Why do AC stations ignore the '90s?

[bchristi]

There was so much more to the '90s than Celine Dion. Why don't we hear so many of the hits we all loved from the '90s? These days AC stations are mostly 80s and 2000s.

 

[carolinaradio]

I posted this list several months back of 90s songs that I think would fit on AC (they were huge for Hot AC), but rarely get widespread airplay:

Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You/Hey Jealousy/Follow You Down
Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me/Ants Marching
Blind Melon - No Rain
Goo Goo Dolls - Name (seems like you never hear this one, just "Iris" and sometimes "Slide")
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Collective Soul - Shine
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Semisonic - Closing Time
Mr. Big - To Be With You
Matchbox 20 - Bent/Real World/Push
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Third Eye Blind - Jumper/Semi-Charmed Life
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want (may be 2000)
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
Alanis Morrisette - anything other than Ironic
...etc. etc. etc.

The 90s were such a big time and part of Hot AC - it seems as that audience ages in to AC, they would want to hear the songs that were a hit on that format (and staples of for many years later), but apparently not. AC's are just bent on the same 90s sgongs, mostly sleepy or stale, year after year.

 

[firepoint525]

At least they don't play Michael Bolton anymore! :

 

[Tom Wells]

Because it is an accepted industry truth that some sort of restriction must placed to ensure
highest exposure of "least frictionable" music.

Don't worry, they'll start ignoring something else one day.

 

[Tiger1983]

One other annoying factor for AC stations not focusing on the '90s....

Some AC stations do their "All-80s" weekends where in some cases this specialty weekend even starts on a Friday. I find it both annoying and interesting for two reasons. The annoying thing about such specialty weekend is that it is done when there is only one AC station in the same market, thus making it difficult to listen to modern AC artists on another station. The other reason is where there is no classic hits station playing 80s music along with the regular oldies stuff.

It's even more annoying on "lite" stations. A long time ago, there was no such specialty weekend when they play only music from a certain decade.

 

[new_friends_gr]

I posted this list several months back of 90s songs that I think would fit on AC (they were huge for Hot AC), but rarely get widespread airplay:

Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You/Hey Jealousy/Follow You Down
Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me/Ants Marching
Blind Melon - No Rain
Goo Goo Dolls - Name (seems like you never hear this one, just "Iris" and sometimes "Slide")
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Collective Soul - Shine
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Semisonic - Closing Time
Mr. Big - To Be With You
Matchbox 20 - Bent/Real World/Push
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Third Eye Blind - Jumper/Semi-Charmed Life
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want (may be 2000)
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
Alanis Morrisette - anything other than Ironic
...etc. etc. etc.

Good list. I seem to hear Mr. Big's "To Be With You" pretty often in Grand Rapids. I think I sometimes hear it on WSRW/105.7 (mainstream AC) but I also think I hear it on WFGR/98.7 (Classic Hits).

"Bent" from Matchbox 20 is really good. It's actually from the summer of 2000.

I LOVE "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind and don't hear it anywhere on the radio. I'd love to hear it on AC or Hot AC. Same with "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals.

It seems like I have heard a couple other Alanis Morissette songs on AC recently: "You Learn" and "Hand In My Pocket".

 

[satech]

100.7 WLEV in Allentown, PA used to play "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "She's So High", "Semi-Charmed Life", and "Mr. Jones" a lot. Since there is no Hot AC in the market, they've always taken a rather open-ended approach to an AC format. They also used to play a lot of classic rock, including songs like "Lido Shuffle", "Jet Airliner", and "Brown Eyed Girl". But now they've really tightened up the playlist and focus mostly on '80s and 2000s music.

 

[the golden boy]

Mix 98.7 Jackson has been adding quite a bit of 90s lately, adding Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows ("Mr. Jones") and Vertical Horizon.

 

[ChrisInMI]

I could have sworn I actually heard Delilah play "Follow You Down" the other night. Remember when Delilah rarely went an hour without playing a Bette Midler song? I think those days are long gone. LOL

Celine isn't actually all that overplayed on AC anymore. She already appealed to an older audience when her songs were current. 15-ish years later, her audience has aged into the Adult Standards demographic. It seems "Because You Loved Me" is the only one of her songs that is a reliable tester nowadays, "That's The Way It Is" (a late 99-early 00 hit) considerably less so.

I have heard "Name," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "To Be With You" on a number of ACs. I know "Semi-Charmed Life" is on a number of AC playlists too, and I've seen "Jumper" on a few as well while poking around Mediabase ("How's It Going to Be" might fit too). Soft Rock 105.1 in Detroit plays "Closing Time" and mb20's "Real World" is played on Cars 108, the top-rated AC in Flint. "She's So High" is played often on Canadian ACs, by virtue of the fact that it's Cancon (so is Celine, of course, but even Canadian AC plays her less frequently now). I also remember Detroit's Q95 playing the Gin Blossoms in the early '90s when they were a mainstream AC.

I think "Shine" and "1979" might be a bit too rockish for AC, but I think Collective Soul's "The World I Know" would be a good fit, and maybe even "December." I also think Smashing Pumpkins' cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" might sound good on AC, but between Fleetwood Mac's two versions and the Dixie Chicks', I wonder if stations would be willing to test it.

To that list, I'd add (and I know I have seen ACs play some of these before):

One Of Us - Joan Osborne
Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla
Building A Mystery, Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLachlan (from that same album, "Angel" is an AC staple, "Adia" is still heard on a handful of ACs too)
I Know - Dionne Farris
Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow (still my favorite song of hers, but doesn't seem to get played all that much anymore, at least not as much as "All I Wanna Do")
Mouth - Merril Bainbridge
Show Me Love - Robyn

 

[Seltzer]

The answer that I've received from AC programmers is 90s music doesn't test very well outside of what we've been hearing for a number of years.

It took the format a long time to embrace edgier 80s tunes. That has happened now for the most part.

It also took the format a long time to dump 70s stuff.

The 90s will find their place eventually when the test scores are better.

BTW--Both lists of songs I've seen here are excellent.

 

[MsGail61]

As a listener, I recall the 90s as a time when the alt rockers came in with an attitude that it was the cool music and the 80s was for losers. However, the 80s eventually won the nostalgia battle as it was more tuneful, and the 90s are rejected for being the bully it was.

 

[carolinaradio]

The answer that I've received from AC programmers is 90s music doesn't test very well outside of what we've been hearing for a number of years.

It took the format a long time to embrace edgier 80s tunes. That has happened now for the most part.

It also took the format a long time to dump 70s stuff.

The 90s will find their place eventually when the test scores are better.

BTW--Both lists of songs I've seen here are excellent.

I agree that the format is notoriously slow. Cox has been very open to adding 90s songs on their AC stations that were once Hot AC staples, alongside softer music from the era such as Sinead O'Connor and Vanessa Williams. WWRM is a very good mainstream AC in the fact that while the station has updated its music and gotten more aggressive, they still include softer longtime AC staples. Good variety.

I've noticed that most of the AC stations still playing a lot of 70s are the softer ones--such as B-105.7/Indianapolis, Magic 107.7/Orlando, 104.5 The River/Memphis, and Magic 101.9/New Orleans.

 

[Tiger1983]

The answer that I've received from AC programmers is 90s music doesn't test very well outside of what we've been hearing for a number of years.

It took the format a long time to embrace edgier 80s tunes. That has happened now for the most part.

It also took the format a long time to dump 70s stuff.

The 90s will find their place eventually when the test scores are better.

BTW--Both lists of songs I've seen here are excellent.

I agree that the format is notoriously slow. Cox has been very open to adding 90s songs on their AC stations that were once Hot AC staples, alongside softer music from the era such as Sinead O'Connor and Vanessa Williams. WWRM is a very good mainstream AC in the fact that while the station has updated its music and gotten more aggressive, they still include softer longtime AC staples. Good variety.

I've noticed that most of the AC stations still playing a lot of 70s are the softer ones--such as B-105.7/Indianapolis, Magic 107.7/Orlando, 104.5 The River/Memphis, and Magic 101.9/New Orleans.


B101 in Philly used to play 70s, but they have since removed the playlists from the decade and mostly focus on 80s, 90s, and current product. However, I heard Michael Jackson's Rock With You on that station when we were driving to Philly. That song was released sometime in late '79. The last time they had 70s in their playlist, you would have heard Barry White, Bee Gees, Donna Summer, and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Here where I live, Magic 93(WMGS) plays a few 70s per hour, but most of them are in the form of classic hard rock and disco categories. Examples played on that station include: Queen, The Cars, Pink Floyd, Billy Joel, Chicago, Bee Gees, Paul McCartney, Beatles, Eagles, and many others. There is even a "flashback" hour at noontime where the station mostly plays 70s and 80s music, plus every day at around 8pm is the "80's at 8", where they only play 80's music. On the other hand, just down the PA turnpike, WLEV plays no 70s music at all. WLEV is a sister to Magic 93.

Our market used to have two soft AC stations that mostly lean on "softer" music than Magic 93, but they have since flipped to respective talk formats, one of which is simulcasting AM. This leaves the NEPA market without a real lite music station.

 

[carolinaradio]

Oh, how about "Lovefool" by The Cardigans? I hear that as background music in stores occasionally, but never hear it on AC radio.

 

[satech]

I've noticed that most of the AC stations still playing a lot of 70s are the softer ones--such as B-105.7/Indianapolis, Magic 107.7/Orlando, 104.5 The River/Memphis, and Magic 101.9/New Orleans.

Magic 98.3 in NJ still plays a lot of '70s music, so it's probably the same with all of Greater Media's "Magic" stations. I even heard them play "Brown Eyed Girl" recently, although the DJ said it was a listener request, so maybe it's not in their regular playlist.

 

[satech]

WMGQ just played the Fugees version of "Killing Me Softly"... followed by "Brown Eyed Girl"!

 

[Darth_vader]

Played almost daily on KKCW:

Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me
Blind Melon - No Rain
Goo Goo Dolls - Name
Collective Soul - Shine
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Semisonic - Closing Time
Mr. Big - To Be With You
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight (sometimes twice a day; that cut was BIG)
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want (came out in 1999, charted in 2000)
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
And yes, "Love Fool" by the Cardigans.

 

[Tiger1983]

102.7 Kiss FM in Williamsport is a Hot AC. Their station's slogan is "Hits of the 80's through NOW!", but they mix in a lot of 70's in their playlist. They used to be local until Clear Channel axed almost most of their airstaff except for the morning show. Back then, they were mostly a hot AC operation. Then, to make matters worse, it was replaced by Premium Choice with personalities voicetracked from all over the country. The DJ's don't mention the name of the station and only talked for a few seconds before the next song starts. Also, their weather segment is being handled by a meteorologist from our local NBC station. This is considered a 57,000 watt waste of a signal with mostly voicetracked talent!

Instead of the artists you would regularly hear on a typical hot AC, you hear some sleepy 70s music like Barry White, Bee Gees, Paul McCartney, Earth, Wind and Fire, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Eagles, and more mixing with today's artists. None of the old stuff plays on an "80s, 90's, and NOW" format. This station is nothing compared to the major AC stations I listen to.

In my opinion, this has to be one of the worst mistakes Clear Channel has ever made! I wish some other company buys this station so that they can sound "local" again, since Williamsport is one of the smallest radio market in the state of Pennsylvania and they are adjacent to the medium-sized markets.

 

[crainbebo]

I hate Premium Choice, because of your reason: no sign of "97.9 The ____, that was the Goo Goo Dolls in that last set..."

-crainbebo

"Then, to make matters worse, it was replaced by Premium Choice with personalities voicetracked from all over the country. The DJ's don't mention the name of the station and only talked for a few seconds before the next song starts. Also, their weather segment is being handled by a meteorologist from our local NBC station. This is considered a 57,000 watt waste of a signal with mostly voicetracked talent!"

 

[vchimpanzee]

"Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors seems like a good choice.

Has anyone mentioned "December" by Collective Soul? The opening guitar solo I actually like.

And last night I heard a "classic" rock station playing "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots. That one actually seems soft enough for AC.