When Taylor Swift drops a new album, it’s the equivalent of Christmas for many music radio stations. ‘The Life of a Showgirl‘, Swift’s new record became available on Friday. She said in a post on social media that it’s an album that just feels so right.
Music radio stations everywhere leaped into action to capitalize on the excitement with their listeners. Brands and personalities carved out hours of airtime to play new songs from the record. They also built on-air conversations around Swift’s transformation and growth as an artist and human being, and her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce.
iHeartRadio made the new record a big part of its programming strategy, playing each track in exact order. Pop and Hot AC stations across the company began broadcasting The Life of a Showgirl in its entirety at 9pm PT/midnight ET Thursday night, accompanied by custom track-by-track recorded audio from the singer herself. It allowed listeners to hear exclusive insight into the making of each song. Swift also called in to Elvis Duran and the Morning Show to discuss the meaning behind the record.
SiriusXM launched Channel 13, featuring 24/7 airplay of Swift’s music to help support the new record. On the 13th day of the channel (Friday, October 3), when “The Life of a Showgirl” came out, Channel 13 began playing the full album from beginning to end every other hour starting at midnight ET. Taylor’s Channel 13 is available until October 19th. Swift is also expected to appear on The Morning Mashup on SiriusXM Hits 1 Monday October 6th.
Audacy created a cool piece of programming too in addition to featuring the new album across many of its radio stations. Taylor Swift: On The Record, takes listeners inside the making of The Life of a Showgirl. The program hosted by Bru features Taylor Swift taking fans track-by-track through her twelfth studio album. It’s available on the Audacy app on Friday, October 3rd at 7PM.
In addition to hearing the record on radio stations nationwide, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, fans can find it on YouTube as well. As expected, views of each track are already surging into the millions in its first day of availability.
Local radio stations in the Hot AC and Pop/Top 40 formats got in on the action too.
Los Angeles’ 102.7 KIIS-FM re-branded as 102.7 SWFT FM to meet the moment. The station’s positioned itself as Los Angeles’ #1 Taylor Swift Station, and held an album release listening party on Thursday night at 9pm PT. Written content is also available on the station’s website and social media pages.
101.9 The Mix in Chicago went all-in on Taylor Swift mania as well. The Mix launched a Taylor Taykover, playing Swift’s music from midnight on October 3rd through 11:30pm on Sunday October 5th. Chris and McCabe are also hosting an exclusive, private screening of Taylor Swift: Release Party of a Show Girl—featuring the world premiere of “The Fate of Ophelia” music video. The event is set for Saturday October 4th at 10am at AMC movie theater in Naperville, IL. Keywords are being given out at 8am, 10am, Noon, 2pm, and 5pm to give listeners opportunities to win.
Long Island’s 106.1 BLI seized the moment, re-branding as 106.1 TLI. The radio station’s Taylor Takeover can be seen and heard everywhere. The website was full of content about the new album, social pages were filled with posts about it, and on-air conversations led by The Skye Morning Show with Ally Ali treated it like a big deal. Regardless of which platform listeners turned to, they knew Taylor had a new record, and 106.1 BLI was fully supporting it.
WALK 97.5 in Long Island, NY also threw its support behind the new album. The station kicked off a ‘Two For Taylor Weekend‘. New songs from the album are airing every hour, all day, along with hits from Taylor’s other eras.
Cincinnati’s Q102 launched a themed giveaway prize for six lucky listeners in celebration of the new album. The promotion is called Tap That Track and rewards listeners via the Q102’s mobile app or desktop stream player. Fans are receiving opportunities to win “The Life of a Showgirl” Vinyl — Lakeside Beach Blue Sparkle, “The Life of a Showgirl” Vinyl — Lovely Bouquet Golden, “The Life of a Showgirl” Sweat and Vanilla Perfume Portofino Orange Glitter Vinyl, “The Life of a Showgirl” Cardigan Box Set + $100 VISA gift card courtesy of Cincinnati Mini, “The Life of a Showgirl” Sweat and Vanilla Perfume Cassette, and “The Life of a Showgirl” Sweat and Vanilla Perfume CD with Poster. Most items are already sold out online.
KOST 103.5 in Los Angeles celebrated the release by playing a fun game. The Ellen K Morning Show created a great video featuring staff members having to finish the lyric of some of Taylor Swift’s most popular songs. The album and Taylor’s media interviews were a topic of conversation throughout the morning show. Ellen also gave listeners opportunities to win tickets to Taylor’s release party over the weekend. The premiere is running in 3600 movie theaters nationwide.
97.9 WRMF in West Palm Beach, FL celebrated with a “Tay Tay Double Play” weekend on the radio station. New tracks from the album, and songs from Taylor’s other eras are running back-to-back 13 times a day today, tomorrow and Sunday!
98.5 KISS FM in Cookeville, TN used the opportunity to excite listeners, have some fun, and turn a profit in the process. The radio station re-branded to Swiftie 98.5 and tied in a local business as the presenting sponsor.
Billy & Lisa on Kiss 108 in Boston spent a good amount of time on their morning show talking about Taylor’s new record including the diss track. They also analyzed some of Swift’s spicier lyrics on the record.
106.7 Lite FM in New York celebrated the release of the album too. Christine Nagy and Paul Bryant headed down to the Sound Exchange record shop where listeners could win prizes after buying a copy of the album.
Taylor Swift supported the release of the record in the US and UK, doing a number of interviews on both radio and television. One of the more memorable conversations came on BBC Radio 1 with host Greg James. During the conversation, Swift spoke with James about her relationship with Travis Kelce, making bread, the new album, and more. She then surprised James by inviting him to her wedding. The friendship between the UK radio host and Swift has spanned years.
Many radio professionals across the flocked to social media to offer reviews of the record, and express excitement about it.
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Advertising leaders understood the importance of the situation too. Gary Sarner of ROI360+ shared on LinkedIn a reminder that when culture shifts, radio shines brightest.
Even Barrett Media’s Stephanie Eads started her day consuming Taylor’s new album. Apparently CEO Jason Barrett did too. He has yet to confirm this with the Barrett Media team. We’re still working on it.
Given the massive interest in Taylor Swift’s music, relationship, and life, radio stations everywhere treated the release of her new album like the major event that it is. There are countless other examples available across local radio airwaves and station social media pages worth highlighting. To those in charge of leading radio brands and connecting with listeners through the joy of music, job well done!
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