PROJECT BANANA
One breakfast show Seven choices of playlist All live
PROJECT BANANA ELEMENTS:
UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
MAXIMISING CONTENT
PROJECT BANANA - THEORY
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATION
1. UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
They all run the same breakfast show.
• Our listeners enjoy live, relevant entertainment at breakfast • The music at breakfast time is secondary to the content • We wanted to focus on one great breakfast show
• Benefits both listeners and commercial partners
• The Wickes sponsorship of the breakfast show is into its 3rd year
We have seven radio stations – master channel and brand extensions
2. MAXIMISING CONTENT
CHRISTIAN O’CONNELL
6-10am Monday to Friday
Live across the Absolute Radio network of stations
Until May this year, a simulcast of the show.
FRANK SKINNER
8am-11am Saturdays
Also runs on Saturday between 9am-12pm on the Absolute Radio Network
Links are recorded and replayed an hour later
3. PROJECT BANANA -SPECIFICATION
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
• Maintain a live, interactive breakfast show across all stations
• Listeners to Absolute Radio shouldn’t notice the difference
• Listeners to the digital stations should get the songs they love
AIMS
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
LIVE LINK OASIS – LIVE FOREVER
THE CURE - LOVECATS
BLUR - PARKLIFE
FEEDER – BUCK ROGERS
TOM ROBINSON – 2-4-6-8 MOTORWAY
BEATLES – ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
STEPPENWOLF – BORN TO BE WILD
LIVE LINK KASABIAN – EEZ-EH
A-HA – THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV
KLF – WHAT TIME IS LOVE
BEYONCE – CRAZY IN LOVE
DAVID BOWIE – STAR MAN
JIMI HENDRIX – ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
ROLLING STONES – THE LAST TIME
TEMPTATIONS – BALL OF CONFUSION
3’48” 4’50”
SINGLE SONG POSITIONS
PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATIONSEGUE POSITIONS
LIVE LINK
11’30”
KINGS OF LEON - SUPERSOAKER CARDIGANS - LOVEFOOL NIRVANA – SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
FOUNDATIONS – BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP
ARETHA FRANKLIN – SAY A LITTLE PRAYER
JOHNNY CASH – A BOY NAMED SUE
THE KINKS - VICTORIA
EDDIE FLOYD – KNOCK ON WOOD
SISTER SLEDGE – WE ARE FAMILY STEPHEN STILLS – LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH SUPERTRAMP – LOGICAL SONG
CAMEO – WORD UP BON JOVI – LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER KIM WILDE – KIDS IN AMERICA
STONE ROSES – SHE BANGS THE DRUMS STEREO MCs - CONNECTED SUPERGRASS - ALRIGHT
SPILLER - GROOVEJET TRAVIS - SING LADY GAGA – EDGE OF GLORY
KILLERS – READ MY MIND
THE DOORS – HELLO I LOVE YOU QUEEN – DON’T STOP ME NOW DEF LEPPARD – LET’S GET ROCKED
4. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
Using existing tools • Music scheduling: RCS GSelector • Broadcast ‘playout’ system: Broadcast Bionics’ Genesys
• We already ‘split’ 7 ways during breakfast for commercials • Took the split commercial functionality and applied it to songs
With • New functions written to put Genesys into and out of ‘Banana’ mode. • New ‘Song Balancer’ plugin written by RCS for GSelector
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
• Examine the depth of the song databases to establish whether rotations are possible
• Synchronise song and intro lengths between Genesys and Gselector
• Normalise all song levels in Genesys
PRIOR TO LAUNCH
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION WORKFLOW PROCESS
■ The Music Schedule for the breakfast show on the main Absolute Radio station is created first
■ Digital Stations then run ‘Song Balancer’
■ This takes the song durations from the main station, and imports them into the other stations databases
■ Songs can be +10-15 seconds if the song fades
■ GSelector then finds songs that match the duration AND scheduling rules for each clock position (e.g. separation, mood, tempo etc.)
■ The person responsible for music scheduling can then manually edit the log as required
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION RCS ‘SONG BALANCER’
5. PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
• Enter Genesys ‘Banana’ mode at 5.59
• Each song or segue group is in a ‘break’
• Advance through playlist using ‘next’
• Drop songs or reposition hour using ‘flush’ and ‘load break’
• Use ‘Fade 5s’ or ‘Fade 3s’ if need to end song early
DAILY OPERATIONS
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
• Hide what we were doing
• Limit Christian’s freedom
• Extend ‘Banana’ to other parts of the radio stations
• ‘Split Links’ a no-no
THINGS WE DIDN’T WANT TO DO
PROJECT BANANA - RESULTS
Record Audience in first Project Banana quarter
1.5m (source: RAJAR Q2 2014)
THANK YOU@tonymoorey