What is the most overplayed song on the radio from the 70s/80s?

[willdav713]

What is the most overplayed song on the radio from the 70s/80s?

I would say Eagles "Hotel California" followed by Rupert Holmes "Escape"
What makes the list, and have you ever called the station and asked why they play the song way too much on the radio?

 

[CTListener]

What is the most overplayed song on the radio from the 70s/80s?

I would say Eagles "Hotel California" followed by Rupert Holmes "Escape"
What makes the list, and have you ever called the station and asked why they play the song way too much on the radio?

I'd go with "Hotel California," if only because it is a staple of both classic hits ("oldies") and classic rock stations, while no classic rocker would ever play the Holmes song. I've never called the station, but I'd imagine the truthful answer, were they to give you one, would be "Audience research shows it's still extremely popular in the demographic our advertisers want to reach."

 

[amfmsw]

My liver quivers from hearing that piece of crap bubblegum "Margaritaville". Please make it stop! next would be "Brown Eyed Girl". Miss Conginality is "Satisfaction".

 

[CTListener]

My liver quivers from hearing that piece of crap bubblegum "Margaritaville". Please make it stop! next would be "Brown Eyed Girl". Miss Conginality is "Satisfaction".

"Brown Eyed Girl" and "Satisfaction" are from the '60s. But yes, "Margaritaville" certainly qualifies. Again, though, the radio stations would shelve it in a heartbeat if their research showed them listeners were switching stations because of it. Apparently, they're not, at least not in numbers or demographics that matter.

 

[firepoint525]

I still like "Sweet Home Alabama" (probably more now than when it was a hit!), but I would say that it qualifies for this list.

Honorable mention for "More Than a Feeling." I still like it, too, but it seems like it, too, gets played a lot, and across multiple formats.

 

[Mediaace]

Elton John - "Bennie and the Jets" - 1974

 

[willdav713]

I still like "Sweet Home Alabama" (probably more now than when it was a hit!), but I would say that it qualifies for this list.

Honorable mention for "More Than a Feeling." I still like it, too, but it seems like it, too, gets played a lot, and across multiple formats.

Heard Sweet Home Alabama 5 times this week in less than 3 days. As soon as they say "turn it up" I say "turn it down, or off, I will choose off and flip the switch!"

Boston's More Than A Feeling, reminds me of the Point KHPT Conroe Houston, it was mandatory that they played that song 430 times a month.

 

[willdav713]

My liver quivers from hearing that piece of crap bubblegum "Margaritaville". Please make it stop! next would be "Brown Eyed Girl". Miss Conginality is "Satisfaction".

Even Austin's KVET plays Margaritaville. Back in 2010, we had the following Austin stations play Buffet's Margaritaville, KKMJ "Super Songs of the 70s" 95.5, KVET 98.1 "Geuinine Austin Original" Country station, 103.5 KBPA Bob-Fm "we play anything" Adult Hits play those a lot.

I am sure for Houston you had KKRW, KODA, KILT, KTHT, and KHTC spin that one over and over again.

 

[firepoint525]

I've never called the station, but I'd imagine the truthful answer, were they to give you one, would be "Audience research shows it's still extremely popular in the demographic our advertisers want to reach."

You would get that answer if you spoke to someone at the corporate level, but if you talked to anyone at any individual station, they would probably say something like, "we get a lot of requests for that one." If you talked to any of the djs there, they would probably say something like "management makes us play it!"

 

[unitron]

There's always going to be someone calling in wanting "Free Bird" or "Stairway", maybe even during the day when they're still sober.

The problem is how do you measure all the people who don't want to hear it every single day and just turn the dial instead of dialing the phone.

Maybe that should be the next big gimmick in radio, the reverse request line.

(copyright me, right now)

 

[oldies76]

These days it seems to be "Boys of Summer" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

From the 60's, definitely "Brown Eyed Girl" and "My Girl"

 

[CTListener]

Can't forget "Old Time Rock and Roll." Movie exposure helped that one immensely, as it did for "Unchained Melody."

 

[davideduardo]

I'd go with "Hotel California," if only because it is a staple of both classic hits ("oldies") and classic rock stations, while no classic rocker would ever play the Holmes song. I've never called the station, but I'd imagine the truthful answer, were they to give you one, would be "Audience research shows it's still extremely popular in the demographic our advertisers want to reach."

I'd rephrase that a bit: "our research with listeners shows that they want to hear that song often and that they are not tired of it."

A station as a whole targets a demo. Songs are selected based on appeal to a group of people in that demo. Demographic targets are chosen because there is potential revenue to be had by attracting that group.

"Classic Hits" is designed to appeal to 35-54. Songs that appeal today to folks in that demo that generally like old CHR hit songs get played; songs that do not appeal do not get played.

Only when the station, it's overall format and each and every song matches with the demo advertisers want will those potential clients be interested in the station because it is likely it will have significant audience. That rule applies to most any format, too.

 

[davideduardo]

The problem is how do you measure all the people who don't want to hear it every single day and just turn the dial instead of dialing the phone.

In PPM markets, we can see the negative reaction to everything we do, song by song, morning show bit by morning show bit, by buying an additional data service. So we know almost instantly which songs are driving off listeners... and if the audience loss is similar over many days and plays and dayparts, the song is going to be nuked.

 

[EZway2go]

My liver quivers from hearing that piece of crap bubblegum "Margaritaville".

I'm definitely with you on that one. It's probably because it's adaptable for so many different formats - classic hits, classic rock, classic country, adult contemporary, even adult standards. (Of all the songs for Alan Jackson to remake... Sheesh!) That tumbler has indeed been shaken once too often and needs to be put back in the cupboard.

 

[CTListener]

The problem is how do you measure all the people who don't want to hear it every single day and just turn the dial instead of dialing the phone.

In PPM markets, we can see the negative reaction to everything we do, song by song, morning show bit by morning show bit, by buying an additional data service. So we know almost instantly which songs are driving off listeners... and if the audience loss is similar over many days and plays and dayparts, the song is going to be nuked.

Interesting. Without violating confidentiality -- not naming station or city -- could you give us an example or two of a song that was dropped from a major-market playlist due to listener burnout? Are there any in Classic Hits or are we just talking about CHR songs that were dead on arrival?

 

[firepoint525]

My liver quivers from hearing that piece of crap bubblegum "Margaritaville".

I'm definitely with you on that one. It's probably because it's adaptable for so many different formats - classic hits, classic rock, classic country, adult contemporary, even adult standards. (Of all the songs for Alan Jackson to remake... Sheesh!) That tumbler has indeed been shaken once too often and needs to be put back in the cupboard.

I said something similar about "Brown-Eyed Girl," that it seems to fit on a number of different formats, and I listed many of the same genres that you posted here. Interestingly enough, I believe Buffett has a version of "Brown-Eyed Girl" that I've heard a time or two.

 

[davideduardo]

Interesting. Without violating confidentiality -- not naming station or city -- could you give us an example or two of a song that was dropped from a major-market playlist due to listener burnout? Are there any in Classic Hits or are we just talking about CHR songs that were dead on arrival?

While I could name hundreds of songs, if not thousands, that have been "pulled" due to burn, you would not know most of them.

On the other hand, no station releases data on why they pulled a song. New music may be pulled a few weeks after it is added due to "original dislike" or pulled four months later due to "developed dislike" from listeners getting sick of it (think: "La Macarena").

Dating back to the 70's, we have had callout research for current intensive formats, where stations can tell within a few weeks if a new song is not going to make it and can also tell when a song needs to be slowed to a lesser rotation or killed altogether. Ands we have had Auditorium Music Tests (AMT's) where whole libraries are tested for like and dislike, generally including burn-out (which is expressed as "I used to like it but I'm really tired of it now.")

Generally, if a song is a current on a station for a couple of months and then disappears, it was found to have burnt. If a song is on for a couple of weeks and goes bye-bye, it has stiffed out and did not ever develop positive "Like" scores.

Another reason to drop a song is when it gets to "old" for the target audience of the station, and the target group today does not like it as much... so it finally, often after years, goes away.

 

[FRR]

Brandy, (You're a Fine Girl) has to be up there somewhere. Turns my stomach when I hear it.

 

[CTListener]

Interesting. Without violating confidentiality -- not naming station or city -- could you give us an example or two of a song that was dropped from a major-market playlist due to listener burnout? Are there any in Classic Hits or are we just talking about CHR songs that were dead on arrival?

While I could name hundreds of songs, if not thousands, that have been "pulled" due to burn, you would not know most of them.

Oh, I don't know about that. I'm a certifiable oldies geek and have done an awful lot of listening to an awful lot of stations playing current music in the 1960s-1980s and oldies/classic hits in the 1990s-present. I have a pretty good idea of the songs my local oldies/classic hits station has dropped over the past couple of years. I can't imagine there are many truly burnt-out titles that would stump me.

If there's some ethical concern that's forcing you to play it cagy with me on this, I understand. Otherwise, fire away with some real-life examples, please. I'm curious.