# How Does ClassicFM Choose its Playlists?



## SallyR (May 22, 2020)

Working from home as I am, I spend most of my day with ClassicFM on in the background - interpersed with various playlists of my own. 

One thing which "bugs" me is that ClassicFM seems to play the same tracks by the same artists over and over again. There are *other* pianists than Lang Lang! there are *other* cellists than Sheku Kanneh-Mason and there are *other* conductors than Vladimir Ashkenazy. Also why do we always have "Mars the Bringer of War" from The Planets? Why never "Venus Bringer of Peace" or all the others...? 

You get my drift. Sorry - Rant over!


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

And endless plays of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. It makes me mad. They must be on somebody’s payroll! I feel your pain.:lol:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Dvorak's 9th a couple times a week at my station. And second rate baroque every morning for the early birds. I don't bother tuning in unless I'm in the car.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

I don't think the concept of payola ever died out. Now there are creative ways of doing payola in such a way as you don't break any laws. Just have a conglomerate own both media transmission types and rights to songs. When your media plays the songs you own rights to....ka-ching $$$$.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

I've moved over to Scala radio, playing away in the background whilst I'm working.
A slightly more eclectic mix


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## SallyR (May 22, 2020)

The real pain I think is felt by the young and lesser known artists who never get a look in!


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

It's probably a case of if it's not in their "Top 300 as voted for by our listeners" or a limited selection of new releases then it doesn't get played. 
My biggest gripe with them is that back in January 2012 they did not play nor mention anything to remember John Stanleys 300th birth anniversary, yet in 2015 for months on end played just about everything Tchaikovski ever wrote on his 75th anniversary
I have emailed presenters suggetsing they play some of John Stanley's work - never had any reply nor mention, very occasionally Stanley's Trumpet voluntary used to get an airing - it was in the high 200s in the top 300 up to 2017, nowt since.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I'm fortunate enough to have a _very_ good local classical music station which has quite a bit of contemporary and off-the-beaten-path stuff - they actually do cater to the serious classical listener which is a refreshment. From my impression of visiting their website, ClassicFM seems like a Buzzfeed-type clickbait hole under a thin guise of a classical music focus. It's really bizarre and I avoid visiting that site.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I think you're all projecting.

_Well, except for *barbebleu*, because yes, they do play Scheherazade all the time.
_
When ClassicFM plays one of the "Oldie Moldies" y'all just roll your eyes and think, _"Oh, not *again* . . . "

Naturally,_ they're going to favor whatever the Top 300 are, every station does that. The Classic Rock stations don't play the non-hit tracks from albums . . . If they play *Steppenwolf*, it's going to be _*Born to Be Wild*_ or *Magic Carpet Ride*, not _*Screaming Night Hog*_ or *Who Needs Ya*. If they play some *Beatles*, it won't be *Within You Without You*, _*Julia*_, or *Flying*.

So if they play some *Haydn*, you can bet it _*won't*_ be one of his 15 operas.

A great station might sneak in some 'deep tracks' occasionally, but they're trying to please as many people as they can.

Last 20 pieces played on *ClassicFM* are mostly predictable

Massenet - Thais/Meditation
Khachaturian - Masquerade Suite (I.)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 (I.)
Puccini - "Che Gelida Manina"
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade (III.)
Francisco Tarrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Borodin - String Quartet No. 2
Chopin - Mazurka in Bb No. 1
Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 (I.)
Karl Jenkins - Adiemus
Delius - Cuckoo
Haydn - Symphony 101 (II.)
Elgar - Serenade in E minor for Strings (III.)
Debbie Wiseman - Wilde
Emilie Mayer - Piano Concerto in Bb (III.)
Bruch - Kol Nidrei
Bizet - L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 (IV.)
Mozart - Don Giovanni Overture
Scott Joplin - The Entertainer
Bach - Concerto in D minor for 2 violins (II.)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (III./IV.)
Holst - The Planets (V. Jupiter)
Verdi - La Forza del Destino Overture

Sure, I see a lot of "Biggies", probably more than half this particular playlist, and they are mostly all edits of larger works.

But I also see some lesser known and unknown composers, as well as some non-mainstream stuff, maybe 10-20%. I mean, c'mon - Emily Mayer is one of only a dozen female composers from the Romantic era. Verdi's La Forza overture? Bruch? Carl Jenkins?

They play the outside-the-box stuff. Y'all just don't notice.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Barbebleu said:


> And endless plays of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. It makes me mad. They must be on somebody's payroll! I feel your pain.:lol:


Somehow I feel they also play the first movement of Mahler's Symohony 1 with unusually high frequency :lol:.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Might be interesting if we could get a dozen or more of us to request the same comparatively obscure (for them) work and see if it gets a play.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Dorsetmike said:


> Might be interesting if we could get a dozen or more of us to request the same comparatively obscure (for them) work and see if it gets a play.


The members of this vblog rarely agree on anything.

What's a nice obscure piece.

I nominate *Pepperland* by *George Martin* from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. Short, pleasant, great orchestration.


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