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How many AC stations play The Carpenters?

V

vchimpanzee

WDUV in the Tampa area doesn't count as an AC. "Faithfully" by Journey and the lack of artists such as Sinatra notwithstanding.

WLOW Hilton Head, SC I'm not sure about. Their web site doesn't make it clear what they do.

I did find Magic 95.9 in Plymouth, NC, which is a small-town station near the Outer Banks. It doesn't have much of a signal. It was a station that came up when I was searching for information on WNOS, which was a station mmentioned in an old newspaper article I found. It was not the one in New Bern, though the Magic 95.9 web site mentioned WNOS in the biography of the man who runs Magic.

Anyway, The Carpenters appear on the station's web site and they are classified as AC. If it is AC rather than oldies, it's very gold-leaning.
 
The Carpenters were huge in the 70s! The only reason I can figure that they don't get played now is that they must turn off people on the younger end of the scale but that still doesn't explain why they aren't heard on Classic Hits.
 
Probably for the same reason you don't hear artists like Johnny Mathis - they sing quiet songs that tend to be very personal.

There used to be shows, particularly on Friday or Saturday evenings, that were intended for "date nights". Sadly, I haven't heard one of these shows in a ton of years but I can tell you from personal experience there is nothing like a Mathis record to get the....uh....."party" started. :eek:
 
Semoo sid; The Carpenters were huge in the 70s! The only reason I can figure that they don't get played now is that they must turn off people on the younger end of the scale but that still doesn't explain why they aren't heard on Classic Hits.

Landtuna said; Probably for the same reason you don't hear artists like Johnny Mathis -
_____
In my music programming experience - outside of "Close to You and "Top of the World" the Carpenters do NOT test well. Johnny Mathis, however, has "Chances Are, Misty, and the 12th of Never" that SKYROCKET. Wonderfu, Wonderful and a couple more are as big as the 2 Carp songs, and there are also a couple of others that do well.

These ARE local tests w/lots of older people. Your mleage may vary.
 
General question - do PD's consider the time of day or day of week when programming playlists?

As a teen I remember the pre-school music being bright and lively. An assortment during mid-dayparts and more subdued in the evenings. Friday and Saturday evenings usually had mood music intended for dating -or- dance music for the sock hop crowd.

I don't listen to as much radio as I once did but also don't recognize this type of programming today.

Comments?
 
It depends on the format and the pd. Lots of younger pds around now, who have a different way of thinking.

A station that plays more 12-24 demographic music should dull it a bit middays, but be HOT evenings.

PS
The sock hop probably ended about 1969. I was the guy playingg the music then too.
 
When I said the Carpenters were huge, I meant with 12-24 year olds of the time, despite their across-the-board popularity.
 
KYFM in Bartlesville, OK is an odd mix of WDUV-style soft AC and mainstream AC, and I know they play a lot of Carpenters. They're the kind of station that will throw in a Carpenters tune next to Katy Perry.

WLYF in Miami did a female artist-themed weekend not long ago (I think for Mother's Day), and alongside Kelly Clarkson, Celine, Whitney, Sade etc. (the artists who are regulars in their playlist) they included songs by the likes of Olivia Newton-John (and I'm talking her softer '70s hits such as "I Honestly Love You," not just "Physical" etc.), Barbra Streisand, Captain & Tennille, and, yes, Carpenters. Of course, those '70s artists are not a regular part of rotation except for a few Olivia titles.

I know some softer ACs will play the occasional Carpenters tune in a nighttime love-songs show, i.e. WRCH in Hartford. Delilah will occasionally play "We've Only Just Begun" also. I'm surprised to hear that "We've Only Just Begun" tests badly... it seemed to me that this was the Carpenters song that would test best, since it's seemed to me that whenever Classic/Greatest Hits stations play a Carpenters tune it's "We've Only Just Begun."
 
The Carpenters and soft vocals of the 70s have pretty much graduated to the "nostalgia" stations. Little too sappy for A/C and the Greatest/Classic Hits stations. Plus in music tests, the scores are pretty bad.

Most 40 year old women can't relate to the Carpenters, except at Christmas.
 
If I heard The Carpenters on AC or Classic Hits I'd have it turned off so fast my button may break. Those belong on standrds stations now, as Seltzer said.
 
I don't know of any "mainstream AC" stations, but there are a couple of "soft AC/easy listening" stations:

WLYK 102.7 FM "The Lake", a soft AC but really Oldies leaning station licensed to Cape Vincent, NY (serves Kingston, Ontario and stretches into the Watertown, NY region)

WEZW 93.1 FM in Wildwood, NJ...a bizarre little commercial free station that actually plays REAL music full time!

If you count AM stations (I wouldn't listen to music with half of the frequencies missing, which is the case on the AM band), I'm sure there are stations in pretty much any state which play the Carpenters. One well known example is Magic 590 AM (formerly Magic 100.9 FM) in Albany, NY

*And as far my comment about REAL music: a bunch of horns blaring, some percussion, and some singing is NOT music without a catchy tune. As a "spring chicken" 27 year old male, I tend to get bored by the absence of catchy tunes on the radio today. The Carpenters are just the tip of the iceberg, but it seems like the time when they vanished from the radio was about the same time when REAL MUSIC became the exception rather than the rule on the radio. Today's "catchy-tune free" music on the radio is a little too bland and boring for my spring chicken mind...maybe I should "mature up" my tastes so that I can appreciate today's music? ;)
 
Seltzer said:
Most 40 year old women can't relate to the Carpenters, except at Christmas.
Click to expand...
Seltzer, I can't relate to the Carpenters either. In fact, as a 27 year old male, I understandably have a much harder time relating to them than a 40 year old woman does. I can only relate to their CATCHY TUNES.

Plus, I think a song like "Come On Get Higher", or most of the popular songs by Kelly Clarkson or Leona Lewis are every bit as sappy...MINUS the catchy tunes that the Carpenters, Dan Fogelberg, Neil Diamond, etc have. Savage Garden is also mega-sappy as well, but I'll give them credit because at least they have catchy tunes...
 
BTW, I forgot to add, I don't see a problem with the Carpenters at Christmas. "Merry Christmas, Darling" and others are still heard on most stations that go all-Christmas.
 
vinyltapecd said:
Seltzer said:
Most 40 year old women can't relate to the Carpenters, except at Christmas.
Click to expand...
Seltzer, I can't relate to the Carpenters either. In fact, as a 27 year old male, I understandably have a much harder time relating to them than a 40 year old woman does. I can only relate to their CATCHY TUNES.

Then go enjoy them on your IPOD or neighborhood Soft nostalgia station ala Magic 590 in Albany or The Dove in Tampa. But not on your mainstream A/C radio station who I imagine is working hard to be relevant to today's 40 year old female.
Click to expand...
 
vchimpanzee said:
Getting back to why I started the topic, the station's web site is www.magic959online.com if you want to decide whether it's AC or oldies.
Click to expand...

I don't think they are either. I'd say Beautiful Music or the equivalent non-instrumental genre.

Karen Carpenter, to me, had one of the most unique and beautiful female voices.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Getting back to why I started the topic, the station's web site is www.magic959online.com if you want to decide whether it's AC or oldies.
Click to expand...

I would not consider this station A/C. A gold based softer station perhaps. Interesting that the Rolling Stones are one of the acts in their artist photos. Some soft material or not, I don't think they're representative of this stations format.

Reminiscent of Sunny 104.5 in Philly from the last decade.
 
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