• 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

Regional Hits

Questions like this are called "fishin'" or "stirrin' the pot" in the local talk radio business. The answer depends on whether you see the glass being half full or half empty, what side of the bed you rolled out of, how old you are, how many beers you've had before answering the question or whether you're in or out of the business. When we see Kiss or WDKX score good ratings with improved cume, there's hope. Personally, I see the glass as half full. Some might ask, "Half full of what?" Let's go to the phones... Chet in Orchard Park, whatayathink?
 
"...huh..is that me?.....wait....uh Jim this is Chet from Orchard Park..err..thanks for taking my call. I remember there used to be a lot of regional hits..like Wilmer and the Dukes..and The Mellow Brick Road..They had some good records like "Give Me One More Chance" and.."Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket"..and a few that weren't local groups like the Tweeds, and "Seven"..I dunno, maybe the Seven was from Buffalo, but I think that a bunch of them were from Syracuse or something..My friend Jerry Myers used to tell me all of the stories about taking Sandy Beach out for special dinners..is that true?...I'll hang up and listen.."
 
Let me update my answer: For the most part it's Twitter, Facebook & MySpace hits these days. There ARE some stations that have "local music" shows (usually at graveyard times like late on a Sunday) and I'm certain there's been some "local hits" from that programming, but it's not as prevalent as it was in the days of Wilmer Alexander.
 
I think it happens all the time, but people don't recognize it until they leave the area. Certain national songs or artists do better in some parts of the country than others. You can see it in sales charts, concert ticket sales, and file sharing. There are lots of tools to track this kind of thing, and most music people do it all the time.

There are lots of examples in country music. Pat Green and Jack Ingram were regional acts in Texas and Oklahoma. They got picked up by national labels and tour the country, but they're still bigger in Texas and Oklahoma than any place else. I've seen other recent examples in Pittsburgh, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Detroit. The problem is these folks only get airplay in their home town. Their career doesn't grow, and they're back to playing the local Applebees.

With regards to Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, in order to be a hit, there needs to be some demand. Otherwise, it's just the amateur hour. Sure, anyone can put music on the web, but a hit is when it becomes viral and takes off. If you're just a cover band, doing other people's songs, that's not regional hits. But if you're creating original music and it gets picked up through all the media that exists, it's going to get noticed. It's not a hit until someone else says it's a hit.
 
Oh...this is one of the things I really enjoyed about 1970's era 'KB. (Here he goes again!) The Pincushions, Weekend, Lighthouse, I'd also throw in some acts that 'KB (and/or WNY) discovered early and later became national: Climax (Precious And Few), The Buoys (Timothy) are two.

Big A, you're absolutely right. Pat Green has yet to become a household word outside his native Texas, and Jack Ingram's still a hit-or-miss proposition. Maybe his new song "Free" will be a hit. Here in Pittsburgh, we have Corbin/Hanner. Hit songwriters for Alabama, Don Williams and others...they were signed to Mercury 20 years ago. Sadly, they never gained nationwide traction and were dropped after a couple years and a couple fine albums. They still pack in loyal local fans anywhere they play, and are a couple nice guys to boot.

We like to claim Brad Paisley as our own...Glen Dale WV, where he grew up, is only about 70 miles from Pittsburgh, although most properly he belongs to Wheeling. Brad gave his early performances at the Capitol Music Hall and Jamboree In The Hills late 80's/early 90's.

My current station is sprinkling in some local product at night. So far, so good. I figure at the very least the good will can't hurt. Hopefully it'll translate to a little bump in the PPM.
 
Solitary Man (Neil Diamond) was a hit at KB years before it hit nationally.
 
There were two releases of "Solitary Man", in 1966 and 1970, both on Bang Records. 'KB must've played it the first time...the second release was much more successful nationally, but still it got run over by the concurrent UNI release "Cracklin' Rosie", a #1 song. The '66 and '70 releases of "Solitary Man" were slightly different, or maybe they were mixed differently. A backing chorus is on the refrain of the 1970 release.

The 1970 version is found on "WKBW Klassics Vol. II", released in 1972.
 
Thank Debaser and the ghost of Armstrong...that's how an impressionable teenager developed passion for the music.
 
Janis Ian told me a couple years ago, when I interviewed her after her autobiography was released, that "Society's Child", her 1967 breakout hit, popped first months earlier, late in 1966, in Western NY--first on WBBF in Rochester, then apparently KB picked up on it early as well. She admitted to me it didn't seem like a hit to her until she heard Dan Ingram play it one afternoon on WABC, but she was grateful to our neck of the woods for helping the record get started.
 
Twelve years ago, a former PD of mine went to Buffalo for a couple years...I remember him stating before he left that WNY is a very receptive market for new music. He was very conservative at my station, but was looking forward to a different attitude when he got up there.
 
Yesterday, I was listening to a station in Indiana and heard Mellencamps "Hard To Hold On To", which was not a big hit nationally. It made perfect sense for this station in John's home state to be playing it.

In these days of corporate playlists handed out by the four C's, (CC,Cumulus, Citadel, and Cox), it was great to hear this song on this particular station. Oh..yes, it was a privately owned station.
 
When Bryan Adams did a solo acoustic show here in Rochester in 2008, he credited Western New York for helping to break him out by playing "Lonely Nights".

Wandering through the 45s in my accumulation recently, I saw a couple of songs which just dented the Top 40 (or didn't) but had heavier airplay in the NYC area: "Murphy's Law" by Cheri, "Don't Put Another Dime in the Jukebox" by The Flirts and of course the couple of chart singles by The Smithereens.
 
chas108 said:
Thank Debaser and the ghost of Armstrong...that's how an impressionable teenager developed passion for the music.
Click to expand...

Actually thank Jeff Kaye. As PD, his enthusiasm for music and encouragement to find new tunes and not just follow the crowd helped create a very special sound or a top 40 station. We even played the occasional album track...which was unheard of in those days!
 
Debaser said:
chas108 said:
Thank Debaser and the ghost of Armstrong...that's how an impressionable teenager developed passion for the music.
Click to expand...

Actually thank Jeff Kaye. As PD, his enthusiasm for music and encouragement to find new tunes and not just follow the crowd helped create a very special sound or a top 40 station. We even played the occasional album track...which was unheard of in those days!
Click to expand...

It sounds like Jeff Kaye was one-of-a-kind. I wish I could shake his hand and say "thanks for making awesome radio". Still, even the best PD is no better than the ability of the airstaff to implement his directives so you guys still deserve credit for the entertaining manner in which it was carried out.

New tunes, not just following the crowd, occasional album cuts...I noticed those traits, even at the age of 14...that what you guys were doing was different than what I was hearing from the local stations or WRKO/WPTR or whatever other out-of-town stations I listened to when I couldn't pick up 'KB from my home in Southern VT. F'r example, didn't you guys play the album versions of most all the Chicago product? Seemed back then like Chicago was more popular in Buffalo than other markets where only the single edit was played. What I'd learned from 'KB I would later implement anytime I had opportunity to add MD stripes to my job description. Based on the ratings, it always seemed to work.
 
"It sounds like Jeff Kaye was one-of-a-kind. I wish I could shake his hand and say "thanks for making awesome radio".

Agreed. He was and is one of a kind, the kind radio could use a lot more of these days.

As to thanking him for what he's given to radio, I got to do it.

One of the real privileges I've had in my own career, was the experience of working with Jeff as part of his WBEN morning show for three years between 1978 and 1981. A true gentleman, always had time to share what he knew and help you do your best. He's a man who knows how to make any personality radio format and any group of talent work and achieve at their best. I'm still using, every day, a lot of what he taught and showed me back then...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom