And don't forget his classic "Cheeseburger in Paradise"...........from 1978.
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The ratings are out for los angeles.
- Thread starter hotpatrick2004
- Start date
And don't forget his classic "Cheeseburger in Paradise"...........from 1978.
All stations eventually change format. There is no such thing as never, especially in radio.
Trying to forget that one, thanks (a lot)
KDKA broadcast election results in 1920. They still do today!
And "Fins"!
The chart will also tell you that BTO's "Let It Ride" stalled at No. 23. So how come I remember it being in heavy rotation on Syracuse Top 40 radio as a current? Aren't Billboard charts pre-SoundScan (I think that was what it was called) subject to all sorts of mondey business from record stores and distributors?
Billboard charts are also national charts, so a song getting more airplay in Syracuse won't necessarily affect the chart if other larger cities are playing the song in lesser rotation. And yes, this was in the days of unmonitored charts, when PDs would phone in their numbers.
My point is that fans of people like Buffett, the Dead, Springsteen, or whoever is they're largely unaffected by chart numbers. They're fans of the music, regardless of the chart position. So to them, a song like Fins is the opportunity to parade through the venue in a conga line wearing headgear. (believe me, I've done it) Not the same motivation for listening to the radio.
Classic rock was always under-represented on the charts. Many classic rock "classics" never rise high on the charts. For example, there are several Led Zeppelin songs I would consider to be hits (that are still played constantly today) that barely crack the Top 40.
You're talking about a very different chart. In its day, rock was the antithesis of Top 40 music. So to have rock songs in the Top 40 chart was seen more as a negative.
I suppose that would depend on exactly what time frame we're talking about---and to whom it was seen as a negative.
It wasn't the case when I programmed from 1971-81.
What I can tell you directly influenced the performance of rock on the singles chart was that airplay of rock singles tended to sell albums.
Using CTListener's example of BTO's "Let It Ride"---it may have stalled at #23 on the Hot 100, but the album it was on peaked at #4.
Blue Swede's "Hooked on A Feeling" was #6 the week "Let It Ride" peaked as a single (April 27, 1974). But that album peaked at #80.
Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love" was #7 that week. The album ("Wovoka") only made #66.
Smart PDs in the 70s looked at album sales as well as singles---and understood which songs and which acts would be more likely bought on LP than on 45.
And while Jimmy Buffett would appear to be more of an album than a singles artist, he's really neither. "Come Monday" peaked at #30 (the #3 BigA cites was its AC chart peak), but the album stiffed at #176. And his best-performing album until 1994 wasn't the one with "Margaritaville"...it was the one after.
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Good point...my thought was that fans of rock music saw Top 40 airplay as a negative. Hearing an edited version of Stairway To Heaven on the Top 40 station was the antithesis of what you'd hear on KMET.
Sure the record label wanted airplay on multiple formats to help sales. And it was possible for artists such as Buffett or the Grateful Dead to sell out large venues with no Top 40 or album hits. They were touring acts who made their money at the gate. This was likely why they bounced around from label to label during their careers. Buffett of course now has his own label where he releases what he wants when he wants, and doesn't care about sales.
The Dead were on Warner Bros. from 1967 through 1972, their own label from 1973 through 1975, and Arista from 1976 to 1990. That's hardly label hopping in my book.
Their only hit was on Arista, so that bought them time.
Buffett has become rich even though his music has received limited airplay, through constant touring, marketing, and well, even more marketing. He talks about it in the spoken intro to the song "Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost" a deep cut on the Fruitcakes album:
(Sarcastically): "Ohhhh Rock 'n Roll is a scary business. No hit records, no MTV Videos...you'll never make it here...scary. NOT! Let's do it Coral Reefers!
Good God---someone edited Stairway? Even KHJ left that uncut.
Rock actually helped Top 40 stave off FM rockers as long as it did...maintaining some listening among 18-34 year old males---even if it was just because their car didn't have FM.
Some Top 40s did it better than others. KFRC maintained a lot of its rock cred through the 70s by sponsoring the Bill Graham "Day on the Green" concerts. It didn't hurt that FM was tricky in SF before phased-loop lock tuning and that Bay Area FM rock stations wanted to prove how hip they were by NEVER playing a hit, even from a big album. You were way more likely to hear "Smoke on the Water" on KFRC than you were on KSAN.
But KHJ---they were up against KLOS, which out-Draked Drake. The original "Rock N Stereo" format was Top 40 with album cuts where the Donny Osmond singles would be. And when KHJ tried to counter, they just ended up sounding stupid segueing from a New Riders of the Purple Sage LP cut to "Puppy Love".
I agree, but not everyone is Jimmy Buffett. Before he had any hits, he was a writer for Billboard, and he knew all about the music business from the business side, and he had no fear or misconception about anything. He was willing to do the work and make the investment, while a lot of his other contemporaries weren't.
The difference was programming style. Jacobs was the essence of Top 40 formatics, while Tom Rounds at KFRC had "discussions" with Drake about playing "White Rabbit" and the like. The Mount Tamalpais State Park Fantasy Faire concert proved Rounds was right for that market. Even though TR moved on to do the Miami Pop Festival, KFRC had been branded as being the station that would venture in to the harder rock areas successfully.
And I agree that KFRC was saved for longer than most AM Top 40's by the combination of terrain, lack of FM radios with AFC and low car penetration. But behind it all was some pretty good programming.
I recall that during the late 70's and 80's, when FM was making big in roads in the Bay Area and KFRC was losing rating points to FMs like KYUU, KITS, land later KMEL (on the old KFRC-FM frequency yet) - that they entirely stopped mentioning their dial position. All their marketing from TV commercials to on-air promos to bumper stickers just said "KFRC." No more "Big 610" or anything similar. I've often wondered if this was part of their effort to hold onto audience, and hope people would forget they were on the increasingly less-hip and less youthful AM dial. Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard...
It was an interesting time for both music and radio. The Beatles were at the center of the battle, being played on both Top 40 and rock radio. Top 40 focused on singles while rock radio played album cuts. You had Cream's White Room being played on Top 40, while Crossroads was played on rock radio.
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