Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A Really Bad Idea

R&R Country Editor R. J. Curtis put something in print this morning which A&O has been hearing for several weeks but refused, until now, to believe:
"R&R has heard the news reverberating up and down Music Row about a newly announced music policy for Cumulus country stations. Reportedly, PDs were given a safe list of 17 currents to play, with instructions to drop anything not on the list. Additionally, the list was said to be final, with no discussion allowed. R&R reached out to (format captain) Bill Jones, but did not receive a return call. Cumulus PDs aren't talking (would you?). We'll continue to keep our ears and eyes open for more details."

This isn't the first time Cumulus has made some really arrogant, incestuous, self-destructive and stupid decisions, of course, but it gets my vote for the dumbest one so far!

Now that it is in print, watch in early '08 for John Dickey to be called again to testify before Congress at the next consolidation/localization hearings, certain to come as a result of this alleged action.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Let’s hope this isn’t true. Really. Let’s hope.

How many of you believe that ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to music or any aspect of programming?

Or that the best 17 songs for one station could be different by even a single song regardless of geography or target audience for every station?

Or that no programmer – or, even worse, no COLLECTION of programmers presumably hand-picked to grow corporate assets – could offer any meaningful observation about their markets’ tastes.

The supposed “magic list” – trust me, there never was one – went out in the early 80s along with boiler plate advice.

If this DOES turn out to be true and you’re competing against Cumulus, you should lick your chops.