Half or more of those songs were mid-charters and did not last long even there. I owned a Top 40 station from 1964 to 1970 and I don't even remember several of them.
How a song charted back in the day is irrelevant. What is important is "how much would you like to hear that song on the radio today" which is often how an OMT or AMT is presented to participants.
Wrong. As mentioned a moment ago, what matters is how appealing a song is to listeners today. There are scads of "Top 102" songs from that era that are unplayable and negative today.
I disagree. Well....yes and no. You Light Up My Life. #1 for 10 weeks on Billboard Hot 100. #1 on Adult Contemporary chart. #4 country chart. Biggest single of the decade for the 70s. Probably would have been #1 single for 1977 if it hadn't been split over 77/78. Yet, you'll never hear it played on radio today [Thank God]. Sweet Caroline only #4 Hot 100 in 1969, #3 Easy listening charts. Turn on the radio on classic hits station, chances are pretty good, you'll hear it. "Piano Man" only reached #25 on Hot 100 but #4 on A/C chart. Turn on the radio and you may hear it played more today than when it was "popular". Songs that got played decades ago, couldn't play today or you'd be fired, cancelled, strung up and probably be given the death sentence. Example: C.B. Savage. I can remember songs that people had hysterics over because had "Son of a bitch" in the lyrics of "Devil Went Down To Georgia" same went for "Uneasy Rider" with "Like their heads were on fire and their asses was catchin' " Nowadays you can hear way worse than that on the radio. [Anybody up for "WAP"? by Cardi B?] There are songs I could play at games years ago that nobody said nothing about. A couple of years ago was told can't play "Piano Man" any more because it was talking about a bar and had beer in the lyrics which could encourage kids to become raging alcoholics. I just rolled my eyes.
The only stations not playing Piano Man anymore that once did are the ones doing so because they have moved away from the 70s. Instead of Piano Man they're likely playing Billy Joel's 80s library instead.
The Lesley Gore song is actually, "You Don't Own Me" (1963-1964). The Neil Diamond song is curious as there are better known hits by him. The Gerry and The Pacemakers song was their first really big hit in the U.S. and is very pleasant. The Velvettes never hit the Pop charts as far as I know, and I've never heard it. Jr. Walker's "Shake & Finger Pop" doesn't pop out at me at all. A so-so chart hit.
Yep. There are some on there I've never heard [or maybe just don't remember] but are they trying to "think outside the box" and be more like Spotify/Pandora/Amazon Music/etc.? Trying to distinguish themselves from the other stations? [I'd say Sirius but they might as well be an FM station for how unadventurous their playlists are now.]
Many songs back in the day charted b/c of the money behind it. Payola never went away, was just hidden better. It's not gone now. That said, Hold On is a great song, that got "lost" over the years.
I've been in the format over 30 years, including 5x Marconi winner WMJI. Which seven? I bet if you researched you'd see that they all were hits.
I remember WMMS playing "Devil", the "bitch" version. Big crossover No.1.
Have you ever programmed radio? Oldies? Classic Hits? I dont think you have otherwise you'd not leave off "What Is Life" (1970). Wings "Live and Let Die" released just three years later.
I'll agree, to an extent. "Negative"? Interpretive.
Stations outside the Top 20 dont do AMTs, esp not for classic hits/oldies. Who has $$$? IF they do they'll do a big station, then push that playlist to the rest. Very "scientific".
Im sure they're playing quite a bit of Neil Diamond, a core artist for the format. Just happened to pull that one from the rotation. It reached No.13 1967, off the Just For You album which had A LOT of hits. That song made Billboard's "Top 100" for 1967.
