Radio listener question - how long before repeats?

Including internet streaming, etc.

from JoeUser Forums
I'm curious of radio play list habits around the country...

I've been a subscriber to both Sirius and XM satellite radio and have listened to both over the sats as well as over the net, as well as doing a lot of streaming of some of the MSN radio stations, AOL Radio and listening to local terrestial (traditional AM/FM) stations.

It seems that no matter which I choose, all are working from very short play lists, and all wind up recycling back through their short lists of currently played artists/songs within just a few hours. I could be wrong in my observations, hence my question to others out here in Joe User land -- on average, how long can you listen to a station or internet music stream before you hear it recycling back through the same artists and/or songs?

Does it seem to you that the play lists are too short, about right, or have you gotten so fed up with the seemingly endless repeats that you've moved on to CDs, talk radio or other less repetitive options?


Note, I don't work for any radio station or entertainment company. This is more a curiousity question wondering if others are finding the same experience out there that I am or is my experience relatively unique (I don't think so, but I have to check).

Thanks in advance JU community.
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4,945 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yes, I've noticed that. A local station I listen to seems to have one long "loop" of the same ole same ole to play. I wonder if someday there will be an iPod like device with a jillion gigs of memory that will hold EVERY song ever recorded and then a person can merely shuffle about randomly in their various favorite genres and listed to a better variety. That'd be cool...
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
The length of the list varies from station to station. There's one in Richmond, VA that plays the same 10 songs or so ... over and over and over and over ... you can conceivable hear the same song twice within the same hour.

Others, you might hear a song twice in the same day, but it's not likely. Others, like the station I listen to in Hampton, VA plays more request shows during the day than scripted playlists, so it's not as likely for songs to repeat. At least then, if a song repeats, you can be fairly certain that it was because one of the listeners asked for it.

Personally, my music of choice is putting about 200 tracks into MusicMatch Jukebox or winamp and hitting the shuffle button. That way I know I'll like it and I can guarantee that I've not heard that track in the last ... week or two?
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
You have a man named Todd Storz to thank for that.

He was the one who took playing records on radio from basically filler between radio shows to a full time format. He's also the "father" of the Top 40 system of programming... which, while some have tried to change, is still with us today.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
If you are near a computer, you could always use a service like LaunchCast to generate a personalized stream of music... one that will introduce you to other artists you may or may not like.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
The play lists are too short, and why I have jumped to talk radio.  Except when riding with my wife.  Even then, when we had XM radio, the playlists were too short, and there were 160 stations!
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Except when riding with my wife. Even then, when we had XM radio, the playlists were too short, and there were 160 stations!


Bingo! XM is one of the areas I'm pointing at. To me, their playlist seems to max at about 2 hours, maybe as much as 2-1/2 hours, but not much more. After that, they are recycling back through the same artists and/or songs they played not long before.

I suppose that much of the reason for it is that Clear Channel is a shareholder (or at least has been) in XM, and they may have a lot to do with the programming that is going on for XM. Either way, even with that vast number of stations, XM is way too repetitive. I don't understand why we aren't finding XM (and Sirius for that matter) using a Billboard's top 100 or something similar for their playlist, with perhaps a few past top 20 hits mixed in for good measure. They certainly have the airtime to fill, and yet they seem to want to fill it with at best a top 20 to 30 songs, and that's all she wrote.

A friend that recently got Sirius was disappointed by them. He had expected he'd get much more variety and see examples of a deeper playlist with them. Ha! As if.

Another friend recently got XM, he has been listening to streams over the net. Same problem. 2 hours (give or take) then the repeats begin. You can improve things a bit by changing to another channel, but that channel too will repeat after about 2 hours.

Given the large vault of content that XM and Sirius (or for that matter any radio station in the country) should have available to them, it's sinful that they make their listeners change channels so much just to keep some variety in their listening habits.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

Bingo! XM is one of the areas I'm pointing at. To me, their playlist seems to max at about 2 hours, maybe as much as 2-1/2 hours, but not

It sucks!  I mean if I want to hear 70s music (my favorite), that is 10 years they boil down to 3 hours? Bronx rasberrry and a reason I am not going satellite at this time.