R
Radio_Realist
Guest
I just checked out another discussion forum on Voyforums dedicated to Pittsburgh Radio, called "Pittsburgh Radio Nostalgia". I saw this post made by Ed Weigle:
"It doesn't surprise me that "Hill" got airplay in LA. For myriad reasons, many other songs from Porky's, Mad Mike's or Terry Lee's playlists ("Someone" by The Contrails and "Need You" by Johnny Jack come to my mind, immediately) may have tended to get a smattering of airplay on both coasts, but skip the whole middle portion of the country. Ronnie Haig's "controversial" record, "Don't You Here Me Calling Baby"--the one which is unjustly accused of dropping the f-bomb in the closing 20 seconds--received it's only major airplay on Porky's show and in his native Indianapolis (where Ronnie's still gigging). At least that record got him into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame! I would assume that the main reason for this was that the smaller labels simply didn't have the promotional budget or manpower-- perhaps even the interest--to shop the record effectively. Remember also, for political reasons, the "better" side of a record was often relegated to the B-side. Were it not for the great jocks above, who were not afraid to flip a 45 over, and essentially defined "The Pittsburgh Sound," many great records would be completely forgotten.
"I'm sure there are many scenarios for why an artist or their record never achieved ultimate popularity. There was one artist, who I won't name, who had an uncle who was, shall we say, "well connected" uncle. The uncle personally asked Morris Levy (of the Roulette Records empire, and it's other official and non-official subsidiaries) to assure his nephew "had a good time." In this case, although the kid was a hell of a talent, the label obviously never took him seriously. When Cameo-Parkway actually signed him, Levy convinced his agent to cancel the deal in exchange for a paltry sum of money and thus ruined a deal which could have put this artist over the top, in the same stable with Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and the most popular stars of the day. Back then, Morris Levy was not a man to cross (Just ask Jimmy Rodgers of "Honeycomb" fame: When he was found in his car one day in 1967 with the skull fracture that basically ended his career, it was alleged to be a retailiation for defying Morris Levy). As a result, he fell into obscurity and lived on a shoestring. Understadably, it used to irritate him immensely when he saw his records continue to sell for big bucks at collector shows."
End quoted material.
I don't know who Ed Weigle is, but from his other posts, he's somebody in the radio industary who knows a good bit about how the industry works. Therefore, I think his observations about the fact that lots of good songs from back in the day didn't become hits only because of poor promotion, or the actions of record company suits have a great deal of merit.
Which comes back to my constant lament, which is that stations dedicated to playing songs that have the sound of a bygone era keep playing the same few "hits" over and over and over and over and over, and won't play any music from those eras that sound just as good, and that audiences who like old stuff would like today AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HITS BACK IN THE DAY IF IT WEREN'T FOR STUFF LIKE WHAT PEOPLE LIKE MORRIS LEVY DID.
And now, all the usual suspects can tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, while their stations' listeners keep abandoning broadcast radio in increasing droves and switching to Sirius or XM satellite radio or to iPODS. And when they've driven the last broadcast station into the dirt, and they've all been replaced with voice tracking and computer generated playlists, they'll STILL tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
"It doesn't surprise me that "Hill" got airplay in LA. For myriad reasons, many other songs from Porky's, Mad Mike's or Terry Lee's playlists ("Someone" by The Contrails and "Need You" by Johnny Jack come to my mind, immediately) may have tended to get a smattering of airplay on both coasts, but skip the whole middle portion of the country. Ronnie Haig's "controversial" record, "Don't You Here Me Calling Baby"--the one which is unjustly accused of dropping the f-bomb in the closing 20 seconds--received it's only major airplay on Porky's show and in his native Indianapolis (where Ronnie's still gigging). At least that record got him into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame! I would assume that the main reason for this was that the smaller labels simply didn't have the promotional budget or manpower-- perhaps even the interest--to shop the record effectively. Remember also, for political reasons, the "better" side of a record was often relegated to the B-side. Were it not for the great jocks above, who were not afraid to flip a 45 over, and essentially defined "The Pittsburgh Sound," many great records would be completely forgotten.
"I'm sure there are many scenarios for why an artist or their record never achieved ultimate popularity. There was one artist, who I won't name, who had an uncle who was, shall we say, "well connected" uncle. The uncle personally asked Morris Levy (of the Roulette Records empire, and it's other official and non-official subsidiaries) to assure his nephew "had a good time." In this case, although the kid was a hell of a talent, the label obviously never took him seriously. When Cameo-Parkway actually signed him, Levy convinced his agent to cancel the deal in exchange for a paltry sum of money and thus ruined a deal which could have put this artist over the top, in the same stable with Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and the most popular stars of the day. Back then, Morris Levy was not a man to cross (Just ask Jimmy Rodgers of "Honeycomb" fame: When he was found in his car one day in 1967 with the skull fracture that basically ended his career, it was alleged to be a retailiation for defying Morris Levy). As a result, he fell into obscurity and lived on a shoestring. Understadably, it used to irritate him immensely when he saw his records continue to sell for big bucks at collector shows."
End quoted material.
I don't know who Ed Weigle is, but from his other posts, he's somebody in the radio industary who knows a good bit about how the industry works. Therefore, I think his observations about the fact that lots of good songs from back in the day didn't become hits only because of poor promotion, or the actions of record company suits have a great deal of merit.
Which comes back to my constant lament, which is that stations dedicated to playing songs that have the sound of a bygone era keep playing the same few "hits" over and over and over and over and over, and won't play any music from those eras that sound just as good, and that audiences who like old stuff would like today AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HITS BACK IN THE DAY IF IT WEREN'T FOR STUFF LIKE WHAT PEOPLE LIKE MORRIS LEVY DID.
And now, all the usual suspects can tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, while their stations' listeners keep abandoning broadcast radio in increasing droves and switching to Sirius or XM satellite radio or to iPODS. And when they've driven the last broadcast station into the dirt, and they've all been replaced with voice tracking and computer generated playlists, they'll STILL tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.