Presentation I gave in Oslo, Norway about our project to give listeners of a live breakfast show the choice of seven different playlists online, whilst retaining the programmes award winning live links and entertainment. Nicknamed Project Banana, it has led to record audience for the breakfast show. September 19th 2014.

1. PROJECT BANANA
One breakfast show
Seven choices of playlist
All live

2. PROJECT BANANA
ELEMENTS:
UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
MAXIMISING CONTENT
PROJECT BANANA - THEORY
PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT BANANA - OPERATION

3. 1. UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS

4. UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS
We have seven radio stations – master channel and brand extensions
They all run the same breakfast show.
• Our listeners enjoy live, relevant entertainment at breakfast
• The music at breakfast time is secondary to the content
• We wanted to focus on one great breakfast show
• Benefits both listeners and commercial partners
• The Wickes sponsorship of the breakfast show is into its 3rd year

5. 2. MAXIMISING CONTENT

7. CHRISTIAN O’CONNELL
6-10am Monday to Friday
Live across the Absolute Radio network of stations
Until May this year, a simulcast of the show.

8. FRANK SKINNER
8am-11am Saturdays
Also runs on Saturday between 9am-12pm
on the Absolute Radio Network
Links are recorded and replayed an hour later

9. 3. PROJECT BANANA -SPECIFICATION

10. PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
AIMS
• Maintain a live, interactive breakfast show across all stations
• Listeners to Absolute Radio shouldn’t notice the difference
• Listeners to the digital stations should get the songs they love

11. PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
3’48” 4’50”
BEATLES – ACROSS THE
UNIVERSE
TOM ROBINSON – 2-4-6-8
MOTORWAY
THE CURE - LOVECATS
LIVE LINK OASIS – LIVE FOREVER
BLUR - PARKLIFE
FEEDER – BUCK ROGERS
STEPPENWOLF – BORN TO
BE WILD
ROLLING STONES
– THE LAST TIME
TEMPTATIONS – BALL
OF CONFUSION
DAVID BOWIE – STAR MAN
A-HA – THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV
LIVE LINK KASABIAN – EEZ-EH
KLF – WHAT TIME IS LOVE
BEYONCE – CRAZY IN LOVE
JIMI HENDRIX – ALL ALONG THE
WATCHTOWER
SINGLE SONG POSITIONS

12. PROJECT BANANA - SPECIFICATION
SEGUE POSITIONS
LIVE LINK
11’30”
FOUNDATIONS – BUILD
ME UP BUTTERCUP
ARETHA FRANKLIN –
SAY A LITTLE PRAYER
JOHNNY CASH – A BOY
NAMED SUE
THE KINKS -
VICTORIA
EDDIE FLOYD –
KNOCK ON WOOD
SISTER SLEDGE – WE ARE FAMILY STEPHEN STILLS – LOVE THE ONE
YOU’RE WITH SUPERTRAMP – LOGICAL SONG
CAMEO – WORD UP BON JOVI – LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER KIM WILDE – KIDS IN
AMERICA
KINGS OF LEON - SUPERSOAKER CARDIGANS - LOVEFOOL NIRVANA – SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
STONE ROSES – SHE BANGS THE DRUMS STEREO MCs - CONNECTED SUPERGRASS - ALRIGHT
SPILLER - GROOVEJET TRAVIS - SING LADY GAGA – EDGE
OF GLORY
KILLERS – READ MY
MIND
THE DOORS – HELLO I LOVE YOU QUEEN – DON’T STOP
ME NOW DEF LEPPARD – LET’S GET ROCKED

13. 4. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION

14. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
Using existing tools
• Music scheduling: RCS GSelector
• Broadcast ‘playout’ system: Broadcast Bionics’ Genesys
• We already ‘split’ 7 ways during breakfast for commercials
• Took the split commercial functionality and applied it to songs
With
• New functions written to put Genesys into and out of ‘Banana’ mode.
• New ‘Song Balancer’ plugin written by RCS for GSelector

15. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
PRIOR TO LAUNCH
• Examine the depth of the song databases to establish whether rotations are
possible
• Synchronise song and intro lengths between Genesys and Gselector
• Normalise all song levels in Genesys

16. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
WORKFLOW PROCESS
■ The Music Schedule for the breakfast show
on the main Absolute Radio station is created
first
■ Digital Stations then run ‘Song Balancer’
■ This takes the song durations from the main
station, and imports them into the other
stations databases
■ Songs can be +10-15 seconds if the song
fades
■ GSelector then finds songs that match the
duration AND scheduling rules for each clock
position (e.g. separation, mood, tempo etc.)
■ The person responsible for music scheduling
can then manually edit the log as required

17. PROJECT BANANA - IMPLEMENTATION
RCS ‘SONG BALANCER’

18. 5. PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS

19. PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
DAILY OPERATIONS
• Enter Genesys ‘Banana’ mode at 5.59
• Each song or segue group is in a ‘break’
• Advance through playlist using ‘next’
• Drop songs or reposition hour using ‘flush’ and ‘load break’
• Use ‘Fade 5s’ or ‘Fade 3s’ if need to end song early

20. PROJECT BANANA - OPERATIONS
THINGS WE DIDN’T WANT TO DO
• Hide what we were doing
• Limit Christian’s freedom
• Extend ‘Banana’ to other parts of the radio stations
• ‘Split Links’ a no-no

21. PROJECT BANANA - RESULTS
Record Audience in first
Project Banana quarter 1.5m
(source: RAJAR Q2 2014)

22. THANK YOU
@tonymoorey