When did AOR or FM rock stations stop playing black artists?

[firepoint525]

I'd be willing to bet that there's no discussion going on in the Urban/CHR/Hip Hop forum regarding "white artists" in the format.

Save for Teena Marie.

I used to have an FM antenna on my home in rural west Tennessee about two hours from Memphis.  I had it aimed toward Memphis so that I could pick up all the stations from Memphis, including the "urban" stations.  It was my experience that the urban stations did not play any white artists unless that artist also happened to have a 12" single mix available of his latest hit.  They seemed to be really big on playing those extended dance mixes.  Even FM 100 (the top 40 station in Memphis) occasionally played a few of those extended mixes of the big hits of that time. 

[vchimpanzee]

I'd be willing to bet that there's no discussion going on in the Urban/CHR/Hip Hop forum regarding "white artists" in the format.

There may not be now. But when the term "urban contemporary" was first used, Hall and Oates' "I Can't Go for That" was an example of a song that the format included, even though they weren't black.

Amazingly, the urban station where I live played Van Halen's "Jump". It did start out as a disco station, so it would have had white artists to begin with.

[Gregg]

When did Rock stations stop playing black artists?  Around the same time it stopped playing female artists.  Around the same time it stopped playing songs that weren't primarily guitar-driven.

In the 70s, stations that were either called Progressive Rock or Album Rock or AOR played a wide variety of youthful music.  They tried to avoid music that was too simplistic or bubble gum.  But as said above, black artists such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, EWF, etc. were a solid part of the Rock format.  So were female singer-songwriters such as Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins.  So were artists who worked on softer songs and folk, such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Don McLean.

It may be hard to remember but John Denver, Christopher Cross and Barry Manilow got a lot of Rock airplay in the 70s and 80s.  I grew up listening to WPLJ New York when it was a Rock station.  It wasn't uncommon to go from Led Zeppelin to Joan Baez to Pink Floyd to Hall & Oates. 

I can remember when Breezin' by George Benson was at the top of the Billboard Album Chart.  WPLJ played Breezin' and This Masquerade.  Then the album stayed more weeks at the top and WPLJ had to add more songs from the album, including Affirmation and others. 

But by the late 80s, it seemed Rock took many turns.  The people that wanted harder edged Rock didn't want to hear what was called New Wave.  And neither group wanted to hear Soft Rock. 

I sometimes wonder if The Beatles could make it today.  Could the same group that did Get Back and I Am The Walrus also put out Yesterday and Michelle?  Or how about Fleetwood Mac, a group with two female lead singers and one male lead singer?  Would we accept a group that gives us songs ranging from Rhiannon and Little Lies to Go Your Own Way and Tusk?   You're no longer allowed to do too many styles of music, either from one group or on one radio station.

[michael hagerty]

It may be hard to remember but John Denver, Christopher Cross and Barry Manilow got a lot of Rock airplay in the 70s and 80s.  I grew up listening to WPLJ New York when it was a Rock station.  It wasn't uncommon to go from Led Zeppelin to Joan Baez to Pink Floyd to Hall & Oates. 

All good points, and I remember Denver, Cross and (mentioned after that paragraph) George Benson getting FM album rock airplay.


But Manilow? Really? I never heard or read about that in the trades. What cuts? What station?

[TheBigA]

You're no longer allowed to do too many styles of music, either from one group or on one radio station.

Depends on how successful you are.  Right now, radio stations in several formats are falling over themselves to play anything by Taylor Swift, regardless of the fact that she's mainly a country singer.  Yet she gets pop airplay, and collaborates with lots of big pop stars.  And country stations have accepted Darius Rucker from Hootie & The Blowfish.  If you're a big star, and make good music, you'll get airplay.  Could The Beatles have had the liberty to make the kinds of music they made without going through Beatlemania?  No.

[firepoint525]

It may be hard to remember but John Denver, Christopher Cross and Barry Manilow got a lot of Rock airplay in the 70s and 80s.  I grew up listening to WPLJ New York when it was a Rock station.  It wasn't uncommon to go from Led Zeppelin to Joan Baez to Pink Floyd to Hall & Oates. 

All good points, and I remember Denver, Cross and (mentioned after that paragraph) George Benson getting FM album rock airplay.
But Manilow? Really? I never heard or read about that in the trades. What cuts? What station?

SM95, a soft-rock station here in Nashville back in the late '70s/early '80s, used to play Manilow quite a bit.  They probably also played quite a few album tracks of his.  There hasn't been much activity on this site lately, but you can check it out:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SM95/

There may be a playlist or two hiding somewhere on that site.  You might need to join and become a member there.  I was not living here back in their heyday, but I enjoyed listening to their Live365 recreation of it, until that, too, had to be taken down.   

As for the other claims made here, we can chalk that up to either faulty memory on someone's part, or stations that weren't really "rock."  There was a station like that in the small town where I grew up that would play pretty much anything that was popular at the time.  It was 1980, and FM radio was just coming into its own.  And this station had only been on the air for a little over five years at the time.  They had a "rock" reputation at that time, but would play pretty much anything.  I would call them "rock 40."  They certainly had a broader playlist than the AM station (not jointly owned) literally just down the road from them (at the time).  Rumor had it that one of their jocks, who had just graduated high school the previous spring, quit rather than play songs like "Boy From New York City," which was popular at the time.  (But that AM station added its own FM sister station (a rigid, tightly-controlled top 40 playlist) about a year later, and he went to work for them, so who knows?  Maybe he grew up a bit!)

[OldNumber7]

When did Rock stations stop playing black artists? ... Around the same time it stopped playing songs that weren't primarily guitar-driven.

And that's the point. If the station wasn't/isn't "primarily guitar-driven," it's pretty hard to call it a rock station. Yes, we used to call the first generation Top 40 stations "rock stations" (even though they played hits from every genre) but the very word was redefined when pure rock formats were born in the 70s.
By the mid to late 70s, "rock" meant FM AOR, and FM AOR meant -- in many markets -- Burkhart/Abrams "Superstars" format (or something imitating it). There were different flavors of Superstars, depending on the market. Some were dayparted and played a lot of what would now be called Rock AC during the day (e.g. Billy Joel, softer hits by Fleetwood Mac and the Doobie Brothers). Others were  more loyal around the clock to the Who, the Stones, Floyd and Skynyrd. But the unifying point is that all these were PRIMARILY GUITAR-DRIVEN bands (even if their occasional pop ballad without guitars got played on the air).
With the exception of Hendrix, there were darn few succesful guitar driven black recording artists in that era. And THAT is the answer to the question.

[XMportable]

Skin pigment of the artist is irrelevant.

Neanderpaul, To most people it may not be revelant. The real question to the market is when is it NOT/Or better when WILL it NOT be revelant ANYMORE?  The reality is that skin color has been and still is a factor of radio, they even market to your skin color so why is this a shock to you? 

The fact is, skin pigment is *only* relevant if you believe it to be. Any "black artist" that plays *rock* music worthy of airplay on a rock station, receives airplay. Hendrix has been on rock radio for over 40 years. Lenny Kravitz for over 20. Living Colour, Lajon Witherspoon, Fishbone, Bad Brains, Ben Harper, Phil Lynott etc. Now, a legitimate question might be "why are there so few 'black artists' in Rock today?"

I've never, in the 27 years I've done this, *ever* witnessed anyone consider, or exclude any record on any radio station I've ever worked for (and there have been some greats...programmed by greats), based upon skin pigment. In fact, I'm proud to say that I grew up listening to one of the greatest Rock stations in our industry (WBCN) And *they* even regularly employed "black" personalities on a rock station, in one of America's most racist cities...and it worked.

I'd be willing to bet that there's no discussion going on in the Urban/CHR/Hip Hop forum regarding "white artists" in the format.

Race is only an issue, to those who consider race an issue.

 

Ok I don't think race is an issue in music, but when I turn on my radio it's pretty segregated  and thats regardless of what I think about race isn't it? How did it start ?
You are right in some ways , but not in all ways. If you think how some black rockers was exploited in the early days it has always been some issues regarding race.   Urban music by white artist is called Blue eyed soul, you never heard that..

[XMportable]

Here are just a few:

The average white band
Tower of Power
Hall and Oats
BEEGEES
The Rightious Bros.
teena marie
george michael
Annie Lenox
Madonna 1st single started on R&B stations first. Everybody thought she was black...lol

Currents:
Jon B
Jamiroquai
Amy Winehouse
Joss Stone
Adele
Remy Stand
Mayer Hotherne
Justin Timberlake
Robin Thicke...and I can go on 

[landtuna]

I sometimes wonder if The Beatles could make it today.  Could the same group that did Get Back and I Am The Walrus also put out Yesterday and Michelle?  Or how about Fleetwood Mac, a group with two female lead singers and one male lead singer?  Would we accept a group that gives us songs ranging from Rhiannon and Little Lies to Go Your Own Way and Tusk?   You're no longer allowed to do too many styles of music, either from one group or on one radio station.

As far as groups with female leads and male backups consider ABBA and Mama's and Papa's. 

The above  paragraph is another excellent description of why popular music today is a deplorable imitation of that of past decades, specifically 1950-1980.