If you like jazz try streaming Jazz24.

Pattio
 

I don't get it...........Is someone actually complaining about the music.....? What a treat to be able to walk in our town centers and listen to it..
I love everything about it.....the tone, the selections, the information announced in between....! I hope they don't eliminate, or make changes...........

My thoughts exactly!!

A small number of people seem to move here because they fall in love with TV, then they want to change it....reminds me of that old play "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"

I wish there was a way to send the person that made the OP a cheese basket to go along with their whine :1rotfl: :1rotfl:

Don't listen to it.

The Villages station has initiated a FM station on 102.7 and the music is great. I was not able to get quality reception in my Yesterday Cart on AM stations. FM 102.7 works fine.

I often enjoy TV radio station. Listen most mornings even when up North. Switch to my Spotify playlist when I need a change.

Try 102.7 . They advertise as a radio station for the Villages. Plays great music.

To the Op.
 

I think that the answer to you question is a combination of many of the answers you have already received. Certainly the cost, listener base, ambiance they want to create all come into play. I don't listen to the radio very much, myself, but when I do, I notice that the great majority of what I hear is pretty much middle of the road, non-controversial (ie: 60s/70s war songs). Think of it a little like elevator music or background music.

WHOA. You sure didn't get an answer to your original question! May want to ask the general manager of the station. In Canada all songs are the same cost that goes into a pool for the artists. May be different in The States.

I worked in radio and in the music biz (half a hundred years ago). So I used to know a tiny bit about this.

It’s not a financial decision, at least as the question is framed. Different songs do not bring different royalties. What You Didn't Know About Terrestrial Radio Royalties

It is a financial decision in that the rates advertisers will be willing to pay are based on the numbers listening. (And also on who the advertisers are. So who advertises? Largely The Villages itself, so their preferences are likely taken into account.)

But my guess is they are mostly playing songs that will let the listener say, “Wow, there’s a great one I haven’t heard in a long time.” Beatles and Stones and the blockbusters still get played but perhaps down rotation and maybe songs that you don’t get on the other oldies stations. Call and ask the program director if you want his or her take. Or call and request what you want. If enough people do, they’ll play it.

I think the OP's point is being missed here. It did not appear to me to be a critisim of the decision to cover a broader range of music from additional time periods. It seemed to question the specific musical selections from some of those periods. I fully agree.

Secondly, this isn't an either or issue. Loving music, I rely on every available source. WVLG is our local station. For some it may be a primary source. For many others, it is something to listen to occasionally. I don't have to stop listening to WVLG because I have Sirius XM, Music Choice, iPods, Spotify, Pandora, iHeart Radio, Youtube, etc.

I have been listening to satellite radio for over ten years and enjoy it. After to moving to the Villages a year ago I listened to WVLG to see what the local station is about. I was pleasantly surprised, and find I can enjoy it int he background for hours. The National news they provide is a horror show of disinformation, but the music, is well targeted to the villages demo. They play an good mix for their target audience. Having been an oldies disk jockey in a major market for many years, I sometimes need a break with something else, but I’m happy to get my oldies fix from WVLG. Are they programming by cost per song? What? I don’t think so.

All radio stations have to pay ASCAP and BMI fees to the songwriters regardless of where it comes from. It's why news and talk radio are so profitable.

I'm not sure where the .01 to .12 cents comes from as BMI charges radio stations a percentage of their annual gross revenue. There is no "cost per spin" rate officially, and certainly one song does not cost more than another.

ASCAP also charges similarly. It's a blanket fee based on how the music is used, there is no "per spin cost" nor does any song get charged at a higher or lesser rate.

As a former radio air talent (23 years) I can tell you that music stations operate on a clock and a music rotation process.

The songs all get a category. New music might have two or three sub categories like new releases that haven't charted or are low on the chart, current hits which are songs at or near the top of the format chart or fast climbers (with a bullet) and re-currents which are hits that are basically going down the charts or already dropped off. Then there are what they call gold hits or classics and those can be subcategorized in several ways too.

Then each category get slotted into in the hour and given a certain number of slots. The currents, re-currents and new songs also get a certain number of spins per day based on how many songs you have to play in those categories plus how many slots the subcategory is given in an hour.

On an oldies or classic rock station everything is still categorized but has different names and could be based on age of the song. I once worked at an oldies station we played music in a 20 year period 1953-73. Songs were categorized by decade and popularity with the top hits of the core years, 1964-1970, getting the heaviest play, music from 53-59 getting light play, 60-63, 71-73 and secondary hits of the core years getting moderate play.

I hope this helped.

Great question, and it's also something I've wondered about. I shared your frustration as I read the answers that weren't addressing your question. But discussion forums are like that - folks go off on tangents or misread the question or comment all the time. Comes with the territory.

Having said that, it's good that a couple of people did weigh in on the royalty angle. I, like you, suspected they were paying less for lost songs that charted but quickly fell into obscurity like say Billie Davis' Angel of the Morning or Parade's Sunshine Girl for example. Whatever the reason, the fact that WVLG plays these forgotten third tier gems is one thing I like about the station.

I have read somewhere that stations pay a lower royalty for live versions of songs or alternate takes. Maybe someone here can verify that. If it's true, I wouldn't be surprised if WVLG also has a sliding scale of some sort, but judging by the replies here from those in the know, maybe not.

If you happen to call the station manager, let us know what you find out!

P.S. To the person who said this was something else for the "boomers to complain about," it is not not a complaint at all. How do you spell irony?