Hypocritical to Play the Carpenters NOW and Not Year Round?

[eacalhoun1]

As I was scanning the dial over the weekend -- sampling Christmas songs from the area AC stations -- it ocurred to me that these stations are hypocrites for playing the Carpenters, Nat King Cole, etc. THIS time of year and not year round. Why is it appropriate to play Christmas classics or standards and not play the same sounding music after and before Christmas? It sounds the same except for the lyrics. Remember -- it hasn't been that many years ago that stations like Lite 102.9 would play "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "Unforgettable". Don't get me wrong, the Christmas classics sound great -- but so do the non-Christmas classics. And don't give me the demographic crap -- my son is now 14 and he has a Carpenter's Greatest Hits CD that he loves. It almost reminds me of the anger I felt when Waylon Jennings died and I heard 99.9 Kiss Country in Asheville do a little tribute by playing "Luchenbach, Texas". Until that point, I'd bet big money Kiss (as a country song) never played a Waylon song. At least now, many mainstream country stations have loosened-up a bit and will throw in a "wow" classic tune.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Someone is going to give you the demographic line, it always happens. This is a topic that has played many times as you know.

They will tell you your son and my daughters are an anomaly. Mine love Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney,Jo Stafford and others. Heck there are people in my generation who haven't discovered those artists!

You and I know that good music is timeless and there is more music out there than what you hear on the radio.

 

[Preacherdude]

When Bing's "White Christmas" is played, I make everyone in the car be quiet and listen to one of the finest voices of all time, recorded in the days before detailed auto-tuning of voices. I do like all genre's of music, including lots of new artists today. But I sure would like to hear more of Bing, Karen, Andy, and even ol' Burl year 'round!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Bing Crosby was my Mom's favorite and a favorite of mine as well. He has been called the voice of the century but I don't think he gets the credit he deserves today. An all around entertainer, funny, relaxed, he made it look so easy!

There are some good singers today no doubt about that. However there aren't many good all around entertainers.

 

[eacalhoun1]

Someone is going to give you the demographic line, it always happens. This is a topic that has played many times as you know.

Oh, I know Mike. Topics like this get worn out here. But, it was the "hypocrisy" element of it that just ocurred to me this weekend. Let's parade these greats out at Christmas to make us feel warm and fuzzy with our egg nog, but let's cram them back in the closet for another 10 1/2 months. That is, unless they die during the year then we'll blow the dust off of them, celebrate them for about a day, then back in the closet they go until Christmas.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

Someone is going to give you the demographic line, it always happens.

And it gets more valid with each passing year.

Solution: Buy your own radio station, get a programming gig, or may I suggest an i-Pod? That would be the most economical solution. ;-)

 

[quadraphonic]

I don't think it's "hypocrisy" to say "Carpenters don't fit our format playlist....unless it's Christmas."
It's a different format at Christmas. They're not playing Nat King Cole, Transsiberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Bing Crosby, etc. all year round either.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

I don't think it's "hypocrisy" to say "Carpenters don't fit our format playlist....unless it's Christmas."
It's a different format at Christmas. They're not playing Nat King Cole, Transsiberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Bing Crosby, etc. all year round either.

DING! That's right! Alex, I'll take radio junkies who think they're programmers for $100.

The answer is.....

 

[eacalhoun1]

I don't think it's "hypocrisy" to say "Carpenters don't fit our format playlist....unless it's Christmas."
It's a different format at Christmas. They're not playing Nat King Cole, Transsiberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Bing Crosby, etc. all year round either.

DING! That's right! Alex, I'll take radio junkies who think they're programmers for $100.

The answer is.....

...Who are Clear Channel, Entercom, Citadel, etc, because by the way they under staff their stations they are not real serious about radio?

 

[vchimpanzee]

If you want to hear the artists you hear only at Christmas, there's always 1150 AM or 1410 AM, depending on where you live, between 9 AM and sunset. Weekdays. Not sure about their weekend schedules.

 

[vchimpanzee]

You never hear Richard sing except maybe as backup. Well, I did. He took turns with Karen on "Sleigh Ride", which I don't recall ever hearing before. I've heard it twice in two days.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

 

[Kent Dorsey]

I thought back to the late 70's and realized we would play Harry Simeone Chorale, Percy Faith, and Andy Williams at Christmas but wouldn't be caught dead playing them during the year. I'm not sure, but I think the then new Rockwell transmitter probably would have rebuked any playing of these artists other than at Christmas... The RCA or Gates transmitters probably would have played them... but we thought of that Rockwell as the DISCO transmitter...
(I was going to add Johnny Mathis in that list until I realized "Too Much Too Little Too Late" did get our airplay...)
Another memory is that we didnt' go full Christmas music until NOON on Christmas Eve, and most of the time adandoned it by 4 pm Christmas day...
Battery giveaways... we got batteries from some cheap battery company and gave them away all day on Christmas day ("because... Santa does get forgetful...."), and most of the extras from "Deliverance" would show up at the station with their loud kids in tow to get these free batteries...

 

[vchimpanzee]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

But are these singles you hear on the radio?

If you're referring to the song, if he does he sure sounds like Karen.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

But are these singles you hear on the radio?

If you're referring to the song, if he does he sure sounds like Karen.

Nope, just album cuts. There is more music than what you hear on the radio! We have Album Rock, I always wanted to do an Album A/C format.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

But are these singles you hear on the radio?

If you're referring to the song, if he does he sure sounds like Karen.

Nope, just album cuts. There is more music than what you hear on the radio! We have Album Rock, I always wanted to do an Album A/C format.

We have that. It's called AAA. ;-)

 

[vchimpanzee]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

But are these singles you hear on the radio?

If you're referring to the song, if he does he sure sounds like Karen.

Nope, just album cuts. There is more music than what you hear on the radio! We have Album Rock, I always wanted to do an Album A/C format.

We have that. It's called AAA. ;-)

And do the Carpenters songs with Richard doing some lead vocals fit that?

 

[InSearchOfGear]

Richard has some solo parts on the CD "Close To You".

But are these singles you hear on the radio?

If you're referring to the song, if he does he sure sounds like Karen.

Nope, just album cuts. There is more music than what you hear on the radio! We have Album Rock, I always wanted to do an Album A/C format.

We have that. It's called AAA. ;-)

And do the Carpenters songs with Richard doing some lead vocals fit that?

Nooooope!