[BC] PD's are timid

[Donna Halper]

it was said--
> >Didn't want to hear' had little to do with listeners. A decade ago I asked
> >the music director at a country station (where I worked as engineer) why a
> >certain new tune he liked wasn't on the playlist. He answered that the song
> >wasn't being promoted as a 'single' by the label, and we would not play it.
>
> >The weekly 'adds' list, I discovered, was purely a fiction created by the
> >labels. 'Music director' meant nothing.

And then there is the timidity of PDs in our conglomerate world.  At 
the risk of turning this into a political conversation, I was on the 
air and music directing during the VietNam era.  We absolutely did 
play protest songs, even on top 40.  Contrast that to today when in 
the run up to the war in Iraq, a number of stations were told NOT to 
air any anti-war songs (and no it's not an urban legend-- a PD friend 
of mine showed me a memo).  Recently, I asked another PD if he would 
consider playing the new Dixie Chicks CD.  He said he would never 
play them even if they had a #1 song, because his listeners would be 
furious.  Certain songs are arbitrarily declared "off limits" because 
some people might call in and complain?  When I was music directing, 
a little controversy was considered part of the job-- as long as the 
song wasn't obscene and didn't drop the F bomb.  These days, 
auditorium tests, music tests, and other tests render most playlists 
so bland and unremarkable that why would anyone listen?  Good radio 
should be compelling and exciting.  I don't find a playlist with the 
same 600 songs particularly interesting, even when it has lots of 
liners claiming "we play what we want."