WHAT’S THE CRITERIA

If you ever get a chance to sit in the Program Director's chair expect many inquiries from artists, their management and representatives about your criteria for getting their song played on the radio. The plethora of inquiries comes with the territory as it is part of the Program Directors job to find the next big hit! Please know that every station needs to have a criteria but that criteria can differ from station to station.

So it’s ok if your criteria change from market to market or change based on format, this post is to just give you a starting point. While sound quality is very important there are other criteria that are equally important to consider including core artist, market airplay, chart position, video exposure, YouTube hits, street buzz, etc.

To explain each criteria a little further, (core artist) Is the artist familiar to your audience with a few stays at the format? (market airplay) Is your competitor playing the song? (video exposure) Is it being exposed via BET, Centric or VH1? (YouTube hits) With little or no airplay, is it getting tons of hits on YouTube? And (street buzz) is the song hot in the clubs?

The reason it is important to have a criteria is because you cannot play every song that is submitted to you. You will not have that much room on your playlist no matter what format you are programming. So having a criteria not only helps you weed out “stiffs” but also helps you find true hits that have staying power.

And please note that being offered money for airplay is not a criteria, it is illegal and any ethical Programmer should find such an offer insulting. Besides the legal consequences if you are caught, playing a record because someone paid you clouds your judgment and will fill your playlist with bad songs which will in turn have a negative effect on your station’s ratings.

What’s the criteria for adding a song to your playlist? Now you know.

Lj