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Shifting the gears
The difference between a good jock and a bad one is that with a bad one you'll notice the gearshift. Find out why.
A successful music policy is all about removing "gearshifts". The same as driving a car; you want your passengers to have a smooth drive and not notice when you change from 2nd to 3rd or whatever.
Your policy can and should change throughout the day, and arguably across the week. When Sara Cox took over the breakfast show, and although it's not necessarily her decision to pick the music, someone placed a Robbie Williams single to come straight out of the news at 7am. There is probably not a more significant time of the day, as millions of alarm clocks switch on and the nation wakes up listening to the nations favourite. The problem was that the single they had chosen was Angels.
Now the single Angels is a fantastic song, played at parties and karaoke nights everywhere. The problem is that at three minutes past seven on a spring Tuesday morning it just does not work; it goes exactly against what the audience wants. They need rhythmic hits that motivate them to get out of bed and start the day. Look at the play-out list of any music based radio station's breakfast show and you'll see that the bulk of the songs are rhythmic of one description or another. What you won't find, unless perhaps it's very top of the charts, are ballads and the like - and then if there are any they'll be tucked into the 7.40 type slots and sandwiched between two much more pacey songs.
Finally, bear in mind the mood of a country. Even the wackiest of presenters probably found it a little difficult to remain their zany self, the day after the recent London bombings. Every radio station in the country dropped the "pop" hits in the week after Diana died. And when news first broke of the terrorist attack in America on September 11th programme controllers up and down the country had a flick through their play-out lists and removed unsuitable music.