TWOFER TUESDAY? QUESTION FOR DAN O’DAY: I'm now the new Program Director at a small market station, programming a mix of nostalgia, big band, some '50s & '60s hits and some '70s lite pop. My morning guy is in his early 20s who wants to work at a rock station. This wouldn't be a problem, except he seems to want to do the "rock" thing on our station. We're playing a lot of Sinatra, Streisand, the Carpenters & Manilow. Specifically, he wants to do this "Two for Tuesday" thing where he plays two songs by a given artist back to back. My general manager doesn't want this at all. Our major cross-town competition does this already, as do most of the other stations in the area. The GM thinks he'd prefer to have us do something a lot more original than a "double dose Toooosday" (as my morning guy likes to say, on the air) and I must admit I tend to agree with him. My question to you is this: Is there any proof that "Two for Tuesday," "double shots", "six packs" or any of these things boost ratings? Or has this been overused so much, by so many different formats, that it's become a cliche? Here's my idea of a compromise: Drop the "Two for Tuesday" idea. Instead, we produce some liners that say something like, "That felt so good, we're gonna do it again! Here's another one from ________" and program two big hits from our most popular artists - all from different eras and musical styles. This could be used as often or as few times as we want. However, instead of sounding like we're trying to be like everyone else, we sound as though we're celebrating the wonderful music we're playing. DAN REPLIES: "Twofer Tuesdays" are simply an example of a low-cost, low-maintenance benchmark. "Y107? That's the station that has the Twofer Tuesdays and the 10 O'Clock Rock 'n' Roll Recall." So yes, they can have value. But.... You're the program director. Why should you have to "compromise" with a jock on a programming decision? I'd tell the jock: "No." Before I'd do that, however, I would ask him to explain why a Twofer Tuesday would be a great idea for our audience. If he has a very good reason, maybe I'd reconsider my answer. But if doesn't have a good reason, I'd stick with "No."