Radio 2 Playlist: Who Picks the Music and When

Easter, Christmas, half terms and the middle of the summer all slow playlist turnover and change who is listening. Unless the record is seasonal, aim either side of those weeks. August and early September are traditionally slow for new adds.

Adjustments do happen later in the week when something breaks unexpectedly, but they are rare for new adds. Worth watching if your track picks up somewhere else suddenly, not worth planning around.

An add means the track is on the playlist. The list it goes on decides everything else: commonly around twenty plays a week on the A list, roughly half that on the B, fewer again on the C. Find out which one before you tell anybody you have Radio 2 support, because the three are not the same thing at all.

If a similar artist was played on the folk or country show six weeks ago, you are in the queue behind them. Listen back through recent editions and time your approach to the gap rather than the moment you happen to be ready.

RAJAR figures are public and show how the station's audience is moving. A station whose younger listening is growing will test different records from one whose audience is settling older. It changes what the room is looking for.

You are never the only person writing. When a week is loaded, the room has usually made its shortlist before your email arrives. A quieter week, or a specific hook such as a live date or a session offer, is worth more than a better-written pitch in a crowded one.

The BBC's coverage of the major festivals creates natural reasons to play an artist. If you are on a bill the station is covering, that date is the strongest peg you have and it should shape when you release, not the other way round.

Summer brings more live sessions, more specialist programming and fewer open daytime slots. If a summer run is not realistic, aim for a May release or a September reset rather than pushing into the quietest part of the year.

From October the seasonal campaigns dominate, and a non-seasonal record competes with material that has a fixed reason to be played now. September or January is the better side of that wall.

Children in Need in the autumn and Comic Relief in the spring take a large share of promotional attention. If you are part of one, it is a real advantage. If not, expect less attention in those weeks and plan around them.

The station runs its own live sessions and event strands with artists booked in advance. That is a separate route from the daytime playlist and worth pursuing on its own terms, particularly if you play well live and can travel.

Half terms and holiday weeks shift travel patterns and listening habits. Aim for the weeks after a holiday when patterns settle back, rather than the week itself.

A rival release climbing mid-week is a record the station will move on faster. It is not a reason to panic, it is a reason to know which week you are walking into.

Larger campaigns often announce a playlist add publicly before it airs, which tells you the week's decisions are made. If somebody announced yesterday, this is not the week to expect a second new-artist slot.

A standing alert on the station's playlist coverage and the names of the programmes you are targeting gives you early warning when things move. It costs five minutes to set up and saves you sending into a week that has already closed.

A new head of music, a new producer on a programme, a format refresh: each of those changes what gets played. When the person you were building a relationship with moves, start again rather than assuming the door is still open.

A record that performs can rotate for six to ten weeks. That is a long time to keep something alive, and it wants live dates, press and something to say in week six. If you cannot support week six, week one is the wrong week to start.

The station's biggest audiences are on weekday mornings. A track added early in the week gets its first real exposure across the following mornings, so put your own posts, interviews and anything else you have arranged into those days.

Cover presenters during holiday weeks tend to work from a tighter list and give new records less room. Confirm the schedule before you settle on a target week.

Some producers will tell you plainly that the next few weeks are full. That answer saves you a pitch and tells you exactly when to come back. Ask it while you are building the contact rather than in the email where you also want something.

Showcases, industry events and festivals put you in the same room as the people making the decisions. Ten minutes of conversation tells you more about what a programme currently wants than a season of reading about it.

Somebody who works with the station every week knows the timing, the people and the current mood in a way you will not from outside. If Radio 2 is central to your plan and the budget exists, that knowledge is what you are paying for. If it does not, the specialist shows are reachable on your own.

'Too close to something we played last week' is a timing problem and an invitation to come back. 'Not for our audience' is a fit problem and an answer. Hearing the difference decides whether you send the next one to the same person or somewhere else entirely.