Trainwreck segues or off-the-wall songs

[The Truthsayer]

Since we've had this discussion, how about a thread about it. It can be any station with a CHR format

I'll start:
Minerva by the Deftones today on that you know what station that can't decide whether they're CHR or modern rock so they continue to be a clusterf**k sitting on the fence between the two formats
as well as A-Punk by Vampire Weekend into Feedback by Janet Jackson
All Over You by The Spill Canvas in power rotation
Falling Down by Atreyu into Flashing Lights by Kanye West
The Hampsterdance Song (have to cater to those 12 year old Radio Disney listeners, eh?)
I Melt With You by Modern English into Rump Shaker by Wreckx-n-Effect (during a retro lunch)
Wanna Be A Baller by Lil Troy into 867-5309 by Tommy Tutone (in the retro lunch)
Gypsy Road by Cinderella, as well as other classic rock staples from the 70's and 80's such as Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Sniff "n" the Tears, Cheap Trick, and Kansas (in their so-called retro lunch again)

And they want to copy the infamous Q92 retro weekends or whatever (see this thread or this one for more info) playing classic rock from the 60s and 70s (such as Led Zeppelin, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Who, Black Sabbath, etc.) mixed in with retro 80s and 90s stiffs and hits and their currents just because it's "fun". Basically a wannabe Jack FM for the noon hour and the weekend where they throw whatever random together, where Jack FM appears to do so when in reality their music is researched and tested to see if it fits.

im done obsessing about the station, now it's your turn to post some trainwreck segues or off-the-wall non-CHR songs heard on a CHR.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

For the WBWB Retro Lunch... Sam the Sham-Wooly Bully, into AC/DC-Back in Black, into Tone Loc-Wild Thing, and also The Troggs Wild Thing right after Tone Loc,, into The Kinks-Lola, into The Jetts-Crush on you.... I personally think their retro lunch should be 80s and 90s only on a CHR. :-\

 

[CHRles]

Nothing wrong with playing Modern English into Wreckx N Effect during their lunch hour actually. There's also nothing wrong with playing Kanye's "Flashing Lights" into Atreyu other then the fact that it's 2 new songs back to back (unless we're talking about nights).

 

[CHRles]

Doc, I understand your vision, and love what you're trying to do with your station. However, I feel the need to play devil's advocate:
You mentioned MTV, and one thing to remember about MTV is that there's a visual aspect - people tune in and enjoy not just the music but also the video, and in the 1980s MTV didn't really have any direct competitor on TV. You wanted to see music videos, you had to turn on MTV. Back in the 80s most CHRs were selective when it came time to play "reaction" records like Metallica's "One". The song was huge on MTV, but was too hard and edgy for most CHRs. Hell, a lot of Rock stations were afraid to play it back then.
In a lot of ways MTV was the best youth leaning Top 40 station in America in the early 90s as it didnt shy away from Grunge and Hip Hop, which helped sell a lot of records for the music industry, but a lot of CHRs were abandoning the format or felt the need to lean more Adult. By the end of the 90s things shifted around. MTV was playing Teen Pop on TRL, and focusing less on music and more on pop culture. A lot of youth-friendly CHRs were launched and most of them realized they needed to focus first and foremost on Rhythmic hits. That just happens to be the music that the core CHR audience - young females - are usually most passionate about.

As for having a big playlist and playing lots of currents, that's cool, but there's gotta be some balance and flow. Having 500 new songs in rotation is great if you're goal is to have just 500 listeners...

 

[The Truthsayer]

There's nothing radio can do to stop losing listeners. There's more technology now than there were in the 70's.

You jump too quick on new music right when it's released, you end up playing a bunch of stiffs. You're about the only wannabe CHR in the country with a 4,000 song playlist (exaggerating a bit, but you get the point). Never mind, there's two more I can think of: Q92 and VFX. And there's a reason why Modern Rock (Alternative) is a different format. How about your GM dishes out some cash to get a subscription to Mediabase and hire a consultant since most of you lack experience in radio and knowing what CHR is. Most of you there started out as interns while attending college across the street from the studio.

Also that Q92 old school weekend you want to do is idiotic after reading that thread. It's not the P1's requesting Edgar Winter Group, Van Halen, Kansas, etc (this applies to your trainwreck flashback lunch that plays 70's classic rock too) so it's not "fun" for them.

For those not familiar with Q's old school weekends, read this thread
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,35043.msg243343.html

Now let's talk about off the wall stuff heard on other stations, okay?

 

[CHRles]

Well, since you asked about other CHRs, why don't you log onto yes.com and check out what heritage 98.5 KRZ Wilkes Barre is playing even as we speak (Saturday night at 7 PM). The Rolling Stones followed by Elton John, Steely Dan, Rick Springfield, Tina Turner, Earth Wind & Fire, and more really OLD records. Records most CHRs wouldn't dream of touching, but I guess someone's listening to "Saturday Night Live at the Oldies" with Shadoe Steele - KRZ is still one of the highest rated CHRs in the country.

 

[CHRles]

Detroit's Rhythmic leaning CHR/Pop outlet, Channel 95-5, one of the best executed and Rhythmic leaning stations in the country, plays some pretty old records during the daytime. This past Friday between 11 AM to noon they played a couple of 80s titles: "Paul Revere" by the Beastie Boys as well as Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock "It Takes Two". Both were records that did well at a number of major market CHRs at the time, but how did they fare overall on the charts?...

BTW, my favorite Rhythmic leaning CHR in the country right now is 106.9 K-Hits Tulsa, though stations like 104.5 SNX Grand Rapids and Hot 107.9 Syracuse are also up there

 

[Rob Mackenzie]

While I certainly have no say in the music played on Q92 (I do weekends and some imaging), I must take some issue with this comment:

You're about the only wannabe CHR in the country with a 4,000 song playlist (exaggerating a bit, but you get the point). Never mind, there's two more I can think of: Q92 and VFX.

Oh really? Let's take a look at our current top 50 songs, according to Mediabase. With the exception of probably Seether's Fake It, this looks like many CHR's around the country. And if you're going to nitpick about the new songs at the bottom of the list? Cascada played a whopping 7 times a week! I can tell you its more than likely at the end of the hour and plays during the night. A mere 1 spin per day. Oh yes, but we have a 4000 song playlist.

As far as wannabe goes, we're #1 18-34 in the market and have been CHR since 2002.

I've seen the playlists posted from the other stations, I don't recognize a 1/3 of the songs. We're 2 completely different animals.

Enjoy the fact that we're a hot topic, so go ahead and flame away! ;D

1 FLO RIDA Low (f/T-Pain)
2 SEETHER Fake It
3 RIHANNA Don't Stop The Music
4 JEAN, WYCLEF Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)
5 LINKIN PARK Shadow Of The Day
6 BROWN, CHRIS With You
7 BUCKCHERRY Sorry
8 KEYS, ALICIA No One
9 FERGIE Clumsy
10 SANTANA Into The Night (f/C. Kroeger)
11 THREE DAYS GRACE Never Too Late
12 DAUGHTRY Feels Like Tonight
13 KINGSTON, SEAN Take You There
14 BABY BASH What Is It (f/Sean Kingston)
15 ENUR Calabria 2008 (f/Natasja)
16 BAREILLES, SARA Love Song
17 BOYS LIKE GIRLS Hero/Heroine
18 JACKSON, JANET Feedback
19 SPARKS, JORDIN No Air (f/Chris Brown)
20 LIFEHOUSE Whatever It Takes
21 KASPER FROM THE K Whatchagondo
22 SOULJA BOY Crank That (Soulja Boy)
23 FINGER ELEVEN Paralyzer
24 CAILLAT, COLBIE Realize
25 CYRUS, MILEY See You Again
26 SWIFT, TAYLOR Our Song
27 BABY BASH Cyclone
28 WEBBIE Independent f/Lil Boosie & Lil
29 TIMBALAND The Way I Are (f/Keri Hilson)
30 PARAMORE CrushCrushCrush
31 SPEARS, BRITNEY Piece Of Me
32 FIASCO,LUPE Superstar (f/Matthew Santos)
33 ONEREPUBLIC Stop & Stare
34 BROWN, CHRIS Kiss, Kiss (f/T-Pain)
35 SNOOP DOGG Sensual Seduction
36 TIMBALAND/ONEREPUBLIC Apologize
37 KEYS, ALICIA Like You'll Never See Me Again
38 NICKELBACK Rockstar
39 SWIFT, TAYLOR Teardrops On My Guitar
40 CAILLAT, COLBIE Bubbly
41 PINK U + Ur Hand
42 JONAS BROTHERS When You Look Me In The Eyes
43 GOOD CHARLOTTE I Don't Wanna Be In Love
44 CAREY, MARIAH Touch My Body
45 PANIC! AT THE DISCO I Write Sins Not Tragedies
46 WEST, KANYE Flashing Lights (f/Dwele)
47 SPEARS, BRITNEY Break The Ice
48 PINK Who Knew
49 JUPITER RISING Electropop
50 CASCADA What Hurts The Most

 

[jjmac]

Doc, I've never replied to any postings about your station, but I actually admire your passion for new music and wanting to break the mold of the typical CHR station. I'm much the same way, although I keep myself in check with Mediabase and callout. Just because a song is low on the charts doesn't mean it CANT work on a particular station.

The biggest thing is that I think some stations (and I'm not going to call out any in particular because I don't see the point in it) try a little TOO hard to go against the grain and end up creating a playlist that doesn't fit in to ANY format. One of the driving forces behind ratings is TSL, and you can't create TSL if you're targeting one demo with one song and and another demo with the next. For example, and again not picking on your station Doc, but I saw a playlist a little while ago that had Kanye West into Serj Tarkanan or whatever the dude from SOAD's name is. Though they're both great songs, you're going from a young female song to a song that most females either hate or don't recognize, and as a CHR station that's alienating your P1s. There's a station in Alabama that does this a lot and although I as a music nerd love it, it's so back and forth that it's hard to decide whether or not it's a CHR, a rock, or a Hot AC station. It has no identity. You have to create a brand for your station so that people know what to expect whenever they flip to your frequency, and if you're too eclectic it's very hard for a listener to create that brand identity in your mind.

That's my two cents, I'll shut up now ;D

 

[The Truthsayer]

My god...this is [EDIT] that Doc is going to play next weekend. Good way to get your female 18-34 (oh wait, you target males too since you can't focus it down to females) to go WTF IS THIS! This is my mom and dad's music! and the mom and pop flipping back to their station the minute after Fergie or Flo Rida come on. If you're lucky you'll get your P-1 back in time for Open House Party at 6 and on Monday. Bad trainwreck radio, eh?

Not to offend anyone at Q92, but Q isn't a good station for small markets to look up to. Some of their staff (or former staff) has posted some idiotic stuff in this thread. "Old school" or not, it's NOT fun for 18-34's to hear Edgar Winter Group, "Walk The Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was), Shake Your Booty, or Pink Floyd on a supposedly HIT MUSIC STATION!

I bet the sales department will have FUN losing clients after this incredibly stupid weekend.


[EDIT-URLs to competing websites are strictly forbidden.]

 

[The Truthsayer]

Since I can't post the link, I'll post the list (which is long) of some of the stuff that will be played:

Carry On Wayward Son/Kansas
Voices Carry/Til Tuesday
Mickey/Tony Basil
Slam/Onyx
(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman/Kinks
The Sign/Ace of Base
Hot Fun In The Summertime/Sly & The Family Stone
Erotic City/Prince
Cruel Summer/Bananarama
Electric Avenue/Eddy Grant
Good Times Roll/The Cars
Air Force Ones/Nelly
Red Red Wine/UB40
Come On Eileen/Dexys Midnight Runners
Once Bitten, Twice Shy/Great White
Venus/Bananarama
Paranoid/Black Sabbath
A New Day Yesterday/Jethro Tull
Rocket Man/Elton John
Sledgehammer/Peter Gabriel
I Ran/A Flock of Seagulls
Party Up/DMX
California Girls/David Lee Roth
Margaritaville/Jimmy Buffet
Lady Marmalade/Labelle
Lady Marmalade/Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mýa and Pink
Kokomo/Beach Boys
Shake Your Booty/KC and the Sunshine Band
Like A Rolling Stone/Bob Dylan
Der Kommissar/After the Fire
Oh Yeah/Yello
Walk The Dinosaur/Was (Not Was)
Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand/Primitive Radio Gods
Don't Come Around Here No More/Tom Petty
Future's So Bright, I Gotta.../Timbuk 3
Cameltoe/FannyPack
Boyz-n-the-Hood/Eazy E
Boyz-n-the-Hood/Dynamite Hack
Dust In The Wind/Kansas
Who Am I/Snoop Dogg
December 1963/Four Seasons
The Unforgiven/Metallica
Back in Black/AC/DC
I'm Too Sexy/Right Said Fred
Wild Thing/Tone Loc
Big Pimpin/Jay-Z ft UGK
Starway to Heaven/Led Zeppelin
Puttin on the Ritz/Taco
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)/Dead or Alive
Pump Up The Jam/Technotronic
Come As You Are/Nirvana
Bitch/Meredith Brooks
Brick House/Commodores
I Wanna Sex You Up/Color Me Badd
People Are People/Depeche Mode
Keep Your Hands To Yourself/Georgia Satellites
Heart of Glass/Blondie
Party All The Time/Eddie Murphy
The Flame/Cheap Trick
Shadows of the Night/Pat Benetar
Pump It Up/Elvis Costello
Making Love out of Nothing at All/Air Supply
Bye Bye Bye/NSYNC
Sunglasses at Night/Corey Hart
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun/Cyndi Lauper
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting/Elton John
Rump Shaker/Wreckx-n-Effect
Ghetto Superstar/Pras
School's Out/Alice Cooper
Hungry Like The Wolf/Duran Duran
Girl You Know It's True/Milli Vanilli
Funky Cold Medina/Tone Loc
I Melt With You/Modern English
Baba O'Reilly/The Who
Here We Go, Let's Rock & Roll/C+C Music Factory
Bennie and the Jets/Elton John
Sexual Healing/Marvin Gaye
I Like It Like That/Tito Nieves
She's A Beauty/Tubes
Like A Virgin/Madonna
As Long As You Love Me/Backstreet Boys
I Hope You Dance/Le Ann Womack
Jammin/Bob Marley
Boombastic/Shaggy
Mercedes Boy/Pebbles
Lit Up/Buckcherry
Ready To Go/Republica
Love Rollercoaster/Red Hot Chili Peppers
St. Elmo's Fire/John Parr
Like A Prayer/Madonna
Love Shack/B-52's
Mrs. Robinson/Lemonheads
I Can't Explain/The Who
Unbelievable/EMF
In The Air Tonight/Phil Collins
Rock You Like A Hurricane/Scorpions
I'm Free/Kenny Loggins
I Shot the Sheriff/Bob Marley
Into The Groove/Madonna
Money Talks/AC/DC
Good Times/Tommy Lee ft Butch Walker
Man! I Feel Like a Woman!/Shania Twain
Better Man/Pearl Jam
Ring of Fire/Johnny Cash
Regulate/Warren G
Time/Hootie and the Blowfish
Wanted Dead Or Alive/Bon Jovi
Lady/Kenny Rogers
Thong Song/Sisqo
Ironic/Alanis Morisette
Idiot Boyfriend/Jimmy Fallon
Mr. Brightside/The Killers
Hip Hop Hooray/Naughy By Nature
Mountain Song/Jane's Addiction
Basket Case/Green Day
I Will Remember You/Sarah McLachlan
Sabotage/Beastie Boys
I Love Rock And Roll/Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Lose Yourself/Eminem
Bound for the Floor/Local H
It's Tricky/Run DMC
It Must Have Been Love/Roxette
Magic Man/Heart
Kiss/Prince
Poison/Bell Biv DeVoe
Janie's Got A Gun/Aerosmith
It Feels So Good/Sonique
Mexican Radio/Wall of Voodoo
Sussudio/Phil Collins
Tootsee Roll/69 Boyz
Linger/Cranberries
If You Could Only See/Tonic
Big Balls/AC/DC
I Like To Move It/Reel 2 Real
Hangin' Tough/New Kids on the Block
I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)/Expose
Party Train/The Gap Band
Legs/ZZ Top
California Love/2Pac
It's Only Love/Bryan Adams feat Tina Turner
Inside Out/Eve 6
Driver's Seat/Sniff 'n' the Tears
Remedy/Black Crowes
Tennessee/Arrested Development
3AM/Matchbox Twenty
Strutter/Kiss
Paradise By The Dashboard Light/Meat Loaf
Blitzkrieg Pop/Ramones
Pretty Tied Up/Guns N Roses
Abracadabra/Steve Miller
Ants Marching/Dave Matthews Band
1979/Smashing Pumpkins
Run Runaway/Great Big Sea
Gypsy Road/Cinderella
These Dreams/Heart
Once In A Lifetime/Talking Heads
Extraordinary/Liz Phair
Bad Day/R.E.M.
Jump/Kris Kross
Mr. Wendal/Arrested Development
Knockin' Boots/Candyman
Dirty Diana/Michael Jackson
Zombie/Cranberries
Safety Dance/Men WIthout Hats
Shoop/Salt-N-Pepa
Sad But True/Metallica
I Get Around/2pac
Hey Jealousy/Gin Blossoms
London Calling/Clash
Fight For Your Right/Beastie Boys
I Knew I Loved You/Savage Garden
Ghetto Superstar/Pras
Black Velvet/Alannah Myles
Let's Dance/David Bowie
Strokin/Clarence Carter
Gettin' Jiggy Wit It/Will Smith
Jenny (867-5309)/Tommy Tutone
Crank That/Soulja Boy
Turning Japanese/Vapors
Now That We Found Love/Heavy D & The Boyz
Working For The Weekend/Eddie Money
Lightning Crashes/Live
Black/Pearl Jam
Lump/The Presidents of the USA
How Bizarre/OMC
We Got The Beat/Go-Gos
You Can Do It/Ice Cube
Whoomp!/Tag Team
Never There/Cake
Still Not A Player/Big Punisher feat. Joe
Not Going Away/Ozzy Osbourne
Plush/Stone Temple Pilots
Open Your Heart/Madonna
Our House/Madness
Gypsy/Fleetwood Mac
Girls Girls Girls/Motley Crue
Finally/CeCe Peninston
Take Your Whiskey Home/Van Halen
Hold on Loosely/.38 Special
All Star/Smash Mouth
Ruff Ryders Anthem/DMX
I Touch Myself/The Divinyls
Baby Don't Forget My Number/Milli Vanilli
Pop/NSYNC
Wasn't Me/Shaggy
This Is How We Do It/Montell Jordan
Sweet Dreams/Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams/Marilyn Manson
Let's Go All the Way/Sly Fox
Intergalactic/Beastie Boys
Edge of Seventeen/Stevie Nicks
The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air/DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
The Distance/Cake
Still Not a Player/Big Punisher
Now That We Found Love/Heavy D & The Boyz
Video Killed the Radio Star/The Buggles
You Give Love A Bad Name/Bon Jovi
Relax/Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Heaven/Salvador
1985/Bowling for Soup
Don't You Want Me/Human League
Closing Time/Semisonic
Mony Mony/Billy Idol
We Didn't Star The Fire/Billy Joel
Back That Thing Up/Juvenile
My Boo/Ghost Town DJ's
Boombastic/Shaggy
Hot For Teacher/Van Halen
Number One Spot/Ludacris
Time/Pink Floyd
Stayin' Alive/The Bee Gees
Let Me Clear My Throat/DJ Kool
The Anthem/Pitbull ft Lil Jon
E.I./Nelly
1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)/Coolio
Play That Funky Music/Wild Cherry
Bust A Move/Young MC
Bell Biv Devoe/Poison
I Saw You First/John Mellencamp
Bizarre Love Triangle/New Order
Beautiful Day/U2
Super Freak/Rick James
Wrong Way/Sublime
We're Not Gonna Take It/Twisted Sister
Kiss Me/Sixpence None the Richer
Obsession/Animotion
Dazzey Duks/Duice
Absolutely/Nine Days
Steal My Sunshine/Len
Wanna Be A Baller/Lil Troy
Groove Is in the Heart/Deee-Lite
Moving in Stereo/The Cars
The Warrior/Scandal
Simon Says/1910 Fruitgum Company
Fade Into You/Mazzy Star
Nightrain/Guns N Roses
I'm Gonna Get You/Bizarre Inc.
Crash/The Primitives
Shine/Collective Soul
Breakfast In America/Supertramp
Tom's Diner/Suzanne Vega
Revolution/The Beatles
Addicted To Love/Robert Palmer
Louie Louie/The Kingsmen
The Humpty Dance/Digital Underground
Heat of the Moment/Asia
You Shook Me All Night Long/AC/DC
Frankenstein/Edgar Winter Group
Song 2/Blur
Peaches/Presidents of the USA
Don't Worry, Be Happy/Bobby Mcferrin
What I Got/Sublime
The Beer Song/Weird Al Yankovic
The Chain/Fleetwood Mac
Surrender/Cheap Trick
Mellow Yellow/Donovan
Santeria/Sublime
Centerfold/J. Geils Band
Hysteria/Def Leppard
Baby Got Back/Sir Mix-A-Lot
Wonderwall/Oasis
Super Freak/Rick James
Big Empty/Stone Temple Pilots
No Sugar Tonight/The Guess Who
Stand Up/Ludacris
Over The Hills and Far Away/Led Zeppelin
Touch Me/The Doors
Pour Some Sugar On Me/Def Leppard
Talk Dirty To Me/Poison
Hurt/Nine Inch Nails
You Raise Me Up/Josh Groban
Wish You Were Here/Pink Floyd
Dreams/Fleetwood Mac
Caress Me Down/Sublime
Da Dip/Freak Nasty

 

[The Truthsayer]

Coming from Trainwreck 99.7 this afternoon:

Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen" into Webbie "Independent" into Seether "Fake It"
and later that hour I had a pleasent time hearing a dead seg from Birdman "Pop Bottles" into Graham Colton "Best Days"

Admit it Alex (doctor_radio), that is not CHR at all, and someone please program the station.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

From someone who hates the station so much, you really do seem to listen to it alot Truthsayer.... Give em a break,,, It may not be my cup of tea either, but if the Boss, listeners and advertisers are happy then why change it if its working. Its really not that much different from how WMEE 97.3 Fort Wayne Sounded in the mid to late 90s and called themselves the number one hit music station. In fact WMEE still sounds exactly like Docs station minus the rap and harder rock, but now days their positioner is Todays Best Variety. Docs station is actually a Current Friendly Variety hits aka Jack station. At least Docs station will play some Dance music from time to time, thats more than I can say for most CHRs. My guess is Truthsayer works at 104.7.......