As The Countdown Rolls On...

48° - overcast at 7:21am

As this blog pointed out a week or so ago, Top 500 countdowns continue to be a popular feature of classic rock stations around the country. And once again this year, this programming staple continues to draw interest from listeners who might normally be spending their time away from the radio. Listening habits tend to change on the weekend - even more significant with 3-day weekends. Your typical high-level "at work" audience on Monday isn't there.

As I've written here about the countdowns, this blog has become an easy "hit" for the search engines when someone types station X Top 500 countdown into Google or Yahoo.

This blog had a record number of page views from new visitors over the weekend - nearly all from the search engines with countdown-related search terms. The countdown concept continues to work. Casey Kasem figured it all out many years ago.

Chances are if your station did a countdown, your call letters are in my web stats. Added: the countdown "hits" continue this morning.

Heads up: In the majority of the searches, listeners were looking for their favorite classic rock station's Top 500 list. If you haven't done so already - be sure to get it posted on your website and promote this on the air. Today. Its going to pay off in website visits and listener satisfaction.

If you want to see a great example of listener passion behind this feature, check out WGRF/Buffalo's Top 500 Listener Comments page here.

And if your station didn't do anything special this past weekend, you missed a great opportunity to gain some additional quarter hours during the spring book.