Length of Show(s)

[brettmc]

Just curious what the "norm" is for the lenght of shows everyone has for each night. I have one show and it is 1 hr and 15 minutes long before it restarts. Is this too long? Is there a general rule on how long it should be?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Brett McDonald

Racine,WI

[k6ccc]

The biggest reason for having a shorter show is that it helps with crowd control.  People tend to move along after they have seen the show through it's cycle.  In my case I am currently running only 3 songs and an intro because that's all the time I had for sequencing (I'm really slow at that).  I will have one more added tomorrow evening, and I hope one more before Christmas (depending on how my time goes).

[Liberty-Laser]

My whole show is about 30min.  However halfway through I have my show closing voice-over, followed by TSO music with reduced volume and all lights on.  I then have my show opening voice-over, followed by a new set of songs & voice-overs.  This short TSO song with all the lights on study seems to keep cars moving.

[Tim Benson]

I start with an hour show the first week, then shorten it up as Christmas Gets Closer.  This coming weekend, I expect that the show will be 15 Min. Max.  Closer to Christmas, 3 songs and out......   Traffic builds up too much otherwise.

 

And nothing clears cars out like a slow song !!!!

 

Tim

[dgrant]

LOL, slow song moving cars...the truth! My show is just a hair over 2 hours long before it repeats but I do that on purpose because my house is on the main road in this neighborhood and as they pass by, they are usually assured that they won't hear the same song twice and many people stop to watch a song or two and off they go. The others from other areas, they sit out there and watch for a while or turn around on the other side of the street and watch.

[radioguy1007]

I run two shows - Monday through Thursday is the full thing - one hour and 10 minutes.  Friday through Sunday I drop some of the songs and shorten it to 45 minutes.  Viewers seem to come and go at different times, some stay for a couple songs and others stay a long time.  I try to mix up the songs - having some kid friendly ones mixed with traditional or parody ones.  Usually one of the three types do not appeal to everyone and serve their purpose.  But as Tim said above, slow songs definitely get them moving.

[George Simmons]

Viewers don't pay much attention to when the show loops if you're using a longer show. It means something to us, but not them. They'll come and go as they please.

We run a longer show by default - close to an hour. When it gets crazy busy, I switch to a show with 6 songs. I drop announcements in after every second song, so that gives me the opportunity to run my three most important voice-overs and also helps to keep traffic moving.

I'll have to sequence a really slow song some year to see if that trick works as well here in MN.

[jrock_at_rons]

Mine is 7 songs, about 17 minutes long in total (first year so that was all I had time to sequence).  So far this season its worked well for me. 

[SuperMatt]

5 songs in 15 minutes. Much more than that and I was afraid they'd all start to LOOK the same!

[Premier]

Ours is just over 1:30, most cars dont stay for the whole thing, but most do make repeat visits throughout the week. I tend to shuffle up and add/remove a sequence or two every night just to keep things changing. Lots of positive comments about that. In my opinion I wouldn't ever worry about the "length" of a show, I would concentrate more on the "quality" of the show. If you spend the time to sequence, and do it nicely, you should play it.

[Oliver Blatt]

This is our first show this year. Our show is about 9 minutes long, with an 8 minute filler sequence before each show, and the show only runs on Sunday evenings. The other evenings just have specific lights on, with no music. I did this so we wouldn't completely irritate our neighbors. :-) Looking forward, I will be shortening the filler down to about 4 or 5 minutes, and also lenghtening the show as time permits.

[jstorms]

Tricks for keeping the traffic moving include having a drop sequence where the lights are off and you have a PSA saying, thanks for coming. Then those people leave and the line advances.

 

Also if you repeat your popular song every so many songs people will hear the repeat and leave.

 

At worst the most efficient is a short song, drop sequence, short song, drop sequence, .... for hours repeating the same song over and over. Makes it feel like an assembly line.

 

My display is currently 45 minutes, but I don't loop it.

[jfuller8400]

I've got a show that's about 30 minutes long with an announcement right in the middle around 12~15 minutes.  So far that seems to be a good mix.  We run the show from 5 - 10pm which gives us 4~5 songs and then an announcement.

 

Joel

[Herbaclaus]

I run about 25 minutes with 7-8 songs plus voice overs. Each year I have two feature songs that I add to show and I get a ton of requests to see those two.....so for ease I know I can split those two and have em balanced in show. This for example it's Let it Go and Shake it off by Taylor Swift.

Last year what does the fox say...etc.

I dump the pop song after one season in lieu of a new one the following year.

I have a survey and Let it go is the overwhelming fav......so 25 minutes looping seems about right.

[need lights]

I had shortened my show to about 37 minutes with the most popular song playing twice(every fifteen minutes). Even with that the traffic this weekend(yesterday night especially) went all the way up my street and at least a quarter mile down the main street! I kept eliminating songs last night until I was down to just three. I even saw a fire truck drive down my street(not typical - a quiet side street). I barely got the traffic through by 10:30pm(who knows how many left the line). I am contemplating a voice over, but have never done one. Maybe something that thanks people for coming? I also noticed that when new cars make it to the front, they want to stop in the middle of the display as opposed to pulling forward to the property line, that doesn't help moving the line either, another voice over? Are there any voice overs that are pre-made so that I don't have to make one and what should I do with the lights, slow fades?

[dgrant]

I'm seeing the same things, Cars stop in the middle and sit there to watch several songs which stops everyone. Not sure what can be done about it. People seem to do what they want too without regard to those behind them. I think I'm going to have to shorten my list of songs playing too for the more popular ones and get things moving.