For the past six years, Liveline’s biggest advantage has been that we are live every night, as opposed to offering pre-produced, pre-recorded segments and voicetracks that just don’t have the same flow, energy and presentation as a live show. We’ve already talked about the advantages of being live–topical, relevant, timely listener phone calls and requests; better music flow; cool production tricks, beat mixing; audience participation and fine details down to the song transitions and music-to-imaging audio levels, with every element being started and controlled manually.
That said, simply being live doesn’t mean your station has all of those things. It still takes a tremendous amount of practice, knowledge and talent. Even when a major market daypart is live, you don’t always hear those things. Either the personalities aren’t allowed to control those things, or they just aren’t aware of the nuances.
Many of these people cannot be referred to as DJs, mainly because they have no say over what songs get played, can’t take requests, can’t mix, and are simply there to provide their voice between songs. That limitation which has restricted the potential of so many on air talents is what makes radio boring. It’s why they should be taught by their bosses how to sequence music and when it’s okay to play requests, move things around on the log, and use their own judgment to create a flow of music that is sexy, smooth and cool, instead of ultra-safe and mechanical.
Liveline’s Halloween show was one of the best all year, with a record breaking 1,600 calls and nearly 200 texts! “Thriller” broke the record for most requests in a single night and we heard from so many parties nationwide. Then on Saturday, were the soundtrack to trick-or-treating or hangin’ at home. We packed our studio with people and played everyone’s requests! We were definitely North America’s ONLY live radio show this weekend, and you could feel it! You can hear both Friday and Saturday’s shows on demand.
Friday:
Saturday:
There are still some top 20 CHR songs that we aren’t getting calls for on Liveline: “Mr. Know It All” by Teddy Swims, “My Body Isn’t Ready” by sombr, “petal” by Ariana Grande, “New Trick” by ROSÉ and “Edge of the Earth” by the Beaches. Both “Boston” by Stella Lefty and “Patient Zero” by Taylor Swift were former request items, but have fallen out of the top 20. Here’s this week’s calls.
#1. Michael Jackson – Thriller
#2. Bobby “Boris” Pickett – Monster Mash
#3. ADÉLA – Ain’t In LA
#4. ADÉLA – Nicole Kidman
#5. Malcolm Todd – Earrings
#6. Noah Kahan – Orbiter
#7. Tame Impala – Loser
#8. Tate McRae – Housewife
#9. Olivia Rodrigo – stupid song
#10. Dominic Fike – Babydoll
#11. Rihanna – Disturbia
#12. Tame Impala – Dracula (JENNIE Remix)
#13. Olivia Rodrigo – the cure
#14. Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters
#15. Ashe – Stop The Wedding!
#16. Ella Langley – Choosin’ Texas
#17. Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me
#18. KAROL G, Judeline, rusowsky – BbY WOW
#19. The Killers – Mr. Brightside
#20. Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
