Why do radio stations repeat the news so often throughout the day?

For more than five decades, radio has played certain songs over and over because those were the songs people requested the most. Radio stations with a "top 40" format (the 40 top selling hits in the country) were designed to be almost like a jukebox, except they have personalities called disc jockeys who talk to you and also play the songs. Stations repeat the most popular songs in what is called a "heavy rotation"-- that is, the #1 song may repeat every hour and ten minutes, because that song is the one the most people are requesting and buying. To you and me, the repetition might seem boring, but people tune in at different times, and when they do, they want to hear their favorite song.

Stations are always trying to get the most listeners, because the size of the audience determines how much money the station can charge advertisers for commercials. (Like them or not, commercials pay for the operation of most stations.) The good news is that not every station plays the same songs over and over-- there are a number of different radio formats, and each has its own version of rotation-- for example, in album rock and classic rock, stations will repeat an important song every two or three days; other songs might be repeated once a week, or even once a month. How often songs get repeated is determined by the station's format, and how many songs are on their official playlist. Top-40 and hit music stations tend to have smaller playlists, while jazz and classical and album rock tend to have larger playlists.