Krth 101 personality changes - weekends purged?

[Thomps2525]

KRTH's playlist is now a 1970s-80s-based mix of songs that borrows from KLOS, KSWD, KHHT, KROQ, KYSR, KOST and KBIG. There are very few songs being played on KRTH that aren't also being played on several other stations. Today I was surprised to hear Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself. The song failed to chart when first released in 1981. Two years later it was re-released and got to #102 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart but failed to make the Top 60 Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. (The Modern Rock chart didn't debut until 1988.)

KRTH used to play the Isley Brothers' low-charting Shout and now they play Van Morrison's low-charting Moondance and Billy Idol's low-charting Dancing With Myself. Will wonders never cease?

 

[Thomps2525]

Today, in addition to Dancing With Myself, KRTH played White Wedding, which got to #108 in 1982 and #36 in 1983. It's nice that the station is playing some low-charting songs...but Billy Idol??? I guess his music fits well with that of David Bowie, Depeche Mode and Modern English. KRTH has certainly ch-ch-ch-changed.

 

[CTListener]

Today, in addition to Dancing With Myself, KRTH played White Wedding, which got to #108 in 1982 and #36 in 1983. It's nice that the station is playing some low-charting songs...but Billy Idol??? I guess his music fits well with that of David Bowie, Depeche Mode and Modern English. KRTH has certainly ch-ch-ch-changed.

The videos for those songs were in heavy rotation on MTV, which most of the Top 40 audience was watching during those years. How much radio exposure those songs got at the time is of little relevance, given how incredibly hot the MTV phenomenon was then. Everyone knew those songs then, and they remember them fondly now.

 

[TheBigA]

KRTH used to play the Isley Brothers' low-charting Shout and now they play Van Morrison's low-charting Moondance and Billy Idol's low-charting Dancing With Myself. Will wonders never cease?

I'm friends with a lot of songwriters, and they all tell me the same thing: Original chart position only matters at that time. It's what happens to a song AFTER its a hit that determines it's longevity. I was speaking with a writer who's had numerous #1s, but the song that still gets the most airplay, and the most standing ovations after 25 years is a Top 10 she had early in her career. And it's also interesting to hear about the correlation between airplay and concert response.

 

[Thomps2525]

I can understand why a lot of former number-one hits are no longer played. (Sorry, Rick. Sorry, Debby.) But I'm surprised that quite a few songs that were not big hits are getting so much airplay now. I'm sure that part of the reason some non-hits eventually become popular is because movie producers insist on sticking old rock songs in the soundtracks instead of hiring composers to write new songs. People hear a song in a movie and run out to buy it, even though it was never a hit on the charts. On a semi-related note, all the Los Angeles top-40 stations played the Doors' Break On Through in 1967 and it was a fairly big hit here but nationally it stalled at #126. Maybe a producer should stick it in a movie!

 

[benale]

Does KRTH play the original versions of "Mony Mony" or "You Can't Hurry Love" anymore, or do they just play the Billy Idol and Phil Collins versions? Only a matter of time before Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" and Joan Jett's "Crimson and Clover" are played.

I usually prefer the original hit over a remake, with the exception of The Dave Clark Five who did great cover versions of older songs. Does KRTH even play The DC5 anymore? Probably not.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Let's also remember that in the 1980s we had KROQ playing the New Wave/Modern Rock songs that were getting only sporadic airplay on CHR stations elsewhere.

A lot of those songs resonate with today's listeners because a lot of them have been played on various stations in the market in the intervening 20-30 years. That not only explains the Billy Idol songs that Steve seems oddly surprised to hear and "I Melt With You" by Modern English, which has at various points in KRTH discussions been cited as a "non-hit".

To rephrase what BigA said above, what makes a song a hit is what the listeners think of it after it's a current.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Does KRTH play the original versions of "Mony Mony" or "You Can't Hurry Love" anymore, or do they just play the Billy Idol and Phil Collins versions?

To the KRTH target demographic, the Idol and Collins versions are the "original" versions, because those were the versions they heard as currents.

 

[Thomps2525]

Yes, many younger listeners know the remade versions of songs but are unfamiliar with the original versions. Paul Revere of Paul Revere & the Raiders died of cancer October 4. The group's biggest hit was Indian Reservation, but does anyone remember the Don Fardon original which probably hasn't been played on the radio since 1968? And I shudder to think of all the young people who know only the Madonna version of American Pie. I have a copy of Richard Berry's original version of Louie Louie. Kingsmen lead singer Jack Ely sang the lyrics exactly as written but almost everyone, including the FBI, thought the Kingsmen version was dirty. Nobody ever plays Berry's original...or, for that matter, the Paul Revere & the Raiders version.

Here is a fun question for everyone to answer: Has any remake improved on the original version? Did the Rolling Stones' Not Fade Away sound better than Buddy Holly's original? Did Christina Aguilera out-perform Patti LaBelle on Lady Marmalade? Did Ace Of Base do Cruel Summer better than Bananarama? How about Gaye vs. Knight on Grapevine? or Morrison vs. Feliciano on Light My Fire? I'm guessing that older listeners prefer the original versions and younger listeners who hear the originals will still prefer the remakes.

 

[TheBigA]

The group's biggest hit was Indian Reservation, but does anyone remember the Don Fardon original which probably hasn't been played on the radio since 1968?

By the same token, Tim McGraw quoted the chorus in his 1994 hit Indian Outlaw, which was his first big hit. Betcha no one at KRTH knows that.

Here is a fun question for everyone to answer: Has any remake improved on the original version? Did the Rolling Stones' Not Fade Away sound better than Buddy Holly's original?

Personally I like the Stones version better because of the sound quality of the recording, the cool acoustic feel, and the high energy. I like both Gaye & Knight versions of Grapevine for different reasons. I think Berry Gordy felt the same way.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm guessing that older listeners prefer the original versions and younger listeners who hear the originals will still prefer the remakes.

And it still won't matter, Steve.

 

[Thomps2525]

It will matter to the respective groups of listeners, certainly, but I know it won't matter to the radio programmers. See, I've learned a few things from all these KRTH threads! Speaking of which, KRTH is now playing only eight or nine 1960s songs each day. The recent 1980s weekend proved so popular, why doesn't KRTH switch to a mix of 50% '80s, 40% '70s and 10% early 1990s? Why play any '60s songs at all now? Dropping '60s and playing '70s-80s-90s certainly didn't hurt KOLA. What is KRTH waiting on?

 

[MadMan]

Here is a fun question for everyone to answer: Has any remake improved on the original version? How about Gaye vs. Knight on Grapevine? or Morrison vs. Feliciano on Light My Fire? I'm guessing that older listeners prefer the original versions and younger listeners who hear the originals will still prefer the remakes.

Yes Hal David-Burt Bacharach's 'What the World needs now is Love 'by Jackie DeShannon is much better than anything Tom Clay did! Yet Jose Felicano does a better Light My Fire. go figure?

 

[Thomps2525]

And how often is a remake done just one year after the original? I'm not referring to the many 1950s songs which were recorded by both a white artist and a black artist but to remakes which were done within a year of the original version. There was Light My Fire and I Heard It Through The Grapevine, of course, and in 1968 the Ohio Express recorded a "cleaned-up" version of the Standells' Try It (which very few stations played in 1967; it never charted). I'm sure there are many others...but how many of them were better than the originals? And why would an artist even want to remake a year-old song that was a big hit for someone else?

 

[TheBigA]

Why play any '60s songs at all now? Dropping '60s and playing '70s-80s-90s certainly didn't hurt KOLA. What is KRTH waiting on?

Once again, this goes back to what we were talking about with charts. The fact that Van Morrison is a 60s song doesn't matter. The audience responds and reacts to it as though it's a current. That's what matters. So you have to find those songs that still get that reaction, and those are the 8 or 9 songs you play.

 

[LKellerIII]

I haven't been in LA recently, but have noticed that the Bay Area's current KRTH equivalent - "Big 103.7" with a 691 song playlist - still plays a lot of select 60's hits. Kind of what you'd suspect - I'm a Believer, Born to Be Wild, Sugar, Sugar, Soul Man, It's Your Thing, and yes....Brown Eyed Girl. Not to mention the Beatles, early Supremes, other Motown, and early Rolling Stones.

I'm assuming the point is that even people in their 30s and 40s have - to a certain extent - grown up with these songs, even if it was their parent's listening to them, they've been in the soundtracks of more recent TV shows, commercials, and movies, they're instantly recognizable, and fun to listen to.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm assuming the point is that even people in their 30s and 40s have - to a certain extent - grown up with these songs, even if it was their parent's listening to them, they've been in the soundtracks of more recent TV shows, commercials, and movies, they're instantly recognizable, and fun to listen to.

How often do you now listen to what was your parent's music?

 

[LKellerIII]

How often do you now listen to what was your parent's music?

Oddly enough, I listen a fair amount to music that was popular in the 30s and 40s, before I was born, but during their youth - I like Big Band and early jazz. But as far as the music they listened to when I was growing up - Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole...rarely. I have two Sinatras and one Cole each on my MP3 playlist. But my parents had farily eclectic tastes as well, and frequently bought "pop" albums from the likes of Tom Jones, the Fifth Dimension, Dusty Springfield, Blood, Sweat & Tears, etc - stuff that was played on Top 40 radio. My mother and I used to argue about what the best version of Light My Fire was - Doors or Feliciano. But I realize we were probably out of the mainstream.

 

[michael hagerty]

Oddly enough, I listen a fair amount to music that was popular in the 30s and 40s, before I was born, but during their youth - I like Big Band and early jazz. But as far as the music they listened to when I was growing up - Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole...rarely. I have two Sinatras and one Cole each on my MP3 playlist. But my parents had farily eclectic tastes as well, and frequently bought "pop" albums from the likes of Tom Jones, the Fifth Dimension, Dusty Springfield, Blood, Sweat & Tears, etc - stuff that was played on Top 40 radio. My mother and I used to argue about what the best version of Light My Fire was - Doors or Feliciano. But I realize we were probably out of the mainstream.

Count me in with Llew....but I know I'm weird.

 

[TheBigA]

But as far as the music they listened to when I was growing up - Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole...rarely.

That's my point, and I think people in their 30s and 40s today are the same way. They know their parents music, and know it for that reason. But it's not something they connect with in a real way. So the real question is are they likely to be listening to a station that plays their parents music all the time? Probably not.