Is it all about the music - really?

When I was music director at a College FM Rock Radio station (way back in the dark ages before playlists were totally pre-programmed into computers and I could allow the station DJ’s at least some latitude to select a few of the songs they played), one of my responsibilities was – nonetheless - to go through the plethora of promotional records which were sent to us by bands and labels in order to determine which ones might be of interest to our listenership and thus worthy of me issuing the “you must play this” edict, placing it  into what is probably most easily described as either "heavy", "medium" or "light" rotation on the stations schedule.  

On days in which I only had only a couple of albums to check out - and had few other pressing responsibilities to attend to – some of these albums got a very high quality audition. On days in which I had a mountain of discs to review, however, each album received far less "grace". In the extreme, I remember dropping the needle on records by "unknown artists" and if the first song on the first side of the album not make an immediate impression upon me within 15 to 30 seconds, that was "all she wrote" for that album. Sometimes I gave another song on the album a chance.  Often, I moved on to the next disc.

This may sound callous, even appallingly smug or elitist to many independent artists out there but such were the real-life constraints in which I existed.  I also had on-air news responsibilities, DJ’s not showing up for their shifts, promos to cut, etc…  Besides, I can assure you that I probably gave those albums a more attentive “chance” to “wow” me than many other Music Directors.  At some stations, if an artist wasn’t already “hot” on the College Music Journal charts, they didn’t get a chance at all!  At other stations, they were so “free form” that they basically fell into a stack of oblivion, only noticed if one of the DJ’s was particularly motivated and interested in new promos.

Some of the smaller record labels would hire what sounded like college age girls to call Music Directors at radio stations so they could attempt to talk us into playing certain new albums from new bands. (Perhaps they were actually 62 years of age and weighted 370 pounds but they sounded cute and even managed to sound like they thought the Music Director was such a hip and cool guy…). Anyway, I'm proud to report that despite how cute the caller sounded and no matter how flirty or funny she was, she did not talk me into adding a band which I had already determined not to play to our rotation...

Even so, if the stack was 40 high on my desk and she was on the phone asking me what I thought about it, I would put it at the top of the stack...  It would get a more attentive audition.  And – there are no two ways about it in my mind.  A more attentive listen gives music a much better chance to make an impression. 

So I guess the non-music factors affecting my perception in this example were:  1) How busy or stressed out I was, 2) The quantity of competing albums in my ‘queue’, and 3) the probably overweight chick who sounded really cute over the telephone trying to leverage my oversized DJ ego to (sometimes successfully) get me to pay more attention to the small label’s promo.

The first group of college studends saw a video in which the instructor behaved in a warm and friendly manner.  The second group saw a video that contained the same in content, however, in their video the instructor behaved in a cold and distant maner.  Both groups (independent of one another of course) were asked to rate the instructor's appearance and his accent.