a personal invitation.

[davideduardo]

All I know, after listening to KRTH for many years, is that Roy Orbison never had a hit besides Oh Pretty Woman, and Brenda Lee and Pat Boone and Connie Francis and Herb Alpert never had any hits at all.

None of those artists had any hits among people under 55*.

* Orbison, as part of the Traveling Wilburys, did have a hit that the under-55 demo would likely know, but he needed Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne,and Tom Petty to make it happen,

 

[oldies76]

Would they?

No.

Would it be accurate if they did?

Yes.

Do you really think their listener base tested and approved all those deep cuts they are playing?? No. Have you even heard their selections? They are obviously aiming at 55+ and with KRTH snatching up the younger demos (35-54), this is a good alternative to the residents of that desert city. I'm sure there is a reason behind the banner and now the residents of that area are getting what they have hoped for, a true oldies station with "endless" tracks that they have not heard in years, if not decades. Listener satisfaction.....what a concept.

 

[oldies76]

Herb Alpert never had any hits at all.

The last time I can ever remember hearing a Herb Alpert song on KRTH, was back in the mid 1980's, during a #1 specialty weekend.

At the very least, "Rise" from 1979, or "Diamonds" from 1987 should be played.

 

[michael hagerty]

Would they?

No.

Would it be accurate if they did?

Yes.

Do you really think their listener base tested and approved all those deep cuts they are playing?? No.

I assume by that, you mean KRTH.

Do I think KRTH has tested everything it plays and doesn't play the songs that don't test well? Absolutely.

Do I think KRTH tested and got good scores for the deep cuts KFXM is playing? If so, they'd be playing them.

But remember, that banner that you love so much doesn't say that. It says:


"We do not have consultants to tell us what to play. We answer to a higher authority; The Listener"


KRTH doesn't have consultants to tell them what to play.

We know for a fact KRTH conducts quarterly music tests with a statistically valid sampling of their listeners and people in the demographic target in their listening area, and then uses that listener input to determine its playlist. In other words: They're answering to the listener.

I doubt KFXM does that kind of testing. It would be prohibitively expensive. It's infinitely more likely that Chris (who is to be applauded for the hard work that goes into such a venture) started with a huge library and plays the ones he gets requests for a bit more and the ones he gets complaints about a bit less.

Given the small signal and thus limited potential listening audience (only a fraction of whom would be actives who would give input), most often KFXM is playing a song Chris thought they should play. If you think a DJ should pick his own music, this is good news. If you think a station owner, General Manager or Sales Manager shouldn't be deciding what records get played, this is bad news, because Chris is all those things.

So it's actually more accurate for KRTH to say what that banner says than it is for KFXM.

 

[jonbruce]

Yes, Roger's brother Ron Christian was on KFXM, somewhat after my 1967-1970 run there. When I was at KFXM Ron was at country KCKC 1350.

 

[oldies76]

I assume by that, you mean KRTH.

No no. KFXM's playlist.

 

[Biondi4Mayor]

Herb Alpert never had any hits at all.

The last time I can ever remember hearing a Herb Alpert song on KRTH, was back in the mid 1980's, during a #1 specialty weekend.

At the very least, "Rise" from 1979, or "Diamonds" from 1987 should be played.

According to Clear Channel, CBS, and others - acts like Connie Francis and Herb Alpert never existed.
Recently, a CBS station ran a special of the Top 50 artists of all time using Joel Whitburn as the source -
altered of course - who did they omit?
-Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Dionne Warwick, Janet Jackson, Olivia-Newton John, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, Barbara Streisand, The Miracles, and Bobby Vinton...typical.

 

[oldies76]

According to Clear Channel, CBS, and others - acts like Connie Francis and Herb Alpert never existed.
Recently, a CBS station ran a special of the Top 50 artists of all time using Joel Whitburn as the source -
altered of course - who did they omit?
-Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Dionne Warwick, Janet Jackson, Olivia-Newton John, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, Barbara Streisand, The Miracles, and Bobby Vinton...typical.

So the countdown was altered badly, just to satisfy their "tested" playlist..Why do a special then? That reminds me of the fake weekends some classic stations do today, saying they are having a specialty, but in reality, it's the same music, just bundled in a different order.

 

[michael hagerty]

Herb Alpert never had any hits at all.

The last time I can ever remember hearing a Herb Alpert song on KRTH, was back in the mid 1980's, during a #1 specialty weekend.

At the very least, "Rise" from 1979, or "Diamonds" from 1987 should be played.

According to Clear Channel, CBS, and others - acts like Connie Francis and Herb Alpert never existed.
Recently, a CBS station ran a special of the Top 50 artists of all time using Joel Whitburn as the source -
altered of course - who did they omit?
-Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Dionne Warwick, Janet Jackson, Olivia-Newton John, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, Barbara Streisand, The Miracles, and Bobby Vinton...typical.

And in that list, there's one name that would keep me from immediately jumping to a conclusion about the reason behind the omissions.

Janet Jackson.

 

[michael hagerty]

I assume by that, you mean KRTH.

No no. KFXM's playlist.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Goes back to the point I made. KFXM may not have consultants telling them what to play (neither does KRTH), but they are winging it on most of their library. KRTH has more input and more statistically valid input from listeners and acts on it. Again, the slogan is more accurate for KRTH than for KFXM.

 

[Thomps2525]

"Input." Hmm. Apparently that "input" dictates that KRTH plays the same few songs over and over and over. Mister oldies76 mentioned so-called "specialty weekends." KRTH plays the same songs on weekends that they play Monday through Friday. But...every weekend has a big boss theme! It might be a Motown Weekend...or a Beatles weekend...or a British Invasion Weekend...or a '70s Soul Weekend...or a Movie Tunes weekend...or even a Parade Of Hits Weekend (whatever the heck that means). Except for the one or two "theme" songs played on the hour and half-hour, the songs remain the same. (Yes, I know I'm borrowing from a song title there.) Always the same songs, just in a slightly different order. Boring. But, as I'm sure David Eduardo would point out, those are the songs that "test well." KRTH has never tested songs with me---and if they did, they'd throw out the results because I'm a "music freak" who wants to hear obscurities and low-charting songs. I don't fit their target audience of "listeners who love to hear only the biggest hits over and over and over for all eternity."

 

[michael hagerty]

"Input." Hmm. Apparently that "input" dictates that KRTH plays the same few songs over and over and over. Mister oldies76 mentioned so-called "specialty weekends." KRTH plays the same songs on weekends that they play Monday through Friday. But...every weekend has a big boss theme! It might be a Motown Weekend...or a Beatles weekend...or a British Invasion Weekend...or a '70s Soul Weekend...or a Movie Tunes weekend...or even a Parade Of Hits Weekend (whatever the heck that means). Except for the one or two "theme" songs played on the hour and half-hour, the songs remain the same. (Yes, I know I'm borrowing from a song title there.) Always the same songs, just in a slightly different order. Boring. But, as I'm sure David Eduardo would point out, those are the songs that "test well." KRTH has never tested songs with me---and if they did, they'd throw out the results because I'm a "music freak" who wants to hear obscurities and low-charting songs. I don't fit their target audience of "listeners who love to hear only the biggest hits over and over and over for all eternity."

Steve: If you haven't checked it out already, there's a Classic Hits thread going on right now, in which, if you read the posts carefully, you'll see how the average target KRTH listener doesn't hear the repetition because of listening patterns and rotations.

Bill Pearl was one of the people who taught me the value of understanding how the listener actually uses radio and programming to meet those expectations. Jhani Kaye and KRTH do that exceptionally well.

 

[Thomps2525]

I know, I know---the average listener who tunes in for only 30 minutes a day will never be aware that Happy Together and Brown Eyed Girl and Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye are getting played 200 times a week! But some of us non-average listeners are painfully aware and change the station as soon as we hear one of those songs begin.

 

[michael hagerty]

I know, I know---the average listener who tunes in for only 30 minutes a day will never be aware that Happy Together and Brown Eyed Girl and Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye are getting played 200 times a week! But some of us non-average listeners are painfully aware and change the station as soon as we hear one of those songs begin.

Credibility multiplies by a reduction of exaggerations, Steve.

 

[michael hagerty]

And please understand, I've listened to KFXM. I enjoy it personally. I respect Chris Compton for what is clearly a labor of love.

But as to the viability of it in a competitive, commercial situation...or to suggest that it is more in touch with listeners than KRTH...it's just not.

 

[oldies76]

I know, I know---the average listener who tunes in for only 30 minutes a day will never be aware that Happy Together and Brown Eyed Girl and Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye are getting played 200 times a week! But some of us non-average listeners are painfully aware and change the station as soon as we hear one of those songs begin.

But they will wonder as to why none of the other Turtles seven top 20 singles never get played on KRTH, especially listeners WHO LIKE the Turtles. ;D

I don't even know if KRTH plays "Domino" or "Moondance" from Van Morrison anymore.

 

[oldies76]

And please understand, I've listened to KFXM. I enjoy it personally. I respect Chris Compton for what is clearly a labor of love.

But as to the viability of it in a competitive, commercial situation...or to suggest that it is more in touch with listeners than KRTH...it's just not.

Very debatable......I'll just leave it as such.

 

[Thomps2525]

Oh yeah, Moondance still gets played on KRTH. I could never understand why. A low-charting song by a guy with a horrible voice---Go figure!

Michael, don't you think a KFXM listener will be more excited about hearing hundreds of obscure songs than a KRTH listener is excited about hearing My Girl or You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling for the 10,000th time in his life?

(Exaggeration for effect. You know my slogan for KRTH: "Songs we got sick of hearing when we were in high school.")

 

[Biondi4Mayor]

Herb Alpert never had any hits at all.

The last time I can ever remember hearing a Herb Alpert song on KRTH, was back in the mid 1980's, during a #1 specialty weekend.

At the very least, "Rise" from 1979, or "Diamonds" from 1987 should be played.

According to Clear Channel, CBS, and others - acts like Connie Francis and Herb Alpert never existed.
Recently, a CBS station ran a special of the Top 50 artists of all time using Joel Whitburn as the source -
altered of course - who did they omit?
-Pat Boone, Connie Francis, Dionne Warwick, Janet Jackson, Olivia-Newton John, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, Barbara Streisand, The Miracles, and Bobby Vinton...typical.

And in that list, there's one name that would keep me from immediately jumping to a conclusion about the reason behind the omissions.

Janet Jackson.

My bad, they did play her. All artists only got one song "representative" of them. Naturally, hers was "When I think of You". And I doubt they test her other stuff ... it's "too urban : "

 

[michael hagerty]

I know, I know---the average listener who tunes in for only 30 minutes a day will never be aware that Happy Together and Brown Eyed Girl and Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye are getting played 200 times a week! But some of us non-average listeners are painfully aware and change the station as soon as we hear one of those songs begin.

But they will wonder as to why none of the other Turtles seven top 20 singles never get played on KRTH, especially listeners WHO LIKE the Turtles. ;D

I don't even know if KRTH plays "Domino" or "Moondance" from Van Morrison anymore.

KRTH did play "Moondance" last Monday. I haven't seen "Domino" yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't playing it.

Listeners who like the Turtles are likely to be out of the demo, given that it's been 43 years since the last hit. But "Happy Together" transcends that...and it wouldn't surprise me if KRTH plays "Elenore" and "She'd Rather Be With Me".