Great songs that test poorly

[tbolt909]

Well, very few of us have been dismembered by zombies

Are you sure about that? Only 50 percent of Americans can can read at the 5th grade level.

Bonanza and Gunsmoke were more sympathetic to Native Americans and other minorities than movies of 40's and 50's(or certain politicians ). "Offensive Content" is difficult to identify given where we are now as a society...

 

[davideduardo]

Are you sure about that? Only 50 percent of Americans can can read at the 5th grade level.

Source?

Bonanza and Gunsmoke were more sympathetic to Native Americans and other minorities than movies of 40's and 50's(or certain politicians ). "Offensive Content" is difficult to identify given where we are now as a society...

Yet “Amos ‘n Andy” was among the most listened to network radio shows of its time in the 30s. The whole idea of two white guys donning blackface and trying to talk in the vernacular of a race and culture that was not theirs was somewhere way beyond horrific.

 

[kevtronics]

With the amount of "cultural sensitivity" predominant today, I am surprised that the Christmas Music phenomenon has not been more deeply discussed as an ethnic and cultural artifact.

That sounds too much like the "War on Christmas" that Fox News has been warning us about for the past 25 years.

 

[michael hagerty]

Are you sure about that? Only 50 percent of Americans can can read at the 5th grade level.

That's an education issue, not a zombie issue.

Bonanza and Gunsmoke were more sympathetic to Native Americans and other minorities than movies of 40's and 50's(or certain politicians ). "Offensive Content" is difficult to identify given where we are now as a society...

Ask a Native American or other minority to watch Bonanza and Gunsmoke with you and then ask them if they have trouble identifying the offensive content.

 

[michael hagerty]

Source?

tbolt909 was close, David. It's sixth grade reading level---54% of U.S. adults are at or below that standard. Only 46% are above it.

Reading the numbers: 130 million American adults have low literacy skills — APM Research Lab

About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills according to a Gallup analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education. This means more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

www.apmresearchlab.org

 

[CTListener]

tbolt909 was close, David. It's sixth grade reading level---54% of U.S. adults are at or below that standard. Only 46% are above it.

Reading the numbers: 130 million American adults have low literacy skills — APM Research Lab

About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills according to a Gallup analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education. This means more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

www.apmresearchlab.org

I'll bet far fewer are above sixth-grade level in spelling.

 

[vchimpanzee]

There are many radio stations, often in smaller markets that don't do research. Those are easy to spot when listening. They either can't or won't spend the money for it, and/or has an owner who puts together the music themselves and aims more to please their tastes, and not the audience's.

I got the impression that's what was happening when WEZV went mainstream AC for a while. The man who ran the station seemed to like Bon Jovi a lot.

 

[vchimpanzee]

That first one is a staple on Soft AC, usually.

Laura Branigan's version is better. Anything is usually better than a Michael Bolton version of anything. It's a shame he didn't thank her when he won a Grammy for his performance.

 

[davideduardo]

Ask a Native American or other minority to watch Bonanza and Gunsmoke with you and then ask them if they have trouble identifying the offensive content.

Or "The Lone Ranger" where the native American sidekick was called "Tonto" which means "stupid" in Spanish.

( /Sarcasm ON )Please, someone, explain how that might be just a tiny bit offensive.... ( /Sarcasm OFF)

 

[davideduardo]

tbolt909 was close, David. It's sixth grade reading level---54% of U.S. adults are at or below that standard. Only 46% are above it.

Reading the numbers: 130 million American adults have low literacy skills — APM Research Lab

About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills according to a Gallup analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education. This means more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

www.apmresearchlab.org

That analysis misses the fact that in the majority of the lowest literacy rated states the population is hugely made up of immigrants. A study some years back by the Mexican consular offices showed that less than 50% of men had a 6th grade education and a largely smaller percentage of women had achieved that level. Further, they showed that the quality of education received was poor, generally due to inadequate rural schools and poor teaching of Spanish to indigenous populations in Mexico.

The only two very low level states that don't fit that model are LA and MS, and we know that the issues there involve higher rural populations and, particularly, bad education for rural Blacks.

 

[michael hagerty]

Or "The Lone Ranger" where the native American sidekick was called "Tonto" which means "stupid" in Spanish.

( /Sarcasm ON )Please, someone, explain how that might be just a tiny bit offensive.... ( /Sarcasm OFF)

Or, back to Bonanza and Gunsmoke, where the horrific slur "squaw" was used frequently in dialog.

 

[davideduardo]

Or, back to Bonanza and Gunsmoke, where the horrific slur "squaw" was used frequently in dialog.

🤮

 

[michael hagerty]

That analysis misses the fact that in the majority of the lowest literacy rated states the population is hugely made up of immigrants. A study some years back by the Mexican consular offices showed that less than 50% of men had a 6th grade education and a largely smaller percentage of women had achieved that level. Further, they showed that the quality of education received was poor, generally due to inadequate rural schools and poor teaching of Spanish to indigenous populations in Mexico.

The only two very low level states that don't fit that model are LA and MS, and we know that the issues there involve higher rural populations and, particularly, bad education for rural Blacks.

@DavidEduardo , I had to dig, but I did find a breakout:


Immigrants comprise 34% of the population with low literacy skills;

While that's substantial---more than a third---it still means 66% of adults with low literacy skills (defined as below 6th grade reading level) are not immigrants.

Here's the link to the report where the breakout is:

Failing Grade: Literacy in America - The Policy Circle

www.thepolicycircle.org

 

[michael hagerty]

That sounds too much like the "War on Christmas" that Fox News has been warning us about for the past 25 years.

Nah. There's a big difference between a war on something and understanding where it comes from.

Seriously---it's 1942's "Holiday Inn". There had been Christmas movies before ("Holiday Inn" wasn't one---there was a Christmas scene, but it was not a Christmas movie), but this one had a breakout sentimental Christmas record attached to it that was emotionally supercharged by the war.

The last time American boys were overseas, the movies didn't have sound and there wasn't radio. "White Christmas" flipped the switch, spawned imitators, and eventually, an all-Christmas format.

There had been all of eight Christmas-themed movies or movies set at Christmas time in the previous 14 years.

After "Holiday Inn" introduced "White Christmas" in 1942, there were 33 in the next 14 years, with ten of them in the three years immediately following "Holiday Inn"'s release.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Americans are suckers for things as they were (and in some cases things as they never were)...which is why you don't really see our type of Christmas music thing replicated elsewhere in the world. [/COLOR]

After several days in the Netherlands, I can tell you exactly how much Christmas music I’ve heard on radio or elsewhere.

None.

Traditionally, the big day is actually December 6, St. Nicholas (Sint-Nicolaas a/k/a Sinterklaas) Day, though Christmas is increasingly a commercialized thing. And Christmas markets are traditional, similar to those in Germany.

Maybe the music will come later, though I’ll be back home by then.

The Christmas trees in our hotel actually went up today.

Tangent: what has become big in the shopping streets; Black Friday (not translated from English), with no connection to or acknowledgement of Thanksgiving.

 

[michael hagerty]

After several days in the Netherlands, I can tell you exactly how much Christmas music I’ve heard on radio or elsewhere.

None.

Traditionally, the big day is actually December 6, St. Nicholas (Sint-Nicolaas a/k/a Sinterklaas) Day, though Christmas is increasingly a commercialized thing. And Christmas markets are traditional, similar to those in Germany.

Maybe the music will come later, though I’ll be back home by then.

The Christmas trees in our hotel actually went up today.

Tangent: what has become big in the shopping streets; Black Friday (not translated from English), with no connection to or acknowledgement of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday. The date on the calendar that assures a big holiday shopping season is the same in every capitalist or semi-capitalist country.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday. The date on the calendar that assures a big holiday shopping season is the same in every capitalist or semi-capitalist country.

Well, yes, but don’t put the Dutch past appropriating it!

And I’m currently sitting in Leiden. There wouldn’t have been the Pilgrims without Leiden!

 

[CTListener]

Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday. The date on the calendar that assures a big holiday shopping season is the same in every capitalist or semi-capitalist country.

Canada has a Thanksgiving, but it's in October and doesn't have all the Mayflower/Plymouth history/mythology attached to it. It's a harvest celebration for a country in which the harvest has long since finished by November.

 

[wadio]

The research isn't for the listeners. It's FROM the listeners.

Then what's the point? The researchers might be happy with the alleged "perfect" format but they aren't the ones who advertisers are targeting.

 

[TheBigA]

Then what's the point?

To find out what the average listeners want to hear. That way they maximize potential audience, that leads to higher ad rates.

By & large: It works. It's successful. If it wasn't, radio owners wouldn't spend to do it.