desired advertising-relevant target group - teenagers and young adults - the musical range (genre, period) was reduced, the title stock (regularly played pieces) was reduced and the rotation of the best-known titles increased. In doing so, they continued the development that has been visible since the 1960s of building radio programs more and more uniformly, for example by outsourcing light and serious music as well as information broadcasts to different special- interest channels. While listeners used to select and consciously consume individual programs (just like TV viewers today), nowadays pop music formats are geared towards continuous, seamless accompaniment in all possible activities in daily life.

Pieces with a high recognition value, which are included in the current music charts, are preferred and played in rapid repetition in order to ensure even audibility . Targeted hits, mostly with a small amount of words, can be consumed faster and easier; In contrast, minority genres such as heavy metal or jazz are disadvantaged. The proportion of “current hits” (not older than three months), recurrents (older) and oldies (approx. 5 years or older) is fixed within narrow limits; In addition, the pace, style and mood, language, etc. ( creative data) of the entire title stock are categorized and used for the music editors' program planning. For example, it has become customary to play so-called openers according to word segments ( news , announcement, advertising ). These are pieces that start quickly without foreplay .

Dynamics of rotation

The music titles that are eligible for airplay are recorded in the playlist and some titles are classified according to how often they can be used per day. The responsible editor has the task of checking new publications on the basis of the format specifications and, if necessary, transferring them to the press . To make titles known, they can be promoted via the C-Rotation, B-Rotation to A-Rotation. These repetitions can have an effect on the charts and vice versa. A current number one hit therefore receives an A rotation as long as it has the first rank. If it is ousted from first rank, it is downgraded to a B or C rotation and is ultimately considered a “burnout”. It is taken out of rotation , as are dubbed tracks that a large number of listeners are tired of listening to. The music broadcaster VIVA categorized its playlists according to current hit parade placements, with the A-list containing the top 20 hits with 3–4 repetitions per day, while the B-list contained placements 21–50 with 2–3 repetitions per day; this was followed by the C-list (ranks 51-100 in the hit parade) with a maximum of 2 repetitions.

effect

The rotation is part of the programming of the daily radio program. The goal of rotation is to ensure that the most popular hits are repeated more often than the less popular ones. So that new releases have a chance at all with the listener, they are "warmed up" over a period of four weeks with approx. 200 repetitions. The repeated transmission of individual music tracks promotes recognition value for the listener and thus promotes mechanical practice . The targeted repetition also promotes memory in the listener. But it also leads to the announcement of hitherto unknown titles and can enormously improve their charts and sales opportunities. New releases can get into the hit parade through a high rotation . Even with a "medium rotation" the hit parade chance is improved. When Nirvana's LP Nevermind was released in September 1991 and received a “heavy rotation” on MTV , the LP sold 200,000 copies in the first three weeks since its release and in January 1992 pushed Michael Jackson's album Dangerous from first place on the LP charts.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ How is the music selection made on the radio? , wdr.de, accessed on March 6, 2020
  2. ↑ Holger Schramm, Musik im Radio , 2008, p. 156.
  3. ↑ Tom Hutchinson / Paul Allen / Amy Macy, Record Label Marketing , 2012, o. P.
  4. ↑ a b Klaus Goldhammer, Musikquoten im Europäische Radiomarkt , 2005, p. 187.
  5. ^ Darrell W. King, The Business of Gospel Music , 2012, p. 152.
  6. ^ David MacFarland, Future Radio Programming Strategies , 2013, p. 65.
  7. ↑ Richard W. Fatherley / David T. MacFarland, The Birth of Top40 Radio , 2013, p. 193.
  8. ↑ Richard W. Fatherley / David T. MacFarland, The Birth of Top40 Radio , 2013, p. 42.
  9. ↑ John Broven, Record Makers and Breakers , 2009 S. 459th
  10. ^ Gabriel Rossman, Climbing the Charts , 2012, p. 26 f.
  11. ↑ Christopher Zara, Tortured Artists , 2012, p. 150.
  12. ↑ Joachim-Felix Leonhard / Hans-Werner Ludwig , Media Studies Part 3 , 2002, p. 1978.
  13. ↑ Joachim-Felix Leonhard / Hans-Werner Ludwig, Media Studies Part 3 , 2002, p. 1992.
  14. ↑ Marlis Jahnke, Der Weg zum Popstar , 1998, p. 129.
  15. ↑ Holger Schramm, Musik im Radio , 2008, p. 174.
  16. ^ David MacFarland, Future Radio Programming Strategies , 2013, p. 163.
  17. ^ Marc Davison, All Area Access , 1997, p. 279.
  18. ^ Donald G. Godfrey / Frederic A. Leigh, Historical Dictionary of American Radio , 1998, p. 324.