Non-Commercial Radio

In the last issue, we detailed the differences between commercial and non-commercial radio stations. We now focus solely on the "Non-Comm's": Why, and how, they should be chosen for airplay by you and your promoter.

Non-commercial stations are comprised of three groups: College, community, and "NPR" stations. The "NPR" and "community" stations are mostly the same ones, and are owned by community non-profit organizations. The community stations that are contracted to carry the NPR (National Public Radio) programs are the ones that are often called "NPR" stations. Community and NPR stations, in general, have few paid staff (perhaps just the manager and program director.) The majority of the "labor" comes from community volunteers who love a particular type of music or talk-subject; they program their own shows (and for music shows, they choose their own music,) in cooperation with the management.

However, some of the more strict music-format community and NPR stations (such as Jazz, Classical or Religious) have a single Music Director that oversees all the music that is selected. In general, the people at these stations are more mature, and they prefer softer music, compared to the people at college radio stations.

College radio is by far the biggest non-commercial group, with about 1,000 stations in the U.S. and Canada. A college station is part of a college's Communication or Media department, and is almost always comprised of hundreds of separate one-hour music shows, each being done by a different student taking a broadcasting class at the college. In general, college radio likes the harder, louder music. Indeed, Alternative music comprises 75% of all the music at these stations.

The biggest advantage of college radio is that it is the easiest and fastest way to get airplay, and with it, the comments, favorite tracks, interviews, and reports in CMJ and other magazines, all of which become great tools to market your band with. The biggest disadvantage...actually the two biggest disadvantages...of college radio is that college stations are very difficult for promoters to reach (by phone, when promoting to them,) and they have a limited listenership (since they are non-commercial, and have no promotion budget.) To "work" college radio properly, you have to work a lot of them at the same time (minimum 50 stations.)

Overall, airplay on non-commercial stations should be used as a developmental tool for artists or bands. It should not be used as a way of selling lots of CDs; there are just not enough listeners at these stations to sell large quantities of CDs (and besides, that is what commercial radio is for.) The biggest non-commercial-only radio campaigns sell about 30,000 units a year.

With non-commercial radio, you are looking to generate a tool that can be used to obtain gigs, get articles, get CD placement in stores (maybe with store performances), find out which single the stations like, practice doing station interviews or I.D.'s or visits, and of course, learn how the "charts" work, either at the individual station level, or at the trade-publication level...all stuff which is of interest to bigger labels, management, bookers, lawyers, publishers, and TV-film people.

The toughest part about working your CD to college radio is that there are so many kids running in and out of the station, and there are so many stations which need to be worked, that is becomes very difficult for the promoter to reach the stations. For a new act on a new label, stations need to be reached every week, by phone and fax (along with some email,) so that they can be told what's up with your CD, and so you can ask them what's going on with your CD (the latter task is called "tracking".) If you are trying to "chart" your CD in CMJ, you will need to service and contact *at least* 300 stations *each* week if your genre is not Alternative, and at least 500 stations each week if your genre IS Alternative. This has to be done for a MINIMUM of several weeks in order for you to have a real chance of charting.

Next issue: The details of commercial radio.

Bryan Farrish is an independent radio airplay promoter. He can be reached at 818-905-8038 or airplay@radio-media.com