K-Earth 101 Totally 80's Labor Day Weekend

[Thomps2525]

It's been fun to hear some of the lesser-played '80s hits such as Lies, Tenderness, Karma Chameleon, I'm Alright, Vacation, Blue Monday, Jessie's Girl and Sharp Dressed Man, but why couldn't KRTH be playing a larger number of songs so we don't have to hear I Melt With You and Old Time Rock & Roll three times a day?

Did anyone hear Brian Roberts on KRTH last night? He jocked at nine Los Angeles stations between 1976 and 2002, then retired from radio and became a sales consultant at Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City. He had worked at KRTH from 1990 to 1993. Was last night's airshift a one-time-only deal or is Roberts rejoining the station? He's pictured at http://www.bunninchevrolet.com/Staff-Photos and I'm assuming that Roberts is one of the fill-ins that MadMan was referring to.

 

[TheBigA]

It's been fun to hear some of the lesser-played '80s hits such as Lies, Tenderness, Karma Chameleon, I'm Alright, Vacation, Blue Monday, Jessie's Girl and Sharp Dressed Man, but why couldn't KRTH be playing a larger number of songs so we don't have to hear I Melt With You and Old Time Rock & Roll three times a day?

This is basic radio rotation: You play the bigger hits more often than the lesser hits. That's what radio has always done.

 

[oldies76]

This is basic radio rotation: You play the bigger hits more often than the lesser hits. That's what radio has always done.

It's a specialty weekend, far more 80's classics should have been presented to avoid playing certain songs, including several from 1979 and 1999 many times over on a four-day 80's special. "Old Time Rock and Roll" is not from 1980. They burn that one to death during the rest of the year anyways.

And "I Melt With You" a #78 song in 1983. It was not even a hit. Geez!

 

[TheBigA]

And "I Melt With You" a #78 song in 1983. It was not even a hit. Geez!

Doesn't matter if it was a hit then. It matters how listeners respond NOW. Build Me Up Buttercup wasn't a #1, but got revived on the radio because of There's Something About Mary. There are lots of Beatles songs that were either B sides or album cuts that weren't #1s, but still get airplay today.

 

[Thomps2525]

Memo to K.M. Richards: I can occasionally say something positive about KRTH. Here it comes: I enjoyed the Totally '80s weekend, which featured quite a few songs that are seldom played. KRTH's regular listeners obviously responded favorably because at 5 pm today, KRTH will debut the Totally '80s Friday night. For the foreseeable future, every Friday night will be all-'80s. Now...is it too much to hope for that we won't be hearing the same few songs every Friday?

 

[TheBigA]

Now...is it too much to hope for that we won't be hearing the same few songs every Friday?

You will hear the most popular hits that are designed to attract the largest number of people who are likely to listen to the format.

If that means the "same few songs," then that's what it means. This isn't a contest, it's a business.

 

[oldies76]

You will hear the most popular hits that are designed to attract the largest number of people who are likely to listen to the format.

If that means the "same few songs," then that's what it means. This isn't a contest, it's a business.

Yes, if that means playing the same fifty 80's songs every week, then great....go for it, I won't listen and neither will your audience once they figure it out. It may be a business, but people can choose whether or not to support and "patronize" your business. As an average listener (speaking for the average KRTH listener), discovering this special for the first time, I would expect my favorite 80's songs to be played. Unfortunately, I may hear just a few of them, with 80% of them never aired on this special. That's L.A. radio for ya!

 

[TheBigA]

I won't listen and neither will your audience once they figure it out.

We know how you feel. It's obvious the rest of the population doesn't agree. Otherwise, why would these stations be doing so well in the ratings?

Keep listening to your stations in Colorado, and stop worrying about LA.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes, if that means playing the same fifty 80's songs every week, then great....go for it, I won't listen and neither will your audience once they figure it out. It may be a business, but people can choose whether or not to support and "patronize" your business. As an average listener (speaking for the average KRTH listener), discovering this special for the first time, I would expect my favorite 80's songs to be played. Unfortunately, I may hear just a few of them, with 80% of them never aired on this special. That's L.A. radio for ya!

Please check http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html and seek help.

KFI knows, as you apparently do not (despite a constant chorus of repetition), that the average listener on a holiday weekend may listen to perhaps an hour of radio. Or less. But let's assume they listen for 4 hours... which nearly none of them do... they will not hear the songs repeated on the KRTH special you refer to.

KFI is not in the business of pleasing nit-pickers. They are realistic, and know that it is better to get hundreds of thousands of 1 hour listeners on the weekend than a few chart addicts.

Here is Wikipedia's definition of term that suits one side of this discussion to a "T"

"The term anal retentive , commonly abbreviated to anal,[1] is used to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others, potentially to the detriment of the anal-retentive person."

 

[Art Landing]

David, sorry for being dense, because you know I respect you highly. But granting that KFI knows the listening span of weekend listeners, it is a news and information station. What does its programming awareness have to do with a music station like KRTH? Or is your point simply that all successful station owners are aware of weekend listening habits regardless of format?

 

[oldies76]

Please check http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html and seek help.

So, do I add psychological type responses to your list of "know it all" type phrases and references? Just stick to radio. Reference me to whatever you want, I will never change my philosophy on programming methods I disagree with, no matter your "know it all" reasoning and the number of times you repeat yourself.

To be respected by one, you've got to earn it. 27,597 posts. It's just a number.

 

[TheBigA]

I will never change my philosophy on programming methods I disagree with,

Except that you've never actually programmed a radio station. And you no longer live in the market.

So it's not really a philosophy, but just your own personal taste.

 

[davideduardo]

KFI knows, as you apparently do not (despite a constant chorus of repetition), that the average listener on a holiday weekend may listen to perhaps an hour of radio. Or less. But let's assume they listen for 4 hours... which nearly none of them do... they will not hear the songs repeated on the KRTH special you refer to.

KFI is not in the business of pleasing nit-pickers. They are realistic, and know that it is better to get hundreds of thousands of 1 hour listeners on the weekend than a few chart addicts.

Sorry... I meant, of course, KRTH.

 

[davideduardo]

So, do I add psychological type responses to your list of "know it all" type phrases and references? Just stick to radio. Reference me to whatever you want, I will never change my philosophy on programming methods I disagree with, no matter your "know it all" reasoning and the number of times you repeat yourself.

To be respected by one, you've got to earn it. 27,597 posts. It's just a number.

To be respected in radio programming you have to have some documented programming success. It does not have to be in major markets; I respect the late Paul Sidney of WLNG as much as Marlin Taylor or Ron Jacobs or Bill Stewart or Jay Thomas.

You haven't come close to programming a radio station.

I also know that those of us that have programmed or who currently program get our share of "why don't you do this..." emails. Usually, the use of facts and logic will show the interested person why their idea may not be practical.

You have not come close to following logic or accepting facts.

 

[davideduardo]

David, sorry for being dense, because you know I respect you highly. But granting that KFI knows the listening span of weekend listeners, it is a news and information station. What does its programming awareness have to do with a music station like KRTH? Or is your point simply that all successful station owners are aware of weekend listening habits regardless of format?

Sorry. I meant KRTH, the subject of Oldies76's comments.

But, in any case, the same logic applies. Talk stations have notoriously low listening on weekends, and even lower on long holiday weekends. So anything they do is going to be heard by a relatively small group of people.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Reference me to whatever you want, I will never change my philosophy on programming methods I disagree with, no matter your "know it all" reasoning and the number of times you repeat yourself.

Can we then presume that, since we already know from your endless "know it all" repetition what your philosophies are, that you'll be leaving us soon?

Or do you have anything left to add that we have not heard from you at least a dozen times?

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Memo to K.M. Richards: I can occasionally say something positive about KRTH. Here it comes: I enjoyed the Totally '80s weekend, which featured quite a few songs that are seldom played. KRTH's regular listeners obviously responded favorably because at 5 pm today, KRTH will debut the Totally '80s Friday night. For the foreseeable future, every Friday night will be all-'80s. Now...is it too much to hope for that we won't be hearing the same few songs every Friday?

Steve remember Star 98.7 Friday night Totally 80s back in the late 1990s. That was a pretty decent show.

 

[Thomps2525]

As I recall, KYSR's '80s program focused on top-40 and alternative---no r&b or rap. A few of us complained that a 1979 Blondie song was played during KRTH's Totally '80s weekend. Well...guess what? For your amazement and amusement, I present this letter from Radio&Records editor Jeff Axelrod which appeared on LARadio.com, June 2, 1999:

"My daughter and I were driving home Sunday night, listening to Star 98.7's Totally '80s weekend, when they played My Sharona, which I very clearly remembered from the summer between 7th and 8th grade, also known as 1979. We got home, and I called the jock, just to jokingly give him a hard time about it. Knowing the jocks' propensity to record calls, I decided to do it with the radio off. So I talk with him briefly, he says, 'Hey, man, it's what's on the log. What do you know, it is from the '70s!' OK, fine, whatever. I was just having some fun with him. I hang up the phone and turn the radio back on, only to hear One Way Or Another segue into Pop Muzik -- both of which are also from 1979! Well, y'know, like, 1979 was, like, so totally '80s, just, like, a little bit earlier."

 

[oldies76]

"Hotel California" playing right now after "Come See About Me" (5:59pm) but for some reason and since 8/29, has not shown up on KRTH's playlist log when it airs. "La Bamba" shows at 6:08pm.

 

[Thomps2525]

Very peculiar. Maybe someone at KRTH is trying to find out if we complainers are still listening. When Hotel California is played three or four times a day but is no longer listed on the website's playlist, every time one of us comments about it, KRTH has proof that we were actually listening. Or maybe KRTH no longer lists the song because they know how much we complain about it. They couldn't stop playing it, of course---just quit showing it on the playlist.

In the first 19 hours of this day, KRTH has played Don't You Forget About Me four times, I Melt With You and Old Time Rock & Roll three times each, and September, Oh Pretty Woman, Kiss, The Logical Song, Bennie & The Jets and Don't Stop Believin' two times each. How about a new slogan: "All repetition, all the time."