KRTH 2013 Labor Day Countdown

[oldies76]

Well this year, KRTH is planning an interactive "Have it your way" Top 500 countdown for the entire Labor Day Weekend. Listeners are voting on their top 3 songs of all time on the KRTH website.

http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/

Supposedly, the listeners are choosing all the songs this time around. My suspicions are that they will chop the list and only play those songs that have tested well, which would not be the right thing to do, contrary to what they are promoting (and effectively eliminating alot of the listener choices and personal favorites). But I hope I'm wrong on this one.

Theoretically, if enough people voted for "You Light Up My Life", it would be part of the countdown. ;D

Let's see how it pans out this year.

 

[davideduardo]

Supposedly, the listeners are choosing all the songs this time around. My suspicions are that they will chop the list and only play those songs that have tested well, which would not be the right thing to do, contrary to what they are promoting (and effectively eliminating alot of the listener choices and personal favorites). But I hope I'm wrong on this one.

Generally, when you ask listeners to vote on a website (or, in the past, via a ballot published in a newspaper) you get back a list of the same songs that tested very highly of late.

You don't get a lot of deep cuts and historical mid-charters, because... just as music tests show... not many people think of them as favorites.

Keep in mind that the K-earth implementation of the voting is to show the 20 most popular "listener favorites" and to determine the #1 listener choice. It does not mean that the whole weekend will be made up of listener choice songs.

 

[Thomps2525]

From August 26 to August 30, we'll be allowed to vote for our favorite among the 20 songs that get the most votes. But why? Unless every one of those 20 songs gets an identical number of votes, we shouldn't be asked to vote a second time. Whichever song got more votes than any of the others, that is number one---duh! I hope the Top 500 list will be honest and accurate and not just have the "same ol' songs" that are on it every year.

I voted for three songs that I like which are not being played on KRTH: Venus by Frankie Avalon, Denise by Randy & the Rainbows and I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel. They probably won't get played but maybe my vote will cancel out somebody else's vote for Happy Together, Oh Pretty Woman and Brown Eyed Girl.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Theoretically, if enough people voted for "You Light Up My Life", it would be part of the countdown. ;D

As I have said before, the only way it will be played is if a real (as in, not theoretical) gunman holds the PD at gunpoint and demands the spin.

These themed weekends present such a great opportunity for KRTH to do some really cool things, but instead they blow it every time by playing the same 500 song library in a slightly different order. David can talk about researched songs and how well they test all day long, but when you promise something special and just deliver the same old tired product, you can't help but tarnish the brand. And KRTH's brand is definitely tarnished - compare how locals feel about KRTH vs NY locals and WCBS. IN NYC WCBS is still much loved, in LA KRTH is just another station on the dial (with ratings to prove it).

Here is just one suggestion that would make the whole voting thing more fun. Make it your favorite "summer songs" of all time, with all years in the rock era (as Casey used to always call it) fair game. You'd probably get lots of Beach Boys (I am sure someone at KRTH remembers them) and because folks of a wide age group would participate, you could get some cool newer stuff that is relevant to the millennials and the younger crowd, like maybe "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff that isn't played on KRTH, but now definitely fits the classic hits genre. Record some people calling in and telling why a specific song brings back great memories for them. Most of all, make the music the star and have fun with it.

But for God's sake, give the people a reason to tune in. As it is, KRTH gives me a good reason to plug in the Ipod.

As the kids say, "I'm just sayin..."

 

[oldies76]

Keep in mind that the K-earth implementation of the voting is to show the 20 most popular "listener favorites" and to determine the #1 listener choice. It does not mean that the whole weekend will be made up of listener choice songs.

I got the impression that the listeners's votes will make up the entire 500, and then KRTH will show just the top 20 of those 500, so voters can choose the #1 song. If it is the entire 500, then it could be really interesting (unless other "behind the scenes" rankings are done to change the countdown, more in line to what they already play, day in and day out), which has been possibly done in past countdowns.

 

[oldies76]

These themed weekends present such a great opportunity for KRTH to do some really cool things, but instead they blow it every time by playing the same 500 song library in a slightly different order.

The 1980's are a great example of larger themed weekends on KRTH, such as the number ones or bigger A to Z's weekends. But I really have not understood why KRTH would doctor a major countdown like that, when it was promoted to be "listener voted", other than making sure only tested songs were ranked. Sort of a head scratcher.

 

[michael hagerty]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.

The vote to pick a #1 out of the 20 most-submitted songs is probably a pre-emptive tie breaker. And a tie of the top 20 is mathematically possible.

I'm rounding for simplicity, but KRTH's weekly cume is about 2 million. If 1% participate, that's 20,000 people voting. The vast majority will be people who really like KRTH, so there will be very few left-field choices, especially when you're asking for their top 3 songs.

Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

With 20,000 people (give or take) nominating three songs each, it's entirely possible to do a legitimate list of 500. The total number of songs nominated most likely won't exceed 1,000...probably less...with songs that KRTH doesn't play getting a smattering of votes and ranking below everything they do play regularly.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.


Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

Uhhh..Nope.

"Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train" is the very reason why Ipods exist in the first place.

 

[oldies76]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.

Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

With 20,000 people (give or take) nominating three songs each, it's entirely possible to do a legitimate list of 500. The total number of songs nominated most likely won't exceed 1,000...probably less...with songs that KRTH doesn't play getting a smattering of votes and ranking below everything they do play regularly.

Many years back, "Stairway to Heaven" would top the firecracker countdowns year after year. Other years would be "Hey Jude" or "Satisfaction".

Personally, I hope "Brown Eyed Girl" ranks at #499 It's a great song, but previous discussions threads have been endless on that one!

 

[michael hagerty]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.


Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

Uhhh..Nope.

"Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train" is the very reason why Ipods exist in the first place.

Not for people who listen to and like KRTH, which is who'll be voting.

Watch when the list comes out. Betcha a Coke all four of those are in the Top 50.

 

[davideduardo]

With 20,000 people (give or take) nominating three songs each, it's entirely possible to do a legitimate list of 500. The total number of songs nominated most likely won't exceed 1,000...probably less...with songs that KRTH doesn't play getting a smattering of votes and ranking below everything they do play regularly.

I did something similar in a market a bit bigger than LA.

We published in a major newspaper, with a circulation of about 1.2 million, the entire list of 1200 songs for a music test, and ran the test on the air on a Sunday evening. About 80,000 forms were returned with 1 to 10 scores.

But as part of that, we put, at the end, a place to list each respondent's favorite songs. We got less than 500 favorites, and the first 100 or so made up 80% of the selections.

This was even with the whole list of all possible songs that could be "your favorites" being listed on the form.

 

[michael hagerty]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.

Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

With 20,000 people (give or take) nominating three songs each, it's entirely possible to do a legitimate list of 500. The total number of songs nominated most likely won't exceed 1,000...probably less...with songs that KRTH doesn't play getting a smattering of votes and ranking below everything they do play regularly.

Many years back, "Stairway to Heaven" would top the firecracker countdowns year after year. Other years would be "Hey Jude" or "Satisfaction".

Personally, I hope "Brown Eyed Girl" ranks at #499 It's a great song, but previous discussions threads have been endless on that one!

"Stairway" would do well in a KLOS or KSWD listener poll. It hasn't been a KRTH record for more than 20 years.

How well "Brown Eyed Girl" does will depend on how old the respondents skew. If it's mainly 40-somethings, it'll be in the bottom half of the countdown. Or it could not show up at all. At least 300 songs KRTH plays won't.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

My read is that the votes will make up the entire 500.


Get ready for "Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train".

Uhhh..Nope.

"Hey Jude", "Satisfaction", "Evil Ways" and "Love Train" is the very reason why Ipods exist in the first place.

Not for people who listen to and like KRTH, which is who'll be voting.

Watch when the list comes out. Betcha a Coke all four of those are in the Top 50.

Oh of this I have no doubt. I just won't be listening to the same songs I always turn off because oldies radio has ruined them forever. There are many out there who are tuning out with me.

 

[michael hagerty]

With 20,000 people (give or take) nominating three songs each, it's entirely possible to do a legitimate list of 500. The total number of songs nominated most likely won't exceed 1,000...probably less...with songs that KRTH doesn't play getting a smattering of votes and ranking below everything they do play regularly.

I did something similar in a market a bit bigger than LA.

We published in a major newspaper, with a circulation of about 1.2 million, the entire list of 1200 songs for a music test, and ran the test on the air on a Sunday evening. About 80,000 forms were returned with 1 to 10 scores.

But as part of that, we put, at the end, a place to list each respondent's favorite songs. We got less than 500 favorites, and the first 100 or so made up 80% of the selections.

This was even with the whole list of all possible songs that could be "your favorites" being listed on the form.

I did it at KOLO in Reno in 1980. Called it "Your Greatest Hits". Ran hourly promos for two weeks soliciting letters or postcards listing listeners' five favorite songs of all time. Deliberately didn't say how big the final list would be. Reno was less than a quater-million people and we had an 8 share, second only to the Top 40, which had a 9.

KOLO was an Adult Contemporary of the type common before Jhani invented "Continuous Soft Hits". We played 40 currents, all but 7 or 8 songs shared with Top 40 in any given week, had about 100 recurrents (songs that had come off the chart in the past year), and about 1000 goldens dating back to 1956.

I didn't know what to expect. I thought a 500-song holiday weekend countdown might be the outcome. Certainly 300. I mean, we were playing more than 1100 titles.

We got about 25-hundred entries...and just over a hundred songs.

By the time we ruled out the jokers who wanted us to play stuff like "Star Star" by the Rolling Stones, "You're Breaking My Heart" by Harry Nilsson and Country Joe's Woodstock version of "The Fish Cheer", we were below 100, so we made it 92 (KOLO was at 920 on the dial) and repeated as we hit #1 (so we started at 3PM Friday, and began again at 10PM, 5AM Saturday, Noon Saturday, 7PM Saturday, Midnight Sunday, broke for religion and public affairs at 7, started again at 11AM Sunday, 6PM Sunday, went off the air for transmitter maintenance at 1AM Sunday and that was it).

Most of the serious entries had at least one song in common, they were all rather big hits, no left-field surprises (because people feel constrained when you limit it to five, and they default to songs they can think of readily that they like), and to illustrate that, a surprising number of these adults "all-time favorite songs" were at the time current hits.

 

[Thomps2525]

Current hits, eh? I remember in the 1980s when several recent hits appeared on the KRTH countdowns...and this year KRTH is asking us to list our "top three favorite songs of all time" regardless of decade. Which stations does KRTH share listeners with? Is there any chance that the Top 500 will include Treasure, Blurred Lines, We Can't Stop and Love Somebody?

 

[oldies76]

Current hits, eh? I remember in the 1980s when several recent hits appeared on the KRTH countdowns...and this year KRTH is asking us to list our "top three favorite songs of all time" regardless of decade. Which stations does KRTH share listeners with? Is there any chance that the Top 500 will include Treasure, Blurred Lines, We Can't Stop and Love Somebody?

Maybe KRTH will play "Blurred Lines" in 2033, when the song is 20 years old! You do realize it's now #1 for 10 weeks nationally?

Even if listeners vote for 80's and some 90's, KRTH will probably eliminate most of them as to keep the countdown more in line with their rotation of today. Wanna vote for "Ebony and Ivory" , "Girl You Know It's True" and "What Kind Of Fool"?? To me, they would be just as legit as "Don't Stop Believing", "Boys of Summer" and "Billie Jean".

 

[michael hagerty]

Current hits, eh? I remember in the 1980s when several recent hits appeared on the KRTH countdowns...and this year KRTH is asking us to list our "top three favorite songs of all time" regardless of decade. Which stations does KRTH share listeners with? Is there any chance that the Top 500 will include Treasure, Blurred Lines, We Can't Stop and Love Somebody?

Maybe KRTH will play "Blurred Lines" in 2033, when the song is 20 years old! You do realize it's now #1 for 10 weeks nationally?

Even if listeners vote for 80's and some 90's, KRTH will probably eliminate most of them as to keep the countdown more in line with their rotation of today. Wanna vote for "Ebony and Ivory" , "Girl You Know It's True" and "What Kind Of Fool"?? To me, they would be just as legit as "Don't Stop Believing", "Boys of Summer" and "Billie Jean".

Two mistakes there:

1) You're automatically assuming they'll tamper with the results.

2) You're assuming that tampering would be done to stay in line with the existing sound when there's a new PD and a desperate need to get their 25-54 numbers in better shape.

And bet on "Blurred Lines" on KRTH in less than 20 years. Probably 10 or less. It's got huge adult female appeal. It's not a record that you have to wait for today's teenager to hit the demo.

 

[Thomps2525]

Any chance we could get KRTH to release the results of the voting? Not just play the songs but give us the final tallies. I'd love to see the actual number of votes that each song got.

 

[oldies76]

Two mistakes there:

1) You're automatically assuming they'll tamper with the results.

2) You're assuming that tampering would be done to stay in line with the existing sound when there's a new PD and a desperate need to get their 25-54 numbers in better shape.

And bet on "Blurred Lines" on KRTH in less than 20 years. Probably 10 or less. It's got huge adult female appeal. It's not a record that you have to wait for today's teenager to hit the demo.

I've assumed that possiblity based on prior countdowns that were listener voted, mainly PD Jay Coffey onward. There were some years in the late 90's or early 00's, that the same Memorial weekend listener voted top 500's were nearly or totally identical year after year. And those countdowns really reflected their playlists at the time. (In other words, KRTH just shuffled their everyday music around to make the countdown feel legit, when it wasn't).

As for "Blurred Lines", that very well might happen. Very retro sounding, along with "Treasure", "Suit and Tie" and "Get Lucky". It could go easily with early 80's Kool and the Gang or the Whispers "And the Beat Goes On"...etc..

 

[michael hagerty]

Two mistakes there:

1) You're automatically assuming they'll tamper with the results.

2) You're assuming that tampering would be done to stay in line with the existing sound when there's a new PD and a desperate need to get their 25-54 numbers in better shape.

And bet on "Blurred Lines" on KRTH in less than 20 years. Probably 10 or less. It's got huge adult female appeal. It's not a record that you have to wait for today's teenager to hit the demo.

I've assumed that possiblity based on prior countdowns that were listener voted, mainly PD Jay Coffey onward. There were some years in the late 90's or early 00's, that the same Memorial weekend listener voted top 500's were nearly or totally identical year after year. And those countdowns really reflected their playlists at the time. (In other words, KRTH just shuffled their everyday music around to make the countdown feel legit, when it wasn't).

Coffey was PD from 2002-2005. Jhani took over in January of 2006. I think we established a month or so ago that his countdowns weren't based on listener votes. Even if Coffey did alter the input, that's no reason to accuse Rick Thomas of doing the same thing.

And, as I noted a few posts back, when you have thousands of fans of a station (which suggests they like it) nominating their favorite 3-5 songs, the vast majority of what you get will be songs the station plays. The songs they don't play will most likely not get enough votes to make the top 500, and the order of songs (especially at and near the top) is unlikely to change much from year to year. You don't have to meddle to make that happen.