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Is this common on stations in Your Area?

W

wxctintern

Guest
Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be mentioned in a song?

Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist) song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop station in Hartford HOT 93-7.

And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?

Can't say how common it is today, but way back in 1971 they did this with the Grass Roots' hit "Sooner or Later"... singing a station's call letters over the opening riff. I don't think it was a local thing, rather, different versions for different cities. Which raises an interesting point: how was the station chosen in any one particular city, or could different stations in the same city do it?

On a national level, wasn't there an actual aircheck (from a San Francisco station, I think) used in "We Built This City" by Starship? I'm not sure now since it's been 20 years, but there may have been some special local versions which substituted their own airchecks in that part of the song.
 
> > Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> > mentioned in a song?

Shortly after Indy's Radio Now 93.1 went on the air, they (IIRC) actually had the Bloodhound Gang in-studio live and recorded a version of one of their songs with the line "Radio Now 93.1 ain't nothin' but mammals..." instead of the correct lyric "you and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals...".

IMO, I think the practice of customizing hit songs with a station name, calls, and/or slogan is relatively commonplace, at least in, say, top 40 markets.
Some imaging/production companies even offer this as a service, I think.
 
WLKT/Lexington had a version of DFDub's "Country Girl" where the last line said "Lexington girls . . . taste like chicken".

WJIE/Louisville has a version of Chris Tomlin's "The Way I Wad Made" that has "Waking up to WJIE on the radio instead" of "Waking up to the sunrise and the radio".<P ID="signature">______________
chargeradioweb.jpg
</P>
 
> > > Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> > > mentioned in a song?
>
> Shortly after Indy's Radio Now 93.1 went on the air, they
> (IIRC) actually had the Bloodhound Gang in-studio live and
> recorded a version of one of their songs with the line
> "Radio Now 93.1 ain't nothin' but mammals..." instead of the
> correct lyric "you and me baby ain't nothin' but
> mammals...".

I can remember during the summer of '89, Indy's WZPL would have their frequency and/or calls inserted into some of the songs they played. The one that sticks out in my mind the clearest is "99 and 1/2.... WZPL!" being sung over the opening bars of Warrant's "Down Boys." It didn't last very long.
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?

When Ken Held's Doo-Wop Shop was on brokered WAXY,
he played a custom version of Searching For
An Echo mentioning Ken and his friends and WAXY.

I don't know if he has an updated version, since
Ken moved to "adult hits" WJNA when WAXY changed
to sports. If he does, I haven't heard it yet.

But it seems to me that Ken knows everyone who's
still around in doo-wop. So maybe.

73s from 954<P ID="signature">______________
"Work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living" ... Pappy Maverick</P>
 
It is fairly common.

Over the weekend heard Ne-Yo's "So Sick" with the custom ending "Why can't I turn off B96?"

> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?
>
> Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
> song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
> station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
>
> And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
>
<P ID="signature">______________
The power is yours!</P>
 
Circa late 78/early 79, a customized "Fire"
by the Pointer Sisters:

"I'm ridin' in your car, you turn on KFI..."

Yes, for a period after MOR and Dodger baseball
and before talk and El Rushbo, there was 64/KFI.
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?
>
> Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
> song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
> station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
>
> And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
>
Its WKSC Chicago's favorite thing to do.

They've been doing it since they started January 12th 2001.

Some of them include:

Mya - Case Of The Ex (The song started with "Kiss is number 1" being sung)
Crazy Town - Butterfly (Kiss me baby kiss kiss me baby)
Madonna - Music (103-5, K I S S 103-5 in a computerish voice to the intro)
Michelle Branch - Everywhere (It's on kiss FM)
Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You (Kiss FM, Kiss FM)
Ne-Yo - So Sick (Kiss FM is on your radio. WXSS in Milwaukee also uses this)

There's a LOT more from their 5 years on the air.
<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> On a national level, wasn't there an actual aircheck (from a
> San Francisco station, I think) used in "We Built This City"
> by Starship? I'm not sure now since it's been 20 years, but
> there may have been some special local versions which
> substituted their own airchecks in that part of the song.
>
When WBBM-FM (B96) in Chicago was still a top 40 pop station, when the song would go to a weather report on the radio, B96 used to be inserted in that line. Unfortunately I don't have a recording of that version.
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?
>
> Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
> song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
> station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
>
> And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
>
Power 92 in Hammond Indiana occasionally inserts Power 92 into songs they play. Missy Elliott's Work it is one that has Power 92 in the beginning. I forgot how it went, but she released a version with the 1035 frequency for WKSC-FM in Chicago and Power 92 for WPWX Hammond Indiana.
 
WAKS/Cleveland had a version of "Hell Yeah" by Ginuwine that substituted many of the lyrics about Daytona and turned them into Cleveland. The beginning also featured a mention of the call letters as well. It was the only version of the song I had heard at first, the only time I ever heard them play the "real" version of the song was during American Top 40 (back when it was still hosted by Casey).
 
> Circa late 78/early 79, a customized "Fire"
> by the Pointer Sisters:
>
> "I'm ridin' in your car, you turn on KFI..."

"I'm ridin' in your car, you turn on WLS..."

Probably done in a lot of other cities as well.
 
I also remember the old "92.3 The Beat, Cleveland's Jammin' Oldies" had an entire song recorded for the station. I believe it featured Kool and the Gang on lead vocals...it was played on the station right around New Years 2000 and the chorus went something like..

"It's the Jam Millenium
Jammin' To the Music
92.3 The Beat"

I KNOW I have a copy of it recorded somewhere...may have to dig that out.
 
> > Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> > mentioned in a song?
> >
> > Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
>
> > song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> > Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
>
> > station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
> >
> > And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> > regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
> >
> Power 92 in Hammond Indiana occasionally inserts Power 92
> into songs they play. Missy Elliott's Work it is one that
> has Power 92 in the beginning. I forgot how it went, but
> she released a version with the 1035 frequency for WKSC-FM
> in Chicago and Power 92 for WPWX Hammond Indiana.
>
They did that for a lot of stations, also another song that has the sort of thing is petey pablo- freak-a-leakk they used in the beginning with, Their call letters ang positsioner
<P ID="signature">______________
http://natedoggairchecks.6x.to/
sfradio (at) gmail (dot) com</P>
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?
>
> Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
> song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
> station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
>
> And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
>

I know of three examples involving heritage urban WBLX 92.9 Mobile, AL, better known as "93-BLX". Late 80's or early 90's, WBLX inserted itself into three songs:

**"I Wanna Be Your Man" by Roger & Zapp: Instead of "I tried, I tried, I tried, I tried, to tell you how I feel...", the 'BLX version went "So here it is, for you baby, on ninety-three B-L-X, 'cause it's how I feel".

**"Girlfriend" by Pebbles: Looking at the lyrics, I'm not sure what verse(s) were replaced, but I know the new verse said "'Cause ninety-three B-L-X will leave you satisfied".

**"Request Line" by Zhane': The most recent example I remember from 1996/7 or so. I'm sure there were more than a few urban stations who inserted their names into this one, and appropriately so; the song in its original verses shouts out a 'request line' number.

"So B-L-X*, won't you take it away
I know I call your line everyday
I'm dialing seven-seven-zero, ninety-three, ninety-three*
so that I can hear you say, hey..."
(*original lyrics said "come on daddy" and the number 555-0429)

All of them were seamlessly done, and you'd only know how they otherwise sounded if another station played the same song or you owned a copy of the music. <P ID="signature">______________
Let us live so that 100 years from now, someone may be proud of us.</P>
 
> On a national level, wasn't there an actual aircheck (from a
> San Francisco station, I think) used in "We Built This City"
> by Starship? I'm not sure now since it's been 20 years, but
> there may have been some special local versions which
> substituted their own airchecks in that part of the song.
>
It's not an actual aircheck...you can read more here (about halfway down the page). There are actually two versions of the song...one with the "aircheck" voiced by Les Garland (see the link above), and another without (which can be found on their 1991 Greatest Hits collection), where presumably a station could (and some did) insert their own aircheck. I have heard stories that the singles originally shipped to radio stations had the DJ version on one side and the other on the other, but can't confirm this. The commercial single was backed with "Private Room", another "gem" from Knee Deep in the Hoopla.

Peace,
User 11648
 
> Is it a common thing for the local radio station to be
> mentioned in a song?
>
> Example: Here in Hartford one of Sean Paul (regaee artist)
> song was edited to include the lyrics "HOT 93 Girls and
> Hartford Girls". HOT 93 is reference to the first hip-hop
> station in Hartford HOT 93-7.
>
> And frequently one of the local Spanish Station over a
> regaeeton beat says en espanol "1120 is The Station".
>
Many stations in my area replaced the intro to Petey Pablo's Freek-A-Leek with their own station name instead of the original "W-Boom-Boom-B"<P ID="signature">______________
17-year-old radio geek
Location: Princeton Junction, NJ
AIM: KewlDude471
WWPH 107.9 FM: http://wwph1079fm.no-ip.org</P>
 
Blasts from the past..."Life is a Rock but 'CFL rolled me" on WCFL, Chicago and CKLW had a version of the Pointer Sisters' "Slow Hand" that included CKLW's calls.<P ID="signature">______________
"Your right to know supersedes your right to exist"..Gary Burbank</P>
 
I think WIFE-AM in Indianapolis had a local version of "Life is a Rock" as well.

This wasn't a custom version, but when WZPL was known as "The Apple" they re-cut Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" to accentuate the lyric that mentions "An Apple".
 
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