• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Making songs older than they actually are.

M

mleach

Last weekend I was in Front Royal, Virginia. The only FM station in town is an oldies station ( WZRV ).
While listening to them off and on throughout the weekend ( Friday thru late Sunday ), is that they are in a habit of making songs..well older. For example I heard a jingle that went "..1977" and then they played Boy Meets Girl "Waiting For A Star to Fall". That song came out I believe in 1989. First I thought it was misstake on the part of the announcer ( wrong jingle? wrong song played by accident? ).

Then about an hour later they played the 1983 tune by the Romantics "Talking In Your Sleep". However according to the announcer on WZRV, he said the song came out in "1974". Odd !! Dream Academy "Life In Northern Town". Song came out in late 1985, WZRV says that song "was all over the radio in the summer of 1975".

After hearing that, I called up WZRV and not only did they they admitted to me that they "slip" 80s tunes on the air and claim they are from the 70s so that they would "fit" but they also told me that many oldies stations across the station have begun to do the same.

Where I live we have a few stations that do those "all 80s weekends" and sometimes I noticed tunes from 1979 popping up like Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" or Peaches & Herb "Reunited". I can see that. But to pass off a song from 1986 and claim the song came out in 1976. Makes no sense to me. Hell, if WZRV really wanted to do the 80s and mix them in with songs from the 60s and 70s, why even bother with mentioning the year and draw attention to themselves?

Is this practice done at other oldes stations?
 
Damn, that kind of stuff is, at the very least, sacreligious!!
I also hate the lack of reasearch in some movies or TV shows set in an earlier time...when a song is played (as part of the scene) that doesn't match the year depicted.
 
A subtle extension of that can happen when an oldies or classic hits or classic rock (or any format) station does a "class reunion" weekend or feature.

"Here's one you remember from your senior year, for all of you who graduated in 1973."

Then they play something from October 1973. Uh, if my graduation was in May or June of 1973, the following October was not part of my senior year. Just because if was from the year of my graduation, that doesn't put it in my senior year. October 1972? Sure. 1973? Wrong.

But often, these things are not well thought out.

Not that it matters (to anybody except the listener).

Jay
 
I read this thread with interest because I program a 50s/60s internet station, Radio Bop (www.radiobop.com) with a format clock covering the years 1954 through 1965 based GENERALLY on the years songs first charted on the Billboard Top 40. During my early research, I found several songs charted YEARS after they were recorded, principally for young artists with canned songs not released until they became established...e.g., Ricky Nelson...a lot of his early stuff recorded in 56/57 didn't release or become hits until in the early 60s...not to mention artists who had songs released after their untimely deaths (e.g., Buddy Holly) so what dates do you use in an automated format with year jingle sings six times an hour--recording date, release date, chart date?...of course, we go with the earliest Top 40 chart dates since that is how they are most identified by the listening public...confession time...a couple of songs I wanted to include in the playlist that became hits in early 66 were actually recorded in early 65 or released in late 65 but that's the extent of my fudging....(Bob Cuban, Jerry Butler).
 
Well, I do agree that if you are doing a strict oldies format you get the years straight if you are going to use jingle or shout imaging next to them. The oldies format relies on credibility with the music.

However, the reason you hear some 1979 or so songs on "80's Weekends" is that some of those songs from 1979 have a very "new wave" sound to them that fits with the sound of 80's music. And, if you play them to people who grew up in the 80's, they would tell you they are 80's songs.

Most listeners are not as anal as hard core oldies fans or radio geeks, and I include myself in those catagories.
 
Radiobop said...so what dates do you use in an automated format with year jingle sings six times an hour--

1957, 1963, 1966, 1970 , 1959, 1965. Why not give the composer and the misic licensor too? (lots of sarcasm in this sentence. Sorry.)

MY answer? NEVER a date. WHY would you date the songs? It makes the listeners feel OLDER.

If YOU are a GEEK (like you and me) - it's GREAT, but there are "casual listeners" who love the music, and couldn't care less about the date.

The "geeks" can buy a Whitburn book. NO DATE is better.
 
The PAMS jingles and year sings are an integral part of the formatics...we get more kudos on the date sings than any other feature...the same year sings heard on souvenir/million dollar weekends throughout the 60s/early 70s....

If you don't like them here, then you will absolutely abhor our new RootsOfRockChannel.com featuring postwar 46-54 hillbilly-country/R&B/pop...we're spending boocoo bucks on the custom jingles/year sings tailored to each category of music...a typical hour will be like nothing you've ever heard before...and, by the way, we WILL talk about the composers/songwriters/artists and more with a focus on how everything melded together into mainstream rock 'n roll...this has been a concept long in the making...but it's coming together...stay tuned!
 
The Chart date seems logical, bucause that is when the song's Original Audience Listener (not the Jock, or recording engineer) first heard it, and that is the time in the Listener's Heart that the listener associates that song with, and what they were doing when they first heard it . The other dates are irrelevant to the Radio Listener.
 
radiobop said:
confession time...a couple of songs I wanted to include in the playlist that became hits in early 66 were actually recorded in early 65 or released in late 65 but that's the extent of my fudging....(Bob Cuban, Jerry Butler).
Click to expand...

I assume the Kuban song was "The Cheater" (a great tune IMO BTW). What was the Butler song?

ixnay
 
mleach said:
Last weekend I was in Front Royal, Virginia. The only FM station in town is an oldies station ( WZRV ).
While listening to them off and on throughout the weekend ( Friday thru late Sunday ), is that they are in a habit of making songs..well older. For example I heard a jingle that went "..1977" and then they played Boy Meets Girl "Waiting For A Star to Fall". That song came out I believe in 1989. First I thought it was misstake on the part of the announcer ( wrong jingle? wrong song played by accident? ).

Then about an hour later they played the 1983 tune by the Romantics "Talking In Your Sleep". However according to the announcer on WZRV, he said the song came out in "1974". Odd !! Dream Academy "Life In Northern Town". Song came out in late 1985, WZRV says that song "was all over the radio in the summer of 1975".

After hearing that, I called up WZRV and not only did they they admitted to me that they "slip" 80s tunes on the air and claim they are from the 70s so that they would "fit" but they also told me that many oldies stations across the station have begun to do the same.

Where I live we have a few stations that do those "all 80s weekends" and sometimes I noticed tunes from 1979 popping up like Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" or Peaches & Herb "Reunited". I can see that. But to pass off a song from 1986 and claim the song came out in 1976. Makes no sense to me. Hell, if WZRV really wanted to do the 80s and mix them in with songs from the 60s and 70s, why even bother with mentioning the year and draw attention to themselves?

Is this practice done at other oldes stations?
Click to expand...

mleach, who did you talk to when you called WZRV? Did you introduce yourself? How much arm twisting did you do to get to the bottom of what you were hearing?

ixnay
 
When I was in that area I called up their local number ( they do have a toll free but it goes to the "good time rock and roll" satellite network ). Talked to the woman who answered the phone and she pretty much told me the scoop. I beileve she mentioned she was in sales there. Didn't have to introduce myself or anything. I just asked why they are playing 80s music when they ( the jocks, jingles, and sweepers ) go on the air and say "60s & 70s".

It was on the Lonnie Hill afternoon show where I heard the Romantics and Boy Meets Girl. BTW..he also played the 1986 Pretenders tune "Don't Get Me Wrong". The Dream Academy bit I heard over the weekend I was in that area was during a live remote broadcast.
 
Oh well, at a local outdoor concert venue, a day-long 70s festival was headlined by Christopher Cross, whose hits were all in 1980 or later.
 
Barry45RPM said:
The Chart date seems logical, bucause that is when the song's Original Audience Listener (not the Jock, or recording engineer) first heard it, and that is the time in the Listener's Heart that the listener associates that song with, and what they were doing when they first heard it . The other dates are irrelevant to the Radio Listener.
Click to expand...

It works well sometimes with reissue discs. I imagine a LOT of people (I'm one of them) associate the Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life" not with 1966 but with 1976 (when that Revolver cut was rereleased as a single [Capitol 4274] and part of a 28-cut grab bag of rockin' Beatle tunes called Rock 'n' Roll Music [Capitol SKBO 11537]) and became a #7 hit (the album got to #2, both in Billboard). The bicen year was the first time I ever heard GTGYIML. I turned 15 that summer and didn't get into Beatle record buying (or Beatle history) until I got to college in 1979.

ixnay
 
If you really want to make a song sound older, just play it / source it from vinyl, noise, scratches and all. It'll keep the fidelity and recording techniques differences to a minimum, especially between the mid-late '60's stuff and anything after '76.
 
This whole thread makes me nuts. First off, I always research every song and give the correct year when selling it. Giving the incorrect year makes the jock and the station sound stupid because they don't know what they are talking about. PLAY WHAT'S IN YOUR FORMAT!! Doing anything else will make you lose your credibility. Of course, usually whoever the jock is wasn't born when the song was popular, but you should at least sound professional and knowledgeable on the air.

Professionalism...or is that a lost art too?? Sound good on the air or stay off....

all of the above my personal opinion ;D


I feel better now..


warm590 ;)
 
warm590 said:
This whole thread makes me nuts. First off, I always research every song and give the correct year when selling it. Giving the incorrect year makes the jock and the station sound stupid because they don't know what they are talking about. PLAY WHAT'S IN YOUR FORMAT!! Doing anything else will make you lose your credibility. Of course, usually whoever the jock is wasn't born when the song was popular, but you should at least sound professional and knowledgeable on the air.

Professionalism...or is that a lost art too?? Sound good on the air or stay off....

all of the above my personal opinion ;D


I feel better now..


warm590 ;)
Click to expand...

DITTOS! PROPS!! AMEN!!! SALUTATIONS!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! :) ;D :)
 
On the subject of going on the air and announcing the year when the song was a hit, I have noticed over the years to the many of oldies stations I have checked out that some stations overlook the year 1968. Yes, they did play the hits that were big in that year but when it comes to the announcer actually saying 1968, instead they say the song was big in either 1967 or 1969. I asked my PD once about this. His take was that since 1968 was such a terrible year between the murders of Kennedy and Dr. King plus Vietman, 1968 is a year people would like to forget so some djs overlook the mention of that year on purpose on the air and use 1967 or 1969 in its place instead.

Sure 1968 had more than its share of drama but then again so did other years too. Makes no sense to me.
Can't totally erase history.
 
First, you really shouldn't often be announcing that the music their listening to is 40 years old.

Second, history rewriters are everywhere. You are correct, your PD needs to get real. 1968 also had a huge number of great things going on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968

On second thought, maybe he's right!!!
 
amfmsw said:
First, you really shouldn't often be announcing that the music their listening to is 40 years old.

Second, history rewriters are everywhere. You are correct, your PD needs to get real. 1968 also had a huge number of great things going on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968

On second thought, maybe he's right!!!
Click to expand...

And two of them (well, maybe not so great if you were an Oakland Raider or St. Louis baseball Cardinal fan) are missing from Wiki's list:

the Green Bay Packers winning, in Jan., Super Bowl II (for the 1967 championship, and their last game with Vince Lombardi coaching), and

the Detroit Tigers winning the World Series in October (1968 was the last season of non-divisional play in MLB).

Eartha Kitt denouncing the war to LBJ's face? No wonder "Batman" was axed soon afterwards (that's not on the list either)! ::) ;D

Also missing from the list: my parents' divorce. :'(

ixnay
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom