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70s on AC

C

carolinaradio

With us entering a new decade, do you think it's still viable for AC stations to play music from the 1970s? A lot of them, especially in markets without classic hits stations, still put a pretty heavy emphasis on music from the 70s (well, even KOST does). An example would be WEJZ/Jacksonville that I recently heard. They still play 3 or 4 70s songs an hour along with, of course, a good helping of 80s and it sounds good. They have a "classic hits" station, but it's more like classic rock, so nobody's playing most of those songs. WRVR/Memphis plays a lot of 70s and even plays 60s songs that you don't expect on AC (I heard The Byrds' "Turn Turn Turn" online).

I think it's time to stop playing 60s on AC, even if just a few titles are played....but even in 2010 I think several 70s songs an hour is acceptable, especially in markets (such as my own) where there are no stations playing older music other than a classic rock station. By 70s I am talking about the Elton John, Rod Stewart, Eagles, Billy Joel, KC and the Sunshine Band, Hall and Oates type stuff, keeping it upbeat. I've heard AC's that don't play 70s....and they just seem more Hot AC'ish because they rely more on new songs or if they aren't, they just sound limited.
 
The 70s definitely have a place on an A/C station. I agree generally with the artists you mentioned.

Probably the two most successful A/C stations in the country.....Lite in NYC and B 101 in Philly both play two-three 70s songs an hour. Why? Because the right 70s titles will test with a younger audience.I believe that many A/C PDs are under the false assumption that you have to let go of the 70s if you are going to get younger listeners to your station. Lyrically, I think many of these songs have weathered the test of time. And.....when targeting women.....lyrics are key.

Brown Eyes Girl by Van Morrison is from the 60s. But still holds up very well today. But it probably is time to jettison the Motown tunes if they're still being played.
 
Seltzer said:
The 70s definitely have a place on an A/C station. I agree generally with the artists you mentioned.

Probably the two most successful A/C stations in the country.....Lite in NYC and B 101 in Philly both play two-three 70s songs an hour. Why? Because the right 70s titles will test with a younger audience.I believe that many A/C PDs are under the false assumption that you have to let go of the 70s if you are going to get younger listeners to your station. Lyrically, I think many of these songs have weathered the test of time. And.....when targeting women.....lyrics are key.

Brown Eyes Girl by Van Morrison is from the 60s. But still holds up very well today. But it probably is time to jettison the Motown tunes if they're still being played.
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Totally agreed. To this day, the "Sister Golden Hair", "Listen to the Music", "Crocodile Rock", "December, 1963" type songs don't sound dated at all. Heck, I'm not even in the AC target audience, I wasn't even around when these songs were released but would rather hear those than some Shania Twain or Sugar Ray song from the 90s. A song from 1975 on AC will sound much better on AC in 2010 than a song from 1965 did on AC in 2000, IMO. 70s was a great decade of music and so many of the songs are just timeless.

The AC I listen to recently dropped all of the 60s songs except for Brown Eyed Girl. Stand By Me, Can't Help Myself, Sittin' On The Dock of The Bay, My Girl, Baby Love...good songs, but they have run their course.
 
Because the production sound made a great leap in the 70s compared to previous decades I expect 70s songs (both AC and rock) to be with us for a long time. Compare the sound quality of a 1949 song to a 1979 song, you will obviously notice a huge difference..then compare a 1979 song to 2009 and the productio difference in sound is minimal (although I suppose the disco songs sound dated in their own charming way).

I notice that the ACs that still play 70s generally do well 25-54 usually better than the "FRESH FM" type stations that exclude 70s. Since "Variety" is the key positioner on AC these days, having 70s songs in the mix adds to the variety perception.
 
The AC station I listen to had cut 70s back in October to around 1 every hour or 1 every few hours sometimes....they have switched today and have started back 2-3 70s songs some hours, usually 2. Not sure if it's a permenant thing, but it sounds so much better. Heard Elton John's "Your Song" and was shocked it's 40 years old. That is one song, like it or not, that has stood the test of time.

AC with just 80s, 90s, and 00s sounds naked if not aggressive on the newer stuff. Note that the above station is so careful they won't even add "Fallin' For You", "Haven't Met You Yet", or "No Surprise"...like I say, if you don't want to play 70s, have to be more aggressive with the new stuff, which would be hard for this station given they're in the same building as the CHR.

Smart move on their part. Hope they keep it that way.
 
I totally agree. Either play a wide variety from 70s-today or 80s-today with more currents than average. 80-00s ACs that are conservative with currents sound stale to me.
 
My local AC plays a select few hits from the '60s. But I should also point out that we no longer have a full-time oldies station here in Nashville. But the last successful oldies station that we had was a sister station to the local AC. I don't believe I would be hearing the Beatles and the Supremes on local AC if we still had a full-time oldies station here.
 
Seltzer: Magic 98.9 in Greenville, SC. Entercom. http://www.magic989online.com

The above station didn't play as many 70s songs today (maybe they were playing with the music yesterday), but more than they had been. Hope they get back in to 2 an hour at least. They don't have enough variety without it.

Jay F: "80-00s ACs that are conservative with currents sound stale to me." Agreed. If you don't want to do 70s, I'd go in a more hot AC-ish direction.

Never heard The Beatles or Supremes (well, except for Baby Love) on an AC. Would be interesting to hear.
 
carolinaradio said:
Seltzer: Magic 98.9 in Greenville, SC. Entercom. http://www.magic989online.com

The above station didn't play as many 70s songs today (maybe they were playing with the music yesterday), but more than they had been. Hope they get back in to 2 an hour at least. They don't have enough variety without it.

Jay F: "80-00s ACs that are conservative with currents sound stale to me." Agreed. If you don't want to do 70s, I'd go in a more hot AC-ish direction.

Never heard The Beatles or Supremes (well, except for Baby Love) on an AC. Would be interesting to hear.
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Seriously? What rock ave you been living under?

I don't ever hear the Supremes on my standards station, but they do love the easygoing Beatles songs.

Michael Buble's "Haven't Met You Yet" has been played there. No surprise, since Buble is one of the top artists.

"Sister Golden Hair", "Your Song" and a bunch of the other soft AC classics are there too.

I saw a commercial on TV for an album set called "Easy Rock". Good stuff. As much as I like the really easy sound, these are good songs that ACs today seem to be afraid of.
 
I believe the 70s will be around a bit longer on AC, but I do believe the type of 70s songs you hear will change. The AC station here (WJKK Mix 98.7) plays "Sweet Home Alabama" and "More Than A Feeling". I've never heard any other AC play those songs.
 
the golden boy said:
I believe the 70s will be around a bit longer on AC, but I do believe the type of 70s songs you hear will change. The AC station here (WJKK Mix 98.7) plays "Sweet Home Alabama" and "More Than A Feeling". I've never heard any other AC play those songs.
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I've heard "More Than a Feeling" on AC many times. According to a newspaper article I read back in 1989, the soft AC in Charlotte played that song after dumping the artists such as Barry Manilow. Not long after that the easy listening station went soft AC. Really really soft AC.
 
I worked at an AC that played "More Than A Feeling:" in 1990. I was very surprised at the time although Boston did have an AC hit in 1986 called "Amanda". Now I am used to hearing "More Than A Feeling" on AC...age takes away the edge on songs like that.
 
I guess, I'm probably in the minority on this topic, but I tend to prefer the Bright AC type stations (Fresh FM's in NYC, Chi, DC, etc. Also WWRM Tampa and B98.5 Atlanta are favorites as well). Hot AC is ok, but it often tends to be too rock focused (although that is changing recently). I like the bright AC approach of upbeat, mostly 90s and now AC songs with a faster rotation and higher spins on currents and recurrents.

But, my local AC, is VERY gold based, so I know many here might enjoy them. In fact they tend to sound more like an AC/Classic Hits/Adult Hits hybrid. The station I'm referring to is South Central's WJXB "B97.5" in Knoxville, TN. (www.b975.com). A few years ago, they had moved to a more current based sound, but when longtime PD Jeff Jarnigan came back to the station, they went in the other direction and are now very gold based with lots of unusual titles. It kind of strikes me as odd too since they also have Adult Hits (95.7 Jack FM) and classic rock (WIMZ) stations in their local cluster. You would think they would lean current and away from those sister stations, but for some reason they don't. Anyway, while they aren't my cup of tea; if you do like gold based AC's, you might enjoy checking them out.
(Here's two sample hours from middays yesterday:
10 AM
-Grover Washington Jr/Bill Withers "Just the Two of Us"
-Daughtry "No Surprise"
-The Deele "Two Occasions"
-Fleetwood Mac "Rhiannon"
-Prince and the Revolution "Raspberry Beret"
-Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah"
-Foreigner "I Want to Know What Love is"
-James Blunt "You're Beautiful"
-Rob Thomas "Her Diamonds"
-Kelly Clarkson "A Moment Like This"
-Three Dog Night "Joy to the World"

1 PM-
-Gladys Knight and the Pips "Midnight Train to Georgia"
-John Waite "Missing You"
-Rob Thomas "Lonely No More"
-Fleetwood Mac "Don't Stop"
-Don Henley "All She Wants to do is Dance"
-Gary Wright "Dream Weaver"
-Uncle Kracker "Smile"
-Maroon Five "She Will Be Loved"
-Berlin "Take My Breath Away"
-Five for Fighting "Chances"
-America "Sister Golden Hair"
 
Other unusual AC gold titles played yesterday on WJXB "B97.5" Knoxville included; Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds "Fallin in Love", Andy Gibb "I just want to be Your Everything", Boston "More than a Feeling", Orleans "Dance With Me", Jackson Browne "Stay", Dave Mason "We just Disagree", Genesis "Misunderstanding", Exile "Kiss You all Over", Linda Ronstadt "It's so Easy", Paul Simon "Slip Slidin' Away", Steve Miller Band "Fly Like an Eagle", Bee Gees "Too Much Heaven", Seals and Croft "Get Closer", England Dan and John Ford Coley "Nights are Forever", Ace "How Long", Rita Coolidge "Higher and Higher" and Johnny Rivers "Swayin' To The Music".

Personally, I think it's a trainwreck and I don't care for the unusual 70's gold mixed with the newer AC stuff, but if you like it, you will probably enjoy this station. Anyway, needless to say, I think there's a gaping hole for a bright AC in Knoxville right now. (We have a newer suburban Hot AC that signed on, but there is still plenty of room for a more current focused mainstream AC in the market).
 
I think the right amount of 70s on an AC per hour is 3. 4 is too much (like that hour you mentioned, 1PM I believe) if you ask me, MAYBE play a fourth if there's time to fill. Actually, I like the idea of playing more 70s than 90s. The decade sounds much better and had excellent music compared to 90s.
 
@BRH The 70s songs you listed don't seem unusual to me at all. Those are mostly common songs that you would expect AC to play (the ones that do play 70s). I say that as someone who does enjoy unusual 70s songs, not that AC should be playing the more obscure titles.
 
BRH said:
Andy Gibb "I just want to be Your Everything", Boston "More than a Feeling", Orleans "Dance With Me", Jackson Browne "Stay", Dave Mason "We just Disagree", ... Paul Simon "Slip Slidin' Away", Bee Gees "Too Much Heaven", Seals and Croft "Get Closer", England Dan and John Ford Coley "Nights are Forever", Ace "How Long", Rita Coolidge "Higher and Higher" and Johnny Rivers "Swayin' To The Music".
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These are all songs I hear on adult standards radio.

Knoxville just lost that, but these do sound weird along with the current AC material.

The harder-rocking 70s music maybe fits better, but I don't know.

In any case, Knoxville is a wasteland where pop is concerned. Unless WOKI has something better.
 
I agree with Carolina Radio. 3 would be the max I would play.

I also agree that the 90s are not a great decade for A/C. The decade we just finished the 00's produced better songs for the format.
 
Seltzer said:
I agree with Carolina Radio. 3 would be the max I would play.

I also agree that the 90s are not a great decade for A/C. The decade we just finished the 00's produced better songs for the format.
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Contrary to what I've read some say, I don't think 90s will come around. I think the material we hear now is what we are going to hear on the format. Especially with the grunge, hip hop, etc genres that dominated top 40 music.

Unless there is an AC competitor playing more older music, or perhaps a strong classic hits station, I would definitely play 2 70s an hour, no less. Heck, even if there was a classic hits station I'd probably do that. If I was the only AC in town and there wasn't a classic hits station, I'd do 3 without hesitation.
 
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