digital music choice in a live radio show, oslo 2014
DESCRIPTION
Presentation I gave in Oslo, Norway about our project to give listeners of a live breakfast show the choice of seven different playlists online, whilst retaining the programmes award winning live links and entertainment. Nicknamed Project Banana, it has led to record audience for the breakfast show. September 19th 2014.TRANSCRIPT
PROJECT BANANA
One breakfast show Seven choices of playlist All live
PROJECT BANANA ELEMENTS:
UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
MAXIMISING CONTENT
PROJECT BANANA - THEORY
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATION
1. UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
They all run the same breakfast show.
• Our listeners enjoy live, relevant entertainment at breakfast • The music at breakfast time is secondary to the content • We wanted to focus on one great breakfast show
• Benefits both listeners and commercial partners
• The Wickes sponsorship of the breakfast show is into its 3rd year
We have seven radio stations – master channel and brand extensions
2. MAXIMISING CONTENT
CHRISTIAN O’CONNELL
6-10am Monday to Friday
Live across the Absolute Radio network of stations
Until May this year, a simulcast of the show.
FRANK SKINNER
8am-11am Saturdays
Also runs on Saturday between 9am-12pm on the Absolute Radio Network
Links are recorded and replayed an hour later
3. PROJECT BANANA -SPECIFICATION
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
• Maintain a live, interactive breakfast show across all stations
• Listeners to Absolute Radio shouldn’t notice the difference
• Listeners to the digital stations should get the songs they love
AIMS
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
LIVE LINK OASIS – LIVE FOREVER
THE CURE - LOVECATS
BLUR - PARKLIFE
FEEDER – BUCK ROGERS
TOM ROBINSON – 2-4-6-8 MOTORWAY
BEATLES – ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
STEPPENWOLF – BORN TO BE WILD
LIVE LINK KASABIAN – EEZ-EH
A-HA – THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV
KLF – WHAT TIME IS LOVE
BEYONCE – CRAZY IN LOVE
DAVID BOWIE – STAR MAN
JIMI HENDRIX – ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
ROLLING STONES – THE LAST TIME
TEMPTATIONS – BALL OF CONFUSION
3’48” 4’50”
SINGLE SONG POSITIONS
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATIONSEGUE POSITIONS
LIVE LINK
11’30”
KINGS OF LEON - SUPERSOAKER CARDIGANS - LOVEFOOL NIRVANA – SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
FOUNDATIONS – BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP
ARETHA FRANKLIN – SAY A LITTLE PRAYER
JOHNNY CASH – A BOY NAMED SUE
THE KINKS - VICTORIA
EDDIE FLOYD – KNOCK ON WOOD
SISTER SLEDGE – WE ARE FAMILY STEPHEN STILLS – LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH SUPERTRAMP – LOGICAL SONG
CAMEO – WORD UP BON JOVI – LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER KIM WILDE – KIDS IN AMERICA
STONE ROSES – SHE BANGS THE DRUMS STEREO MCs - CONNECTED SUPERGRASS - ALRIGHT
SPILLER - GROOVEJET TRAVIS - SING LADY GAGA – EDGE OF GLORY
KILLERS – READ MY MIND
THE DOORS – HELLO I LOVE YOU QUEEN – DON’T STOP ME NOW DEF LEPPARD – LET’S GET ROCKED
4. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
Using existing tools • Music scheduling: RCS GSelector • Broadcast ‘playout’ system: Broadcast Bionics’ Genesys
• We already ‘split’ 7 ways during breakfast for commercials • Took the split commercial functionality and applied it to songs
With • New functions written to put Genesys into and out of ‘Banana’ mode. • New ‘Song Balancer’ plugin written by RCS for GSelector
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
• Examine the depth of the song databases to establish whether rotations are possible
• Synchronise song and intro lengths between Genesys and Gselector
• Normalise all song levels in Genesys
PRIOR TO LAUNCH
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION WORKFLOW PROCESS
■ The Music Schedule for the breakfast show on the main Absolute Radio station is created first
■ Digital Stations then run ‘Song Balancer’
■ This takes the song durations from the main station, and imports them into the other stations databases
■ Songs can be +10-15 seconds if the song fades
■ GSelector then finds songs that match the duration AND scheduling rules for each clock position (e.g. separation, mood, tempo etc.)
■ The person responsible for music scheduling can then manually edit the log as required
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION RCS ‘SONG BALANCER’
5. PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
• Enter Genesys ‘Banana’ mode at 5.59
• Each song or segue group is in a ‘break’
• Advance through playlist using ‘next’
• Drop songs or reposition hour using ‘flush’ and ‘load break’
• Use ‘Fade 5s’ or ‘Fade 3s’ if need to end song early
DAILY OPERATIONS
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
• Hide what we were doing
• Limit Christian’s freedom
• Extend ‘Banana’ to other parts of the radio stations
• ‘Split Links’ a no-no
THINGS WE DIDN’T WANT TO DO
PROJECT BANANA - RESULTS
Record Audience in first Project Banana quarter
1.5m (source: RAJAR Q2 2014)
THANK YOU@tonymoorey