Once, on KCOU, I played "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz. Outside of the "Retro 88" show, a fair number of listeners might have found it too populist for a station that strives to promote new and diverse music.
The song hadn't been playing for long when KCOU's most frequent listener called in and asked, "Drew, why are you playing this?" He had a slight chuckle in his voice as he spoke. Just for a moment, I started to second guess myself. That moment doubt passed quickly, though, as I replied, "I know it's more mainstream than most of what we usually play during a general shift, but it has a strong hook and a lot of listeners took to it when it was a hit. It also segues well with the song I played before it. We play a lot of new and obscure music here, so now and then, it's refreshing to play a more familiar song that people know and like."
Once you get into the mindset of "Music no one has heard before is good," however, your radio station's most frequent caller sometimes becomes the arbiter of what fits the station's format--at least for a moment.
