Now Playing on K-Earth - Classic Rock! (Well, sorta...)

[Thomps2525]

Yes, but KRTH asks for votes every year---don't they? We listeners aren't supposed to know that our votes are meaningless. (Although I'm certain that in the mid-1980s, when many one- or two-year-old songs made the list along with the 1950s-60s-70s hits, our votes truly were counted.) Ron Jacobs, 1965-69 program director of KRTH's former sister station KHJ, was once asked, "How much do listener requests on the 'Boss Line' influence a song's airplay or chart position?" His answer: "None." The Boss Line existed only so listeners would think their requests were being played: "Hey, two hours ago I called in and requested Magic Carpet Ride and KHJ finally played it!"

 

[michael hagerty]

Yes, but KRTH asks for votes every year---don't they? We listeners aren't supposed to know that our votes are meaningless. (Although I'm certain that in the mid-1980s, when many one- or two-year-old songs made the list along with the 1950s-60s-70s hits, our votes truly were counted.) Ron Jacobs, 1965-69 program director of KRTH's former sister station KHJ, was once asked, "How much do listener requests on the 'Boss Line' influence a song's airplay or chart position?" His answer: "None." The Boss Line existed only so listeners would think their requests were being played: "Hey, two hours ago I called in and requested Magic Carpet Ride and KHJ finally played it!"

Steve:

No. KRTH doesn't ask for votes.

And Jacobs wasn't the best, most successful programmer of the late 60s for nothin'.

 

[Thomps2525]

Do you remember---possibly 1997 or 1998---when KRTH ran an ad in the Los Angeles Times listing 330 songs? We were supposed to check our five favorites and send the list in. That year's Top 300 would include all but 30 of the songs listed. Why bother to listen when we pretty much knew what would be on the Top 300 (although we wouldn't know in which order)? That was the time when KRTH's playlist was the smallest it had ever been; every song was played every day of every week of every month. Yikes!

 

[Groove1670]

I agree on the licensing of songs. But as far a most commercial radio is concerned, those 50's and 60's songs have little or no programming value.

The bottom line is we are getting older The music is changing, and tastes are changing.

I'm seeing more and more post on music boards that 90's music was the greatest, and today's music just doesn't sound like that anymore.

Now I feel real old. ;D

 

[oldies76]

I'm seeing more and more post on music boards that 90's music was the greatest,

Sure, by the ones duped into believing that when they were 16 in 1996. I'll take the 50's thru the 80's, and 2011-2013 anytime over most 90's music.

 

[michael hagerty]

I'm seeing more and more post on music boards that 90's music was the greatest,

Sure, by the ones duped into believing that when they were 16 in 1996.

Or maybe they actually, genuinely enjoyed it....celebrated major birthdays to it, fell in love for the first time, it was playing on the radio on a memorable drive....

You know, life.

 

[Thomps2525]

All right, class, here is your essay question: Compare and contrast these three scenarios:

Husband and wife celebrating their 25th anniversary, 1970: "Remember on our first date when we danced to Glenn Miller's In The Mood?"

Husband and wife celebrating their 25th anniversary, 1990: "Remember on our first date when we danced to Elvis Prersley's Can't Help Falling In Love?"

Husband and wife celebrating their 25th anniversary, 2025: "Remember on our first date when we danced to Tha Crossroads by Bone-thugs-n-harmony?"

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Well, since most of the radio stations present music strictly as "product," you know, background material between the commercials, perhaps the latest audiences in their 20s now only think of music like that as well. At least when they switch on the "radio." That might account for the alleged decline of interest in rock and singer songwriter material over dance, techno & hip hop, tho' I think I"m oversimplifying quite a bit here. As is the habit of commercial radio playlists.

Maybe there is a lot less attention paid to lyrics that aren't a rap. A lot of contemporary music is like bluegrass to me - fun for awhile, but pretty much all sounds alike, with minor fluctuations in the melody. I don't think this indicates any sort of "pendulum" that will "swing back" to many radio stations playing a mix of styles and tempos, but is a sign of the deeper fracturing between styles, since so many outlets, including Pandora and XM, have squeezed "single genre" formats ever narrower, and trained listeners to go for one thing at a time.

Also seems to be so few outlets for more 'eclectic' presentations that I like at night. Heck, so few people know how to segue different sounds into something that's greater than the sum of its parts anymore. But if we keep looking for it, there's probably a few good ones out there. Suggestions?

I'm listening to Canada's "Espace Musique" on my kitchen FM right now from Victoria, British Columbia (across the water from my Seattle area home), and really getting into a lovely eclectic mix of classical, avant garde, jazz, and standards - the host really knows how to go from a John Tavenver choral work to something etherial by Bjork and later a medium tempo jazz quartet (waiting to hear who it is) and a solo Sufi melody and traditional Spanish guitar. Right up my alley, but nothing's like it on any of Seattle's radio stations. I guess that makes me, too, now a fractured-genre listener, but at least I can occasionally find a music mix I can enjoy on non-comm radio. Or the internet. But for "mainstream" adult adult-contemporary, I'll probably have to search for something I'll enjoy from the BBC online. 'Cuz it' ain't on my American radio, except for sometimes from Canada.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

If I could, just a quick time-out to circle back to update the original post on the thread.

I simply could not believe my ears when last Friday morning when I was listening to K-Earth again and they played David Bowie's "Young Americans" again with the same horrible splice job I mentioned last month. If you haven't heard it for yourself, I cannot begin to explain how bad a job it is. I did better work when I was a 10-year old dubbing music from the radio to my four-C battery-powered-tape player decades ago.

When I first heard it and pointed it out, I thought some amateur intern at the station had screwed up and somehow put the modern equivalent of the "wrong cart" on the air and that the problem would be fixed in due time once Jhani (or anyone for that matter) became aware. But now it's over a month (and no doubt a few dozen spins) later, and it is STILL on the air, which must mean nobody thinks it's a problem. It is a problem. It would be a problem in Ottumwa, IA and it is definitely a problem in Los Angeles, CA. Are they even listening to the station?

Alright, back to the discussion about how radio is changing, and not for the better.

 

[Thomps2525]

Here, hop in the elevator and I'll take you to the "Radio Is Changing And Not For The Better" department on the third floor:

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=236468.0

 

[michael hagerty]

If I could, just a quick time-out to circle back to update the original post on the thread.

I simply could not believe my ears when last Friday morning when I was listening to K-Earth again and they played David Bowie's "Young Americans" again with the same horrible splice job I mentioned last month. If you haven't heard it for yourself, I cannot begin to explain how bad a job it is. I did better work when I was a 10-year old dubbing music from the radio to my four-C battery-powered-tape player decades ago.

When I first heard it and pointed it out, I thought some amateur intern at the station had screwed up and somehow put the modern equivalent of the "wrong cart" on the air and that the problem would be fixed in due time once Jhani (or anyone for that matter) became aware. But now it's over a month (and no doubt a few dozen spins) later, and it is STILL on the air, which must mean nobody thinks it's a problem. It is a problem. It would be a problem in Ottumwa, IA and it is definitely a problem in Los Angeles, CA. Are they even listening to the station?

Alright, back to the discussion about how radio is changing, and not for the better.

The 45 version of Young Americans was a horrible edit (it's on a Bowie compilation my daughter owns). I wonder if it's that one?

 

[Thomps2525]

KRTH plays mostly 1964-84 top-ten rock'n'roll hits and top-ten r&b crossover hits. There are several hundred such songs that KRTH doesn't play...but should. But there are five songs that KRTH does play...and shouldn't. I don't think that Young Americans, Super Freak, Moondance, Witchy Woman or One Of These Nights belong on the station. Yeah, I would love to have an oldies station that plays every top-40 hit of 1951-79 and usually I hate dinky playlists that ignore hundreds of hits...but KRTH, for better or for worse, has created a "sound" and those five songs do not fit.

The preceding was an unsolicited (and unpaid) editorial. Opposing viewpoints are welcomed.

 

[michael hagerty]

KRTH plays mostly 1964-84 top-ten rock'n'roll hits and top-ten r&b crossover hits. There are several hundred such songs that KRTH doesn't play...but should. But there are five songs that KRTH does play...and shouldn't. I don't think that Young Americans, Super Freak, Moondance, Witchy Woman or One Of These Nights belong on the station. Yeah, I would love to have an oldies station that plays every top-40 hit of 1951-79 and usually I hate dinky playlists that ignore hundreds of hits...but KRTH, for better or for worse, has created a "sound" and those five songs do not fit.

The preceding was an unsolicited (and unpaid) editorial. Opposing viewpoints are welcomed.

Their audience research obviously tells them otherwise.

 

[briancraig]

It is one thing to discuss if a radio station should be playing a song based on the target audience they are seeking but to say they shouldn't play "One Of These Nights," a number one song from 1975 by (with the exception of The Beach Boys) the group probably associated the most with being from L.A. makes you sound like you just want them to program to your particular tastes.

 

[Thomps2525]

I just think that One Of These Nights sounds a little too strident and album-rock-oriented for KRTH's playlist. It fits on KLOS. It doesn't fit on KRTH. But they don't program to me; they program to the masses who inexplicably never get tired of hearing the same big hits over and over and over and over and over and over and.....

Almost every classic-hits station, KRTH included, plays Moondance. Why? It was a 1970 album track that got to only #92 when it was released as a single in 1977. If I'm ever part of KRTH's "audience research" I'll tell them that if they want to play Van Morrison songs, they should drop the burned-out over-played songs Moondance and Brown Eyed Girl and instead play Domino, Come Running, Blue Monday and Jackie Wilson Said.

 

[briancraig]

I can see your argument about Moondance as it wasn't a big top 40 hit, although I would assume it tests well.

But One Of These Nights was all over AM radio in the summer of 1975. Would you say the same thing about other classic rock songs that were huge AM hits? The classic rock station here in Nashville plays Band On The Run, Bennie and The Jets and The Joker every 6 hours. Should oldies stations avoid those titles as well?

 

[oldies76]

I don't think that Young Americans, Super Freak, Moondance, Witchy Woman or One Of These Nights belong on the station. Yeah, I would love to have an oldies station that plays every top-40 hit of 1951-79 and usually I hate dinky playlists that ignore hundreds of hits...but KRTH, for better or for worse, has created a "sound" and those five songs do not fit.

Sorry Rewind, I have to disagree a bit here. While I've been saying that playlists need to be larger and incorporate tons of great hits from the past, "One of These Nights" is just one of those songs (pop, catchy, sort of disco), a huge #1 in 1975. "Witchy Woman" is another big hit, but it needs to be played less often than it is today. As far as "Super Freak" is concerned, huge in '81 on L.A. Radio (Mighty 690) so it's still very familiar. Actually, James's other hit "Give it To Me Baby" (#1 on the KRTH radio surveys in 1981) should also be played. "Young Americans" and "Moondance" should be toned down a bit, based on their past chart performances. Those were not big hits at all.

KRTH is a classic hits station (personally not the way I'd present the hits) but it is a classic hits radio station and "One of These Nights" has to be played, just not every day.

 

[Thomps2525]

I agree. Every time KRTH plays One Of These Nights, they're wasting three minutes that could have been better spent by playing Happy Together, Brown Eyed Girl, Oh Pretty Woman, California Dreamin', Do Wah Diddy Diddy or Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye yet again!

"Y'know, Steve, sarcasm doesn't become you."

Yeah, I know, but sometimes I can't help it.

 

[oldies76]

Their audience research obviously tells them otherwise.

To an extent Mr. Hagerty. I'll never believe that a small auditorium housing a group of testees will ever represent the opinions about classic hits to the "other" hundreds of thousands of listeners that will never get the chance to pick and choose and rate their personal classics.

The only reason most songs keep testing and repeating, is because, those are mostly the only songs listeners heard on KRTH. If the "other" lost songs were all aired from the getgo in moderation (such as keeping them in rotation from the Bob Hamilton days, instead of deleting them), then most likely we would not be having this constant discussion on radio playlists.

800 songs is a good base, but they must be mixed with the "other" lost songs.

 

[oldies76]

I agree. Every time KRTH plays One Of These Nights, they're wasting three minutes that could have been better spent by playing Happy Together, Brown Eyed Girl, Oh Pretty Woman, California Dreamin', Do Wah Diddy Diddy or Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye yet again!

Then that's the big problem with KRTH. Instead of those burnt to death songs, KRTH could have played..."I Wanna Be With You" by the Raspberries, "Could it Be Magic" by Donna Summer, "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" by First Choice, "Do It Anyway You Wanna" by the People's Choice, Theme from "SWAT" by Rhythm Heritage or "Fire Lake" by Bob Seger and hundreds of others!