Classic Hits: Evolution or Revolution?

[CTListener]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

 

[michael hagerty]

Well, the last time I tuned in to terrestrial radio I heard an infomercial. That's not a good sign.

On AM, no doubt. Now that's a terrestrial radio segment I think everyone agrees is doomed.

Yeah...it's spread. I tried to spend some time listening to WLS-FM online late at night a couple of weekends ago and they were running an info. Caught KOOL-FM in Phoenix doing the same in weekend overnights this past weekend. Ugly stuff.

I have often wondered what it is about an infomercial on radio that would keep people tuned in! With television, at least you have the visuals, but what do you have on radio? And I would imagine that if a listener tuned in and joined an infomercial in progress, that would be an immediate tune-out factor! After all, if they have just joined you, you haven't had a chance to build suspense in order to keep them listening!

I have mentioned this several times on here, but I once worked for a Christian talk station which scheduled infomercials at times like 10:30 on a Saturday morning. I didn't fault them for doing this, because they had to make the money to pay the bills, and this sold the otherwise unsold airtime. (Now you could make a case about a so-called "Christian" station doing this, but that is not where I am going, here.)

I remember the station receiving a fax from one of these infomercial vultures, basically complaining about the lack of response from their infomercial over our station. They swooped up (otherwise) unsold airtime, then wondered why they received no response? I don't even blame the infomercial vultures for reassessing their advertising, because even they would want to advertise somewhere where they might actually receive a response and maybe even make a sale or two. But they might want to ask themselves WHY that particular timeslot was unsold, rather than buying it (deeply discounted, of course) and then wondering why no one responded to their ad.

Infos are generally Direct Response (DR). The results are measured on how many people call to inquire about or buy the product during or shortly after the infomercial airs.

Let's say you have a timeslot (overnights) where the most you could get for a 60-second spot is $10. If you run 14 minutes an hour and sell them all for $10, you could make $140.

But realistically, you're not going to sell out that hour. You may only make $20 or $30.
Here comes a DR advertiser. He'll pay you $200 for that timeslot, because he's selling an insomnia cure or male enhancement product. Each one he sells, he bills the customer's credit card for $99. All he needs are three people to hear enough of his half-hour to know what he's selling, hear his phone number and decide they need what he's got and he has a better than 30% ROI. Everything he sells above that is pure profit. And he's doing it on three or four stations in a hundred or more cities every week, so the bottom line is very juicy.

The FAX your station got was the client's attempt to negotiate a lower rate. Sometimes it is because no one called or they only sold one or two to those who did call and thus lost money. Sometimes they did fine, but know they could offer you $50 instead of $200 and you'd be better off than trying to sell spots at ten bucks a pop (at the TV station I programmed 10 years ago where we did a lot of DR business early on, I made sure they disclosed how many calls and how many sales. A lot of the time, we delivered callers...their phone bank just couldn't close the sale).

 

[michael hagerty]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

Those are stores that had a lot of returns to the distributor. The only thing as bad as playing a record that stalls at 99 is trying to sell 5 or 10 of them.

In the late 60s, the Singer Sewing Centers saw research indicating that teen boys were increasingly buying LPs and tape and 45s were increasingly a teen girl purchase. That prompted them to license a series of portable phonographs that they put the Singer name on and then stock a "Singer Top 50" singles display in their stores. Lasted from about '68 to '73, which means they got out just before singles sales began to drop overall.

 

[CTListener]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

Those are stores that had a lot of returns to the distributor. The only thing as bad as playing a record that stalls at 99 is trying to sell 5 or 10 of them.

In the late 60s, the Singer Sewing Centers saw research indicating that teen boys were increasingly buying LPs and tape and 45s were increasingly a teen girl purchase. That prompted them to license a series of portable phonographs that they put the Singer name on and then stock a "Singer Top 50" singles display in their stores. Lasted from about '68 to '73, which means they got out just before singles sales began to drop overall.

My memory was faulty on that. Now that I reflect on it further, it was a top 30 wall, based on the WRKO "Now 30" for the week. Big difference.

 

[michael hagerty]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

Those are stores that had a lot of returns to the distributor. The only thing as bad as playing a record that stalls at 99 is trying to sell 5 or 10 of them.

In the late 60s, the Singer Sewing Centers saw research indicating that teen boys were increasingly buying LPs and tape and 45s were increasingly a teen girl purchase. That prompted them to license a series of portable phonographs that they put the Singer name on and then stock a "Singer Top 50" singles display in their stores. Lasted from about '68 to '73, which means they got out just before singles sales began to drop overall.

My memory was faulty on that. Now that I reflect on it further, it was a top 30 wall, based on the WRKO "Now 30" for the week. Big difference.

And those sold, because WRKO was basing its chart on local retail sales, unlike Billboard. It was that way in most cities.

The only store I knew to stock every single on the Hot 100 was Wallich's Music City in Hollywood. But Clyde Wallich was one of the founding partners in Capitol Records and knew everyone in the industry. I'm sure he had return guarantees. He also made a huge profit, selling all records and tapes for full list price. It worked for a while because of selection, but once The Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza and especially Tower came in with huge selection and deep discounts ($5.98 LPs for $3.29) and Music City refused to move off full list, it was game over.

 

[CTListener]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

Those are stores that had a lot of returns to the distributor. The only thing as bad as playing a record that stalls at 99 is trying to sell 5 or 10 of them.

In the late 60s, the Singer Sewing Centers saw research indicating that teen boys were increasingly buying LPs and tape and 45s were increasingly a teen girl purchase. That prompted them to license a series of portable phonographs that they put the Singer name on and then stock a "Singer Top 50" singles display in their stores. Lasted from about '68 to '73, which means they got out just before singles sales began to drop overall.

My memory was faulty on that. Now that I reflect on it further, it was a top 30 wall, based on the WRKO "Now 30" for the week. Big difference.

And those sold, because WRKO was basing its chart on local retail sales, unlike Billboard. It was that way in most cities.

The only store I knew to stock every single on the Hot 100 was Wallich's Music City in Hollywood. But Clyde Wallich was one of the founding partners in Capitol Records and knew everyone in the industry. I'm sure he had return guarantees. He also made a huge profit, selling all records and tapes for full list price. It worked for a while because of selection, but once The Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza and especially Tower came in with huge selection and deep discounts ($5.98 LPs for $3.29) and Music City refused to move off full list, it was game over.

Of course, WRKO had several off-the-wall songs on its chart -- and being played on air -- every week because the home office was pushing them, things like Hamilton Camp's "Here's to You" and O.C. Smith's "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp." I have no idea if 'RKO's airplay turned songs like those into legitimate hits in Boston, but we weren't hearing them on rival WMEX at all, unlike everything else on the 'RKO chart.

 

[michael hagerty]

Interesting stories! I can give you one from the consumer's point of view.

There was an electronics store just a few miles from me which had enough wall space for the ENTIRE BILLBOARD HOT 100! They had wall slots for 100 different 45s! They usually had that weeks Hot 100 taped to a clipboard and it was right there on the counter if you wanted to check it out. Now needless to say, they did not necessarily have a record in every one of those 100 slots, because there were some that they maybe had not received yet, or sold out of, whatever.

But more interesting was that once a record had dropped off of the Hot 100, they would place it in a box full of deeply discounted 45s! I got several Bruce Springsteen 45s from the Born in the USA era that way, most of them with picture sleeves. So I would just wait for a song to drop off of the Hot 100, then go in there and get it discounted from that box! All I had to do was just search the box for the ones that I wanted.

The record shop I went to in my youth also had a Hot 100 wall. Of course, that was in the late '60s. I'm surprised any stores were still doing that sort of thing in the mid-'80s, when those Springsteen singles came out.

Those are stores that had a lot of returns to the distributor. The only thing as bad as playing a record that stalls at 99 is trying to sell 5 or 10 of them.

In the late 60s, the Singer Sewing Centers saw research indicating that teen boys were increasingly buying LPs and tape and 45s were increasingly a teen girl purchase. That prompted them to license a series of portable phonographs that they put the Singer name on and then stock a "Singer Top 50" singles display in their stores. Lasted from about '68 to '73, which means they got out just before singles sales began to drop overall.

My memory was faulty on that. Now that I reflect on it further, it was a top 30 wall, based on the WRKO "Now 30" for the week. Big difference.

And those sold, because WRKO was basing its chart on local retail sales, unlike Billboard. It was that way in most cities.

The only store I knew to stock every single on the Hot 100 was Wallich's Music City in Hollywood. But Clyde Wallich was one of the founding partners in Capitol Records and knew everyone in the industry. I'm sure he had return guarantees. He also made a huge profit, selling all records and tapes for full list price. It worked for a while because of selection, but once The Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza and especially Tower came in with huge selection and deep discounts ($5.98 LPs for $3.29) and Music City refused to move off full list, it was game over.

Of course, WRKO had several off-the-wall songs on its chart -- and being played on air -- every week because the home office was pushing them, things like Hamilton Camp's "Here's to You" and O.C. Smith's "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp." I have no idea if 'RKO's airplay turned songs like those into legitimate hits in Boston, but we weren't hearing them on rival WMEX at all, unlike everything else on the 'RKO chart.

Here's the thing about the RKO stations during the Drake era. They would take chances on adding records. But from there on, it was all about the local sales. If a record wasn't cutting it in the stores in three weeks, it was usually gone. It'd be interesting to unearth the old WRKO Big 30s (there's a KHJ site that has every Boss 30 from #1 until Bill Drake left in 1973). In L.A., "Hickory Holler's Tramp" went to #5 and "Here's To You" made #11. Be interesting to see the WRKO peak numbers for those two.

If they were playing records WMEX wasn't, the

 

[davideduardo]

Here's the thing about the RKO stations during the Drake era. They would take chances on adding records...

... and Bernie Torres would be in charge of getting the "credit" from the labels.

 

[CTListener]

You know, it's a wonder anyone tried the Hot 100 wall concept at all. In the '60s and early '70s, the lower reaches of the chart weren't just full of stiffs, they were full of regional hits, country songs that were getting spins on pop stations in smaller Southern markets, MOR singles that pop stations were playing during middays for the stay-at-home moms, etc. I can't imagine a store being able to sell even a single 45 out of at least 40 of those slots.

Come to think of it, how would a store arrange to be stocked with everything on the Hot 100 week after week when a lot of those bottom-feeders were on labels that didn't even have national distribution?

 

[michael hagerty]

Here's the thing about the RKO stations during the Drake era. They would take chances on adding records...

... and Bernie Torres would be in charge of getting the "credit" from the labels.

Oh, no.....supplemental income in the Drake camp?

Damn.

 

[michael hagerty]

You know, it's a wonder anyone tried the Hot 100 wall concept at all. In the '60s and early '70s, the lower reaches of the chart weren't just full of stiffs, they were full of regional hits, country songs that were getting spins on pop stations in smaller Southern markets, MOR singles that pop stations were playing during middays for the stay-at-home moms, etc. I can't imagine a store being able to sell even a single 45 out of at least 40 of those slots.

Come to think of it, how would a store arrange to be stocked with everything on the Hot 100 week after week when a lot of those bottom-feeders were on labels that didn't even have national distribution?

They'd almost have to buy direct from the label itself. Not that hard. The ad in Billboard (and for a record without national distribution to show up on the Hot 100, it's likely there was an ad in Billboard) would have a phone number or a physical address. They'd be happy to get the business.

Billboard itself also had a record buying service (I had forgotten about this until just now). Stations that couldn't get the time of day from record companies could subscribe to Billboard's service and Billboard would ship them however many records from whichever chart plus the new charters each week. I'm sure Billboard wouldn't turn down business from stores for the same service.

 

[firepoint525]

You know, it's a wonder anyone tried the Hot 100 wall concept at all. In the '60s and early '70s, the lower reaches of the chart weren't just full of stiffs, they were full of regional hits, country songs that were getting spins on pop stations in smaller Southern markets, MOR singles that pop stations were playing during middays for the stay-at-home moms, etc. I can't imagine a store being able to sell even a single 45 out of at least 40 of those slots.

As I said earlier, many of those slots were empty. But I suppose that they could special-order something for you (assuming that it was even available) if they did not already have it in stock.

 

[bigtom101]

Guys, this is the best thread I've seen in a long time. Mr. Eduardo and Mr. hagerty are very knowledgeable, and not just because I agree with what they say ;D I find it curious that there are so many folks ready to jump on the grave of terrestrial radio, and prematurely, I might add. Is it what it used to be? No, then neither am I (lol)...things change and evolve. Will terrestrial radio last forever? Probably not. But these people who say...'it's over'...'stick a fork in it', puzzle me,

It is one of the best discussions, and the patience that the two of them has shown I think gets them nominated for sainthood

If anything, they have shown that any format has to evolve and change to keep up with the times to attract listeners that advertisers want. No station exists in a vacuum, and there is both a science and a artform to programming - David's talk about horizontal and vertical scheduling makes me wish he taught Selector courses so that I could learn how to do it properly for my station.

Do I wish that classic hits stations could play songs like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Stay"? Yeah...but guess what? I'm not in the majority! It's why I have my own Internet streams - it's not a personal affront to my tastes...just the realities of the business. Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

Thank you for the valuable insights...y'know, you guys could write a book or two with all this stuff you've posted....

 

[firepoint525]

Do I wish that classic hits stations could play songs like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Stay"? Yeah...but guess what? I'm not in the majority! It's why I have my own Internet streams - it's not a personal affront to my tastes...just the realities of the business. Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

 

[RIN3GUY]

Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

A savvy programmer should know that while ABBA had only one US #1 hit, they had seven #1s in the UK. That should lend some weight to stations' willingness to play songs like "SOS," "Waterloo," and "Take a Chance on Me." I don't expect any station to play anything pre-1964. But it does seem kind of goofy for them to play just ONE Elvis song ("Suspicious Minds"). I mean, if you're going to play Elvis, play Elvis. Was it really that big of a hit, to the exclusion of everything else he ever did? Why does he have to be transformed into a one-hit wonder?? Our local station does the same thing with Cher. You would think her musical career ended in 1965. The previous local station played only 1970-1989, so they ended up with just "Let It Be" & "Long & Winding Road" as the only two Beatles songs they played, which was just dumb. No Beatles fan wants that.

I understand that a successful station must have a solid core rotation, but it sure would help to toss in a random tune or two each hour that they don't ordinarily play. I listen to my local CH station far less than I otherwise would because I have learned the parameters of their 36-hour rotation and I'm just bored stiff with it! Half the time I just station surf or plug in the MP3 because I surely know I won't be missing any surprises.

For example, instead of Blondie's tired old "One Way or Another" (#24 US, but an international flop) how about just once in a while playing "Dreaming" (only #27 US, but an international smash hit)? Just throwing it out there.

 

[bigtom101]

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

A radio station isn't mean to be a time capsule...Classic Hits stations play the songs that the audience wants to hear en masse in 2013. That cherry picking process is meant to weed out the songs that aren't liked by the majority of potential listeners. One listener, as nice as it is for our egos as jocks or programmers, is not a bellwether as to how to program the station.

I took over a oldies station that hadn't shown up in the ratings for over two years - the former PD was a great guy, but believed that "if it charted, it should be played." I tightened up the playlist, improved the rotation, added songs from the early 70's...and the station showed up in the ratings again. Was it a Mike Phillips K-Earth tight? No, but it wasn't WLNG 10,000 golden oldies sized either - 800 songs was a happy medium for the format and did what it needed to do, namely get ratings back up and actually have listeners that weren't chart freaks.

As far as 97.1 going K-Love: given the history and previous ownership (Cumulus), I doubt it was that good of a station to begin with. They were oldies, then classic hits, then classic rock, then classic hits again - kinda hard to have a good station when ownership is that bad.

Re: post 64 Elvis. You get "Suspicious Minds" and "Burnin' Love." What else do you need? They fit the overall "sound" of a classic hits station. It's not to diss Elvis - it's just what the majority of the listeners want to hear...

 

[CTListener]

Re: post 64 Elvis. You get "Suspicious Minds" and "Burnin' Love." What else do you need? They fit the overall "sound" of a classic hits station. It's not to diss Elvis - it's just what the majority of the listeners want to hear...

WDRC-FM is still playing "In the Ghetto," as well, which means they're going one song deeper on Elvis than they are on the Brothers Johnson ("Strawberry Letter #23," "Stomp")!

One other odd thing about 'DRC (which, incidentally, has had two really good rating periods since getting its playlist a lot younger): They're playing three songs that seem to always come up in discussions of the worst top 40 hits: "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," "We Built This City" and "Love Will Keep Us Together," as well as the "Saturday Night," by the Bay City Rollers, who are a punchline on the order of Debby Boone or Milli Vanilli rather than a band. Are these songs somehow testing well in Hartford and nowhere else or are the making the cut on classic hits stations everywhere despite the hold-your-nose factor that I seem to recall these tunes having?

 

[michael hagerty]

Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

A savvy programmer should know that while ABBA had only one US #1 hit, they had seven #1s in the UK. That should lend some weight to stations' willingness to play songs like "SOS," "Waterloo," and "Take a Chance on Me." I don't expect any station to play anything pre-1964. But it does seem kind of goofy for them to play just ONE Elvis song ("Suspicious Minds"). I mean, if you're going to play Elvis, play Elvis. Was it really that big of a hit, to the exclusion of everything else he ever did? Why does he have to be transformed into a one-hit wonder?? Our local station does the same thing with Cher. You would think her musical career ended in 1965. The previous local station played only 1970-1989, so they ended up with just "Let It Be" & "Long & Winding Road" as the only two Beatles songs they played, which was just dumb. No Beatles fan wants that.

I understand that a successful station must have a solid core rotation, but it sure would help to toss in a random tune or two each hour that they don't ordinarily play. I listen to my local CH station far less than I otherwise would because I have learned the parameters of their 36-hour rotation and I'm just bored stiff with it! Half the time I just station surf or plug in the MP3 because I surely know I won't be missing any surprises.

For example, instead of Blondie's tired old "One Way or Another" (#24 US, but an international flop) how about just once in a while playing "Dreaming" (only #27 US, but an international smash hit)? Just throwing it out there.

I'll probably regret asking this, but after our lengthy conversation about the irrelevance of 30-40 year old US chart numbers in programming to 45 year old Americans, are we now going to suggest that they should know or care how a record performed on the charts in another country when they were children?

 

[CTListener]

Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

A savvy programmer should know that while ABBA had only one US #1 hit, they had seven #1s in the UK. That should lend some weight to stations' willingness to play songs like "SOS," "Waterloo," and "Take a Chance on Me." I don't expect any station to play anything pre-1964. But it does seem kind of goofy for them to play just ONE Elvis song ("Suspicious Minds"). I mean, if you're going to play Elvis, play Elvis. Was it really that big of a hit, to the exclusion of everything else he ever did? Why does he have to be transformed into a one-hit wonder?? Our local station does the same thing with Cher. You would think her musical career ended in 1965. The previous local station played only 1970-1989, so they ended up with just "Let It Be" & "Long & Winding Road" as the only two Beatles songs they played, which was just dumb. No Beatles fan wants that.

I understand that a successful station must have a solid core rotation, but it sure would help to toss in a random tune or two each hour that they don't ordinarily play. I listen to my local CH station far less than I otherwise would because I have learned the parameters of their 36-hour rotation and I'm just bored stiff with it! Half the time I just station surf or plug in the MP3 because I surely know I won't be missing any surprises.

For example, instead of Blondie's tired old "One Way or Another" (#24 US, but an international flop) how about just once in a while playing "Dreaming" (only #27 US, but an international smash hit)? Just throwing it out there.

I'll probably regret asking this, but after our lengthy conversation about the irrelevance of 30-40 year old US chart numbers in programming to 45 year old Americans, are we now going to suggest that they should know or care how a record performed on the charts in another country when they were children?

I'm looking forward to the reply! The idea of a station adding "Dreaming" on the basis of its European chart performance is way out there. Interesting, though, that "One Way or Another" didn't crack the top 20; airplay alone would suggest it did much better. Ditto for BTO's "Let It Ride." What's the story with those two songs? They certainly were played like top 10 hits back when they were current; were they only "turntable hits" that didn't move vinyl?

 

[michael hagerty]

Evolving the format has given it new life, and kept many jocks off the unemployment line.

I don't recall anyone clamoring for songs that are that old. I remember that when Hippie Radio first came on the air, they played a listener comment over the air which said something along the lines of "finally a station that realizes that ABBA was not a one-hit wonder!" That has been the gist of my complaints. In other words, if you are supposedly programming to MY generation, then you need to play MY generation's hits, not just cherry-pick a few of them and call yourself a "classic hits" station. (By the way, the station about which that comment was directed (the one that played ONLY "Dancing Queen") has since been sold to K-Love. So much for cherry-picking.)

A savvy programmer should know that while ABBA had only one US #1 hit, they had seven #1s in the UK. That should lend some weight to stations' willingness to play songs like "SOS," "Waterloo," and "Take a Chance on Me." I don't expect any station to play anything pre-1964. But it does seem kind of goofy for them to play just ONE Elvis song ("Suspicious Minds"). I mean, if you're going to play Elvis, play Elvis. Was it really that big of a hit, to the exclusion of everything else he ever did? Why does he have to be transformed into a one-hit wonder?? Our local station does the same thing with Cher. You would think her musical career ended in 1965. The previous local station played only 1970-1989, so they ended up with just "Let It Be" & "Long & Winding Road" as the only two Beatles songs they played, which was just dumb. No Beatles fan wants that.

I understand that a successful station must have a solid core rotation, but it sure would help to toss in a random tune or two each hour that they don't ordinarily play. I listen to my local CH station far less than I otherwise would because I have learned the parameters of their 36-hour rotation and I'm just bored stiff with it! Half the time I just station surf or plug in the MP3 because I surely know I won't be missing any surprises.

For example, instead of Blondie's tired old "One Way or Another" (#24 US, but an international flop) how about just once in a while playing "Dreaming" (only #27 US, but an international smash hit)? Just throwing it out there.

I'll probably regret asking this, but after our lengthy conversation about the irrelevance of 30-40 year old US chart numbers in programming to 45 year old Americans, are we now going to suggest that they should know or care how a record performed on the charts in another country when they were children?

I'm looking forward to the reply! The idea of a station adding "Dreaming" on the basis of its European chart performance is way out there. Interesting, though, that "One Way or Another" didn't crack the top 20; airplay alone would suggest it did much better. Ditto for BTO's "Let It Ride." What's the story with those two songs? They certainly were played like top 10 hits back when they were current; were they only "turntable hits" that didn't move vinyl?

Partly that and partly that they were acts that had a following more likely to buy the album than the single.