Peter Ruppert's Blog

There’s little difference between a radio commercial and an unknown song on the air. Both interrupt listeners and interruptions are generally disliked and avoided which is one of the reasons why unfamiliar songs generally test poorly.

For a decent ad or song to be successful the same ingredient is required: frequency of play to counter lack of attention and drive familiarity. Building familiarity is crucial for both station and artist since it builds trust and trust generates tune-in but it generally takes a long time. I reckon a good 600 daytime plays are needed to generate roughly 50% awareness in 1 million listener market.

For this reason Entertainment Media Research is about to launch HotTrax, an intelligence service for UK radio stations that will identify the new releases that instantly connect with listeners making it easier for programmers and producers to find and play the records that will engage their audiences without interrupting them.