Classic Rock Stations
A comparatively recent genre of stations for the UK, the elder statesman of this motley crew (can you see what we did there!) being Planet Rock, which started in 1999 within the GWR group (which went on to be part of Global, if you didn’t know), but has ended up one of Bauer’s (the opposition) since 2013. The Absolute family’s Classic Rock Station, launched not much later in 2000, as Virgin Classic Rock. Virgin became Absolute in 2008, of course, so Virgin Classic Rock became Absolute Classic Rock, before a NEW Virgin Brand launched a new version of Virgin in 2016 (this time owned by Wireless), spawning it’s own classics station as Virgin Anthems as recently as 2018. I hope you’re keeping up as I’ll be asking questions later. Union Jack Rock was the baby of the bunch, launched only in December 2020, but even though it was on national DAB, playing only BRITISH Rock artists, it closed along with the rest of the Union Jack Brands in early 2022.
So, although Absolute Classic Rock and Planet Rock are both part of the Bauer family, you can instantly see from the graphics that they have totally different ideas on playlist size and variety, and this is a great example of what makes our radio monitoring work so interesting! You can see from the yellow line on the graph that Planet Rock’s massive playlist means the variety stays up well into the 2nd week of listening and beyond, while all the others are basically in repeatsville after between just a couple of days and a week. Global launched it’s Radio X Classic Rock station on 16th February 2023.
(Analysis of Virgin Anthems does NOT include the Chris Evans Breakfast Show music which is just his main “Virgin Radio” show simulcast on Anthems, and not the usual “Anthems” playlist Songs which play the rest of the day)
Analysis: 27 days, up to 12-05-2023
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 6282
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 2463
Variety factor for this station is : 39.2%
50% OF PLAYS is 592 Songs (24% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 317 MOST played songs (12.8% of the total)
or 1508 LEAST played songs (61.2% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 16h 36m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 3h
317th most played song airs every: 6d 18h
592nd most played song airs every: 9d 0h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 2348 (95.3%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
28 after 21 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 2560
..in 3 months: 3797, in 6 months: 5068
..in 9 months: 5938, in 12 months: 6602
Top 10 Most Played:
1 [39 plays] The Answer – Oh Cherry
2 [34 plays] Last In Line – Do the Work
3 [33 plays] The Dust Coda – Road To Hell
4 [32 plays] Massive Wagons – Skateboard
5 [29 plays] Buckcherry – Good Time
6= [28 plays] each for…
+ Mammoth WVH – Another Celebration at the End of the World
+ Rival Sons – Bird in the Hand
8 [27 plays] Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown – Sho Been Worse
9= [24 plays] each for…
+ Laurence Jones – Lonely Road
+ Samantha Fish and Jesse Drayton – Deathwish
Analysis: 23 days, up to 12-05-2023
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5646
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 883
Variety factor for this station is : 15.6%
50% OF PLAYS is 228 Songs (25.8% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 138 MOST played songs (15.6% of the total)
or 535 LEAST played songs (60.5% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 1d 6h 40m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 10h 30m
138th most played song airs every: 1d 22h
228th most played song airs every: 2d 13h 20m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 416 (47.1%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
3 after 13 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 918
..in 3 months: 1042, in 6 months: 1200
..in 9 months: 1294, in 12 months: 1401
Top 16 Most Played:
1= [18 plays] each for…
+ Def Leppard – Hysteria
+ Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town
3= [17 plays] each for…
+ Joan Jett – I Love Rock And Roll
+ Rod Stewart – You Wear It Well
5= [16 plays] each for…
+ David Bowie – Heroes
+ David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
+ Def Leppard – Animal
+ Golden Earring – Radar Love
+ Hawkwind – Silver Machine
+ Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower
+ Jimi Hendrix – Crosstown Traffic
+ Motley Crue – Girls Girls Girls
+ Rush – Spirit Of Radio
+ Status Quo – Caroline
+ Status Quo – Down Down
+ The Kinks – You Really Got Me
Analysis: 24 days, up to 13-05-2023
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 6873
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 743
Variety factor for this station is : 10.8%
50% OF PLAYS is 177 Songs (23.8% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 105 MOST played songs (14.1% of the total)
or 478 LEAST played songs (64.3% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 18h 34m
10th most played song airs every: 21h 20m
105th most played song airs every: 1d 8h
177th most played song airs every: 1d 17h 8m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 292 (39.3%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 22 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 744
..in 3 months: 1006, in 6 months: 1162
..in 9 months: 1348, in 12 months: 1460
Top 14 Most Played:
1= [31 plays] each for…
+ BTO – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
+ Steve Harley – Make Me Smile (come Up And See Me)
3= [30 plays] each for…
+ Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded By The Light
+ Stealers Wheel – Stuck In The Middle With You
5= [28 plays] each for…
+ Foreigner – Cold As Ice, Monkees – I’m A Believer
7= [27 plays] each for…
+ Blondie – Heart Of Glass
+ Bruce Springsteen – Dancing In The Dark
+ Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army
+ Free – All Right Now
+ Rod Stewart – Baby Jane
+ Supertramp – The Logical Song
+ Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town
+ Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
Analysis: 26 days, up to 12-05-2023
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 8975
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 312
Variety factor for this station is : 3.4%
50% OF PLAYS is 113 Songs (36.2% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 73 MOST played songs (23.3% of the total)
or 155 LEAST played songs (49.6% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 13h 16m
10th most played song airs every: 13h 52m
73rd most played song airs every: 16h 25m
113th most played song airs every: 17h 49m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 11 (3.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 9 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 312
Top 10 Most Played:
1= [47 plays] each for…
+ Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain`t Seen Nothing Yet
+ Boston – More Than A Feeling
3= [46 plays] each for…
+ Europe – The Final Countdown
+ Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood – Go Your Own Way
+ Manfred Mann`s Earthband – Blinded By The Light
6= [45 plays] each for…
+ Alice Cooper – School`s Out
+ Rainbow – Since You Been Gone
+ The Knack – My Sharona
+ The Zombies – She`s Not There
+ Thin Lizzy, Brian Downey – The Boys Are Back In Town
** Station no longer broadcasting! **
Historic Analysis: 25 days, up to 23-02-2022
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5595
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 624
Variety factor for this station is : 11.1%
50% OF PLAYS is 161 Songs (25.8% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 98 MOST played songs (15.7% of the total)
or 387 LEAST played songs (62% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 22h 13m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 1h
98th most played song airs every: 1d 13h 30m
161st most played song airs every: 1d 18h 51m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 234 (37.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
1 after 19 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 629
..in 3 months: 773, in 6 months: 830
..in 9 months: 861
Top 10 Most Played:
1 [27 plays] Jake Bugg – Trouble Town
2= [26 plays] each for…
+ Alex Clare – Too Close
+ Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun
4= [25 plays] each for…
+ Mumford And Sons – Believe
+ Mumford And Sons – The Cave
+ Stereophonics – Mr Writer
7= [24 plays] each for…
+ Arctic Monkeys – Arabella
+ Kaiser Chiefs – Hole In My Soul
+ Keane – Is It Any Wonder
+ The 1975 – Give Yourself A Try
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