Anyone else thinks CHR music has become even more annoying?

[KeithE4]

I didn't move to Phoenix until 1979 and didn't listen to either KRIZ or KRUZ even then. KOOL-FM was always my fav until they ditched Oldies for whatever-the-hell-they're-playing-now.

I think both stations were gone by 1979. 1230 was KFLR (now 90.3) and 1360 was geezer favorite KLFF.

I got a lot of exposure to KRIZ and KRUX (and other Phoenix-area radio and TV) because my grandparents were among the original homeowners in Sun City, in 1960, and we visited them a couple weeks a year. I lived with them briefly in 1964, and also lived here while in college between 1973 and 1975.

 

[KeithE4]

Back in '73 I interviewed for a sales job at KOOL-FM. I was thinking of adjusting my ASU classes to evenings, and working in the daytime. I'd already owned stations, managed them and sold for them. But they were concerned with my "sales experience" and I did not get the job. But the KOOL organization had a reputation for being ultra-conservative and it seems that hiring was based on knowing someone on the inside.

It was an interesting experience, as the offices at 511 W. Adams, in desert Phoenix, looked a lot like the inside of a Boston law firm... dark, quiet and conservative. I guess Chauncey and Homer Lane were fairly buttoned down people...

"Blessed is the nation who's god is the Lord. KOOL-TV Channel 10 Phoenix. On tape." Spoken by Homer Lane, IIRC.

That 1960s-'70s ID pretty much sums up the entire KOOL operation in those days. I doubt that there was a more conservative non-religious broadcaster in the area at the time.

 

[davideduardo]

I lived with them briefly in 1964, and also lived here while in college between 1973 and 1975.

Gee... those were the years I was in ASU in the same market!

 

[KeithE4]

Gee... those were the years I was in ASU in the same market!

I was at MCC. I was going to continue at ASU after getting my Associate in Electronics Engineering Technology in '75, but circum$tance$ made it impo$$ible. Ended up in Chicago, working for a living. Never did finish up my Bachelor's degree,

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

As a listener, I am someone who has an interest in pop music but today's songs are very overplayed and seemed to have gotten more intense sounding and annoying than previous years. On every CHR station the playlist is the same, who determines these hits? I cannot believe that this is the music that today's listeners like for 2015/2016. This is a small list of the ones that have been played enough and I personally tune to another station if I can:

Stressed Out - Twentyone Pilots,
Roses - The Chainsmokers,
Daya - Hide Away
Selena Gomez - Same Old Love
Alessia Care - Here
Bebe Rexha - Me, Myself, & I
Meghan Trainor - Like I'm Gonna Lose You
The Weeknd - The Hills
Shawn Mendes - Stitches (Good but way too much overplay)
Elle King - Exs and Ohs
Andy Grammer - Honey I'm Good (remix is ok)
Major Lazer - Powerful
Taylor Swift - Bad Blood
Imagine Dragons - Demons (older but still annoying/overplayed)

I don't think they are very upbeat or as positive sounding as music in the 80s/90s. I don't think Sara Bareilles - She Used To Be Mine and Michael Franti - Once A Day last year got enough airplay (but I like them better). The pop music in 2012 was at least a bit decent but it's gone downhill from there. Why is CHR music becoming so intense sounding as the years go on? I am surprised that Major Lazer even made it's way onto hot AC radio. That is a rap artist so is hot AC becoming CHR now? I'd like some opinions.

If thats what the target demos want then congrats to them.

 

[MVB13]

With little new songs being played now in 2020, CHR is definitely annoying. Many of the same songs are played for months and are overplayed!

 

[gr8oldies]

I think I remember my grandma saying something like that in, oh, 1967?

 

[CTListener]

I think I remember my grandma saying something like that in, oh, 1967?

The chart life of an average hit was shorter then, and the length of time that song got airplay on your local Top 40 station was probably several weeks less. Ever since the Hot 100 turned to sludge in the early '90s (Remember Boyz II Men's interminable run at No. 1?), CHR airplay length has been months, sometimes up to six months, which would have been unheard of in 1967.

 

[TheBigA]

The chart life of an average hit was shorter then, and the length of time that song got airplay on your local Top 40 station was probably several weeks less.

Usage of radio has also changed. Most people listen for shorter times. So it takes longer for new songs to register or have an impact with the general public. What we find is just at the moment the fans are getting tired of a song is the time when the general public is starting to become aware of it. There are some currents-based formats where chart life was 8 weeks, and now it can be 16 weeks or more.

 

[davideduardo]

Usage of radio has also changed. Most people listen for shorter times. So it takes longer for new songs to register or have an impact with the general public. What we find is just at the moment the fans are getting tired of a song is the time when the general public is starting to become aware of it. There are some currents-based formats where chart life was 8 weeks, and now it can be 16 weeks or more.

Further, the classic 50's and 60's Storz and McLendon Top 40 had about 40 songs in total. Today, a CHR may have considerably over 120, with dayparted songs, recurrents and gold.

I recall in the 60's we'd add 4 to 6 songs a week, and if they did not start generating phones or sales, they'd drop off. So, with an average of 5 adds a week and a Top 40 list, that gave us 8 weeks.

Today, we have currents and recurrents and gold. We may add 2 songs a week to a CHR, three if there are big name releases that are must-play. No songs are added at holiday periods. So the number of new songs played is less.

What has changed are the mechanics, and the result is room for fewer new songs. And with new music exposure coming from not just radio, it is hard to find the consensus songs, so when we find one we stick with it longer.

 

[TheBigA]

What has changed are the mechanics, and the result is room for fewer new songs. And with new music exposure coming from not just radio, it is hard to find the consensus songs, so when we find one we stick with it longer.

Also at play is streaming, and so that has its effect on the radio charts. It's why you may see two or even three songs by one artist in the Top 20. Even in the Alternative charts. If you have a big star who is driving a lot of action with multiple songs, it will ripple into the radio charts. That will push out songs by less popular or less active artists. There's offense and defense going on.

 

[davideduardo]

Also at play is streaming, and so that has its effect on the radio charts. It's why you may see two or even three songs by one artist in the Top 20. Even in the Alternative charts. If you have a big star who is driving a lot of action with multiple songs, it will ripple into the radio charts. That will push out songs by less popular or less active artists. There's offense and defense going on.

And deeper in the mechanics of rotations is the effect of having several currents by the same artist. If all are in higher current rotations, none of the recurrents or gold by that artist will play. So it seems like greater repetition, when it is really greater exclusion.

For those not familiar with music scheduling using MusicMaster or RCS' gSelector, the system is generally set up so it programs the highest rotation songs first. Then the next level, then the one after that. Sometimes we set it up so the to hottest current categories schedule first, then all the rest schedule together.

Some even schedule the currents first, pause the process and make sure they got laid down correctly, and then we let the recurrents and gold schedule.

The software is so versatile that we can customize it to our programming style and preferences. Obviously, that software is nowhere nearly as mechanical or simple as the cheap or free "schedulers" that often are just shuffling songs, not scheduling them with precise rules and objectives.

 

[CTListener]

I recall in the 60's we'd add 4 to 6 songs a week, and if they did not start generating phones or sales, they'd drop off. So, with an average of 5 adds a week and a Top 40 list, that gave us 8 weeks.

Today, we have currents and recurrents and gold. We may add 2 songs a week to a CHR, three if there are big name releases that are must-play. No songs are added at holiday periods. So the number of new songs played is less

So, on modern CHR stations, only about 100 to 150 new songs get any airplay at all over the course of a full year! Do any stations still do year-end top 100 countdowns or have those been cut to the top 20 or 30 to compensate for the lack of hits available to rank and play?

 

[TheBigA]

So, on modern CHR stations, only about 100 to 150 new songs get any airplay at all over the course of a full year! Do any stations still do year-end top 100 countdowns or have those been cut to the top 20 or 30 to compensate for the lack of hits available to rank and play?

Ryan Seacrest counted down the Top 40 of 2020 this wknd. The iHeart Countdown played the Top 50 of 2020. The charts usually take two weeks off around the holidays because stations replace current songs with holiday favorites. Currents will lose spins and it takes a week or two for them to recover.

Billboard released it's Hot 100 of 2020. It's interesting that when you look below the Top 50, you start to see a lot of country titles by Lee Brice, Jason Aldean, and Luke Combs. So I doubt CHR stations would delve that deep into the Top 100:

Hot 100 Songs - Year-End | Billboard

 

[davideduardo]

So, on modern CHR stations, only about 100 to 150 new songs get any airplay at all over the course of a full year! Do any stations still do year-end top 100 countdowns or have those been cut to the top 20 or 30 to compensate for the lack of hits available to rank and play?

And, of the songs premiered less than half get to be a proven hit and thus become recurrents. There is no way to test new music, as it is pretty generally accepted that it takes 5 or 6 exposures to a song for an emotional bond to establish (you can "like" a song the first time, but bonding takes longer). So all stations play some songs that end up stiffing out. The most prevalent source of those stiffs is established artists; programmers tend to find a known artist a safer new add than an unknown. But often the proven artist has a weak song, and it gets nuked as soon as some listener research comes in.

This is why we watch other stations on BDS or MediaBase (and used to watch in Hamilton, Gavin, FMQB and R&R among others) to see what is moving and what is stiffing. The first couple of weeks of airplay are a total risk unless you have waited very late to make an add and know it works everywhere else.

Speaking of that... Rick Sklar and WABC were famous for being a month or more late in going on new songs. They let other stations be guinea pigs and then, when it was certain a song was a smash hit, they added it. WABC was so dominant for a while that they could do that!

 

[CTListener]

Speaking of that... Rick Sklar and WABC were famous for being a month or more late in going on new songs. They let other stations be guinea pigs and then, when it was certain a song was a smash hit, they added it. WABC was so dominant for a while that they could do that!

I remember noticing that as a teenager listening from Boston. Our Top 40s were always playing new songs that WABC wasn't. And of course, big regional hits would never get a sniff of WABC attention. My favorite example was a 1967 tune by a Connecticut band called The Wildweeds. It was called "No Good To Cry" and went No. 1 at stations in Boston, Worcester, Providence and, of course, Hartford and New Haven. Some of the WABC jocks and other staff might have even heard it for themselves on trips to and from Connecticut. Yet I'd imagine that Sklar was waiting to see if the song would break out nationally before adding it, and it never did.

 

[TheBigA]

Rick Sklar and WABC were famous for being a month or more late in going on new songs. They let other stations be guinea pigs and then, when it was certain a song was a smash hit, they added it. WABC was so dominant for a while that they could do that!

Rick's book spends a lot of time on his music policy. One story in the first pages talks about MacArthur Park. The song was released on ABC's Dunhill label. He received a test pressing asking what he thought. He played it for his staff, and opinion was unanimous that they should play it. The label promo rep asked if he could wait a week or two so they could at least get records in the stores. He gave them a week, added it, and in five weeks it sold a half million copies. For a 7 minute song about someone leaving the cake out in the rain!

 

[davideduardo]

Rick's book spends a lot of time on his music policy. One story in the first pages talks about MacArthur Park. The song was released on ABC's Dunhill label. He received a test pressing asking what he thought. He played it for his staff, and opinion was unanimous that they should play it. The label promo rep asked if he could wait a week or two so they could at least get records in the stores. He gave them a week, added it, and in five weeks it sold a half million copies. For a 7 minute song about someone leaving the cake out in the rain!

Rick's book does contain an element of hyperbole... read with caution.

 

[semoochie]

"Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd had been on the chart for a full year and was still at #9! Two or three weeks ago, "I Hope" by Gabby Barrett peaked at #3 before the Christmas onslaught. This week marks 51 weeks on the chart!

I remember "Windy" by The Association having a strong run locally and then going away. Shortly thereafter, it hit nationally and came back for another run. The same thing happened with Quarterflash but that was a local band which was called "Seafood Mama" the first time out.