I agree, especially in Sydney, where WS not only competes with Smooth, as well as Triple M to a lesser extent, but also with 2Day with its “More Music, More Variety” format.
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Gold’s playlist has become so bland since Jason Staveley took over as Music Director. The ‘Saturday Party Playlist’ used to have some gems but that has been made to be like the nornal playlist. I’ve been mainly tuning into Triple M, when they don’t have sport or talk on.
Is a safe playlist popular with audiences?
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In a simple word answer - yes.
In a more complex way - the more a person hears a song from their past - the more passion it invokes - the more likely a person will stay to hear the next song, and the next and the next. TSL (time spent listening) is the battleground these days. A song that may be a little bit “left of centre” and “out there” is more likely to make that listener (usually female) move the dial to the next station and they may not come back.
And there is the reason why the endless shuffle of mindless, boring, repetitive shit that is researched to the n-th degree is being repeated across most stations these days. It’s a battle not just with other stations but with Spotify and Apple and streaming. So the theory is - give them their faves, all day every day.
The rest of us who like variety and a change have to duck off elsewhere. Sadly.
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I’m sure I’ve heard Suzanne Vega on Gold104.3…
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4KQ play Marlene on the Wall quite a bit. I love Left of Centre too.
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4KQ’s Easter of a 1000 hits is on again this year starting tomorrow.
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Wow great. I wonder if they will play those hits they “shouldn’t play”, that are too heavy or obscure for radio.
The 1000 songs are listed
http://cdn.arn.com.au/media/8355459/easter-countdown-of-1000-hits-2019-revised.pdf
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WSFM at the Royal Easter Show
They had Jonesy and Amanda laughing clown games near the main rides area. Pretty bog standard except for the ones that look like Jonesy and Amanda. I ended winning a pair of fluffy dice for the car (not pictured), along with a plastic waterbottle and fan (pictured)
The bag wasn’t much different from last year, except for different designs. Will use as a gym bag until it dies in the arse like last year’s is about to.
I think the aluminum bottle is the same as last year. Would keep a spare in the car.
The cap is a trucker’s cap that won’t fit my head properly. Likely to be chucked out.
The headphones just had iHeartRadio on the design, and is similar to ones I’ve found at the Reject Shop. Didn’t sound too bad though. Not going to be used too often.
The keyring and pen/stylus are pretty nifty - would use.
Everything else is just food. Working my way though it slowly - had the Nutrigrain protein for breakfast this morning.
Not too bad for the price but could’ve knocked it back to $20 to be honest. Contents are pictured, apologies for the mess and quality.
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Do we know whether or not WSFM is going to again dedicate the Easter long weekend to their favourite decade of music? 
Personally, I hope so! Love 80s music.
There’s nothing listed on their website about it I’m sure we’ll know by tomorrow for sure.
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Just tuned into Gold, now doing an ‘eggcellent 80s’ long weekend already. I’d say that WSFM will be as well. Gold have never done that before I believe, but it seems to be a tradition on WS. I’m scared though that they will play Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor a million times like they usually do!
Now playing Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Nice!
More info:
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I think their playlist is usually quite good when they are playing only 80s music.
A lot of songs that aren’t normally played (except maybe on Saturday nights) get thrown into the mix for the 4 days.
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Looking at their playlist via RadioApp this morning, it appears that WS are not doing “Egg-cellent 80s” this Easter long weekend. Typical that Melbourne (& Brisbane with their annual Easter Weekend of 1000 Hits) has something while Sydney has nothing. 
That means Sydney radio listeners who want to hear nothing but 80s on FM this Easter long weekend would have to tune to 107.7 2GO from the Central Coast, which can be heard into much of Sydney.
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Yes, just listening now… “Dreams” - Fleetwood Mac is playing (1977).
Though the last 3 songs they just played were all 1980s hits.
Oh well.
I am now reminiscing , 4kq old fashion 1000 hits countdown. If only 2ws remained on the am band. 
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Melbourne Radio’s a Bit Lost These Days With almost no Commercial Station Playing 60’s And 70’s like they used to.
This following competition should no doubt bring WS’s ratings back up for Survey 3. This comes after the station fell to a 7.9 share in yesterday’s ratings, placing themselves at #3 FM behind Smooth & KIIS.
Radioinfo article: https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/arn-launches-wsfm’s-10-million-giveaway
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In my view WS FM music could be tweaked like SWR 70s to today and have more variety, or they go back to a 4KQ style station.
The competition concludes on 6 December, so it seems like WSFM are hoping it will lift their ratings in all of the remaining surveys this year.
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