HOW TO START A RADIO STATION A Guide to Radio Programming

Radio programming is an art mixed with proper decision making and teamwork. Unlike college radio (non-commercial) where there is no structure and is based on a “do as you want, when you want”, commercial radio carves out a much bigger and brighter piece of the pie. This is in part because commercial radio stations are in this business to capitalize on an income stream. Commercial radio stations which are correctly programmed will find a long successful path ahead within their business model.

Programming a radio station is the process of decision making and selecting the proper songs that each DJ will play over the course of the broadcast day/week. At the fundamental level, this is done in two parts. The first part is to organize your radio station’s music library into categories. These radio industry categories are NOT based on the genre of music, but rather how new the song is (base on its radio release date), how popular it is with listeners and how often the radio programmer wants the song to be aired.

Typically, within the radio industry, these categories are called “Heavy”, “Medium”, “Light”. These names are based on the rotation songs received within each category. For example, you have a “Light” category for songs which typically receive 7-14 spins per week. Then there would be “Medium” category (14-28 spins per week) for songs that were previously “Light” (or newly added to playlist) a couple weeks ago and are proving itself to be popular with listeners. Furthermore, you will have a “Heavy” category which would then consist of songs that are at their peak and deserve to be highlighted more than all other songs. Some stations, especially within the CHR format (also known as Top40) may also have a category called “Ultra”. This “Ultra” are songs which get even more than “Heavy” rotation. Have you ever been listening to the radio and said to yourself “Did I just hear that song?”. Now you know why.

 
Other categories which make up a radio station are termed as “Recurrent”. “Recurrents” consists of “Oldies”, “Classics”, “Gold”, and many more which we won’t cover now as these categories are not reported on your “Current” playlist and the music industry as a whole does not concern themselves with “what used to be”. They are focused on their current marketing campaign, not what happened several months (or possibly years) ago. All you need to know is that within your “Recurrent” category you should include songs that are now months past their peak, but still somewhat popular. Additionally, songs that are older than 6 months, but will remain in rotation at the station endlessly.

Now that you have categorized all the songs in your music library, the programmer will create a “radio clock” that is basically a template for one hour of broadcast time. This template will dictate when and how often a song from a specific category will be played during a particular hour. For example, a basic layout for a radio station may look like this:

Top of the Hour – Your Radio Station ID

Heavy

Light – Newly Added

Advertisement

Recurrent – Oldies

Medium

Light

Radio Station News

Nowadays, all this is automated, so it is extremely easy to use the radio station categories to randomly select songs within each category and determine what to air based on this “radio clock” templating. Additionally, it is easy to add additional features to a “radio clock” for example, do not play a song by the same artist within a predetermined amount of time. All in all, the radio station DJ does not have to select or be familiar with the categories, the radio station’s computer programmers your broadcast list of songs to be played every hour. You can even dive deeper into programming your radio station by implementing multiple “radio clocks” for different times of the day.

Isn’t this restricting the radio station?
Some new DJ and programmers feel that properly programming a radio station as this feel strictive. This, however, is only because they simply do not understand the science behind programming. We, as humans, are not very good at accepting randomization and will always be drawn towards familiarity. So correctly programming a radio station will ensure all songs are evenly aired throughout the day. Additionally, many radio stations are committed to playing a particular number of new songs each day, so programming the station ensures that those commitments are met. There are particularly good reasons for radio stations to be correctly programmed. This has been tested and proven successful since the first programmed broadcast in 1920.