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CMT Genius Day Recap posted on March 7th, 2014

IMG_8770Our president Joe Knapp visited the CMT studios in Nashville to host a MusicMaster Genius Day during CRS week. Members of the MusicMaster support team were also on hand to give tips, tricks and pointers for scheduling both a radio station and a television station with MusicMaster. We enjoyed a tour of the CMT studios where we met more staff, took some snapshots of the studios and got a great sense of how one of the best television stations in the country operates. Stacey Cato, Donna Edmonds, Brian Bayley and Joanna Bednarz worked all day with us and their hospitality remains unmatched! We look forward to visiting again and watching CMT for all the great changes we made together in their MusicMaster databases!
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Could The Eternal Jukebox Be Unplugged? posted on March 6th, 2014

By Sean Ross

Five years ago, or so, it seemed that some songs had been assigned a place in the “eternal jukebox.”  Certain all-time classics had an appeal that didn’t depend on actually having grown up with them. There were obvious common-denominator wedding/party/barroom songs — “Brown Eyed Girl,” “At Last,” “Respect,” “Margaritaville,” “Summer Of ’69,” and especially  “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Don’t Stop Believin'”.   In addition,  an enterprising music supervisor in TV or movies could at times turn any obscure oldie into hipster exotica for a moment as well. And you could count on hearing “Limbo Rock” at any toddler’s birthday party, even if it wasn’t on the radio.

The conditions were right at that time for people to listen to oldies that went beyond their own high-school music. Sharing music among friends, especially on a zip drive full of MP3s without artwork, removed the “my dad’s music” stigma. Current Top 40 and country product was rapidly improving, but not yet dominating. Current rock product was weak. The 17-year-old who liked classic rock was quickly moving beyond the anecdotal stage to something seen in ratings and station research. The oldies/greatest hits format had made a PPM-era comeback that revealed its audience to be 25-54, not just 45-plus.

Many of those conditions are different now. Oldies/greatest hits is a less consistent presence from market to market. Most broadcasters would be willing to trade places with WCBS-FM New York, but not every station is top three with a wide demo-spread anymore. The resurgence of Hot AC and the adult appeal of top 40 means that not even every 35-54 listener is promised to any gold-based format.

Whether for those reasons, or just as a result of the passage of time, the last year has seen a drastically reduced ’60s presence at greatest hits stations, and some records that had cheated time are being looked at as a lot less transcendent these days. WCBS-FM is down to one ’60s title an hour and sometimes slightly less. Nielsen BDS Radio’s top 100 most-played Oldies/Greatest Hits titles include only three ’60s songs — “Brown Eyed Girl,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and “Mrs. Robinson.”

“Respect,” once the most common-denominator of songs, is well outside the top 100, getting just over 100 spins a week. The Tommy James & the Shondells version of “Mony Mony” is at 88 spins, just ahead of Billy Idol’s version at 80.

As for other ’60s songs that had picked up some extra pop culture durability in the ’80s and early ’90s, they’ve officially been declared old again. Manfred Mann’s “Doo Wah Diddy Diddy” is at 78 spins. Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” is at 98 spins. The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” from 1965 but a throwback even then, used to be a top-of-the-page perennial on any oldies or AC music test. It now gets 45 spins a week. The Contours’ “Do You Love Me” is at 19 spins.

As the ’60s fade at many stations, a few are starting to push into the ’90s or beyond. WDRC-FM Hartford, Conn., plays a Sheryl Crow-type ’90s title every other hour. KOLA Riverside, Calif., is playing two ’90s each hour, including some like Sublime’s “Santeria” or C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” without obvious oldies connections. WOLL (Kool 105) West Palm Beach, Fla., always played a few ’90s titles. Now it’s playing Katy Perry’s “Roar” and other recurrents. Some oldies/greatest hits stations are able to evolve to gold-based ACs or Hot ACs because the station in that market that used to fill that function has become more current-based.

The phenomenon isn’t limited to the oldies/greatest hits world. Urban AC, brought to prominence by the hits of the ’70s and ’80s, is becoming newer as well. A few years ago, Al Green’s “Love & Happiness,” the one-time “Stairway to Heaven” of the format, started to look like just another song in music testing. Beyond that, in talking to younger PDs who didn’t grow up into the ’70s and ’80s, it’s interesting to see the format’s once timeless acts — the Isley Brothers, Earth, Wind & Fire, George Clinton/ Parliament/Funkadelic — lose their icon status and become just more “old music” to anybody.

Therein lies the first challenge to the eternal jukebox — or at least some songs’ status within it. Oldies is as much a function of what owners and PDs feel about a body of music as what listeners think. Each new generation of titles generally has to wait until programmers who grew up with it are in charge. Each generation of titles is vulnerable to the next group of PDs and usually goes off the air at least a little bit before the audience for them is gone.

Also, it’s hard for even iconic songs to bear the weight of being the only titles in the category. Late summer/early fall ’67 is a pretty great time for music, and “Brown Eyed Girl” is not the only song I want to hear from that era. For anybody fitting that description, the perennial hits have been fried for years. For anybody who didn’t grow up with “Brown Eyed Girl” it is, at least, losing its novelty. Even “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Don’t Stop Believin'” are now often simultaneously liked and burned in research. Listeners’ enthusiasm hasn’t been entirely sapped, but it’s further along than once seemed possible.

There’s also the psychological hurdle of being a 40-year-old song, a mark that “Sweet Home Alabama” will pass in a few months, much less a 50-year-old song. That one may be more of a programmers’ distinction, too. The whole point of the eternal jukebox was not that listeners knew how old songs were and decided to give them a pass. Anybody under 45 bum-rushing the dance floor for “Play That Funky Music” has probably never known it’s from 1976 or really even wondered about it.

The Beatles’ anniversary on the Ed Sullivan Show is celebrated with increased fervor in any year ending in four. Yet, it’s hard to imagine them losing their eternal jukebox status even with the 50- year mark having been noted repeatedly in the last month. Some kids go through their Beatles phase before the concept of new and old music even takes hold. Right now, the Beatles represent a lot of the playable ’60s for oldies and classic rock stations. We’ll know soon enough if that changes, but it’s hard to imagine “Come Together” suddenly becoming less universal because it’s 45-years-old and by a band that broke here fifty years ago.

In the era that radio is still comfortable acknowledging, the all-ages party records and those that have some hooks in a later era are still pretty dominant. “Old Time Rock & Roll” is the No. 2 most played song at oldies/greatest hits, and “Margaritaville” is No. 3. “I Love Rock & Roll” hovers around No. 50 at both that format and Adult Hits. And it’s no accident that KOLA’s forays into the ’90s include “Santeria,” a song that would still test at top 40 for listeners who weren’t even born in 1995. Even with more passion for today’s music, the eternal jukebox isn’t unplugged yet. But some records have been changed, perhaps prematurely.

NRB Nashville Recap posted on March 6th, 2014

MusicMaster attended the NRB International Christian Media Convention for the first time February 22-25 in Nashville at the beautiful Gaylord Hotel. In attendance were Joe Knapp, President of MusicMaster/A-Ware Software, Director of Marketing Melanie Ross, Sales Director Shane Finch and Music Scheduling Consultants Aaron Taylor and Marianne Burkett. The annual event includes training, general and keynote sessions, along with 130,000 square feet of exhibit space. We were lucky to partner with both Wide Orbit’s Jeff Dempsey and Enco’s Aaron Johnson for this show. What a great opportunity it was to learn more about Christian media talk to our mutual customers, and folks interested to learn how the products fit together.

Aaron Johnson of Enco demonstrates Nexus functionality between MMWIN and Enco

Aaron Johnson of Enco demonstrates Nexus functionality between MusicMaster and Enco

Marianne Burkett speaking to a prospect with Jeff Dempsey from Wide Orbit at NRB

Marianne Burkett speaking to a prospect with Jeff Dempsey from Wide Orbit

Aaron Shane and Aaron from Enco at NRB

Aaron Taylor and Shane Finch from MusicMaster with Aaron Johnson from Enco

Marianne and Melanie in the Wid Orbit booth at NRB

Marianne Burkett and Melanie Ross in the Wide Orbit booth

CRS Nashville Recap posted on March 5th, 2014

The MusicMaster team invaded the 45th Annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN, February 19-21! Partnering with Wide Orbit, Aaron Taylor, Marianne Burkett, and Drew Bennett shared time with many new friends and swapped stories with numerous, current MusicMaster clients. CRS is always a amazing opportunity for professional and personal growth, networking, and the chance to rub elbows with major artists in the format, as well meet and hear music from emerging artists.

CRS booth visitors

Customers crowding the MusicMaster booth at CRS

Marianne, Shane, Ty Herndon, Jeff Dempsey from WO and Aaaron Taylor at CRS

MusicMaster’s Marianne Burkett and Shane Finch with Ty Herndon and Jeff Dempsey from Wide Orbit with MusicMaster’s Aaron Taylor at CRS

Aaron Taylor with Julie Stevens, PD and Nate Deaton GM of MusicMaster client KRTY-San Jose

Aaron Taylor with Julie Stevens, PD and Nate Deaton, GM of MusicMaster client KRTY-San Jose

New CRS memories were made with Ed Hill/KMPS Seattle, Sean Ross/Ross On Radio New York Julie Stevens and Nate Deaton KRTY/San Jose, Jerry Butler/WRUF Gainesville, Rob West/WJVL Janesville, Tom Oakes/Ohana Media Group, Stacey Cato/CMT Nashville, Kim Hennes/All About Country Chicago…and so many more.

MusicMaster continues to celebrate our anniversary with The 30th Anniversary Acoustic Jam featuring Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, Ty Herndon, Anita Cochran, along with Hali Hicks, Lucas Hoge, Samantha Landrum, Zane Williams, Casey Donahew, North 40, Joe Bachman, Carissa Leigh, and a stage filled with incredible talent.

Hundreds of industry notables came to meet Mel and take home a personal photo with the past CMA Entertainer of the Year. MusicMaster founder and president Joe Knapp knows how to throw a great party!

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Mel Tillis (waving, center) with Drew Bennett, Joe Knapp, Marianne Burkett, Aaron Taylor, Melanie Ross, Laurie Knapp, and Shane Finch

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Heather Looney from North 40, Marianne Burkett and Melanie Ross from MusicMaster and Paige Logan from North 40 pose together at the MusicMaster 30th Anniversary Acoustic Jam

Joe Knapp CEO MusicMaster with Ty Hearndon and Anita Cochran

Joe Knapp, CEO of MusicMaster, with Ty Herndon and Anita Cochran

Catch our gang at the upcoming Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference/Lansing, MI in March; Worldwide Radio Summit/Hollywood, CA in April; NAB Show/Las Vegas, NV in April; and Canadian Music Week/Toronto, ON in May.

Talk Radio Boot Camp Dallas Recap posted on March 4th, 2014

MusicMaster President/CEO and founder, Joe Knapp, shares impressions from this month’s Talk Show Boot Camp in Dallas:

“Not enough people know how valuable MusicMaster can be to talk radio.” This comes from my good friend, Kipper McGee, who found creative uses for MusicMaster while he supervised programming for the legendary Chicago news-talk station, WLS-AM. Kipper used MusicMaster to rotate “objects” instead of whole songs, including liners, stingers, bumpers, and just about everything else. Kipper shared thoughts about managing multiple forums.

Another good friend, the always-eloquent Valerie Geller, showered us with pearls of wisdom about creating great radio content. She’s one of my favorite authors, too. If you’re creating radio content, I strongly suggest you check out her books! In an encore performance at CRS a couple weeks later, she reminded me of the world’s shortest short story, written by the immortal Ernest Hemingway: “For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn.” Something tells me that Hemingway would have written some great radio advertising copy!

It was a pleasure to touch base with other friends and colleagues too, such as Mike McVay and Steve Goldstein. Try not to miss Steve Jones the next time he does his Brand Like A Rock Star presentation. It’s priceless!

But the best part of the show, for me personally, was seeing Glenn Beck up close and in person for just the second time in my life. He’s an incredibly inspirational public speaker!

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Left to right: Kipper McGee, Valerie Geller, and Glenn Beck

The Relative Separation Analysis Special History Report posted on March 3rd, 2014

By Drew Bennett

Scroll through Special History Reports and you will see one you can use for just about any report you need to generate. Most of these reports are specially designed for certain agencies and offices to receive reports on music you play. Some of these reports, however, are more generic and these are designed for anyone to use. If you haven’t reviewed the Special History Report option lately, we’ve added to the gallery of report options in MusicMaster.  The newest report is Relative Separation Analysis. This report determines separation times on values in a field across to adjacent time periods and is a great way to track things like Song Titles and Artist Keywords and how they separate from day to day. (more…)

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Salon de la Radio Paris Recap posted on March 1st, 2014

4,185 radio professionals joined this year’s Salon de la Radio in Paris. The three days of France’s main radio industry event were spiced-up with dozens of panels, workshops, and an award show.

We really enjoy attending this first international show of the year. It always feels great to spend some days in this very unique metropolis, and meeting good friends feels even better. ON AIR’s Thomas Roth and Mathieu Habegger from SwissMediaPartners visited the FIP crew at Radio France and longtime MusicMaster station Radio Classique. They also spent pleasant moments with Christie, Isabelle and Alexandre from Netia (top picture, below) and Dominique Wenger from Zenon Media. (bottom picture, below). NetiaDominiqueWenger_ZenonMedia

MusicMaster in Oceania posted on February 27th, 2014

ON AIR’s Kevin Hopkins spent most of this past month in New Zealand and Australia meeting stations and training future MusicMaster pros. He also had the chance to meet again with Cameron St. Clair, Sea FM’s Afternoon Announcer & Music Supporter. And, boy oh boy, this man knows his MusicMaster!

Both had interesting talks about the future of MusicMaster and API’s, MusicMaster’s potential to integrate with third party applications, and of course some wishes he has for future versions of MusicMaster.

Cameron and Kevin were joined by AVC’s Greg Altena. Greg, as the new MusicMaster distributor for Australia and New Zealand, was very happy to meet existing MusicMaster stations and long time users like Cameron.

Cameron and Greg

Cameron St. Clair (left) and Greg Altena (right)

Colorado Springs Genius Day posted on February 24th, 2014

Colorado Springs Radio Broadcasters in Colorado Springs, located about an hour right outside of Denver, Colorado, hosted Joe Knapp and Jesus Rodriguez on Monday, February 10th for a MusicMaster Genius Day workshop. Everyone was so excited about the session that they began firing questions before even saying hello. It’s great to see how much passion there is in the field about MusicMaster 5.0. We discussed every aspect of the software. We are noticing a trend at these Genius Days concerning Optimum Goal Scheduling’s new goals in version 5.0 which keeps blowing everyone away. We would like to thank Aaron Zytle and his team for coordinating the day with us. We kept our promise and even though it was exactly a week after the Super Bowl we never brought up the game in the Bronco state. Lets just say we love our clients to be happy with us when they are at arms reach.
crscoloradospringsPictured left to right: MusicMaster Representative Jesus Rodriguez; Gundy from RXP; Aaron Zytle, PD of RXP; Mehoff, MD at KILO; Ross Ford, PD at KILO; MusicMaster President and CEO Joe Knapp

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