It's 2015! Time to get rid of the '70s.

[oldies76]

Fast forward 30 years, and you're now 30 years older. Meanwhile, people who are NOW the age your were 30 years ago can hear radio stations that play music from the 80s and 90s. They're having the experience you had then. Radio hasn't changed...you've just gotten older. Sorry about that.

Yeah, If I can just get into a DeLorean and.........

Well, hopefully today's crowd can have a similar experience. The only big difference is that today, radio just isn't creative enough. Big countdowns and specials, similar to what KRTH did then, is what's missing now it seems. Radio was more personal then. They took requests and it was more nostalgic in presentation. Yeah, you've got AT40 and the usual holiday specials (top 500...A to Z), but it just does not seem the same. Many songs are missing.

Oh well, that's the way it is. C'est La Vie.

 

[oldies76]

Me too.

Another thing I've always hated is morning shows, with DJ's playing all these silly games, etc. More music, less talk.

Yeah. Playing only 7 or 8 songs an hour dominated by chatter was a turn off as well. When I would hear older countdowns, it always took forever to get through them, because of all the chatter, spots, news...etc..etc.. I always said, "Can we ever hear the music guys"?

 

[oldies76]

Well speaking of Nostalgia....A new #1 song on the Hot 100 today, the first for 2015.

"Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars!!

http://www.billboard.com/articles/c...94/hot-100-uptown-funk-mark-ronson-bruno-mars

 

[semoochie]

Yeah, If I can just get into a DeLorean and.........

Well, hopefully today's crowd can have a similar experience. The only big difference is that today, radio just isn't creative enough. Big countdowns and specials, similar to what KRTH did then, is what's missing now it seems. Radio was more personal then. They took requests and it was more nostalgic in presentation. Yeah, you've got AT40 and the usual holiday specials (top 500...A to Z), but it just does not seem the same. Many songs are missing.

Oh well, that's the way it is. C'est La Vie.

Would anyone like to break the bad news about playing requests? I don't have the heart.

 

[TheBigA]

The only big difference is that today, radio just isn't creative enough. Big countdowns and specials, similar to what KRTH did then, is what's missing now it seems.

But what you mainly want is music. People talking about the music isn't the kind of presentation you want. And the artists of that era aren't available for interviews. Even if they were, listeners mainly want the music. "Where Are They Now" type shows aren't really exciting.

 

[Music Lover]

Radio was more personal then.

That's what this blog mentions: http://radiobattles.blogspot.com/

 

[Music Lover]

Well speaking of Nostalgia....A new #1 song on the Hot 100 today, the first for 2015.

"Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars!!

http://www.billboard.com/articles/c...94/hot-100-uptown-funk-mark-ronson-bruno-mars

I saw him performing it on the finale of The Voice. Reminded me of something James Brown would have sung.

 

[davideduardo]

Would anyone like to break the bad news about playing requests? I don't have the heart.

All of us in radio who have been in the studio know about requests for the song we just played. Or requests for the song we are playing right now! And repeated calls from artist fanclub / fanboys / fangirls who want the new song by their favorite artist played over and over.

Back when we only had store sales as our research, we also tabulated requests and used that info as part of our process to evaluate songs. Today, we have much better real information and generally don't even keep records of requests.

And as to playing them, in my personal experience with Top 40 and other current based formats going back to the 60's, I never considered access to a telephone to qualify someone to program my radio station, so we did not play requests.

The only form of requests I like... and I like it a lot... is Listener Driven Radio. That's where the audience "takes over" a station in certain hours and songs, all approved for airplay, are voted up or down. The highest trending song is played next, and then the rest of songs compete. This system, which is web based, real time and interactive, simply rearranges the station's playlist and gets listeners involved in giving props to their favorite songs. It's fun on the air, and blends new media options with traditional curated playlist radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Back when we only had store sales as our research, we also tabulated requests and used that info as part of our process to evaluate songs. Today, we have much better real information and generally don't even keep records of requests.

I still do, primarily because it gives me access to user data.

 

[davideduardo]

That's what this blog mentions: http://radiobattles.blogspot.com/

That blog, with one post, is over 5 years old. And it's wrong.

Most major stations, particularly those with current hits in tight rotations, did not allow requests or even allow the DJ to pick the music going back to the 50's. They played the station Top 40... or Top 30 or Top 50 chart with very precise rotation based on chart position.

Some stations allowed the jock to select among a preapproved list of gold, but with strict rotational / rest requirements. This was done when music scheduling software did not yet exist to allow precise scheduling to be done. But by the time we could do better selection using the computer, most DJ choice was eliminated... that was about 30 or so years ago.

The blog seems to state that DJ choice and requests were eliminated very recently. That is just not true.

 

[Music Lover]

And repeated calls from artist fanclub / fanboys / fangirls who want the new song by their favorite artist played over and over.

That's because many artists encourage their fans to do so, especially when the artist doesn't get as much promotion as whoever's more hip and popular.

 

[oldies76]

All of us in radio who have been in the studio know about requests for the song we just played. Or requests for the song we are playing right now! And repeated calls from artist fanclub / fanboys / fangirls who want the new song by their favorite artist played over and over.

The thing I disliked was when I used to request songs on stations in Southern California, is that they never would play them. And this was the time when lots of 60's and 70's were being played. They would only honor your request, if the song was on rotation and coming up within the hour or so. I soon figured out, that this was the norm, that stations could not just dig one "out of the vault", and eventually figuring out that their playlists were indeed.........small.

The DJ would simply say...."Well I'll have to check if we've got that one" or "Let me check to see if we have it".

And I'm thinking, You're a radio station, you are supposed to have it. Apparently not! Well they really do, but not for airplay. Kind of sucks.

 

[TheBigA]

And I'm thinking, You're a radio station, you are supposed to have it. Apparently not! Well they really do, but not for airplay. Kind of sucks.

What really sucks is having a fan or group of fans continually call a station to play a song to drive up airplay, and create an artificial hit. One that's not really popular, except from the fan base of that particular artist. Meanwhile, the rest of the audience hates the song, and can't understand why this awful song is getting so much airplay. Fan clubs ruined an innocent idea like request shows by turning them into platforms for their agenda.

 

[oldies76]

What really sucks is having a fan or group of fans continually call a station to play a song to drive up airplay, and create an artificial hit. One that's not really popular, except from the fan base of that particular artist. Meanwhile, the rest of the audience hates the song, and can't understand why this awful song is getting so much airplay.

I always hear of the "You Light Up My Life" dilemma. I was only 10 in 1977, so I don't remember, but people today always say it was played way too much and hated it. But yet, it was #1 for ten weeks, due to sales and airplay. If the song was hated so much, why was it so popular?

 

[davideduardo]

I still do, primarily because it gives me access to user data.

This is a good place to make a point that Avid, Oldies 76 and others don't seem to recognize:

Different programmers and management teams will have different approaches. There is no one size fits all approach.

I don't look at requests. I find they are distracting, as they interfere with the interpretation of more solid data.

BigA looks at requests because he finds it useful at the granular listener level.

Different perspectives, but likely the same successful results.

And that shows how much individuality programmers still have. It's just that we use different tool or use those tools with different priorities.

 

[TheBigA]

If the song was hated so much, why was it so popular?

Consider if a record sells a million copies, then 300 million DIDN'T buy it.

There are lots of ways to artificially affect airplay and sales. Most of them are illegal. If you went to used record stores in the 70s, you saw a lot of copies of Debbie Boone's album. Wonder why?

 

[davideduardo]

I always hear of the "You Light Up My Life" dilemma. I was only 10 in 1977, so I don't remember, but people today always say it was played way too much and hated it. But yet, it was #1 for ten weeks, due to sales and airplay. If the song was hated so much, why was it so popular?

Same reason "Honey" was a big hit about a decade earlier. Those were songs that burnt out quickly. Think of "Happy" and "Gagnam Style" as very recent examples. Bright light, short duration.

 

[Music Lover]

That blog, with one post, is over 5 years old. And it's wrong.

Most major stations, particularly those with current hits in tight rotations, did not allow requests or even allow the DJ to pick the music going back to the 50's. They played the station Top 40... or Top 30 or Top 50 chart with very precise rotation based on chart position.

Some stations allowed the jock to select among a preapproved list of gold, but with strict rotational / rest requirements. This was done when music scheduling software did not yet exist to allow precise scheduling to be done. But by the time we could do better selection using the computer, most DJ choice was eliminated... that was about 30 or so years ago.

The blog seems to state that DJ choice and requests were eliminated very recently. That is just not true.

As I've said before, I've seen a variety of blogs and forums over the years contradicting things you've said here that I've become skeptical.

 

[CTListener]

All of us in radio who have been in the studio know about requests for the song we just played. Or requests for the song we are playing right now! And repeated calls from artist fanclub / fanboys / fangirls who want the new song by their favorite artist played over and over.

Back when we only had store sales as our research, we also tabulated requests and used that info as part of our process to evaluate songs. Today, we have much better real information and generally don't even keep records of requests.

And as to playing them, in my personal experience with Top 40 and other current based formats going back to the 60's, I never considered access to a telephone to qualify someone to program my radio station, so we did not play requests.

The only form of requests I like... and I like it a lot... is Listener Driven Radio. That's where the audience "takes over" a station in certain hours and songs, all approved for airplay, are voted up or down. The highest trending song is played next, and then the rest of songs compete. This system, which is web based, real time and interactive, simply rearranges the station's playlist and gets listeners involved in giving props to their favorite songs. It's fun on the air, and blends new media options with traditional curated playlist radio.

What did you think of "make it or break it" gimmicks, in which a station would play a song it ostensibly was undecided about, then let listeners call in and "vote" whether it gets on the playlists? I always assumed the result was predetermined, but country WWYZ in Hartford tried for two weeks back in the early '90s to get Vince Gill's "When I Call Your Name" to win, only to have the listeners vote it down each time. IIRC, it was quietly added a few weeks later -- with the song already in the top 10 nationally -- and "make it or break it" disappeared shortly afterward. This was when Country 92.5 was still a mom-and-pop operation (though a phenomenally successful one, considering country's spotty history in the market). The sale to AM/FM (later Clear Channel) would happen a year or two later.

Also, DJ choice and listener requests are still very much alive on the BBC's local stations across England. A couple of stations have shows in which the DJ tosses out a "theme" and the listeners call, e-mail or Facebook song titles -- everything from Elvis to U2 to Michael Buble. Of course, this is the non-commercial, publicly-funded Beeb we're talking about. England's commercial stations sound much more like their U.S. counterparts -- or did until a couple of months ago, when access to them via the Internet was cut off in response to the continuing RIAA fee gouge.

 

[oldies76]

This is a good place to make a point that Avid, Oldies 76 and others don't seem to recognize:

Different programmers and management teams will have different approaches. There is no one size fits all approach.

That's all good, but many stations still did not play my requests. (KOLA, KRTH, KBIG, KOST, XTRA, to name a few). That tells me that their approaches were similar in nature. This was way before I had figured out things like rotations and playlists.

In fact, if I can remember, only twice in about 20 years did a station ever play my requests. Once was an All-Request show on KRTH which took about 50 tries to even get through and the other was KWVE when they were AC in the early 80's. Otherwise I just gave up.