SONGS YOU'D LOVE TO HEAR ON KRTH-FM!

[oldies76]

Right on!! Valleywatt!!!

Tune in to WCBS online for their Sunday Night countdown, featuring the Top 20, this week in a given year!!
Should begin 7pm your time, 10pm Eastern.

If only KRTH did this!! Well, they used to back in the early 80's anyways.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: KRTH did better 10 years ago.

I understand that KRTH ratings fell a bit back in the 1990's, due to over-repetition of Motown songs and mid-late 60's songs. People got tired of it, ratings fell and Jhani Kaye took over, added more 70's and..Whalaaa.. ratings are up again! KRTH is much better now than it was 10 years ago, by far!!

Interesting premise, but wrong.

Winter and Spring average, 25-54 for year 2000 for KRTH: 3.7 and not even in the top 10 in the sales demos.
Summer and Fall, 2007 in same demo, 2007, 3.1
Spring, 1998, 25-54 3.8 and tied for 5th.

KRTH in 1998 was immensely healthier than today, with much better rank and share.

 

[airpab]

If you want to hear and see a great playlist for this format, look no farther than KONO1011.com out of San Antonio. Talk about great song variety! They've got it right...Can listen all day online and do! Checkout their playlist on the website! BTW...consistently at or near the top in the ratings too!

 

[oldies76]

Kono 101 looks great. Lots of Mid-Late 70's stuff: Theme from Mahagony, Moonlight Feels Right, Billy Don't Be A Hero (Yes, Billy, Don't be A Hero!), Sundown, Reunited, Whatever Gets You Through the Night, Temptation Eyes...etc..

A Back to the 70's feature with Charlie Tuna! Just another example of a station branching out beyond the ordinary stuff.

In fact, as I listen..they just began the Top 5 on this day in 1976 with "Love Hangover" What Memories!!
What the Internet can do..Just incredible stuff!

 

[davideduardo]

If you want to hear and see a great playlist for this format, look no farther than KONO1011.com out of San Antonio. BTW...consistently at or near the top in the ratings too!

The station is on a multi-year decline, and is down to 8th 25-54 in the last trend.

This thread is being sustained by an immense disregard for actual facts. This is but the latest of many errors.

 

[scooty430]

There's one problem with the "less playlist is more" premise that keeps coming up here:

All the big old stations: KLSX, KLOS, KMET, KRTH, Arrow 93, and recently JACK.....you name it. They all had their best years when they had larger playlists. KLSX used to even brag about how big their playlist was.

Another premise I don't get: "Only old people will like oldies, because people only like what they grew up with." If that's so, then explain:

- all the preteens and teenagers who are currently obsessed with the Beatles
- all the successful classical stations that existed for so long - that music is HUNDREDS of years old. WCRB in Boston is STILL a big station
- all the kids (like me) who grew up in the 80s and got turned onto The Doors, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin...and rejected Culture Club, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice and all the then current hits. AOR and Classic Rock Radio did that. Why can't Oldies and Classic Rock continue to do so?

You don't think kids still don't get off on the opening chords to "Smoke on the Water?" Of course they do. Watch a kid playing Guitar Hero and you'll see.

Anyhow, shrinking the playlist eventually leads to only one thing: killing of the format entirely. It's just so freakin' boring. Incredibly narrow minded thinking in radio. (And they pat themselves on the back as the listeners flee! LOL!)

 

[davideduardo]

There's one problem with the "less playlist is more" premise that keeps coming up here:

All the big old stations: KLSX, KLOS, KMET, KRTH, Arrow 93, and recently JACK.....you name it. They all had their best years when they had larger playlists. KLSX used to even brag about how big their playlist was.

Pretty sounding, but untrue. Since it is proven that the perception of variety comes from playing only strong hits, one after another, with no weak songs, fewer songs create more listening. KLOS was at its best when it drove other AORs out of the format by playing, Abrams style, less songs, as one example.

Another premise I don't get: "Only old people will like oldies, because people only like what they grew up with."

Despite the tiny little anecdotes about riffs from songs, and a few out of demo examples, the ratings show and have shown in hundreds of markets over the last thirty-some years that oldies listeners are clustered around the ages of people who were growing up or young adults when the songs were hits, falling off severely on the young side and more gradulally on the older side. All you have to do is look at the demos for each oldies or classic hits or classic rock station in nearly every Arbitron market.

When you see that a 60's based oldies station has all its audience in 45+ and maybe 1% in 12-24, etc., you realize the few under-50 listeners were registering listening to a radio controlled by an older person. There is no salable audience for oldies in the younger demos, and there never will be.

(Classical is a very bad example, since classical until the last few decades, was "taught" in schools and universities via music appreciation, concerts, etc. It is no longer, and huge cities like LA can no longer support commercial classical stations)

Anyhow, shrinking the playlist eventually leads to only one thing: killing of the format entirely.

So explain Top 40 and its derivitives. Most CHR stations play around 100 songs, and find that increasing play outside specialty shows is devastating to the format. Other formats have sweet spots, with most country stations in the +/- 600 song range, AC's of the soft kind in the 300 to 350 range, etc.

Playing too deep is mortal, as any of us who thought at one time that we could win by doing, soon discovered. Often, we were fired at the same time. Those of us who stayed in radio went on to gleefully put big-list sations out of their miseries.

It's just so freakin' boring. Incredibly narrow minded thinking in radio. (And they pat themselves on the back as the listeners flee! LOL!)

I wish you were actually in radio and were my competitor. You would be gone in two books or less. The fact is, when ratings go up with a tight researched list and go down on a long, unfounded list, isn't is obvious what stations will do?

 

[scooty430]

I'd agree with you only that current stations need lots of repetition. That's because the songs are by definition new and fresh, and because in a few months there will be more new songs. Makes sense to repeat, especially for those only listening a few minutes per day.

Conversely, stations based on tight playlists of old songs get boring. I don't care what research you throw at me. Brown Eyed Girl every day sucks just like your favorite pizza every day sucks. That's why classic rock is dying as a format, even though classic rock fans are not really that old. They dropped out early!

 

[davideduardo]

I'd agree with you only that current stations need lots of repetition. That's because the songs are by definition new and fresh, and because in a few months there will be more new songs.

A huge percentage of all formats play some amount of currents. Even gold based AC plays currents, as do Country, active and alternative rock, AAA, urban, urban AC, smooth jazz, regional Mexican, Spanish AC and Pop, tropical, hot AC as well as CHR, Churban, etc.

Makes sense to repeat, especially for those only listening a few minutes per day.

Actually, there is not a huge difference between the listening times to different formats; TSL is much more a function of commercial load, djs, contesting, marketing, etc. You are mistaken in thinking that the amount of current music affects listening spans.

Conversely, stations based on tight playlists of old songs get boring. I don't care what research you throw at me.

As I told you, station lists are basically determined by the number of songs that are "positive" for each format. It varies by market and station and format. But stations that broaden the list do so by playing mediocre or even negative songs, and the price is nearly always a loss of listening.

The most convincing research is Arbitron itself. We see, over and over, that stations that play only the most positive songs win in Arbitron. And in perceptual research, they win the variety image and the best music image. Playlists with more mediocre songs lose the variety image and definitely lose the best music image.

Brown Eyed Girl every day sucks just like your favorite pizza every day sucks. That's why classic rock is dying as a format, even though classic rock fans are not really that old. They dropped out early!

Classic rock is a fading format for the same reason 60's based oldies stations are.... they appeal to an unsalable demo. Both oldies and clasic rock suffer from the fact that most people in the 45+ or 55+ demos don't listen to either format... a huge number of people in that demo have moved on to more contemporary music forms and stayed more in touch with the times; attrition from the format is more based on moving on than on the size of radio playlists.

 

[oldies76]

I agree with Scooty430....100%..Look at WCBS!!! Look at their playlist for pete's sake!! Hundreds and hundreds of Classic Hits mixed with Oldies and some 80's. Yes, they will play the same ones over and over on occasion..any station will do that, but they have an extra supply of songs and hits to fill in, to make the station sound attractive to the listener, not bore us to death!! Look at the specialty countdowns and other themes they do?? Does KRTH do this?? NO they don't..unless you want to count their repetitive 70's at 7 feature on weeknights. Eat the same food everyday, go see the same movie everyday, have the same weather everyday....hear the same music everyday..over and over...will bore the listener..Period! By the way...tell me how would WCBS could lose ratings?? Frankly, it's amazing KRTH has lasted as long as it has...at least before the PD change in 2005. They were the WCBS of L.A....in 1984, 1985 and prior.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

It would be nice if KRTH would sound like KODJ in the early 1990s. KODJ had a great mix of 50s, 60s and 70s. KRTH is terrible. Even though young people don't want to hear 50s music many of these songs are classics. Young people will sit at Johney Rockets or Mels Diner and listen to 50s oldies. Why not on the radio?

KODJ was a great radio station until it becam the Arrow.

You may have answered your own question.

 

[cyberdad]

Well....

Getting back to the original question, here are the top ten I'd like to hear on 101.1....(in no particular order)

"You Got the Right String, Baby, But the Wrong Yo-Yo"---Dr. Feelgood & The Interns
"I Got Loaded"---Peppermint Harris
"Shotgun Boogie"---Tennesee Ernie Ford
"Give Me One More Chance"---Wilmer & The Dukes
"Delicious"---Jim Backus/Phyllis Diller
"Ubangi Stomp"---Warren Smith
"Day After Day---Shango
"Wonderful World, Beautiful People"---Jimmy Cliff
"Spider & The Fly"---Rolling Stones
"Calcutta"---Lawrence Welk

 

[BACKnUSSR]

For KRTH to be the way, THEY USED TO BE, they need to check out WCBS 101.1 Classic Hits out of New York City. They have an ENORMOUS playlist, many times larger than KRTH's. They play TONS of 70's, some 60's and some nice 80's hits, not just "I Can Dream About You" or "Footloose" ..etc..

KRTH has made changes, but the playlist is still very limited and repetitive. KRTH used to play all those songs mentioned above, back when they had a huge playlist in the early to mid 1980's. They even had great and huge specialty weekends then, including all Los Angeles charted #1 songs from 1955 through 1984. "The Night Chicago Died" was one of them from 1974.

KRTH has improved of late, but still lacks the depth of other huge oldies/ classic hits stations around the country..especially WCBS.

In terms of songs I'd like to hear on KRTH....Way too many to mention, but more in-depth 70's would be nice and more bigger hits from the "early 80's"..say to 1985, mixed in with some 1960's, even some pre 1964's and 1955 to 1959, every so often. More specialty weekends, with songs outside of their normal playlist would be nice.

For example, there's a heck of a lot more to 1976, than just the overplayed....."Play that Funky Music".....
26 songs hit #1 in 1976 on the Hot 100 and we may only hearing just a small fraction of that on KRTH. And what about all the other songs, say that peaked at #2, 3, 10..etc..multiply that by all the years in the 70's and you've got hundreds of hits to choose from...in just the 1970's!! So there's huge opportunities here for KRTH to expand even more.

Oddly enough. KRTH has more titles in regular rotation than WCBS FM. And thats with WCBS playing some 80's songs. Go figure. You are getting an impression that CBS-FM has a deep list based on some specialty shows. They really don't.

 

[oldies76]

Calcutta...an interesting choice! A big #1 hit in 1961..and you won't hear it anymore, because of the way stations playlist their music these days...unless you're fortunate enough to grab it on a special "this week in 1961" or something of that nature on an oldies station, somewhere on the internet. I doubt, you'll ever hear it on KRTH though...we can always hope!!

 

[oldies76]

WCBS 's specialty shows and countdowns are above and beyond their playlist..Go check out the link of Songs Played and compare them to KRTH's list, and go back a few days. You will see titles that KRTH does not play and some vice versa....the WCBS playlist is more in-depth and does not repeat as frequently. The addition of countdowns and other shows just adds to the selection overall and diversifies the week's music a step further than the ordinary.

 

[davideduardo]

Calcutta...an interesting choice! A big #1 hit in 1961..and you won't hear it anymore, because of the way stations playlist their music these days...

Next to nobody wants to hear it, and those familiar with it would be in their 60's and in not a salable demo.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

Calcutta...an interesting choice! A big #1 hit in 1961..and you won't hear it anymore, because of the way stations playlist their music these days...

Next to nobody wants to hear it, and those familiar with it would be in their 60's and in not a salable demo.

Don't you wish you had a nickel for everyone you've heard say "We need more Lawrence Welk on the radio"?
Why, I'll bet you'd end up with......a nickel.

 

[oldies76]

Your probably right, most would not want to hear "Calcutta" (a memorable hit back in '61) except those over 60, because they remembered this song...back in their day! I am sure that most teens thru 40's, have never heard of this song too. An oldies station (50's and 60's) may want to air it as part of a Nostalgia show or other theme so that listeners that have in interest in oldies, at any age group, would at least be aware that this #1 song did indeed exist in the early 60's. As it is, intrumentals are rarely played anymore, except for maybe "TSOP" by MFSB, "Love's Theme" by L.U.O. ,"Walk-Don't Run" by the Ventures or even "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela, even these are rarer now. The disco ones may be played once in a while on 70's specials / playlists.

 

[davideduardo]

Don't you wish you had a nickel for everyone you've heard say "We need more Lawrence Welk on the radio"?
Why, I'll bet you'd end up with......a nickel.

LOL. That pretty much sums up this whole thread with much more elegant brevity than my posts!

Lawrence Welk. ;D

 

[oldies76]

It's been interesting, to say the least!!