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Nirvana Overkill On RXP

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

It seems that every time I have tuned into 101.9 WRXP recently, they are always playing Nirvana. Yesterday, en route to work, it was "Lithium." Later, commuting back from work, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Again, this morning en route to work, I heard "Breed."

I know most folks would rather settle for Nirvana on WRXP than the likes of Springsteen and Pink Floyd, but they have just been playing this band to death lately. Kinda like how oldies classic hits stations pound The Beatles into the ground. Except The Beatles have a wider appeal than Nirvana. When I hear the same artist three times out of three samples, that is not good.
 
Enjoy the pounding of the Beatles while it lasts since "classic hits" stations are moving away from the '60s too fast.

Well, hearing the same band at the same time of day twice in a row can be seen as repetitive. All three songs were from the same album, nonetheless. Well, it could be worse, they could have played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" all three times.
 
^Yeah, at least they'll play some deeper cuts from Nirvana, such as "Sappy" and several non-singles from Nevermind. Still, they do seem to be over-reliant on certain core artists, especially 90's bands like Nirvana. In general, their playlist seems to be too tight and predictable nowadays, while still being inconsistent with different types of rock that don't gel together. I remember having similar thoughts about K-Rock in its most recent (non-HD2) incarnation, though they were definitely worse in both regards.
 
You complain about three different songs by a core act over the course of 24 hours? Do you realize that heavy rotation for a Top 10 hit is 6 times during the same period? For just one song. Back in the AOR days, it wasn't unusual to hear core acts like Boston or Journey five times a day. The theory is that you want the listeners to get at least one song from a core act in every day part.

You don't hear these kinds of complaints in other formats. No one's complaining about too much McGraw or Chesney in country, even though you hear one of their songs, on average, every other hour. This is how someone like Toby Keith gets 60 million spins (as many as the Beatles or Billy Joel) in a 17 year career. And country (outside of NYC) is generally getting far bigger numbers than WRXP.

If a core artist can't hold up to that kind of rotation, the problem isn't with the radio station.
 
TheBigA said:
... No one's complaining about too much McGraw or Chesney in country, even though you hear one of their songs, on average, every other hour. This is how someone like Toby Keith gets 60 million spins (as many as the Beatles or Billy Joel) in a 17 year career...
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The difference is Toby Keith and Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney are still putting out new material. Simply put, they're still alive.
 
TheBigA said:
And country (outside of NYC) is generally getting far bigger numbers than WRXP.
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Setting the bar real high I see.... I thought Country is in a bit of a cool spell after its dominance 10-15 years ago.
 
Brooklyndon said:
Setting the bar real high I see
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LOL...doesn't take much, does it. Some non-coms get bigger numbers! :D

Brooklyndon said:
I thought Country is in a bit of a cool spell after its dominance 10-15 years ago.
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With top sellers like Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, and Carrie Underwood, it's hard to say it's in a cool spell. Then again, they get airplay in other formats.

Country radio's problem seems to be with PPM.
 
Doesn't nearly every rock station in the country play Nirvana to death? Along with STP, Pearl Jam, etc. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, I can understand, but playing these Grunge bands as much as rock stations do years after their peak is, I believe, a big reason why rock radio is not doing too well these days. Don't get me wrong, I like most of the (original) Grunge bands, but enough is enough.
 
DToTheJ said:
TheBigA said:
... No one's complaining about too much McGraw or Chesney in country, even though you hear one of their songs, on average, every other hour. This is how someone like Toby Keith gets 60 million spins (as many as the Beatles or Billy Joel) in a 17 year career...
Click to expand...

The difference is Toby Keith and Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney are still putting out new material. Simply put, they're still alive.
Click to expand...

The difference is they all sound the same. I can't for the life of me tell contemporary mainstream male country singers apart anymore. Women too for that matter. Modern 'country' is basically pop with even less originality. This blog post sums it all up pretty well: http://davidmarkwilliams.blogspot.com/2009/04/death-of-country-music.html
 
RedWingCJS278 said:
Doesn't nearly every rock station in the country play Nirvana to death? Along with STP, Pearl Jam, etc. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, I can understand, but playing these Grunge bands as much as rock stations do years after their peak is, I believe, a big reason why rock radio is not doing too well these days. Don't get me wrong, I like most of the (original) Grunge bands, but enough is enough.
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I totally agree, 110%. Yes, AOR stations did play those bands a lot, but the difference is, they were NEW. No one takes chances with new music nowadays, it's all tried and true product that's been shoved down our throats for the past 15 years.
 
WBIMDJ said:
No one takes chances with new music nowadays, it's all tried and true product that's been shoved down our throats for the past 15 years.
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That's because new rock is very very narrowly targeted. Not many current rock acts everyone can agree on. When a station takes a chance on a new act, the audience goes away.
 
That HSS program (uplaya.com) out there can take all the guesswork of selecting rock singles. I think the real problem is that rock music doesn't cause weed addled 18-25 years old who don't know how to manage their money yet to spend all their money on booze and clothes, likely because they are spending all their money on booze and books.
 
Well, therein lies the rub, and I should have addressed this in my prior post. There is a dire lack of newer rock music that packs any punch at all. Still, just simply rehashing the 90's over and over again is going to be the death of this format. Personally, I think it's reached the point where there can only be one successful rock station in each market - even one the size of NYC - and it will likely be with classic rock-based. Here in Boston, WZLX is the only rock station worth having, and they are strictly classic rock. A successful station will program only the best of the '90s music & the music of the last decade - that means no more Nickelback, Bush, Candlebox, and the rest of the 'post-Grunge' crowd. Artists like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Tool, etc. are more than acceptable for any rock format. But the backbone of any successful rock station has to be the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Hendrix, Cream, Zeppelin, Floyd, Rush, GNR, AC/DC, Sabbath. Sorry, but the artists of that era have much more staying power than all the mediocre artists that followed the original Grunge bands. And then when a new rock song comes along that is truly great and could fit in any era - say, 'Seven Nation Army,' 'Cold Hard Bitch,' 'Slither' - then it can be added to the mix. Three or four spins of Nirvana in a 24-hour period is sufficient. Led Zeppelin has a much bigger and richer body of work, and they are Led Zeppelin, so they can be justified being spinned 12, 14 times a day. However, the point should be not to over-play any particular song or artist. Hopefully, a new rock trend will come along that is compatible with the great classic rock, and the rock radio format can be revitalized.
 
RedWingCJS278 said:
Three or four spins of Nirvana in a 24-hour period is sufficient...
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I totally agree with that. By the way, I can happily report that I did not hear a single Nirvana song on WRXP during my commute this morning. ;D
 
Somehow I kind of doubt that the three times DToTheJ heard Nirvana in that 24-hour period were the only times 'RXP played Nirvana during that time period. This means 'RXP is playing Nirvana with the frequency that classic rock stations are or should be playing a band like Led Zeppelin.
 
I remember thinking the same thing about K-Rock doing this way back then. Man did they play them to death. I don't think it's as bad on RXP.

If you want real overkill try listening to WBAB on the Island. Every single hour they play a Led Zeppelin and Van Halen song. Don't believe me? Take a look at the last songs played:

http://wbab.com/lsp/index.html

And as I type this I see they're playing Zeppelin. How appropriate.
 
The new PPM's for September show 'RXP gaining ground in NJ. The Middlesex-Somerset-Union chart has the station climbing from 1.9 to 2.8 in the overall ratings over the past couple of months. Are they doing a lot of promotion in that area?
 
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