Cumulus Radio Group Stops Reporting To Trades

According to AllAccess.com the Cumulus radio group will no longer report it’s music adds to the trades.   "As of next week we are no longer reporting adds….charts do nothing for us as a business," said Exec VP John Dickey. "Our job is to program to serve the listener and advertisers. It’s no longer a broad enough of a horizon to look just at adds and charts…It should be retail sales, clubs, and other points of national and regional media influence…The ‘Tuesday Add Mentality’ causes folks to run songs up and down more than they should be doing…If they want to know specifics, they can look at Mediabase. We should think about adding records at any point during the week, not just on a Tuesday…"

Trade magazine Radio & Records has just announced that they are suspending reporting status  Cumulus stations pending a review.

Particularly if other station groups follow suit, Cumulus has dealt another blow to already weakened old school radio promotion; and it underscores just how little influence record labels have over broadcasters.  Although in theory music decisions could become more localized and proactive, Cumulus’ new policy  does not signify a shift towards more open and adventurous music programming.