KEOM Question

[terdferguson]

First of all, I'm totally on board with the format since the 70's were my formative years and the songs bring back lots of memories. I'm just curious about two things:

Why 70's music? My thought is that it's innocent (at least by today's standards) and since the station is owned by MISD, that means less headaches with raunchy lyrics and stuff.

How do the high school DJ's handle spinning stuff that their grandparents listened to? I really have a hard time fathoming an 18 year old introducing "Convoy" or "Top of the World" by the Carpenters without giggling.

 

[Robert Bass]

Raunchy lyrics by far are worse in the 70's, than say the 80's (well, at least 1980 to about 1985 or so), but I digress.

The format is designed for the parents / adults in the community, but interestingly enough a lot of the kids (errr, I mean student DJ's) get hooked on it during the course of the school year.

The format was picked in the mid 1990's, as a means to attract an adult audience. It was implemented by Bill Sherrard, the previous MD with KEOM at the time.

R

 

[JayDavis]

But aren't you going to add some 80's music in the near future Robert? I thought you'd written in these forums that it was on the way.............

Ahhh, the 80's, that was a great year!

 

[Robert Bass]

But aren't you going to add some 80's music in the near future Robert? I thought you'd written in these forums that it was on the way.............

Ahhh, the 80's, that was a great year!

YES! It's coming! Probably sometime in 2008.

R

 

[terdferguson]

Raunchy lyrics by far are worse in the 70's, than say the 80's (well, at least 1980 to about 1985 or so), but I digress.

The format is designed for the parents / adults in the community, but interestingly enough a lot of the kids (errr, I mean student DJ's) get hooked on it during the course of the school year.

The format was picked in the mid 1990's, as a means to attract an adult audience. It was implemented by Bill Sherrard, the previous MD with KEOM at the time.

R

Ummm, don't forget that Madonna got her start circa 1980 - 1985, so we're not really talking a pristine era there, either.

I can see your point about the kids getting hooked on the music. My 16 year old daughter really likes The Eagles and Billy Joel (especially Vienna - says she relates to it. I never really understood the song until she explained it to me. Go figure!) Plus, my 13 year old daughter has "Sunshine" by Jonathan Edwards as her myspace theme.

If you do add 80's music, please promise me that Bananarama and Kajagoogoo will be excluded from the play list

 

[Robert Bass]

I'm not making any promises! ;D

I will say this though, I am surprised you're letting your 13 year old use that J. Edwards song as a theme for her myspace page. That song is on KEOM's banned list, due to lyrical content. Specifically the line that says, "I'll be damned if he'll run mine".

R

 

[terdferguson]

I'm not making any promises! ;D

I will say this though, I am surprised you're letting your 13 year old use that J. Edwards song as a theme for her myspace page. That song is on KEOM's banned list, due to lyrical content. Specifically the line that says, "I'll be damned if he'll run mine".

R

Eh, I don't have a problem with it. When I was a kid, you couldn't say butt or hell on the air without getting a second look. How times have changed.

It's funny how certain songs did pass (and still do) the censors, even back in the 70's. Jet Airliner by Steve Miller had the "s" word and Who Are You had the "f" word. Why did the FCC always turn the other way on these songs???

 

[Robert Bass]

I used to think times had changed, then I was asked last year to remove songs from the playlist that we had been spinning for almost the entire history of KEOM's operation. We're talking mild stuff like Sister Golden Hair, With A Little Luck, Just You 'N' Me, Moonlight Feels Right, etc etc etc... All of those songs contain either the word damn or hell. And those are the one's I can remember, off the top of my head. But as far as 80's music goes, the only one I can recall offhand is The Search Is Over by Survivor. All the other 80's songs I have screened and added to the system, don't contain even those two words.

R

 

[terdferguson]

I used to think times had changed, then I was asked last year to remove songs from the playlist that we had been spinning for almost the entire history of KEOM's operation. We're talking mild stuff like Sister Golden Hair, With A Little Luck, Just You 'N' Me, Moonlight Feels Right, etc etc etc... All of those songs contain either the word damn or hell. And those are the one's I can remember, off the top of my head. But as far as 80's music goes, the only one I can recall offhand is The Search Is Over by Survivor. All the other 80's songs I have screened and added to the system, don't contain even those two words.

R

KEOM doesn't count - you guys are living in the 70's ;D

I'm guessing that Afternoon Delight isn't on your play list, even though it doesn't have any specific naughty words.

 

[Robert Bass]

I'm guessing that Afternoon Delight isn't on your play list, even though it doesn't have any specific naughty words.

Afternoon Delight is on the safe list.

As far as lyrical content goes, songs that are banned from KEOM are the ones that contain bluntly obvious objectionable lyrics. The songs containing lyrics that are open to interpretation generally remain on the playlist.

Essentially any song on the playlist is subject to complaint, as listeners typically have their own opinions as to what they find objectionable. When a rare complaint about a song does come in, it undergoes a review.

Aside from the titles I have already mentioned in my previous post, here are some more examples of the types of songs KEOM can’t play:

Bad Girls – Donna Summer (prostitution content)
Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye (risqué sex content)
You’re Having My Baby – Paul Anka (abortion subject content)
One Toke Over The Line – Brewer & Shipley (drug content)

R

 

[Paul Boomer]

Hey Robert,

How is it that "Cut The Cake" gets played? Its lyrics are pretty suggestive.

BTW, I like the song.

 

[Robert Bass]

Hey Robert,

How is it that "Cut The Cake" gets played? Its lyrics are pretty suggestive.

BTW, I like the song.

The very same reason why Afternoon Delight gets played. It is open for interpretation.

R

 

[Paul Boomer]

Thanks for the explanation! I forgot all about "Afternoon Delight".

 

[CW]

Hey Robert,

How is it that "Cut The Cake" gets played? Its lyrics are pretty suggestive.

BTW, I like the song.

The very same reason why Afternoon Delight gets played. It is open for interpretation.

R

So what about "The Bitch is Back" ? (I hear thats Hillary's new theme song for her campaign)...."Pillow Talk" I bet is on the nono list (OMG!)

 

[Robert Bass]

Hey Robert,

How is it that "Cut The Cake" gets played? Its lyrics are pretty suggestive.

BTW, I like the song.

The very same reason why Afternoon Delight gets played. It is open for interpretation.

R

So what about "The Bitch is Back" ? (I hear thats Hillary's new theme song for her campaign)...."Pillow Talk" I bet is on the nono list (OMG!)

Yep... those two are on the banned list.

And that is a perfect Hillary theme song

R

 

[Lancer]

Is "Life In The Fast Lane" banned? It has the "gd" word in it. I have heard the song on other stations but it is edited out or the word is distorted. It is odd to hear songs that I've heard for decades are now naughty.

Of course we know the song "Money" & its BS reference. ;D

Great job at KEOM Robert - I try to tune in when I can.

 

[CW]

Is "Life In The Fast Lane" banned? It has the "gd" word in it. I have heard the song on other stations but it is edited out or the word is distorted. It is odd to hear songs that I've heard for decades are now naughty.

Of course we know the song "Money" & its BS reference. ;D

Great job at KEOM Robert - I try to tune in when I can.

I remember back in the 70s playing a taped program called Larry Black (similar to Powerside with Brother John Rivers).....aimed at Top40 listeners with religious theme....YET Larry and company played Life in the Fast Lane for 3 weeks...before realizing that GD was in it and the line "They were good in bed, she said faster faster, the lights are turning red!" Of course that meant HE never screened the music...he laid down his voice tracks and thats was it until someone realized what had happened...OHHHH did he apologize on the 4th week...I remember the MD and I laughing about it while it played...
I would think Money could be edited (Has been....and remember the LP version of Big Ole Jetairliner by Steve Miller has the words "funky sh**s" where as the 45 has "funky stuff")..of course I remember KOLE in Port Arthur in its top40 heydays edited "Kodachrome" by Paul Simon...because it said crap.......geeshhh Isnt there a dice game called that?? =

 

[Robert Bass]

Interesting story CW! They should have an 11th commandment... 'Thou shalt screen every song before airplay".

And yes, LITFL is on the banned list.

I have heard the stories about Kodachrome. In KEOM's case, that's one reason it is banned. The other reason is Simon pokes fun at education. We can't have that on. KEOM

Some of the banned songs can be cleaned up. I removed the "damn" word in Still The Same by Bob Seger, for example. I also took out "Hell" from "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell, so we could use that one as part of our Halloween music mix. Of course on Michael Jackson's Thriller, I left it in, because it's being used as a reference to a place, as opposed to a curse word. And sadly Dr. Griffin didn't like the "body parts strewn all over" in "I Want My Baby Back", which is another one we use on Halloween. So to keep it useable, I just edited that part out. Personally I didn't think that was necessary, since ya gotta have a little gore on Halloween.

R

 

[Robert Bass]

This reminds me of an old story. Back in the day when our music was on reels, from Century21 Programming (no relation to the real estate company), I volunteered to splice off any song on any reel, they didn't want played.

One day I was talking to Clay Cottles, one of our engineers. For those of you who don't know Clay, he has a really keen sense of humor. On that day we were just chatting about random stuff, and somehow or another the topic of song omitting came up. I mentioned I was now splicing a lot of those types of songs off of the reels. Clay looks at me with a straight face and says something like, "You should make a reel of all those deleted songs, for the station".

Sometimes I look back on that and kick myself for not doing just that.

R

 

[VERITAS DE VOCE]

I'm sorry. Lists? Did I read music lists? In a format I may dabble in? Oh, please... pick me, pick me.

Word to the wise, no 80s format is complete without MJ's "Thriller", U2's "Joshua Tree", Police's "Synchronicity", VH's "1984", Prince's "Purple Rain" and believe that, Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" (Something tells me the later may not make on air on the community servant of the air waves. ;D

IJS.