Broader Range stns & others that don’t fit our neat categories!

Ok, so we’ve got some stations that have basically made it plain that they are throwing the usual radio rule book out of the window, and are setting out to play a whole load of different stuff and/or up the variety stakes, plus a couple of others, Jazz FM (Bauer) and BBC Asian Network which plough their own furrow and don’t really have any direct UK competitors with such a wide national coverage.

Of the “big variety” genre stations, even the one with the smallest playlist, Jack FM, was actually playing about double the number of songs that most mainstream players would contemplate, but even a commercial versions of a “variety” station like Jack was completely dwarfed by BBC 6 Music with a shelf groaning 6000 distinct songs played in 30 days! The non corporately owned Cheesy FM, it turns out, is not just home to some guilty pleasures but in fact has a pretty wide spectrum of songs it is prepared to wheel out too! 

Yes, Heart Xmas DOES run throughout the year (!), but Sam FM in Bristol ceased to exist from 6th Sept 2021. It was a “Jack” type station which Bauer had inherited a few years previously, and it was only a matter of time before they were going to close it and use the transmitters for one of their already established “brands.” In the build up to transferring it to the Hits Network, it’s broad playlist was narrowed about 3 months before the closure, then with one month to go the music style was mostly “flipped” from oldies with lots of variety, to a tighter and more contemporary list of songs. We keep the SAM listing below for nostalgia lovers (!), but the analysis shown is from the last month that Sam still did it’s own thing and not what the new Hits masters were telling it to! 

Jack FM in Oxfordshire was similarly bought by Bauer and then bit the dust on Sun 29th Oct 2023 at 10pm. Two of the last songs played were the Reynolds Girls, “I’d rather Jack, than Fleetwood Mac” (a subtle dig at the Greatest Hits Radio replacement) and Ray Charles “Hit the Road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more..”, Aaah, so some thought clearly went into Jack’s last gasps… This was followed by the usual localised version of the standard Dawn French welcome to Greatest Hits intro and a bespoke Andy Crane welcome to the new order, which promptly then crashed off air for the next 45 minutes until someone could recover it… clearly this was to demonstrate to the listeners how the Bauer networking was likely to behave going forward from there, so to get used to long gaps or stuff crashing over other stuff etc, and nobody paying much attention to what is actually going out on air!!  An older typical Jack FM sample is included in our list here… (… for the last few weeks they were certainly in “GHR is coming” mode rather than the previous diet of slightly more edgy Jack standards, so it’s from the proper Jack FM era before that).

 

Analysis: 26 days, up to 17-04-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 7391
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 5023
Variety factor for this station is : 67.9%

50% OF PLAYS is 1328 Songs (26.4% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 477 MOST played songs (9.4% of the total)
or 2464 LEAST played songs (49% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 13h
10th most played song airs every: 18h 21m
477th most played song airs every: 13d 0h
1328th most played song only played once
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 4952 (98.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
105 after 22 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 5793
..in 3 months: 15471, in 6 months: 28165
..in 9 months: 39261, in 12 months: 49058

Top 14 Most Played:

1 [48 plays] Lambrini Girls – No Homo
2 [43 plays] HAIM – Relationships
3 [41 plays] jasmine.4.t – Tall Girl
4 [40 plays] Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke – This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice
5 [37 plays] CMAT – Running / Planning
6= [36 plays] each for…
+ Antony Szmierek – Crashing Up
+ Droogie Otis – Everything Designer (feat. Boldy James)
+ Kae Tempest – Statue In The Square
+ Myd – The Wizard
10= [34 plays] each for…
+ 1-800 GIRLS – there 4 u
+ Horrors – LA Runaway
+ Jacob Alon – Don’t Fall Asleep
+ tUnE-yArDs – Limelight
+ Wet Leg – catch these fists

Analysis: 32 days, up to 17-04-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 10889
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 3409
Variety factor for this station is : 31.3%

50% OF PLAYS is 958 Songs (28.1% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 572 MOST played songs (16.7% of the total)
or 1989 LEAST played songs (58.3% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 2d 11h 4m
10th most played song airs every: 3d 4h 48m
572nd most played song airs every: 6d 9h 36m
958th most played song airs every: 8d 0h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 2949 (86.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
17 after 27 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 3364
..in 3 months: 3953, in 6 months: 4454
..in 9 months: 4848, in 12 months: 5747

Top 12 Most Played:

1 [13 plays] Remember Monday – What The Hell Just Happened?
2= [12 plays] each for…
+ Barry Manilow – Copacabana (At The Copa)
+ Communards – Never Can Say Goodbye
+ Olivia Newton-John – A Little More Love
+ Snow White / The Seven Dwarfs – Heigh Ho
6 [11 plays] Sound Of Music – Do-Re-Mi
7= [10 plays] each for…
+ Billie Piper – Because We Want To
+ Brotherhood Of Man – Save Your Kisses For Me
+ Paul McCartney / Wings – Goodnight Tonight
+ Pulp – Common People
+ Roy Orbison – You Got It
+ Smokie – Don’t Play Your Rock ‘n’ Roll To Me

Analysis: 26 days, up to 18-04-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5677
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 2908
Variety factor for this station is : 51.2%

50% OF PLAYS is 518 Songs (17.8% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 241 MOST played songs (8.2% of the total)
or 1892 LEAST played songs (65% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 13h
10th most played song airs every: 1d 12h 42m
241st most played song airs every: 6d 12h
518th most played song airs every: 8d 16h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 2749 (94.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
51 after 24 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 3214
..in 3 months: 6170, in 6 months: 9891
..in 9 months: 13162, in 12 months: 16943

Top 11 Most Played:

1 [48 plays] Lois levin – Excuse
2 [42 plays] Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ – Junkyard Dog
3 [39 plays] Galactic and Irma Thomas – Where I Belong
4 [32 plays] Calibro 35 – Discomania
5 [29 plays] Omar – Can We Go Out
6 [28 plays] Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen – Uptown Downtown
7 [20 plays] Baltic Jazz Recordings – Futuristic
8 [19 plays] Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen – So Damn Good
9= [17 plays] each for…
+ Emma-Jean Thackray – Maybe Nowhere
+ Fergus Mccreadie – The Teacher
+ Omar – Research

Analysis: 27 days, up to 17-04-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 12564
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 5388
Variety factor for this station is : 42.8%

50% OF PLAYS is 983 Songs (18.2% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 423 MOST played songs (7.8% of the total)
or 3518 LEAST played songs (65.2% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 9h 15m
10th most played song airs every: 17h 3m
423rd most played song airs every: 5d 9h 36m
983rd most played song airs every: 9d 0h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 5052 (93.7%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
84 after 23 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 5712
..in 3 months: 9397, in 6 months: 12523
..in 9 months: 14703, in 12 months: 16791

Top 10 Most Played:

1 [70 plays] Hanumankind – Run It Up
2 [65 plays] BombayMami – Fire in Delhi
3= [58 plays] each for…
+ Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga, Dr Zeus and Girls Like You – Best Friend
+ French Montana, Mohamed Ramadan and Jasmine Sandlas – Rolla Rolla
5 [51 plays] Karan Aujla, OneRepublic and Ikky – Tell Me
6 [46 plays] Mo Khan, Jernade Miah and Shaker The Baker – No More
7= [41 plays] each for…
+ Martin Garrix and Arijit Singh – Angels For Each Other
+ Steel Banglez, AP Dhillon and Omah Lay – Never Let You Go
9 [40 plays] Sarah Black – Tharunangal
10 [38 plays] Diljit Dosanjh – Water

Analysis: 27 days, up to 17-04-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 12524
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 77
Variety factor for this station is : 0.6%

50% OF PLAYS is 25 Songs (32.4% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 16 MOST played songs (20.7% of the total)
or 40 LEAST played songs (51.9% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 2h 27m
10th most played song airs every: 2h 28m
16th most played song airs every: 2h 29m
25th most played song airs every: 2h 56m
No. of songs with 15 or less plays: 1 (1.2%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 2 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 77
..in 3 months: 78, in 6 months: 89
..in 9 months: 95, in 12 months: 95

Top 11 Most Played:

1= [263 plays] each for…
+ Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me
+ Bon Jovi – Please Come Home For Christmas
+ Boney M – Mary’s Boy Child
+ Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas
+ East 17 – Stay Another Day
+ Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas
+ Mud – Lonely This Christmas
+ Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime
9= [262 plays] each for…
+ Chris de Burgh – A Spaceman Came Travelling
+ Johnny Mathis – When A Child Is Born
+ Jona Lewie – Stop The Cavalry

Jack FM ceased broadcasting on 29th Oct 2023.
It was replaced by Greatest Hits Radio.
Here’s an analysis from earlier, before the Jack FM playlist was replaced by GHR music…

NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 7454
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 973
Variety factor for this station is : 13%

50% OF PLAYS is 236 Songs (24.2% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 143 MOST played songs (14.6% of the total)
or 622 LEAST played songs (63.9% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 16h 27m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 3h 25m
143rd most played song airs every: 1d 17h 8m
236th most played song airs every: 2d 0h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 422 (43.3%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 23 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 993
..in 3 months: 1156, in 6 months: 1329
..in 9 months: 1527, in 12 months: 1764

Top 14 Most Played:

1 [35 plays] Elvis Aint Dead – Scouting For Girls
2 [25 plays] Wake Up Boo – Boo Radleys
3= [23 plays] each for…
+ Size Of A Cow – Wonderstuff
+ Turn Around – Phats And Small
5= [22 plays] each for…
+ A Girl Like You – Edwyn Collins
+ Mrs Robinson – Lemonheads
7= [21 plays] each for…
+ Brimful Of Asha (Remix) – Cornershop
+ Can’t Stop The Feeling – Justin Timberlake
+ Gonna Make You Sweat – C/C Music Factory
+ Happy – Pharrell
+ Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
+ Ready To Go – Republica
+ Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
+ Two Can Play That Game – Bobby Brown

SAM FM ceased to exist on 6th Sept 21 (it’s now a Hits Network stn). As the playlist changed significantly through August in the build up to the Hits, this last analysis is from July 2021.

NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED 11089
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 615
Variety factor for this station is : 5.5%

50% OF PLAYS is 202 Songs (32.8% of the total)
Most played airs on avg every: 1d 3h 31m
10th most played song every: 1d 5h 15m
202nd most played song every: 1d 15h 0m

A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 128 MOST played songs (20.8% of the total)
or 332 LEAST played songs (53.9% of the total)
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 125 (20.3%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 8 DAYS

Most Played Top 13:

1= [34 plays] Bryan Adams – Run To You
1= [34 plays] Daryl Hall and John Oates – Maneater
1= [34 plays] Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
4= [33 plays] Bryan Adams – Summer Of ’69
4= [33 plays] Steve Winwood – Higher Love
4= [33 plays] T’Pau – China In Your Hand
4= [33 plays] Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
4= [33 plays] The La’s – There She Goes
4= [33 plays] Tina Turner – The Best
10= [32 plays] Billy Joel – Uptown Girl
10= [32 plays] Fleetwood Mac – Little Lies
10= [32 plays] James – Sit Down
10= [32 plays] Michael Jackson – Beat It

We’re monitoring all the most important UK radio stations 24-7, so if you’d like the full “chapter and verse” on what they’ve all been playing, and the full month most played songs lists, then we can provide them – We’ve even got some data going back to 2008!!  Our charges start at just £12 (exc VAT) for one station, so that’s a FULL LISTING of every song or classical piece a station has played, with dates and times, plus a stats package with the full “most played” chart for the month listing EVERY song they’ve played and how many times, ranked from most played to least…  so if they’ve played 3174 different songs, that’ll be a 1 to 3174 chart! 

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