Our promise to make you feel good within three songs.
When we set about building The Buzz Mcr we had several long conversations about what our music policy was going to be.
We said ‘just to play devil’s advocate’ an awful lot to each other as we challenged ourselves to define the music that would ultimately define the station.
We listened to what the commercial radio stations were playing, and it made our toes curl (and our mullets frizz out). But, it made us even more confident that the route we were heading in was bang on.
You see, commercial radio is driven by demographics and advertising, and the music is selected to capture their listeners.
But, at the end of the day who wants to be captured?
We didn’t want to capture people, we wanted to inspire our listeners.
In fact, we didn’t want to consider our audience as listeners at all, it’s a bit too passive for us. We wanted our tribe to be involved, to feel part of it. We didn’t want listeners, we wanted ambassadors, evangelists even.
But, in order to achieve that the music needed to be right.
So, we decided that our music policy was going to be…..well, music.
We quickly settled on an image that helped us choose the songs for the station.
We imagined every track as a physical vinyl disc, and the entire station roster as our own beautiful, pristine, vinyl collection.
We asked ourselves - would we be happy to let anyone rifle through our vinyl collection? Are there any tracks in there that we would feel awkward about if people found it in there?
If the answer was yes, then it got booted out. Simple as that.
We are confident now that you could happily rummage your way through our music collection, and we wouldn’t feel sheepish in any way.
We also realise though that we aren’t going to be for everybody, and we are alright with that. There are other radio stations out there for people who like to hear the popular tracks of the day, or are stuck listening to music from one specific era.
And so, to help people to decide whether we are the station for them we offer a Three Song Trust Policy.
If you listen to our station for three songs and don’t find a track in there that makes you feel good, then we probably aren’t for you.
You see we are that confident that we have chosen the music that will make you feel good, feel happy, feel inspired, feel hopeful. And if after three songs we haven’t done that then we have let you down.
We’re sorry.
But, at least we know where we stand with each other. No hard feelings. Maybe we’ll see you around town?
So when people ask us if we can define our music policy a bit better for them, we say no.
Just listen, for at least three tracks. That’s the only answer we can really give.
We don’t want to have to define our music, and because we don’t need to answer to accountants and advertisers we don’t need to define it by genre or with marketing spiel.
We only have to answer to you.
We love the responsibility that comes with that. It matters to us more than anything.
We are prepared to live and die by the Three Song Trust Policy.