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Country on Ben FM

A

atthestars

OK, it's only one song, and it's a hugely popular 90s one, but it caught me off guard when Ben FM played Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places." They've played it a few times now to make it sound like it's part of the library. Definitely is something the target demographic would know and like!

Also a very interesting transition from Run DMC "It's Tricky" into it!

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The song is a staple on many Variety Hits stations. It's actually had four plays this week on WBEN-FM and has been played on the station a total of 289 times since 2008.
 
lanceventa said:
The song is a staple on many Variety Hits stations. It's actually had four plays this week on WBEN-FM and has been played on the station a total of 289 times since 2008.
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How the hell have I missed it all those times??? I thought it was a recent add to the playlist!

Thanks for the info!
 
atthestars said:
OK, it's only one song, and it's a hugely popular 90s one, but it caught me off guard when Ben FM played Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places." They've played it a few times now to make it sound like it's part of the library. Definitely is something the target demographic would know and like!
Click to expand...
But, like most of Brooks' hits, it did not cross over to CHR or AC. Why would listeners who were fans of CHR or AC in the early '90s even be familiar with it? Did the country boom that started in the late '80s bring a lot of crossover listening?
 
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This is an example of what differs Adult Hits from Classic Hits or Classic Rock. SparkNet, creator of the JackFM format, uses the line "playing what we want" to say that they are not constrained by genre. So they might play pop, they might play rock, and in some cases they might also play a high testing country song. BenFM says they're "Playing anything we feel like." In this case, it's Garth.
 
CTListener said:
But, like most of Brooks' hits, it did not cross over to CHR or AC. Why would listeners who were fans of CHR or AC in the early '90s even be familiar with it? Did the country boom that started in the late '80s bring a lot of crossover listening?
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It's a widely played song by event DJs and the like, and often a pace-breaker at clubs of certain types.

I can't imagine anyone except vchimpanzee not having heard that one.
 
CTListener said:
But, like most of Brooks' hits, it did not cross over to CHR or AC. Why would listeners who were fans of CHR or AC in the early '90s even be familiar with it? Did the country boom that started in the late '80s bring a lot of crossover listening?
Click to expand...

The song was a pop culture phenomenon. It may not have crossed over on the charts but it became well known by just about everyone. I’m not surprised that it’s on Ben FM. I have heard it played on Jack FM elsewhere.
 
Stations like Jack-FM and Ben-FM say "Playing What We Want" or something similar. But they really play almost no Country titles. As a person who doesn't like Country, that's fine by me. But it is an example that Adult Hits stations are not as wild and free as they claim to be.

The formula for Jack and similar stations is to mix the more popular Classic Rock hits from the late 1960s and 1970s, along with the MTV Video era hits from 1980s and 90s. Add in a few very occasional post-2000 songs from the biggest artists like Bruno Mars, Adele and Ed Sheeran. There may only be about 30 or so songs in this category. Jack plays something from this file only a few times a day.

To reinforce the "We Play Everything" slogan, maybe once an hour Jack will play an out-of-format song, like "Friends in Low Places." Usually it will be an almost-novelty song, such as "Can't Touch This", "She's A Bad Mama Jama" or "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." And the only black artists who get regular play are Michael Jackson and Prince. That's the Adult Hits format.
 
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