August 4, 1982
College Radio Recognized
Non-Pay Formats are Selling LPs
By Richard Gold
College radio, once considered a media backwater, has become an essential outlet for exposing music that gets little or no airplay at the majority of tightly formatted commercial album rock stations. College programmers, retailers, label promotion men and others familiar with the medium say that in the past 18 months, college radio stations (which operate on the low end of the FM band) hare had a mounting impact on record sales.
According to Will Botwin of Side One Creative Marketing, a firm that specializes in promoting records to the college market, 'trend accounts' —small record stores that specialize in new music product—"benefit very heavily" from college radio airplay. Buyers for larger retail chains have also come to realize that college airplay sells records said Botwin, whose company tracks the retail impact of programming at 200 college radio stations.
Randy Meggitt, head buyer for Record Rendezvous in Cleveland, said that there's a "close connection" between programming at Case Western Reserve U.’s WRUW and sales of disks by groups like X and Pere Ubu which are ignored by local commercial stations. College radio's ability to ''break records for us'' has become especially evident in the last year, Meggitt said.
In Syracuse, Tom Prowda, manager for one of three Gerber's Music outlets, said that WAER, the 6,000-watt station of Syracuse University, is "instrumental in exposing records and generating sales for us, 'particularly in the import field. New British groups like Flock Of Seagulls and Haircut l00 which have broken through on Syracuse commercial radio enjoyed substantial airplay at WAER lone before they were added by local AOR, Prowda said.
Bruce Godwin, manager of the Record Rack in Houston, estimated that programming exposure via Rice University’s KTRL accounted for 30% of his new wave and 12 inch dance record sales. The impact of college airplay on his sales picture has become especially evident in the past year, bodkin said.
Other retailers who confirmed college radio programmers' assertions that their stations were responsible for an upsurge in new music sales included Ed Bauman of 99 Records in New York, Steve Kriegsman of Vintage Vinyl in Chicago and Gene Baron of Record ‘n Tape Collection in Baltimore.
Adventurous Approach
College stations adhere to adventurous programming practices that differentiate them from their commercial counterparts. Whereas college stations and budding FMers were playing the same freely formatted "underground" new music in the 60’s, college radio now ventures into those uncharted new music territories where AOR consultants fear to tread. College programmers contacted by Variety said that their deejays are given considerable freedom at the turntable, but are expected to play vanguard sounds not normally heard above 90 on the FM dial.
"Our audience thinks of themselves as progressive—they don't want us playing what AOR plays", said Cheri Pugh, music director of Northwestern University's 7,200 watt WNUR in Chicago. Eric Arnum, p.d. [sic] for WAER; Wade Tolleson, p.d. for WRUW; Tom Paul, m.d. for John Hopkins University's lo-watt WJHU in Baltimore: Steve Runyon, a.m. for the U. of San Francisco’s 3,000 watt KUSF and Chuck Tarver, faculty advisor to Northeastern University's Hewett WRRB in Boston, all said that their deejays are given considerable programming freedom on the condition that they play new sounds.
But Sal Locurto, p.d. for New York University's WNYU in Gotham, said that he chooses all sounds programmed on his station. "A lot of college stations think that 'format' is the worst word in the world, but I've had good luck with an unwritten format." he remarked. The key is "to stay away from trite, hackneyed format concepts'' that have been overused by commercial radio. Locurto said.
Professional Techniques
Although college programmers pride themselves on their independence from commercial realities and restraints they’ve begun to reach out to the mainstream record industry by adopting professional techniques such as the compilation and distribution of play lists and retail reports. "College radio is becoming more professional they're realizing their place in the marketplace." said l.R.S. Records assistant promotion director, Keith Altomare.
Larry 8raverman, associate national album promotion director for Elektra Records, said that the more "professional'' college stations (especially those who prepare play lists and retail reports' receive The best service from his label. "More and more'' college stations are upgrading their operations Braverman said.
College programmers, for their part, say that label service has improved dramatically in the past year-and-a-half. In a typical observation, WAER’s Arnum said that many labels—most conspicuously Arista Records—cut back or eliminated their college promotion departments following the severe music industry downturn in 1979. Realizing their "mistake", Arista A&R and other labels that had cut back on college promotion are now servicing college radio more attentively than ever before Arnum said.
WRUW’s Tolleson. similarly, reported a clear "reversal" of major label service policies during the past six months. WNUR's Pugh said that diskery service hart changed from practically none three years ago to "excellent" today.
Many college stations do not rely on label service alone for programming fare. Recent relaxation’s in FCC rules governing non-commercial radio stations (most, though not all college stations fall in this category) now permit college stations to accept records from local retailers in exchange for brim on-the-air acknowledgments. WNUR has such an arrangement with Wax Trax and Vintage Vinyl. and WAER has a non-profit cooperation plan with four Syracuse specialty retailers.
Testing Grounds
As college radio carves out a position as the first line of exposure for the broadly defined "new music" (a category which must also encompass new black-oriented "street" music), there are signs that commercial AOR outlets are using the collegiate stations as testing grounds for potential ''adds.'' Most college programmers contacted said that they were playing cuts by.- The Human League, Soft Cell. the Go-Go's and Joan Jett months before the records were picked up by commercial AOR. Arnum said that his station is used as a "laboratory'' by local AOR outlets which he said picked up on cuts by Billy Idol, Squeeze and the- Go-Go s two months after their airing on WAER,
Botwin, who attributed sale of 100.000 LPs by the Jam to a college-tailored promotion. said that AOR stations around the country are paying more attention to college programming and "picking up on" selected cuts aired on the low end of the FM band.
Runyon of KUSF said that heal promotion men in San Francisco will cite airplay on the college station when pitching AOR programmers on tough-to-add cuts. College radio is a "place to start something." said Elektra's Braverman. Citing the uphill battle in getting airplay for X, reggae group Steel Pulse; and, new-jazz unit Material, Braverman said, "I'll go to AOR and say, ‘look what's happening in your own back yard at college radio.’"
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Last Modified October 14, 2005 |