SYRACUSE -- Y94FM (WYYY) is one of 17 Clear Channel stations nationwide being dropped from the prestigious Radio & Records chart reporting panel as of May 15th. The trade publication says those stations "are musical carbon copies," which is a violation of R&R's chart policies.
The report, published today on R&R's website, lists Y94 among six other AC stations using music logs that are reportedly generated by Chris Conley, the PD at the company's flagship AC property, WLTW in New York City.
The list also includes a number of stations in CHR, Hot AC, rock and alternative rock formats -- none of the others are in Syracuse, but two are located in Albany.
R&R chart managers say they found the similarities in the music logs by examining airplay logs maintained by Nielsen BDS. Regarding the AC stations, the report says the music was mostly the same, except for "occasional fill songs, request features or different night-time programming."
In the article, R&R director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo explains the trade has "longstanding policies regarding the inclusion of syndicated networks on our spin-based chart panels, as well as the amount of non-local programming that reporting stations air."
Pietroluongo says he and his colleagues will continue to watch for similarities in programming among other stations, and adjust the reporting panels as required.
The article did not include any sort of response from Clear Channel; only mentioning that the company "wouldn't comment" on specific details regarding the implementation of the "Premium Choice" programming initiatives announced last month.
The removal of WYYY and the other AC stations brings the number of monitored reporting AC stations to 96.
Another sad, although not too important, example of the centralization of control. One wonders what happened to the consultants who were calling the shots on a station-to-station basis. Are they “consulting” with the NYC guru? There used to be some prestige in being a reporting station to R&R. This won’t change much, other than to put the feather in some “march to the beat” individual in NYC who probably poses with a phone in his hand, when he has his photo taken. A true genius in the music-selection process. As long as he gets permission to add something. How long can it be before the local PD’s and OPS people have to justify their positions?
I wouldn't be surprised if playing mostly the same songs across multiple stations saves them money somewhere higher up the chain. It's a wonder you don't get the exact same music out of say one NYC station on every other CC station with the same format already, that's probably coming next.