The New Middle Of The Road Dilemma

[EZway2go]

New CDs were released earlier this year by Paul Simon (“So Beautiful or So What”) and Stevie Nicks (“In Your Dreams”) and it occurred to me that I’ve never heard anything from either one on the radio. Are any stations across the country playing them? If so, a follow-up question would be what is the format of your station? What tracks are you playing?

These contain original material; they are not re-interpretations of music from a bygone era such as Rod Stewart’s Great American Songbook CDs. Rod Stewart’s versions of the standards, as well as those by several other pop stars in recent years can, in fact, be heard on Easy Listening stations today (and there are still a few of them around), and may even occasionally pop up now and then on an Adult Contemporary or possibly a Smooth Jazz station.

It’s certainly nothing new for pop or rock stars of the past to put their own signature on hits of the past, but the Nicks and Simon CDs represent an interesting anomaly. Is there a home for new material by someone who’s been on the scene for 25 or 30 years? Where would it belong in today’s array of radio formats? Too harsh for Easy Listening; yet, out of place alongside, say, Fergie or Katy Perry in the Adult Contemporary world.

Should the Classic Hits format be expanded to include everything by a “classic artist” rather than focusing on their songs from 30 or 40 years ago? Should we have an updated version of the Middle of the Road format of the late ‘60s that bridged Beautiful Music and Top 40? Or, is this kind of music destined for niche programming at college radio stations, only coming out of the woodwork for the mainstream audience after a few Grammy nods?

 

[LKellerIII]

Interesting topic. Since you evoke the memory of MOR radio - I'll note that in the 50s and 60s, MOR stations were not only highly rated, but premiered new music that baby boomer's parents preferred. Most baby boomers who post at radio-info fondly remember the AM Top 40 era, but if anything, there were more MOR stations in most major markets. In Los Angeles during the mid 60s, there were 2 or 3 major Top 40 stations (depending upon the year), but even more "full service" stations that ran MOR music. I recall KMPC, KFI, KNX, KGIL, KHJ (before Boss Radio), and sometimes KLAC.

If you were a singer in that era like Andy Williams, Jack Jones, or Tony Bennett - MOR radio was the primary medium for making sure people heard your latest songs. But in the brave new world of the internet, terrestrial radio is increasingly irrelevant. I'm not particularly a Paul Simon fan, but I can guess that he has a website, and his latest songs are on You Tube, and down-loadable from itunes and other providers. That's how his music is getting exposure.

The only time in the last couple of decades that I recall an older established group getting air-play was the Beach Boys in the 80s. Even though it was a new song from a film soundtrack, Kokomo got heavy airplay on Oldies stations. But that was still years before the internet era had really caught fire.

I recently saw Jeff Bridges on Colbert, singing a hit from his new album. It's possible that he'll get some airplay on Country stations, but I don't think he's counting on it. Bridges noted that the song he played is downloadable for free. I assume he hopes that people will like the song, and download other songs from the album for $1.29 per song, or $7.99 for the album. Of course, he's a successful, and (I'm sure) very wealthy actor who sings for fun, and doesn't need extra income from record sales. I imagine it's a tough time for recording artists.

 

[FreddyE1977]

How many program directors for Classic Hits stations even keep current on new releases or
check out promos? It's an interesting question.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

It’s certainly nothing new for pop or rock stars of the past to put their own signature on hits of the past, but the Nicks and Simon CDs represent an interesting anomaly. Is there a home for new material by someone who’s been on the scene for 25 or 30 years? Where would it belong in today’s array of radio formats? Too harsh for Easy Listening; yet, out of place alongside, say, Fergie or Katy Perry in the Adult Contemporary world.

CHR perhaps??? To this very day, I could still see playing Stevie Nicks on a CHR.

 

[michael hagerty]

Classic Hits/Classic Rock stations would be suicidal to fold in new music...it defies the audience's expectation of the format. AAA (Adult Album Alternative) stations would be the logical place for Stevie, Paul and other heritage artists who are still active and recording new music.

But there are only a handful of successful AAA stations in the country (KFOG, San Francisco; KBCO, Denver; KINK. Portland). Pandora, Slacker and Sirius/XM are probably the best chance for airplay...and figure the bulk of physical CD sales will be at Starbucks, not WalMart or Best Buy.

Fact is (and I'm a fan of both Paul and Stevie) these are artists whose last mass-appeal hit singles were 25 years ago. That's a long time. Sinatra only lived 17 years after "New York, New York", and he quit recording a few years before that. The odds of significant airplay on mass appeal formats at this stage of their lives and careers are mighty small.

As for a "new MOR", the old ones were as big as they were because they targeted (and won) 18-49 year olds. When that audience got older, the MOR stations went younger with Adult Contemporary, and the former MOR listeners embraced Beautiful Music.

Even with a broader "money demo" today (25-54 instead of 18-49), you'd need to be programming to 39 year olds, who were in their early teens when Paul and Stevie were ending their chart runs. I don't think there's a there there.