how do i pick my music?
Nov 27, 2020
You can never please everyone all of the time… But I do get compliments about the music that I play. Thus today’s question… How do I pick my music?
Honestly, I just pick out what I like for the radio, but it’s based entirely on what I know that you like? How can I know what you like?
Years and years of talking with people about music… and seeing lots of research… going to lots of concerts… and listening to music practically every day of my life.
If you listen to 101.1fm Blue Wave Radio, you will hear music spanning more than 65 years… There are tracks that I play from the mid 50s… And there are tracks by artists who influenced other artists… for example, I play a track by Eartha Kitt… her style is evident in female singers today… it took the world 65 years to catch up. She’s a perfect example of where these lines intersect. But if you heard Ariana Grande singing this like her, you wouldn’t find it out of place.
I can’t play everything. For instance, there are some great ambient EDM producers out there… and while it’s really beautiful, I prefer hearing vocals with lyrics…
What you won’t find on Blue Wave Radio is a list of songs picked by musical accountants with spreadsheets that validate their choices to the “non-music” businessmen.
When I first went to San Diego, I became a music director at their first Classic Rock Station… (it was owned by Gannett Corporation the owners of USA Today newspaper.)
We had a consultant who was a very accomplished man but he believed that you didn’t have to be a music lover to run a successful radio station. His contention was that with the right research and playing the right music at the right time, you could be successful…
We never got the ratings we needed to be successful… and now even the stations that were legendary have been “spread-sheeted” right out of existence… They have a formula morning show… they have fired the radio personalities who played the music (and talked it up and loved the music and were passionate about the music and the listeners… ) and then play about 300-400 songs for the rest of the day… day and week and year… They do research and update those song once per year… The math says they are right… and the audiences still listen… but they no longer care about the music or the radio stations… because the guys with the spreadsheets and the people in the offices don’t care about the music… it’s just a product…
My feeling is that if YOU aren’t passionate about it… it’s really hard to get someone else passionate about it… You need to be on a mission or else, you are phoning it in…
So that’s how I pick my music… I pick songs and artists who write about things that mean something to me or have meant something to you… I hope that I’m doing a good job… feel free to let me know…
