It may have been overplayed at the time of it's popularity in 1977-78 time frame, but since then, it's been absent. So you're talking about 38 years with little or no airplay.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
WOGL 2000 song A to Z Memorial Weekend Special
- Thread starter oldies76
- Start date
It may have been overplayed at the time of it's popularity in 1977-78 time frame, but since then, it's been absent. So you're talking about 38 years with little or no airplay.
And with good reason: some people either didn't like it when it was big and others were and still are sick of it. Radio doesn't play songs according to how big they were 40 years ago, they play songs according to how big they are NOW.
I have never seen a song that improved with age, save those that were "reborn" due to presence in a movie or even a TV commercial.
Billlboard's charts were measures of product sent wholesale to retailers at the time. I'm not saying YLUML wasn't huge in its day, but I wonder how many of those copies never went home with consumers and were quietly returned for credit? WOGL did play "You're Having My Baby" and "You Take My Breath Away" (Rex Smith) so they might as well as.
Some of those songs (good, bad and indifferent) were likely getting their last spin ever on a major market full signal radio station.
Some of those songs (good, bad and indifferent) were likely getting their last spin ever on a major market full signal radio station.
"The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern, "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand, "Sukiyaki" by Taste of Honey, "Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth, "Brand New Key" by Melanie......the entire list is available on a day by day basis, if you tab the playlist button near the top of the page and select any day from 5:27am 5/22 thru 11:57pm 5/29 and you'll see the 2000+ songs they played, minus a Sunday morning Beatles show and a 50's show they do that night.
Last edited:
I visit the Hanover/Lebanon NH area frequently and seem to hear that Paul Anka song on WWOD (Kool 93.9) every time. But then, that's a small market and the station also plays stuff like Mary Hopkin's "Goodbye" (and her "Those Were the Days," a major, major hit that never made it onto most major-market oldies playlists even when those stations were still playing '60s music), and is a ratings underperformer, so this is hardly a strong argument that other stations ought to be playing "Having My Baby."
Bet Los Angeles played it......it hit #1 on the Boss 30 in October 1968. Perhaps the only drawback to that song is that it ran five minutes long.
"American Pie" was longer. "Hey Jude" was longer. Both were oldies-format staples everywhere. "Those Were the Days" was No. 1 in Hartford, too. WDRC-FM wouldn't touch it as an oldie, and it played full-length "Pie" and "Jude."
The "Boss 30" chart was a radio chart and rather tailored to what Bill Drake and Ron Jacobs wanted the station to sound like. It was well populated with "turntable hits" which were added "mostly" (a neutral term) to keep the genre and tempo balance of the playlist consistent with the station sound.
A position on a Boss 30 chart was not a guarantee of play a decade or more later on KRTH. In fact, the KRTH programmers all knew how the original KHJ charts were determined. And they also knew that "then" was not "now" and used research to determine which of yesterday's songs were still hits a decade or two later.
- Status