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Should 80's be played on Hot AC stations today?

L

lovejamminoldies

Dial-Global's Hot AC format has dropped the '80s and flipped it to Adult CHR and it sounds a lot better. I don't really think 80s should be on Hot AC stations. It's over 30 years old and there's just a good mix of both CHR and Hot AC out today. If any 80s should play it should be during speciality shows and/or added for flavor. There are the stations that barely play any 80's like Mix 1079 Columbus and Dial-Global's Hot AC format. Then there's the ones that get some slack for the heavy 80's like Mix 1077 in Dayton and Mix 1033 in Lima which is practically AC. What is your personal opinion on 80s on Hot AC stations and is your local Hot AC station 80s heavy?

Dial-Global Hot AC format (9pm EST, 8pm CST):

Daughtry - What About Now?
Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)
Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are
Collective Soul - Shine
Pink - Perfect
OneRepublic - Secrets
Metro Station - Shake It
Colbie Caillat - I Do
STOPSET
Sugar Ray - When It's Over (Optional Song)
Cee-Lo Green - Forget You
Dido - Thank You
Gwen Stefani & Akon - The Sweet Escape
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Bob Marley - Jamming (Guessing this is a special song the DJ threw in since she's live)

Good mix of adult CHR.
 
I don't have a local Hot AC, but I think the 80s need to go. AC, Classic Hits, and Jack FM-types embrace that decade....it's time for H/AC to move on. 30 year old songs don't belong on Hot AC - IMO, 15 years should be the oldest and I'd play little 90s.
 
Carolina: Good point. Some also have went away with a lot of the 90's too.

The Golden Boy: That's a good number depending on the market and it definitely has to be the right songs. Dial Global's Hot AC format is definitely a lot more current-sounding. Playing Rihanna, Gaga, and B.O.B. -- Here's one that is more conservative: Mix XM 22 -during that same hour....

9PM:

Plain White T's - Rhythm Of Love
Alanis Morisette - You Learn
Rob Thomas - Mockingbird
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Avril Lavigne - What The Hell
Santana/Rob Thomas - Smooth
Katy Perry/Snoop Dogg - California Gurls
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Christina Perri - Jar Of Hearts
UB40 - Red Red Wine
Colbie Caillat - I Do
Daughtry - It's Not Over
Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun
Pink - Perfect
Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another
John Mayer - Say

So... 2 80s tracks an hr there. It definitely sounds 35-54 leaning with the 90s in there too. I personally think if you're trying to target the entire 18-49 demo, you want to lean more current. Golden Boy, what's your local Hot AC?
 
I agree. I think Hot AC's that play 80's are bad for playing the same few 80's songs. I know...research...

I work at a station running Dial-Global's Hot AC. For the record, that Bob Marley song, "Jammin," plays regularly and is pre-programmed on the log, go figure. I hear it at least once a week...

The networks does still run just a couple 80's songs in the overnight hours - take 3AM this morning for example:

Five for Fighting - 100 Years (optional for a 4:00 top of hour news window)
Daughtry - September
Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
John Mayer - Your Body is a Wonderland
Andy Grammer - Keep Your Head Up
Pink - Perfect
O.M.D. - If You Leave
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now
One Republic - Stop and Stare (optional - 3:30)
Katy Perry - Firework
Live - Lightning Crashes
No Doubt - Underneath It All (also optional - 4:00)
Maroon 5 - Wake Up Call
Madonna - Into the Groove


I think this is still more current than it was a year ago...
My point: The network tends to lean more current in the daytime and evening, and more like what you see above in the overnights.
 
That's interesting they do that Adam... are you allowed to say what station that is that runs it? If it's anything like the rest of them, a lot of trainwrecks occur.
 
lovejamminoldies said:
Dial-Global's Hot AC format has dropped the '80s and flipped it to Adult CHR and it sounds a lot better. I don't really think 80s should be on Hot AC stations. It's over 30 years old and there's just a good mix of both CHR and Hot AC out today. If any 80s should play it should be during speciality shows and/or added for flavor. There are the stations that barely play any 80's like Mix 1079 Columbus and Dial-Global's Hot AC format. Then there's the ones that get some slack for the heavy 80's like Mix 1077 in Dayton and Mix 1033 in Lima which is practically AC. What is your personal opinion on 80s on Hot AC stations and is your local Hot AC station 80s heavy?

Dial-Global Hot AC format (9pm EST, 8pm CST):

Daughtry - What About Now?
Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)
Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are
Collective Soul - Shine
Pink - Perfect
OneRepublic - Secrets
Metro Station - Shake It
Colbie Caillat - I Do
STOPSET
Sugar Ray - When It's Over (Optional Song)
Cee-Lo Green - Forget You
Dido - Thank You
Gwen Stefani & Akon - The Sweet Escape
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Bob Marley - Jamming (Guessing this is a special song the DJ threw in since she's live)

Good mix of adult CHR.
Click to expand...

That still seems more Hot AC to me than Adult CHR (especially the Sugar Ray, Collective Soul, Dido into Gwen Stefani, etc.) - BTW apparently most Hot ACs are done with the 80s except for stations in the Midwest for some reason? (especially Ohio and Pennsylvania?)
 
lovejamminoldies said:
That's interesting they do that Adam... are you allowed to say what station that is that runs it? If it's anything like the rest of them, a lot of trainwrecks occur.
Click to expand...

I suppose...I'm with K-lite 94.7 in Paintsville, Kentucky, but we aren't streaming right now. I am Programming Director.

By trainwrecks do you mean miss-timing breaks or liners over content? I've heard those problems on satellite stations a lot. I don't let that happen on our station. Thirty seconds is thirty seconds and a 4 minute break is exactly a 4 minute break. I give it my all to program the network to sound live and local, as if it were all taking place at the station. Everything needs to transition smoothly. I keep the imaging sounding well out of this small market, fresh, and fun. The network provides both an excellent male and female imaging voice, free of charge for affiliates. By the way, we are also live and local in 2 dayparts: mornings and afternoons.

The "timed" songs on the network tend to be overplayed, although there seems to be a wider array of those in rotation in recent weeks. Still, I analyze network music logs and cover the slot with a different song that can time out to fit the break, add variety, yet still totally fit the format.

I should really start a programming blog...I never know when to shut up, ha.
 
lovejamminoldies said:
Golden Boy, what's your local Hot AC?
Click to expand...

In Jackson, MS? Good luck...there isn't one here. I can get one out of Vicksburg in my car, but the signal strength depends on which way the wind blows.
 
It's time to start phasing the '80s out at most Hot AC stations. Lean more on the '90s. It won't hurt to throw in an '80s hit once an hour but make sure that it is a monster hit that's still relevant today.
 
whitfm said:
It's time to start phasing the '80s out at most Hot AC stations. Lean more on the '90s. It won't hurt to throw in an '80s hit once an hour but make sure that it is a monster hit that's still relevant today.
Click to expand...
Some Hot AC stations may be hanging on to the 80s because the 90s is such a hard era to find viable music from. It's pretty....lost. Regular AC still plays more from the 70s and 80s than 90s. Just not a good decade. It seems like when some hot AC's quit playing older stuff they didn't add any 90s.

I listened to the new 99.7 The Point in Kansas City - I think they played around one 80s and one/two 90s an hour. Rest was current/recurrent/2000s.
 
carolinaradio said:
whitfm said:
It's time to start phasing the '80s out at most Hot AC stations. Lean more on the '90s. It won't hurt to throw in an '80s hit once an hour but make sure that it is a monster hit that's still relevant today.
Click to expand...
Some Hot AC stations may be hanging on to the 80s because the 90s is such a hard era to find viable music from.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean - as far as Hot AC goes, there's tons of pop/alternative from the 90s (Sugar Ray, Counting Crows, Collective Soul, Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, Dave Matthews, Matchbox 20, etc.), and those songs are a lot more substantial as gold tracks than most 80s songs, i. e. they have a lot less burn than most 80s tracks

I'd almost say that 90s pop/alternative is the ground on which most Hot ACs were built... (Even stations that play 80s tracks still play more 90s than they do 80s)
 
If you are looking for a Hot A/C show (3 hours) with a weekly top 10 countdown that is heard on ten radio stations email me. I am not charging for the show!
 
carolinaradio said:
I don't have a local Hot AC, but I think the 80s need to go. AC, Classic Hits, and Jack FM-types embrace that decade....it's time for H/AC to move on. 30 year old songs don't belong on Hot AC - IMO, 15 years should be the oldest and I'd play little 90s.
Click to expand...
The early '80s are now three decades ago, but the late '80s are just barely two decades old. And many late '80s hits were rereleases of earlier '80s "misfires," brought back because most of the then-new music of the late '80s was either hair bands or boy bands.

So I would start dropping '80s beginning with the early '80s. But that's fairly easy. Drop all the country crossover from the early '80s (most of which was forced on us, and I never liked anyway) and Air Supply. Interesting to note that I am hearing a resurgence of Air Supply on AC radio, which I thought was too "soft" for even them!
 
I feel like the only 80s tracks that still "fit" with Hot AC playlists are Alternative-leaning tracks that didn't become widely popular until the 90s (even though they were originally released in the 80s) - i. e. It's The End Of The World As We Know It/R. E. M., Pride (In The Name Of Love)/U2, Just Like Heaven/The Cure etc.

There are a handful of 80s "hard rock" tracks like Here I Go Again/Whitesnake and Livin' On A Prayer/Bon Jovi that have become classics, but are too "hard" for many ACs, so I can see more rock-leaning HACs playing those every once in a while

Other than that though, 80s music is just too old for a Hot AC station that wants to sound "current" or cutting-edge
 
I was listening to KDMX Mix 102.9 Dallas-Ft. Worth last Fall 2010 when KVIL went All-Christmas. They were playing mostly alternative rock and pop hits and they still play handful of soft 80's hits like: The Police - Every Breath You Take, Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time, Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight, Sting - Fields Of Gold, Journey - Open Arms, and even more mixed in with their currents. They play one or two soft 80's song in every 2-3 hours mixed in with currents.
 
Albany, NY doesn't have a true Hot AC, imo... both WYJB and WRVE are ACs that lean towards Hot AC, and WRVE still plays a lot of 80s and even some 70s. WKKF, although technically Mainstream Top 40, seems rather dayparted last I listened (more of the Hot AC tracks/recurrents during the day with Rhythmic at night :))
 
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