Regional Hits

[Radio_bored-Op]

1.
Well, being close to the border, may get "regional" hits, say.......
CKEY has a toronto based hit, they may play it (some) in the
'records' spins/per week, (so, will CIDC,CHUM,etc) but if it is
not "charting" or big enough of a deal ( yet),* then WKSE may not touch it,
(or test the waters, w/ it being bumper music)...

*YET
say, if it the next (canadian sensation_______ )
im sure southern ontario' stations beat WKSE to play
Avril,....in 2001 (or so).


2.
Regional versus Slow-moving:
There is also the "case" of . . . im not sure
which way this would go, but say the new
50, usher, etc . . . premieres on mtv
and hits big in ny-and la,
if it already did the leg work on the smaller
stations . . . say market size 150-175 or so

 

[chas108]

Did Duke Jupiter's "I'll Drink To You" ever get airplay outside of Western NY?

Maybe it got into New England...I don't remember it anywhere else. I thought "Little Lady" might do it for Duke Jupiter but it didn't. I still have a promo one-sided 12" of "Little Lady" on Motown. The "B" side is blank...

 

[Debaser]

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.

As I recall, we played the album versions whenever time would allow. For me it went back to the 60s when I convinced Bertha Porter at WDRC to let me play the full version of Light My Fire, which we played to great acclaim on our campus station...and seemed to add credibility to what we were doing with dial twisters who sampled both top 40 and progressive stations.

At any rate, it certainly didn't hurt that Light My Fire and Chicago's Beginnings and Ballad For A Girl In Buchanan (containing both Make Me Smile and Color My World) were/are just such fine examples of great music. In the end, that's what it's supposed to be about...and for a while, that's what it was about. Unfortunately, bean counters only appreciate music if it contains the sound of cash registers, so the only long version of any song that you might hear today is Pink Floyd's Money.

 

[chas108]

Sad but for the most part true, fortunately it wasn't always that way in my career...the little Top 40 I worked for in Cortland/Ithaca, owned by Burbach, had a corporate policy of playing the album versions unless there was a compelling reason to play the single...such as a hotter mix, f'r example.

Also when I got into country and was working for Larry Anderson in Wheeling WV, we played album versions as a matter of course. Fortunately, it goes about half & half at my current station, which considering the times is probably as good as it gets. Tunes are still picked locally, and callout/auditorium testing is still local.

I don't remember too many single versions listening to 'KB in the early 70's..."Indiana Wants Me" and "Joy To The World" are two. In the case of "Joy To The World", the single, with its guitar/keyboard break and party atmosphere over the fade, was the obvious choice...the album (and greatest hits/Big Chill remix) just sounds sterile in contrast.

 

[alw]

At one point in my so called career, at WBUZ/ Fredonia, I played the album version of Inna Godda Da Vita/ Iron Butterfly. Somewhere in the middle of the drum solo I thought I saw the town folk marching toward the station bearing torches.

All ended well and I went on to make horrific choices elsewhere.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

As I recall, we played the album versions whenever time would allow... Unfortunately, bean counters only appreciate music if it contains the sound of cash registers, so the only long version of any song that you might hear today is Pink Floyd's Money.

"Money, it's a bitch / Don't give me that do goody good bullsh|t"

 

[alw]

My Pledge Of Love-Joe Jeffries

Came to town for a gig at The Three Coins and never left.

 

[gary adams]

let me guess chas 108 was that the hot all hit ok 100 loved their jingles they played anything wasnt their studio in an old church or something i worked their in the mid eighties on weekends what a trip it was from waterloo to cortland every weekend i only did it for a couple of months then had enough

 

[chas108]

Gary, I missed "The Hot, All Hit" OK100 by a couple years...that was 1988 and I was there 1983-85, (followed by 9 months as PD of AM sister WKRT with its Music Of Your Life format), when Burbach Broadcasting owned the place. It was in an 1960's-era church on Tompkins St. We used an old "Musicradio WABC" jingle package in the Burbach days. I loved the late '80's jingle package though, not as much as the 1971-73 WKBW package, but close.

The "The Hot, All Hit" years came after Burbach sold the place to local owners, I'd moved to Pittsburgh area in '86 but still have family in Syracuse so we get up there often...Citadel owns it now and they operate out of a nondescript metal building across the street from the church. Format is Classic Rock.

Burbach was a great place to hone your skills...most all of us from the early days ended up doing well. One ended up in San Francisco, another in Phoenix, another is PD of CBS/Baltimore. I think PD Bill Weston, a 97 Rock alumnus, ended up in NYC. Lani Krop is Lani Daniels in Philly.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

well..
it seems,
Spose: "I'm Awesome"
was *big* in Maine, and then spread from
station to station...varying in play depending on
the station's policy about playing charting/non-charting singles.

 

[umtrr-author]

At any rate, it certainly didn't hurt that Light My Fire and Chicago's Beginnings and Ballad For A Girl In Buchanan (containing both Make Me Smile and Color My World) were/are just such fine examples of great music.

What's interesting about this in my personal experience...

I had heard the long version of "Beginnings" which is on the Chicago's Greatest Hits LP well before the, ahem, "edited" version that appears on the single. The first time I heard that chopped up and reordered version over whatever station it was, I was more or less screaming at the radio.

On the other hand, "Colour My World" was the "first dance" song at my cousin's wedding and it was quite a while before I heard the full "Ballet for a Girl in Buchanan".

BTW, if you have not heard the reimagining of West Virginia Fantasies / Colour My World done by Danny Seraphine's "California Transit Authority" (the CD is called "Full Circle"), give it a spin sometime.