A to Z '80s weekend on The Point

[RMarino]

Anyone been listening to 93.1 this weekend? The extra songs they are throwing in sound great. It's still by no means a definitive '80s format. But they are playing a lot of songs that they SHOULD be playing in their regular format such as...

OMD "If You Leave"
Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Elieen"
Prince "Let's Go Crazy"
Sly Fox "Let's Go All The Way"

...and several others. I would think that these songs would be "no brainers" for an '80s format.

 

[tennvol]

Anyone been listening to 93.1 this weekend? The extra songs they are throwing in sound great. It's still by no means a definitive '80s format. But they are playing a lot of songs that they SHOULD be playing in their regular format such as...

OMD "If You Leave"
Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Elieen"
Prince "Let's Go Crazy"
Sly Fox "Let's Go All The Way"

...and several others. I would think that these songs would be "no brainers" for an '80s format.

I could be getting confused with Sirius 8, but I would have sworn that I had heard those songs on 93.1 before the A-Z weekend. I know for sure I have heard "Let's Go Crazy" because they cut it off before the guitar riff at the end.

 

[RMarino]

I hadn't heard any Prince on 93.1 at all before this weekend. Also, according to yes.net, they didnt play any Z songs, thus making it not really an A to Z weekend. I can think of at least two Z songs they could have used.

 

[BRH]

93.1 should definately add more variety to their 80's playlist. I would love to hear something other than rock and hairband leaning 80's hits. I think they need a lot more new wave and also I would love to hear some 80's rhythmic titles as well. I don't know why they only focus on mostly mainstream rock hits and hair bands. My thought is that they probably are trying to protect and distance themselves from sister station WWST. I guess they are afraid that if they make it too rhythmic or even pop sounding that it will cut into some of Star's upper demos. Personally, I think it's a mistake though.

 

[AlbumOldies]

I don't understand the reason for this A to Z business. Why bother to play the songs on only on a special weekend and not during the week? If this is supposed to be such a draw, then I would think it ought to be equally popular all the time. WIMZ has done this in the past; the first two times it was worth listening to just to finally get to hear them play something other than Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. The last time they did A to Z though I thought it was much more tilted toward the 80's. I always have thought it hilarious (and yet sad) that they (WIMZ) brag about having Knoxville's largest on-air library - you'd never know it listening to them. Worst classic rock station I've ever heard.

 

[RMarino]

Yeah, even if 93.1 doesn't want to play rhythmic artists, at least put in some of that new wave british pop (Human League, Thomas Dolby, ABC, Pet Shop Boys). And heaven forbid we hear anything from Madonna or Janet Jackson.

Check out the '80s station in Tampa, FL (www.1015thepoint.com) They's been successful with the format for almost 6 years now. Yeah they leave out the rhythmic stuff too, but they STILL have a greater variety than our 93.1 (or "93POINT1" as my RDS reads)

And yes, WIMZ is disappointing. I miss the old days when "classic rock" stations focused on the the era from Woodstock until the end of the '70s, and only an occasional '80s tune. There was so much variety. Now classic rock stations are mainly '80s rock (which I like, but play some other stuff too.)

 

[TightwadSquarepants]

Tennvol brought up a pet-peeve of mine. Well, at least indirectly. He was talking about "Let's Go Crazy" getting cut off before the guitar riff. Well, I hate when radio stations do that. Especially with the songs "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" from Chicago (#1 August of 1982 for 2 weeks). Technically, "Get Away" is another song (check out the listing on Chicago 16 or Chicago's Greatest Hits, 1982-1989), but there's no real pause between the two and "Get Away" is the best part of it. The horn section of Jimmy Pankow (trombone), Lee Loughnane (trumpet) and Walt Parazaider (saxophone) is an integral part of Chicago and to simply "fade out" is a crime against pop/rock music.
Plus, when is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame going to "smarten up" and allow Robert Lamm, Pankow, Loughnane, Parazaider, Peter Cetera (yeah, I know he left the band in 85), Terry Kath (yeah, I know he died in 78), Danny Seraphine (yeah, I know he got kicked out of the band in 90), Laudir De Oliviera, Bill Champlain, Jason Scheff, DaWayne Bailey, Tris Imboden, Donnie Dacus and Chris Pinnick in?
I know they've always been a favorite target of the rock critics...(well, let me just start my own thread. Sorry to interrupt this one...I shut up now!

 

[RMarino]

The single version of "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" did NOT include "Get Away." Therefore, the two were never played together on CHR. I only started hearing "Get Away" on the radio in the early '90s on AC stations and it really sounded out of place. Now I'm kinda used to it, but I see nothing wrong only playing "Hard To Say I'm Sorry." Thats how it was originally played in 1982.

To tie this back to the original topic, I don't think I've heard any of Chicago's '80s hits on 93.1

 

[TightwadSquarepants]

I don't know if you would've heard any or not. I live up here in Tri-Cities. I guess I was generally speaking about that song and not really in reference to the Point. I know our station here in JC (104.9 The Peak), the version we play does not include "Get Away", so it's pretty common not to include it. I guess I just think it really kicks the experience up a notch or two. But that's just me.

 

[ARDONAVINDA]

I'm a stickler at programming the original 7" versions I like to call em' 45 edits, anyhow every once and a while It's cool to throw the album version in for flavor. A good example for me is, Soft Cell "Tainted Love" the original 45 edit is just that, but some Top 40 stations in 1982 played the Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go version and when I hear the short version I think I was robbed without hearing it segue into Where Did Our Love Go. I'm a little perplexed as to why The Point avoids the Rhythmic side of 80's Top 40? If your going to do an all 80's station why not play it all? If I had a shot at programming an all 80's station I would recreate Mike Joeseph's "Hot Hit's" format that was big from 1981-1987. I would use the reverb like they did, play all the hits and go deep. Have TM Century, and JAM re cut the Hot Hits style jingles, and have my jocks let loose and do personality radio because during the "Hot Hits" run in the 80's jock personality was still prevalant. It didn't become liner cards until about 1988. As for Chicago, I'm a huge fan! early 70's stuff being my fave. I felt like the 80's Chicago didn't focus enough on their horn section like they did in their beginnings. So I would probably make an exception and play "Hard To Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" because that's the Chicago sound. I don't know about you guys but it's hard for me to get excited about a station anymore these days that is fun to listen to. Why is this?

 

[RussAllen]

...I would recreate Mike Joeseph's "Hot Hit's" format that was big from 1981-1987. I would use the reverb like they did, play all the hits and go deep. Have TM Century, and JAM re cut the Hot Hits style jingles, and have my jocks let loose and do personality radio because during the "Hot Hits" run in the 80's jock personality was still prevalant.

Thank you for bringing back some pre radio career memories with your "Hot Hit's" post. That took me back to living in the Baltimore/Washington corridor and hearing HOT HITS K106 in B-more. They weren't successful in beating B104 but damn if K106 wasn't fun for me to listen to. Nothing but currents and new music and a TON of energy. Although I never liked the reverb.

 

[AlbumOldies]

I don't know about you guys but it's hard for me to get excited about a station anymore these days that is fun to listen to. Why is this?

I've said for some time it's a heck of a note you can hear better music on the sound system at Food Lion than you can hear on Knoxville radio. There's really no station I can set my radio on and let it play without having to punch another button after a couple of songs (AM 1040 would be an exception to this). Either there's crappy or overplayed music or a 5 minute long block of ads. The pitiful restrictive playlist on WIMZ isn't the only reason I got sour on them - it was the long periods of ads. If I were an advertiser I would be concerned if my ad came on in one of these long breaks - what good does advertising do if everyone is changing stations knowing they are in for a long period without music? Jack FM is also bad about this. And the constant "John Boy and Billy all morning; solid blocks of classic rock all day" on WIMZ really started grating on my nerves. ENOUGH! Come up with something original and different instead of reading off a card !

 

[bobeeboxer]

The most recent research I read (I believe by Edison) showed that in most cases a station loses only 9% of its listeners becuase of a spot beak and it also mention that the punch out rate was the same with a 3minute break and a 6 minut break (No diffrence) and that is why the breaks are so long after all somebody has to pay for all those lunches the Big R takes

 

[tennvol]

Yeah, even if 93.1 doesn't want to play rhythmic artists, at least put in some of that new wave british pop (Human League, Thomas Dolby, ABC, Pet Shop Boys). And heaven forbid we hear anything from Madonna or Janet Jackson.

Check out the '80s station in Tampa, FL (www.1015thepoint.com) They's been successful with the format for almost 6 years now. Yeah they leave out the rhythmic stuff too, but they STILL have a greater variety than our 93.1 (or "93POINT1" as my RDS reads)

And yes, WIMZ is disappointing. I miss the old days when "classic rock" stations focused on the the era from Woodstock until the end of the '70s, and only an occasional '80s tune. There was so much variety. Now classic rock stations are mainly '80s rock (which I like, but play some other stuff too.)

Funny you mention them. When I made my original post in this thread, I had just returned from a week in the Tampa area listening to that station. They did seem to play a wider variety of songs, but I don't know that their play list was any bigger. There were a couple of songs that I heard the first day I was there that I thought "Wow, haven't heard that in a while". but then I heard those same songs again about the same time the next day AND the day after. Overall, though, I did like that station, and it reached well into Orlando.

I agree with most of the comments about the lack of variety on 93.1. There have been quite a few artists mentioned that should be played. It had not dawned on me that I had not heard Chicago, but they were huge in the 80's. As an aside, I KNOW some station in Knoxville played the full "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" on a regular basis when it was popular, I just don't remember who. It's what prompted me to buy the Chicago 16 album (cassette actually).

On the subject of 80's music, it seems to be a popular choice with restaurants I have been visiting recently. In the course of a week, I was in 4 different, unrelated (as far as I know) establishments that were playing music from that era (and not a local station, XM, or Sirius).

 

[RussAllen]

I gotta show some luv to 93.1. They had an impressive Spring book. Particularly when you examine the persons 25-54 gains and the gains in the 35-44 demo. Cume & TSL increases.

Congrats to their entire staff.

 

[RMarino]

I gotta show some luv to 93.1. They had an impressive Spring book. Particularly when you examine the persons 25-54 gains and the gains in the 35-44 demo. Cume & TSL increases.

Congrats to their entire staff.

Well deserved in my opinion! I know we've been commenting on their small playlist, but I still think it's one of the best sounding stations in Knoxville. I'm happy to see them doing well.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

I have to say that I have never been impressed with "931 THE POINT"

Like many other commercial 80's Radio Stations they play the same old popular 80's hits that we have heard for the past 25 years.

There are so many other songs that came out in the 80's that have not been played since that decade.

I realize that these stations have to appeal to the advertisers, and that they play those hits that most people will remember, however I prefer to hear more obscured stuff from the 80's.

IMHO, just because a song was not a huge hit on the Billboard Charts does not mean it was not a good song.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

I don't know about you guys but it's hard for me to get excited about a station anymore these days that is fun to listen to. Why is this?

I've said for some time it's a heck of a note you can hear better music on the sound system at Food Lion than you can hear on Knoxville radio.

You know, I have thought the same exact thing. LMAO!!!!!

 

[AMandFM]

Check out the '80s station in Tampa, FL (www.1015thepoint.com) They's been successful with the format for almost 6 years now. Yeah they leave out the rhythmic stuff too, but they STILL have a greater variety than our 93.1 (or "93POINT1" as my RDS reads)

101-5's a good station (their "Z" song, BTW, is Billy Joel's "Zanzibar"), but they seem to be content with having just two jocks. Morning and afternoon drive...that's it. They don't even throw a couple of pennies to a part-timer to voicetrack on the weekends. All that tells me is, 1.) Cox is cheap, but that's not news. 2.) With just two jocks, one being the PD, they're ready to flip formats at a moment's notice, which is an alarmist stance to always be on considering they could have flipped many times since debuting that format.

For my ear, they could put a rhythmic show on Friday and Saturday nights.