"Tainted Love" on CBS-FM

[andreajesus]

At 11:45 the other night I heard 9.9 "All of me for all of you" ????? Now that's a stretch. : : :

on CBSFM? That is a stretch (and i LIKE that song!! )

 

[davideduardo]

When the original batch of oldies stations came on years ago, 60s songs were well rested Many of the titles were not played for years and could not be found elsewhere on the dial. The songs were well known, yet there was still a sense of freshness and "oh wow".

The first oldies stations came on the air in the late 60's, around '68 and '69. By that time, most Top 40's had "gold" positions in the clocks, so the 60's songs were hardly "rested."

"Oh, wow" only works when you have not heard a song for a long time, and endures through only one or two plays. And, among the big songs, there was no absence of play over the years.

Maybe it's because the songs are played out or maybe it's because musical tastes were fragmented while growing up but I don't think Gen X (which I'm on the upper end of) will react wth the same passion to classic hits stations playing 80s the way baby boomers did hearing 60s or early 70s on oldies stations.

The decision to play 70's and 80's is not really due to passion levels or whatever. It may be true that the lovers of 60's oldies are passionate about them, but it is also true that those listeners, for the most part, are over 55 and not in a desirable age group for stations due to advertiser's target demos.

I remember when The Big Chill movie and soundtrack came out over two decade ago, many FM stations nationally switched to oldies after that . It was recognized that 60s music was really special to boomers, it was the music of a generation. Many oldies stations were #1 25-54 at that time.

And if they don't/didn't change, they will be #1 55-74.

[/quote]As I said I appreciate the reasons behind younging up the music on classic hits stations. You can't let the demos all age out of 25-54. My point is adding 80s isn't going to be a magic solution either.
[/quote]

Given the alternatives of being too old, shifting focus or changing format, most stations have gone for the shift to 70's based gold. With the increased fragmentation of all other stations, it's still possible to be in the top 10 in 25-54 in the bigger markets.

 

[Johnny_45]

Way back a bunch of posts to this thread ago, someone wrote:

"If WABC had played records like "Tainted Love" when they should have, instead of the wimp o rama Rupert Holmes fest they turned into,maybe they wouldn't be full of tainted windbags spouting outdated con swerve-atisim that no one cares about anymore...CBS FM,please play "Goody Two Shoes " by Adam Ant and "You Spin Me Round" by Dead Or Alive,thank you so much..."

I agree. Keep in mind that TODAY "Oldies" can be mixed across decades depending on how well they stand up across time. "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" passes the acid test: so does "Blue Christmas" --- shoot, why do you think Radio Disney plays "Do Wah Diddy" --- some songs are just universal multi-generational works of art.

 

[KFodor]

Way back a bunch of posts to this thread ago, someone wrote:

"If WABC had played records like "Tainted Love" when they should have, instead of the wimp o rama Rupert Holmes fest they turned into,maybe they wouldn't be full of tainted windbags spouting outdated con swerve-atisim that no one cares about anymore...CBS FM,please play "Goody Two Shoes " by Adam Ant and "You Spin Me Round" by Dead Or Alive,thank you so much..."

I agree. Keep in mind that TODAY "Oldies" can be mixed across decades depending on how well they stand up across time. "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" passes the acid test: so does "Blue Christmas" --- shoot, why do you think Radio Disney plays "Do Wah Diddy" --- some songs are just universal multi-generational works of art.

No argument that "Oldies" can mix across decades. And yes, some songs are universal, multi-generational. That explains why CBS-FM can still spin a, let's say, "Jailhouse Rock" or "Johnny B. Goode" from time to time.

At the same time, of the older post you showed us, that particular poster forgets that radio in the early to mid 1980's was all about the 25-54 demo, not teens...not 18-34. The younger listeners were leaving AM radio for FM CHR's demonstrably better sound quality (understandably so), while stations like WABC leaned a bit older, (and yes, musically speaking, conservative) to get the 25-54 and capture the agency buys.

But, no...WABC would not have been saved by playing the younger music. As I mentioned above, the teens were vacating AM radio, period due to FM's better sound quality. Today, few under age 45 have ever even bothered to listen to AM, so they generally don't have a clue about what programming is on there.

Today, very few "music" stations on AM really succeed anymore. You might see a few here and there in small towns. But that's about it. I mean, even the famed WSM-AM in Nashville (a 50,000 watt blowtorch) had less than 2 share in the last trend 12+...

 

[lalumia]

teens were vacating AM radio because, in luv with the older demo and in fear of the rocknroll on which their(top 40's) initial success was based, AM radio had vacated teens, Helen Reddy was favored over T.Rex, Tony Orlando and Dawn were favored over Slade, John Denver won out over glitter era Ziggy/Bowie,and while disco was embraced as it made noise on the streets on NY, the NY Dolls/Blondie(until their 'disco' record)Ramones,etc/downtown scene that also made noise on those same streets was shunned;
the old crones running what was still being passed off as real Top 40 made an overt effort in the mid 70s to relegate the founding vibe of rock, color, fashion, and outrage(from Little Richard and early Elvis through Beatles, Stones,etc) to the nether regions, while embracing Alan O Day, Mary McGregor and the Starland Vocal Band : what self respecting, hormones raging teen wanted to hear that?
even the early stuff from Adam and the Ants and Duran Duran were rejected by Top 40 in the USA in favor of Kenny & Dolly duets,and Barbra Streisand?
what choice did the masses have before the internet and before MTV? Thank GOD for MTV!

so don't make it sound like Top 40 was still catering to a youth market and was abandoned by them; WABC AM and their ilk demoted themselves to the emaciated version of their former greatness that turned into their last stand......and, as per Z100 , "youth culture' is still alive and well, despite the efforts of some,like WABC, thirty years ago(I remember it well, dropping "Jesse's Girl" cos it was "too
heavy"!!!(lol
The nature of classic Top 40 was about 'buzz',energy, excitement,which WABC AM had from the late 50s till the early 70s;
by 1974, WABC AM, music and pop culture wise, generated as much genuine excitement as watching paint dry on a basement wall...no wonder FM won

 

[scooty430]

Way back a bunch of posts to this thread ago, someone wrote:

"If WABC had played records like "Tainted Love" when they should have, instead of the wimp o rama Rupert Holmes fest they turned into,maybe they wouldn't be full of tainted windbags spouting outdated con swerve-atisim that no one cares about anymore...CBS FM,please play "Goody Two Shoes " by Adam Ant and "You Spin Me Round" by Dead Or Alive,thank you so much..."

I agree. Keep in mind that TODAY "Oldies" can be mixed across decades depending on how well they stand up across time. "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" passes the acid test: so does "Blue Christmas" --- shoot, why do you think Radio Disney plays "Do Wah Diddy" --- some songs are just universal multi-generational works of art.

No argument that "Oldies" can mix across decades. And yes, some songs are universal, multi-generational. That explains why CBS-FM can still spin a, let's say, "Jailhouse Rock" or "Johnny B. Goode" from time to time.

At the same time, of the older post you showed us, that particular poster forgets that radio in the early to mid 1980's was all about the 25-54 demo, not teens...not 18-34. The younger listeners were leaving AM radio for FM CHR's demonstrably better sound quality (understandably so), while stations like WABC leaned a bit older, (and yes, musically speaking, conservative) to get the 25-54 and capture the agency buys.

But, no...WABC would not have been saved by playing the younger music. As I mentioned above, the teens were vacating AM radio, period due to FM's better sound quality. Today, few under age 45 have ever even bothered to listen to AM, so they generally don't have a clue about what programming is on there.

Today, very few "music" stations on AM really succeed anymore. You might see a few here and there in small towns. But that's about it. I mean, even the famed WSM-AM in Nashville (a 50,000 watt blowtorch) had less than 2 share in the last trend 12+...

Very true. I remember actually when everyone at my elementary school switched from WRKO-AM to F-105. Within a year, it seemed completely silly to listen to tinny AM. You would only do it if your buddy had an AM only transistor out in your tree fort, or if you were in an old car that only had AM. It died fast. WRKO took the same route as other AMs - it went wimpy. In 82 or so it went all-talk.

 

[neo11]

It's true to an extent that AM hastened its own demise with the programming choices it made that did not go after the younger listeners, but AM, no matter what it did, was doomed. Perhaps it would have lasted a few more years, but with the growth of FM and MTV, hit music radio on AM was history, no matter what those AM stations ultimately did.

 

[adma]

Very true. I remember actually when everyone at my elementary school switched from WRKO-AM to F-105. Within a year, it seemed completely silly to listen to tinny AM. You would only do it if your buddy had an AM only transistor out in your tree fort, or if you were in an old car that only had AM. It died fast. WRKO took the same route as other AMs - it went wimpy. In 82 or so it went all-talk.

Though we must remember that it wasn't just about tinny AM vs clear-sound FM: it was about an overall programming approach--that is, FM was where you could hear "Whole Lotta Love" or "Won't Get Fooled Again" or *ahem* "Do You Feel Like We Do" in all their unedited glory, a lot more Pink Floyd than just "Money", etc. Even the loathed corporate rock of the late 70s/early 80s was a net plus, relative to Kenny Rogers and whatever. It isn't that AM "went wimpy" in reaction; the wimpiness was already in the blood--and coming from the other end, the parental generation was increasingly of the sort that was nurtured on Top 40, so AM stations became parental stations "by default", as it were.

It wasn't just that WABC was killed by being on AM: Rick Sklar's increasingly calcified programming approach would have been DOA even if it had migrated to "where the audiences were" on FM. Though of course, a lot of 80s Oldies fantasists would like to pretend otherwise...

 

[biggladman]

You think that's bad... I heard Missing You by John Waite around 1:14 am today. Great song, as light tracks go, but wasn't it released in 1992? Honestly, we're starting to enter a period of time where the quality of songwriting is really questionable.

 

[lalumia]

"Missing You" was a #1 single in 1984, and the fantabulous Johnny Thunders of The NY Dolls got to play on the "B" side track, "No Brakes"; it's a classic early 80s record

 

[neo11]

You think that's bad... I heard Missing You by John Waite around 1:14 am today. Great song, as light tracks go, but wasn't it released in 1992? Honestly, we're starting to enter a period of time where the quality of songwriting is really questionable.

As was pointed out, "Missing You" was from 1984. And in my opinion, it also fits in well with the rest of CBS-FM's music. As for your comment about the songwriting, that's just your objective opinion. That has no bearing, however, on the fact that CBS-FM and oldies stations need to move forward.

 

[KFodor]

Very true. I remember actually when everyone at my elementary school switched from WRKO-AM to F-105. Within a year, it seemed completely silly to listen to tinny AM. You would only do it if your buddy had an AM only transistor out in your tree fort, or if you were in an old car that only had AM. It died fast. WRKO took the same route as other AMs - it went wimpy. In 82 or so it went all-talk.

Though we must remember that it wasn't just about tinny AM vs clear-sound FM: it was about an overall programming approach--that is, FM was where you could hear "Whole Lotta Love" or "Won't Get Fooled Again" or *ahem* "Do You Feel Like We Do" in all their unedited glory, a lot more Pink Floyd than just "Money", etc. Even the loathed corporate rock of the late 70s/early 80s was a net plus, relative to Kenny Rogers and whatever. It isn't that AM "went wimpy" in reaction; the wimpiness was already in the blood--and coming from the other end, the parental generation was increasingly of the sort that was nurtured on Top 40, so AM stations became parental stations "by default", as it were.

It wasn't just that WABC was killed by being on AM: Rick Sklar's increasingly calcified programming approach would have been DOA even if it had migrated to "where the audiences were" on FM. Though of course, a lot of 80s Oldies fantasists would like to pretend otherwise...

Ah...but was it really Sklar? Or was it the "suits" at ABC radio sales demanding the 25-54 demo be delivered?

You weren't going to get that by playing album cuts and hard rock. The PD has to deliver the audience the boss wants...

 

[adma]

Ah...but was it really Sklar? Or was it the "suits" at ABC radio sales demanding the 25-54 demo be delivered?

You weren't going to get that by playing album cuts and hard rock. The PD has to deliver the audience the boss wants...

Of course not--though in a way, Sklar's approach to programming WABC pioneered the whole notion of Top 40 as something more than a zit-cream-demo format. So re 25-54, the fix was in.

My point is not so much that WABC ought to have been playing album cuts and hard rock; rather, that kids discovered that the stations which *did* play such fare were a lot cooler, and no longer the inner sanctum of the older sibling. (And, from the other aesthetic end, ditto with disco aka urban radio.) It wasn't just AM stations that were the victims: even the early FM Top 40s ultimately came to reflect the same wimpy ACish approach.

So, how on earth are today's hypothetical raised-in-the-80s "oldies" audiences supposed to relate, especially when proponents like Dr. Sniffles regard MTV as some kind of cultural antichrist? No wonder it's poetic justice that so many of those old Top 40s went conservative talk: "their city was gone", indeed...

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I can think of worse songs than "Tainted Love". Better than hearing "Fire and Rain" for the 2 millionth time!

Since "Tainted Love" is from 1980 it certainly qualifies as an oldie!

It's got a nice beat and I can dance to it....I'll give it an 88.

 

[lalumia]

WABC didn't have to play "album cuts"; they just had to do what they were supposed to do,play NY's hits based on sales; when they avoided the clean edit of "Walk On The Wild Side" by Lou Reed,"Elected" by Alice Cooper(on the heels of "School's Out"), "All The Young Dudes" by Mott The Hoople and "Space Oddity" by David Bowie which were all massive national (and especially NY) sales hits at the advent of 'glitter rock", the writing was on the wall;airplay was denied and that was that

eventually "Space Oddity" was added after an intervention at the Plaza Hotel involving the delectable Cherry Vanilla(who was a MainMan/Bowie employee at the time), well past the point when it should have been added;
actually, CBS FM should be playing all three tracks, as well as other abandoned NY hits like The Beatles "Ballad Of John & Yoko", and "Ohio" by Crosby Stills Nash &Young, just to mention a few major hits that WABC fled from a few years earlier

 

[adma]

I can think of worse songs than "Tainted Love". Better than hearing "Fire and Rain" for the 2 millionth time!

But, better "Fire and Rain" than JT's "How Sweet It Is", or "Handy Man"...

 

[videokilledtheradiostar]

I can think of worse songs than "Tainted Love". Better than hearing "Fire and Rain" for the 2 millionth time!

But, better "Fire and Rain" than JT's "How Sweet It Is", or "Handy Man"...

Or the Bee Gees "How Deep is your love" They must have that in luke warm rotation. lol

 

[adma]

Well, that particular Bee Gees would only be truly offensive if they refused to play "Stayin' Alive" or "Night Fever".

 

[Mike Sheridan]

You guys get it I wonder why most PD's don't? Just because we like a song it doesn't mean we want to hear it every single day. Although I have to admit answering a radio station request line is an education. People calling up asking for the same songs all the time!

I always said that oldies that are played all the time stop being oldies. They lose the "oh wow" factor and become currents that never go away.

Now, just for you, here's "Handy Man"!

 

[andreajesus]

You guys get it I wonder why most PD's don't? Just because we like a song it doesn't mean we want to hear it every single day. Although I have to admit answering a radio station request line is an education. People calling up asking for the same songs all the time!

I always said that oldies that are played all the time stop being oldies. They lose the "oh wow" factor and become currents that never go away.

Now, just for you, here's "Handy Man"!

LOL on that "Handy Man" (although as long as we're talking about JT, I actually prefer that one to the Jimmy Jones ORIGINAL... )

As for your commentary, my dear Mike, you gotta remember something here - the people who "get it" as you put it are NOT always the people who call up the radio stations and ask for the SAME songs ALL the time...the people calling up for the SAME old songs are your basic "Joe or Jane Schmo" variety listener, usually in that coveted 25-54 demo, and don't CARE about history, or the story of a song, or any of the background stuff into the song - they just want to hear that song straight up!! They don't want to know who sang background for whom or who did the nasty with whom before and AFTER the song - you know what i'm saying? 8 ) And as for the "Oh Wow" factor - the key to making sure these great old songs stay "Oh Wow" factors is to have a playlist SO LARGE and DIVERSIFIED that "Oh Wows" STAY "Oh Wows" - WCBSFM has that mastered - their playlist is among the LARGEST of ANY classic hits/oldies station so that when they DO play an "Oh Wow" song like "Hang On In There Baby" by Johnny Bristol, IT IS STILL AN "OH WOW"!!. But that's just my opinion...

Andrea