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Songs that charted nationally but ignored/hardly played on a local station?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Kind of an old example, but I remember that the top 40 station in the small town where I grew up totally ignored all three singles from the Cars' debut album. Only ever heard those songs (on that station, anyway) on the American Top 40 countdown. Nothing from the Cars was ever played there until Candy O and "Let's Go" about a year later.
There are way too many corporate playlists today, so the regional/locals have less influence. Believe it or not just 20 years ago, local programmers made the music decisions. Another sad chapter of how radio is declining. Today, most (not all), local radio stations are handed a playlist from corporate and that is that.
Here is another example from my teen years...KJR Seattle, a huge Top40 station in the 60's and 70's, did not play Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady". So I am listening to AT40 with Casey Kasem and I hear it at #1 in 1976. I am saying "what?" I have never heard this song before! Perhaps one of the best examples of the title thread question.
Here is another example from my teen years...KJR Seattle, a huge Top40 station in the 60's and 70's, did not play Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady". So I am listening to AT40 with Casey Kasem and I hear it at #1 in 1976. I am saying "what?" I have never heard this song before! Perhaps one of the best examples of the title thread question.
That's really not true. I study the charts all the time, and I drill down into the details of individual station playlists. If there were "too many corporate playlists," and it was affecting the charts, the people who make those charts would be forced to adjust them so that they don't dominate the statistics. In fact they HAVE done exactly that several times. They did it with some nationally syndicated shows such as iHeart's After Midnite. Why do they do this? Because the record labels insist that the charts be accurate. The record labels make sure no single radio company has too much influence.
A few years ago, it was discovered that one radio company was forcing corporate playlists on their local PDs. Mediabase and BDS responded by threatening to drop all of their stations from the reporting panel. Or group them together as one station. As a result, the company made changes that were approved by the charts and labels. That's how serious this issue is. So please don't make cavalier statements like "too many corporate playlists" unless you know the facts. It's not as simple as what you say.
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Well, I have been out of making current playlist decisions for many years, so I will defer to your point. However, I do understand that compared to 20-30 years ago, many decisions are no longer in local control. To pretend they are is simply incorrect. Perhaps major markets still make these calls, but in medium to smaller markets, they are told what to play by corporate. This I know as a fact several years ago, as I was part of it. If things have dramatically changed, then clue me in. My post was mainly about the thread title, "ignored, but hardly played on local stations".
Pretend? No one is pretending. Why would stations have local music directors if those music directors didn't actually do something? Why pay someone and give them a title if the decisions come from someone else? Why would record labels spend millions of dollars to have their artists visit local stations around the country to meet those local decision makers who will decide if they're going to add a song to their playlist? Why do so many syndicated music shows, including Ryan Seacrest's daily show, offer content parts to stations so they can incorporate their own local music decisions rather than run the national playlist? Why would charts have very strict rules about who can and who cannot be a chart reporter? Those are just a few questions I'd like you to answer. Cumulus CEO Mary Berner has been very public in saying one of her big changes she made was to return local decision making to the stations. So who are you talking about when you say decisions aren't in local control?
Local music directors? Again, unless things have changed, local music directors rarely exist in medium to small markets. If they do, they are just glorified downloaders to NexGen. I will repeat, I have not been a music "decider" for atleast 5 years. So again, please educate me if the industry has dramatically changed. (I don't believe it has). Cumulus CEO Mary may have made some changes, but I am unaware of this as a trend across radio.
Perhaps we are looking at this from different perspectives. I come from a small to medium market background, and I speak the truth for these stations.
"why do syndicated music shows, including Ryan Seacrest's daily show, offer content parts to stations so they can incorporate their own local music decisions?" Because they don't. In my market the music is all programmed from the iheart playlist.
You can continue to believe that there are still local music directors making music decisions today, but you are wrong when it comes to small and medium markets.
But this thread is getting off topic, and I have been partly responsible.
Perhaps we are looking at this from different perspectives. I come from a small to medium market background, and I speak the truth for these stations.
"why do syndicated music shows, including Ryan Seacrest's daily show, offer content parts to stations so they can incorporate their own local music decisions?" Because they don't. In my market the music is all programmed from the iheart playlist.
You can continue to believe that there are still local music directors making music decisions today, but you are wrong when it comes to small and medium markets.
But this thread is getting off topic, and I have been partly responsible.
Every year, there are awards given to program directors and music directors. They are given based on market size. So yes, there are small market music directors. Lots of them. Do you want me to post their names? I can. Sure, some of them also pull air shifts. But yes they are there, and they make local music decisions. And it is in the smaller markets where a lot of the real risky music decisions are made. Some of the songs that might fit this topic. Once again, there are strict rules on chart reporters, and this thread is about songs in the charts. I'm sure there are a lot of small market stations that don't have music directors and just play whatever the consultant tells them. But they are NOT chart reporters. Only a very small number of stations make that list, and it's for a good reason.
I think we will just agree to disagree. Of course the industry will try to award what is left of small market music directors. It is in their best interest. But frankly, this sounds more like 1987 than 2017. More power to you on that concept. I like most of your posts on here, but on this one not so much. Radio is in deep trouble and even your recent reference (Cumulus) is having major problems.
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta...ed-radio-giant-cumulus-media-defaults-on.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cumulu...cturing-talks-with-creditor-groups-1506725948
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta...ed-radio-giant-cumulus-media-defaults-on.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cumulu...cturing-talks-with-creditor-groups-1506725948
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But it's NOT in the best interests of the records labels or the charts to have charts attributed to local stations being dictated by corporations. There ARE checks and balances in the system. That's why you're unable to address any of the questions I've posed to you. There is nothing for you to disagree about here. Mediabase just made changes to its reporting panel last week. They do this several times a year. These reporters are constantly under review for what they do. And the financial problems Cumulus is dealing with have absolutely NOTHING to do with their music policy. Why are you even bringing it up? Stick to the subject.
The charts are made by local reporters. Those local reporters are carefully chosen and monitored. It's not unusual for a local station to completely ignore songs in the national charts. One that comes to mind was when KPLX in Dallas chose to ignore songs that didn't fit their Texas-centric music format. They got into some trouble for doing it, but if you listened to KPLX at that time, there were a lot of nationally charted songs they didn't play. And they were a chart reporter at the time.
OK, you just seem to want to argue. If you want the last word, you got it. Done here. Good luck living in your 1980's radio world.
No I don't want to argue. I want you to learn something. You say I'm living in the 80s, but I'm working in the business now. Every local music director's name and phone number is listed with the local playlist submitted to the chart editors. The smaller markets aren't monitored, but still submit playlists as they did 30 years ago. All of these facts are easily checked, if you want to prove me wrong.
I also did not hear "Disco Lady" very much back when it was a hit, and it was much more notable in my case because I grew up just a couple of hours away from Memphis, and Taylor had been on Stax back during its heyday. (Although he was on Columbia by the time "Disco Lady" became a hit.) I still believe that "Disco Lady" was primarily a sales (not airplay hit), and I still don't hear it very often, further leading me to conclude that it was a mostly sales hit.
It depends which stations you were listening, but living in CT, back in 1976, I heard it enough to remember years later that it was a hit from 1976. And when KRTH decided to play it, way back when, it brought back some good memories. Good song!
Actually, I'll much gladly take this radio period in time, than anything being forced feed to us today.
Hit in Syracuse, too, which is where I was in '76. And I'm talking airplay, heavy airplay.
Yeah.....I don't remember which station I was listening to in Westport, Ct?? Maybe WMMM on the AM, but I also recall hearing "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" by Captain & Tennille many times back then, along with other great songs from the bicentennial year.
I actually used to hear his old Stax hit "Who's Making Love" more than I ever heard "Disco Lady." (Before it "aged out" of rotation, that is.) And I live in the Nashville area these days!
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