Thank you for that,it was quite an interesting read. It turns out my idea of coffee mornings wasn't so wide of the mark,although vastly more sophisticated.
Interesting that it says only about eight seconds of each song are played,and the test lasts two hours! They must play hundreds of songs. Hopefully the respondents get a coffee break in the middle.
Presumably Heart continually tests all its usual standard tracks as well as other records,and as long as they still get a positive score,they'll keep playing them.
So no doubt we'll be stuck with All Of Me and Starship for a good while yet..
Yeah I thought 8 seconds was very short and limited. If a listener is not familiar with a track then hearing 8 seconds I presume there going to give it a very low score which seems unfair.
Yes I'd be interested to know if Heart continually tests it's older tracks too ?
Some excellent results for the former GMG stations in this quarter clearly demonstrating that Global made the right decision replacing the inferior Real Radio brand with Heart.
Would any of the naysayers like to dispute this? You're all strangely quiet today.
Some excellent results for the former GMG stations in this quarter clearly demonstrating that Global made the right decision replacing the inferior Real Radio brand with Heart.
Would any of the naysayers like to dispute this? You're all strangely quiet today.
I've not been strangely quiet,I've posted three times today.
I think Real Radio was a better station than Heart. Although it too had a limited playlist,it was more varied than Heart's. We've had Heart in Scotland for about six months now and you can definitely tell the difference (see my Girls Aloud example above. They got regular plays on Real Radio,Heart hardly plays them at all.) If more people listen to Heart now than listened to Real Radio,well,fair enough,it was the correct commercial decision,as you put it.
But that is not going to change my opinion that listening to Real Radio was more enjoyable,for me at least,than listening to Heart.
Some excellent results for the former GMG stations in this quarter clearly demonstrating that Global made the right decision replacing the inferior Real Radio brand with Heart.
Would any of the naysayers like to dispute this? You're all strangely quiet today.
Indeed they have all saw listener numbers increase
Heart Scotland added 59k listeners taking it to 480k each week with a 7.5% increase in total hours to over 3 million.
Heart South Wales, the station was up by 47k listeners to 529k with total hours up 4.5% to over 4.7 million
Heart North Wales, they added 15k listeners to 72k with total hours up over 50.5% to 423k.
Heart Yorkshire picked up 77k new listeners taking it to 447k with a 27.2% increase in total hours to over 4.2 million.
Heart North West they’re up 34k listeners to 565k with total hours up over 31.7% taking the station over 5 million
Heart North East they’re up 70k listeners to 313k with total hours up by 43.9% taking the station over 2.2 million hours.
Other heart stations which saw an increase are: East Anglia, West Country and Sussex
The following all saw listener numbers decrease: Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Kent, West Midlands, Thames Valley, London and Essex
Data for other Heart stations isn't available on radio today
Yeah, I've found Heat playing a far wider variety of songs. And right next to Heart on the DAB dial in London. Not as slick as Heart (sounds fully voice tracked) but certaintly good for a change if you're suffering "Heartburn"
Yeah I thought 8 seconds was very short and limited. If a listener is not familiar with a track then hearing 8 seconds I presume there going to give it a very low score which seems unfair.
But predominantly they're testing for familiarity, and people can work out if they're familiar with a track from 8 seconds' worth of it. Presumably those 8 seconds will be from the chorus or a 'hook' of the track, rather than a random 8 seconds of intro or bridge, so if you don't recognise a track from 8 seconds of it, you're very unlikely to recognise it after any longer.
Heart North Wales, they added 15k listeners to 72k with total hours up over 50.5% to 423k.
It's interesting that despite having much better coverage on the ex-Real frequencies, Heart North Wales has far fewer listeners than it did on the old Marcher frequencies which are now Capital. Most of the audience have stuck with Capital it seems.
Old Heart North Wales - 212k (Q1/14)
New Heart North Wales - 75k
Capital North Wales - 178k.
Some excellent results for the former GMG stations in this quarter clearly demonstrating that Global made the right decision replacing the inferior Real Radio brand with Heart.
Would any of the naysayers like to dispute this? You're all strangely quiet today.
I suppose it makes up for losing 300,000 listeners in London.
It's interesting that despite having much better coverage on the ex-Real frequencies, Heart North Wales has far fewer listeners than it did on the old Marcher frequencies which are now Capital. Most of the audience have stuck with Capital it seems.
Old Heart North Wales - 212k (Q1/14)
New Heart North Wales - 75k
Capital North Wales - 178k.
Interesting, proves my theory that people leave a radio on a particular frequency and not necessarily, in this case, follow the brand.
I wonder what Taber and Park will be discussing over a meal in Central London last night (as they'd have already had these national figures yesterday prior to public release).
Presumably the Spice Girls must test low on these things,because Compare My Radio shows that there's hardly any Spice Girls tracks played on any radio station they monitor these days,not just Heart. (Except for Heat radio that plays quite a few.) I find that quite surprising considering how big they were back in the day. If Heart's core audience is women 25-39,then a lot of them would have been aged about eight to early teens when the Spice Girls were huge,and that was pretty much the Spice Girls core fanbase back then.
It's a pity because they had some good records: Wannabe,Say You'll Be There,Who Do You Think You Are,Too Much,Stop.
Sadly,the greatest girlband ever,Girls Aloud,hardly get played either,(again,Heat radio is an exception),Heart and Radio 2 only played them three times in the last month. Real Radio used to regularly give The Promise,Call The Shots and Something Kinda Ooooh an outing,but since Heart took over I've hardly heard them at all.
Yeah I would of thought Girls Aloud would fit in on heart they don't play much Sugababes either or The Saturdays at all surprisingly.
I wonder what Taber and Park will be discussing over a meal in Central London last night (as they'd have already had these national figures yesterday prior to public release).
How to cut the playlist down to just Olly Murs and Take That?
But predominantly they're testing for familiarity, and people can work out if they're familiar with a track from 8 seconds' worth of it. Presumably those 8 seconds will be from the chorus or a 'hook' of the track, rather than a random 8 seconds of intro or bridge, so if you don't recognise a track from 8 seconds of it, you're very unlikely to recognise it after any longer.
Yes,this is pretty much true. I mean if you're listening to Heart and you hear those piano chords,it's only about half a second before you think,"Oh,not John Legend AGAIN.."
Yeah I would of thought Girls Aloud would fit in on heart they don't play much Sugababes either or The Saturdays at all surprisingly.
Did you try Heat radio Sarahsaurus? ?
Well I think you can only get Heat on digital,and at the moment at the work we've only got a cheap FM radio but I think we might invest in a digital one soon. People might say,"Just buy one,they're not that dear",but it's not that simple,we did have one,then it got lost,then it got found again,then the power cord got lost,then found again weeks later,then the radio got lost altogether.
That's why nobody wants to buy a new one and we're still using our cheap old FM one.
When we did have one we used to listen to Absolute 80s but anyone who listens to that station will know that,like Heart,it just tends to be the same records that keep coming round,or at least it was when we listened to it. I don't want to listen to a station that just plays one decade anyway,I want a mixture of tunes,60s,70s,80,90s,noughties,you name it. Every decade had great records,I mean I heard Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry in the pub tonight,that was recorded in 1958,and it's probably one of the greatest songs in the history of popular music,it sounds as good today as the day it was recorded,over fifty years ago.
Spot-on, and also Radio 2 is an "entertainment" station that plays music (hence the huge amount of speech you hate!) not a "music" station. It's all about personality presenters and content., and the music is just punctuation around the speech. Every song doesn't have to be a predictable, top-testing favourite and it can afford to champion new music.
With a music-intensive station, however, the content is the music, so you just can't risk playing a lukewarm song. The audience isn't hanging on Toby Anstis's every word and waiting for his next bon mot - they're primarily there for the music.
Very well said.
Heart isn't a bad listen if all you want is a quick burst of hits, but I couldn't listen all day.
Yes I'd be interested to know if Heart continually tests it's older tracks too ?
Yes they are. When songs start to show a high 'burn' or negative they are dropped or rested (that goes for any station not just just Heart).
Some songs continually score highly when researched. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman is a classic example. I don't think I have ever seen a high negative for that song as it consistently tests very well.
Yes they are. When songs start to show a high 'burn' or negative they are dropped or rested (that goes for any station not just just Heart).
Some songs continually score highly when researched. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman is a classic example. I don't think I have ever seen a high negative for that song as it consistently tests very well.
Thanks for that I find how it all works really interesting.
How do you work it with new tracks for example with Take That and Olly Murrs they are brand new. How or if at all are they tested ?
How do you work it with new tracks for example with Take That and Olly Murrs they are brand new. How or if at all are they tested ?
For brand new songs a lot of it is gut feeling. Its impossible to get a 'familiar' score from a song that hasn't been established yet.
That's where a clever sell on air works. Introduce the song slowly and give some info about it or the artist. Give the listener a reason to sit through something they don't know.
Only then can it be tested once the song has had chance to bed in.
For brand new songs a lot of it is gut feeling. Its impossible to get a 'familiar' score from a song that hasn't been established yet.
That's where a clever sell on air works. Introduce the song slowly and give some info about it or the artist. Give the listener a reason to sit through something they don't know.
Only then can it be tested once the song has had chance to bed in.
I guess it's also true to say that Heart's target audience will have loved previous songs by those artists. Olly Murs and Take That are core artists so the minute they release new material then the audience will want to hear it. And if they are good songs then they will stay.
Yes they are. When songs start to show a high 'burn' or negative they are dropped or rested (that goes for any station not just just Heart).
Some songs continually score highly when researched. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman is a classic example. I don't think I have ever seen a high negative for that song as it consistently tests very well.
What I want to know is,I mean I've heard the song enough times,but:
Did he ever find work?
And did she ever get promoted?:)
I guess it's also true to say that Heart's target audience will have loved previous songs by those artists. Olly Murs and Take That are core artists so the minute they release new material then the audience will want to hear it.
Yes and no. While 'Troublemaker' and 'Heart Skips A Beat' test quite well, 'Right Place Right Time' and 'Oh My Goodness' don't.
Comments
Yeah I thought 8 seconds was very short and limited. If a listener is not familiar with a track then hearing 8 seconds I presume there going to give it a very low score which seems unfair.
Yes I'd be interested to know if Heart continually tests it's older tracks too ?
Would any of the naysayers like to dispute this? You're all strangely quiet today.
I've not been strangely quiet,I've posted three times today.
I think Real Radio was a better station than Heart. Although it too had a limited playlist,it was more varied than Heart's. We've had Heart in Scotland for about six months now and you can definitely tell the difference (see my Girls Aloud example above. They got regular plays on Real Radio,Heart hardly plays them at all.) If more people listen to Heart now than listened to Real Radio,well,fair enough,it was the correct commercial decision,as you put it.
But that is not going to change my opinion that listening to Real Radio was more enjoyable,for me at least,than listening to Heart.
Indeed they have all saw listener numbers increase
Heart Scotland added 59k listeners taking it to 480k each week with a 7.5% increase in total hours to over 3 million.
Heart South Wales, the station was up by 47k listeners to 529k with total hours up 4.5% to over 4.7 million
Heart North Wales, they added 15k listeners to 72k with total hours up over 50.5% to 423k.
Heart Yorkshire picked up 77k new listeners taking it to 447k with a 27.2% increase in total hours to over 4.2 million.
Heart North West they’re up 34k listeners to 565k with total hours up over 31.7% taking the station over 5 million
Heart North East they’re up 70k listeners to 313k with total hours up by 43.9% taking the station over 2.2 million hours.
Other heart stations which saw an increase are: East Anglia, West Country and Sussex
The following all saw listener numbers decrease: Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Kent, West Midlands, Thames Valley, London and Essex
Data for other Heart stations isn't available on radio today
It's interesting that despite having much better coverage on the ex-Real frequencies, Heart North Wales has far fewer listeners than it did on the old Marcher frequencies which are now Capital. Most of the audience have stuck with Capital it seems.
Old Heart North Wales - 212k (Q1/14)
New Heart North Wales - 75k
Capital North Wales - 178k.
I suppose it makes up for losing 300,000 listeners in London.
Interesting, proves my theory that people leave a radio on a particular frequency and not necessarily, in this case, follow the brand.
I wonder what Taber and Park will be discussing over a meal in Central London last night (as they'd have already had these national figures yesterday prior to public release).
Yeah I would of thought Girls Aloud would fit in on heart they don't play much Sugababes either or The Saturdays at all surprisingly.
Did you try Heat radio Sarahsaurus? ?
How to cut the playlist down to just Olly Murs and Take That?
Yes,this is pretty much true. I mean if you're listening to Heart and you hear those piano chords,it's only about half a second before you think,"Oh,not John Legend AGAIN.."
Well I think you can only get Heat on digital,and at the moment at the work we've only got a cheap FM radio but I think we might invest in a digital one soon. People might say,"Just buy one,they're not that dear",but it's not that simple,we did have one,then it got lost,then it got found again,then the power cord got lost,then found again weeks later,then the radio got lost altogether.
That's why nobody wants to buy a new one and we're still using our cheap old FM one.
When we did have one we used to listen to Absolute 80s but anyone who listens to that station will know that,like Heart,it just tends to be the same records that keep coming round,or at least it was when we listened to it. I don't want to listen to a station that just plays one decade anyway,I want a mixture of tunes,60s,70s,80,90s,noughties,you name it. Every decade had great records,I mean I heard Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry in the pub tonight,that was recorded in 1958,and it's probably one of the greatest songs in the history of popular music,it sounds as good today as the day it was recorded,over fifty years ago.
Sorry,I've gone on a bit.:)
It would however be quite amusing,if,completely out of the blue,they suddenly played Johnny B. Goode at three o'clock in the morning one night.
They might even get texts in: "What was that you just played?"
"That was REAL music..":)
Very well said.
Heart isn't a bad listen if all you want is a quick burst of hits, but I couldn't listen all day.
Some songs continually score highly when researched. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman is a classic example. I don't think I have ever seen a high negative for that song as it consistently tests very well.
Seems that Heart are finding other ways to keep John Legend playing even if the original song doesn't fit the 'Feelgood Friday' style.
Thanks for that I find how it all works really interesting.
How do you work it with new tracks for example with Take That and Olly Murrs they are brand new. How or if at all are they tested ?
That's where a clever sell on air works. Introduce the song slowly and give some info about it or the artist. Give the listener a reason to sit through something they don't know.
Only then can it be tested once the song has had chance to bed in.
I guess it's also true to say that Heart's target audience will have loved previous songs by those artists. Olly Murs and Take That are core artists so the minute they release new material then the audience will want to hear it. And if they are good songs then they will stay.
What I want to know is,I mean I've heard the song enough times,but:
Did he ever find work?
And did she ever get promoted?:)
They must want it won,it's being going on so long.
I would be interested to know how many people at Heart know who it is.