Report: Radio's Answer To Spotify Is Less Variety

A Wall Street Journal article last week surged during the weekend to the #1 Most Popular article at wsj.com.

According to the story, radio faced with growing competition from digital alternatives, has managed to expand their listenership with an unlikely tactic: offering less variety than ever. In other words, radio is more repetitious than ever. Radio types would probably opine they're simple playing the hits.

The story cites Mediabase, a division of Clear Channel Communications. Mediabase reports the top 10 songs last year were played close to twice as much on the radio than they were 10 years ago.

Mediabase tracks radio spins in 180 markets. The most-played song last year, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," aired 749,633 times. That is 2,053 times a day on average. The top song in 2003, "When I'm Gone" by 3 Doors Down, was played 442,160 times that year.

That is partly because about 70 new Top 40 stations have sprouted up over the past decade, said Clear Channel's president of national programming, Tom Poleman, while stations specializing in rock and smooth jazz have dwindled. But other radio formats are getting more repetitive, too, while the line is blurring between pop songs and songs that once fit more neatly in other categories, as artists and listeners to embrace a wider variety of sounds as they jump from genre to genre on digital playlists.

The top country song last year, Darius Rucker's "Wagon Wheel," was played 229,633 times, while 2003's top country hit, Lonestar's "My Front Porch Looking In," got only 162,519 spins.

Read More Now  (Subscription Required)