I've noticed usually with DJ talk, that is usually relegated to after a song has left the air and they don't play it anymore and never made it to recurrent. I think some DJs in KC talked about some of Madonna's later songs, which were played months earlier but failed to make an impact. I also remember Lazlo on his last week on KRBZ (Alt 96.5) in 2024 before it flipped formats and he moved to active rock saying how bad it was having to play Yung Gravy (which was the Audacy pick of the week for alternative in 2021.) Do DJs commonly open up about feelings towards artists/songs?
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DJs sharing negative opinions of songs/artists on air or online.
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Why would I want to listen to a DJ moaning about having to play a song they don't like? Radio is an entertainment medium, listening to people whining isn't entertaining.
We had a station that flipped (The Revolution, an indie station that flipped to AC) and they made the mistake of keeping the indie/alt jocks on air through the flip, and the comments about having to play Take That and ABBA were amusing for a day before they pulled the jocks, but any more than that? Nope.
We had a station that flipped (The Revolution, an indie station that flipped to AC) and they made the mistake of keeping the indie/alt jocks on air through the flip, and the comments about having to play Take That and ABBA were amusing for a day before they pulled the jocks, but any more than that? Nope.
50-60 years ago, it was (kinda) common among talent too big for the station to go to war with.
Now, with slim margins and declining shares, the last thing I'd tolerate as a PD or GM would be talent basically giving the audience one more reason to tune away.
If the record sucks, then the implication is "we suck for playing it."
Now, with slim margins and declining shares, the last thing I'd tolerate as a PD or GM would be talent basically giving the audience one more reason to tune away.
If the record sucks, then the implication is "we suck for playing it."
If I am not mistaken, Howard Stern trashed the country songs he played when WWWW/Ann Arbor flipped to country in the early 1980s. Back in the late '90s, WJMN/Boston ran some sort of promo about never again playing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." I believe they kept their word and never played it again. But that was after beating the song to death for the better part of a year.
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And he lasted only a few days there between the flip to country and his exit. His example is one reason why DJs are almost always let go when the format is changed.
It's kind of funny that this is almost exactly the opposite of talk radio. In sports radio, there's a lot of bashing of players or coaches who are seen as under-performing. And in conservative talk, it is almost all negative opinions.
There is an aircheck online of Carol Miller at WPLJ-FM after the station flipped from AOR to top-40 in the mid-1980s. While she doesn't trash any of the songs she's playing, it's clear from her breaks that she'd rather not be there.
That said, I do remember a local DJ in Phoenix who went by the name of Bobby Ball on the air at KDJQ 15kHZ in Mesa in 1979 when the station had an oldies format. In 1980, the station switched to an alternative format for a year but Bobby Ball stayed on as a weekend personality.
Then there is Bill Wade at KHJ (and Michael Hagerty, please correct me if I am wrong on this one). He had been with the station prior to Bill Drake's flipping it to top-40 in 1965. After the flip, he stayed on and did weekends and fill-ins where needed. And I believe that the same thing happened at KFWB when it flipped to top-40 in 1958 with some of their previous jocks.
What I'm saying is that some personalities have, at least in the past, managed to stay on after format flips. However, as noted, they make sure not to trash the new music they're playing.
Larry Lujack didn't seem to like some of the songs he was playing on WLS, but he didn't seem to like much of anything. His shtick was great.
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Ted, you're wrong. Hey---you asked!
Bill Wade was at KHJ in 1963, but went to KDEO, El Cajon that year and to KGB, San Diego in 1964. He didn't make his way back to KHJ until 1968, where he did weekends and fill-ins. In 1969, he did 9 p.m.-Midnight for a month during the Morgan/Steele salary walkouts, then went back to weekends and fill-ins.
In early 1970, Bill moved into the 9-noon slot, went back to weekends and fill-ins in January of 1972, and five months later, returned to 9-noon, where he remained until he left the station in the spring of 1974.
The only on-air carryovers at KHJ when Drake came in were the newscasters.
That is correct. Al Jarvis, Joe Yocam, B. Mitchel Reed and Bill Ballance were all carryovers.
That was Lujack's whole act.
I know, I edited my post to make it clearer that that's why I liked it.
In small doses, the Lazlo example being a case in point, as a listener it's fine. Just honesty. I actually appreciate when a DJ I appreciate has an opinion about the music, but generally with rock formats, I find it's generally more enthusiasm. If a DJ were constantly bashing the music they had to play, that's one thing. But a well placed sarcastic comment can be amusing. It's very contextual.
I always liked Chris Isaak and yet one of my all time favorite lines comes from John Peel when he was filling in on daytime Radio 1 (much more mainstream than Peel's show)
Isaak's "Can't do a Thing to Stop Me" plays.
Peel says "That's just where you're wrong, pal. I can take the CD off and throw it as far as I possibly can. That's what happens when you get a computer to write your songs."
Even as a fan, I found it hysterically funny. But, that was Peel's persona.
peel.fandom.com
I always liked Chris Isaak and yet one of my all time favorite lines comes from John Peel when he was filling in on daytime Radio 1 (much more mainstream than Peel's show)
Isaak's "Can't do a Thing to Stop Me" plays.
Peel says "That's just where you're wrong, pal. I can take the CD off and throw it as far as I possibly can. That's what happens when you get a computer to write your songs."
Even as a fan, I found it hysterically funny. But, that was Peel's persona.
05 April 1993 (John Peel Is Jakki Brambles)
Name Jakki Brambles Show Station BBC Radio One YYYY-MM-DD 1993-04-05 Comments (K) Peel's complete first lunchtime show from Easter 1993. An unusual experience of course, but I think he really nails it. It may be heresy here to say so, but I kinda like hearing his choice of stuff interspersed...
A classic example is Robert W. Morgan at KHJ in Los Angeles (1965-70 and 1972-74). He was never afraid to mock a record he didn't like---but quickly, and usually with a pretty funny line that going cold into a spot break could both punctuate and obscure.
The most blatant I remember was in 1969, when he played, for the first time, the then-Hitbound "Darkness, Darkness" from the Youngbloods:
Morgan grunts over the last 15 seconds or so, and when the song finally ends, he says.
"That was......really horrible. I'm not gonna play that again. And I'm not gonna tell you what it is so that way you won't know what I'm not playing. It's (time) in the Morgan at KHJ."
(cold into spot break)
"Darkness, Darkness" lasted two weeks at KHJ (on everybody's show but Morgan's) and never actually made it onto the Boss 30.
The most blatant I remember was in 1969, when he played, for the first time, the then-Hitbound "Darkness, Darkness" from the Youngbloods:
Morgan grunts over the last 15 seconds or so, and when the song finally ends, he says.
"That was......really horrible. I'm not gonna play that again. And I'm not gonna tell you what it is so that way you won't know what I'm not playing. It's (time) in the Morgan at KHJ."
(cold into spot break)
"Darkness, Darkness" lasted two weeks at KHJ (on everybody's show but Morgan's) and never actually made it onto the Boss 30.
I remember this happened fairly regularly on 92.3 K-Rock in New York around the early 2000s. Chris Booker used to regularly bash Creed (who were in regular rotation at the time), and once came out of Limp Bizkit's song "Boiler" (which repeats the word "Why" several times at the end) saying "Why? Why does that song suck so much?". And at the time, I did indeed feel like the message being portrayed was "We suck for playing these bands/songs", even though I'm not the biggest fan of those artists myself. But I suppose it also gelled with the edgy image they were trying to portray.
Further back, I know Dan Ingram used to routinely make fun of Neil Sedaka - that was probably one of those "too big to be fired" cases.
Further back, I know Dan Ingram used to routinely make fun of Neil Sedaka - that was probably one of those "too big to be fired" cases.
There are 45s I spin on my request show that I'd... like to never hear again. But I'm not going to bash the record because someone liked it enough to request it. Typically, I won't bash tunes on the air because I know that even if I don't like the record, there's probably a listener who does.
That said, if I get a request for "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles (*yuck*) I might turn it into a double spin and backsell it as "a request from x, for some Eagles... how about a double shot - here's one of my favorite Eagles tracks, James Dean..."
That said, if I get a request for "Lyin' Eyes" by the Eagles (*yuck*) I might turn it into a double spin and backsell it as "a request from x, for some Eagles... how about a double shot - here's one of my favorite Eagles tracks, James Dean..."
I actually liked "Darkness, Darkness," and it did get to #1 at KYNO in Fresno in August of 1970. That said, it was the other side of the 45 that became the national hit, "Get Together."
Yes and no. I thought those were the A and B sides, too, Ted, as that's the copy that was in the library when I started at KIBS in 1971. But it's a lot more complicated than that:
The first release of "Darkness, Darkness" was in April of 1969---four months before the release of "Get Together." The B-side of that release was "Sir Francis Drake."
"Get Together"'s B-side, according to Discogs, was "Beautiful".
RCA reissued "Darkness, Darkness" (again with "Sir Francis Drake" as the B-side) in 1970, hoping the name recognition for the group would help the song this time around. In 1969, it peaked at #124 (on the Bubbling Under chart).
The chart action on the 1970 reissue of "Darkness, Darkness" mainly happened between March and May. The Billboard peak of #86 was May 23.
But---in July, RCA released a "Best of" album for the Youngbloods, and to support it, then it released the 45 with "Darkness, Darkness" on one side and "Get Together" on the other. That's the one KYNO (and KDON in Monterey) jumped on. But getting to number one in Fresno didn't bring it back onto the Billboard chart.
So this stiff---that only ever made it to 86 in Billboard---dies on its third try by going to #1 at a Drake station.
I think this would work only if it's a part of a sarcastic persona (Lujack already has been cited as a example) or a goofball persona. Otherwise, the jock wasn't hired to be a critic for Rolling Stone, and shouldn't attempt to come off as one, in my opinion.
With Dan Ingram it was usually all in good fun, or "tongue in cheek " forgivable comments. He never bashed an artist directly.
Like "Someone shaved my wife last night. "
Every example from KC came after the song came and "stiffed out." I remember in like 2008, one pop KC DJ bringing up the New Kids on the Block song "Summertime" and the other one saying "Man, I hated that song." It was after the song came and went on the charts.