Hit Songs That Should Never Be Played On Radio Today

[DavidEduardo]

I always thought Robbie Williams could have made it in North America, but didn't achieve much airplay.

There have been quite a number of examples like that. An even better one is Cliff Richard, who sold 250 million records worldwide, but only had a few hit singles in the US, and very limited album sales. He did not have much better results in Canada, either, but was very big in Latin America and all across Euripe.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Interesting. When anyone mentions how difficult it is for current European artists to get any airplay on American radio now, in the year 2014, the responses are a list of European artists who used to get airplay several decades ago.

I recall saying "right up to the European mixers who are making Megabucks in the USA today".

Tiesto
Swedish House Mafia
David Guetta
Avicii

You can't get more current than that.

 

[JeffM]

Phumphering thru my desk drawer, I found a list I made years ago of some US standards with music written by European (non-British) composers. There's no reason not to believe that there are similar gems "out there" for the finding now. I've listed the "hit" versions; they've all been widely "covered" as well.

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me (Dusty Springfield)
I Will Wait For You (many versions, maybe Andy Williams the biggest)
Let It Be Me (Everly Brothers)
A Man Without Love (Engelbert Humperdinck)
It's Impossible (Perry Como)
All Alone Am I (Brenda Lee)
The Way Of Love (Cher)
I Want To Be Wanted (Brenda again)
Yesterday, When I Was Young (Roy Clark)
Love Me With All Your Heart ("The Other" Ray Charles and his singers)
It Must Be Him (Vikki Carr)
The Way It Used To Be (Engelbert again)
Love Me Tonight (Tom Jones)
What Now My Love (Sonny and Cher)

The German orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert wrote the melodies that became Strangers In The Night (old Blue Eyes,) Spanish Eyes (Al Martino,) L-O-V-E ("L is for the way you look at me...") (Nat "King" Cole,) and Danke Schoen (Wayne Newton.)

I recently found a used Spanish-language Christmas compilation CD on RCA Victor with a song I think would be a terrific Xmas number with an English lyric. The arrangement's great too (gorgeous and surprising strings); wish I could give credit where it's due there. Here's a You Tube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAmOx61k2Vg

 

[Avid Listener]

Most of the European acts I've mentioned, and many more I haven't mentioned, perform in English regardless of their native language. In Europe, English is almost everyone's second language, and the one most commonly used when Europeans who have different first languages need to talk to each other.

One of Finland's top bands, Nightwish, replaced their Finnish lead sing with a Swedish vocalist. The Swedish singer knew only a tiny bit of Finnish, but since everyone spoke English, and all song titles were in English, it didn't matter. That's only one anecdote, but it illustrates a major trend. Going back as far as the heyday of ABBA and Shocking Blue, European acts that wanted to succeed all over Europe performed in English, even if the between song patter in concerts was in their native tongue.

As for this thread going off topic, when discussing "Hit Songs That Should Never Be Played on Radio Today", how can one not also touch on "Hit Songs that SHOULD Be Played On Radio Today"? Of particular importance is the fact that songs that sound like the music that was new in the 60s, 70s, and 80s deserve a place on the radio today. More importantly, the audiences that like the sound of the music that was new in the 60s, 70s, and 80s will enjoy and tune in to music performance venues that provide that sort of music. If OTA radio won't include that type of music, then the alternative media that grow more popular every day, at OTA radio's expense, will continue to overshadow OTA radio, and hasten its journey to the ash heap of history.

It won't be long until the suits running OTA radio turn it into a memory, like vaudeville.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Most of the European acts I've mentioned, and many more I haven't mentioned, perform in English regardless of their native language. In Europe, English is almost everyone's second language, and the one most commonly used when Europeans who have different first languages need to talk to each other.

Wonderful. In any case, now as in the past, it is the record label that is responsible for launching an artist in different continents and countries. If the labels don't release in the US, stations are not going to get access to the songs and, even more important, they are not going to be fingerprinted for BDS, MediaBase and MonitorLatino for detections.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I recently found a used Spanish-language Christmas compilation CD on RCA Victor with a song I think would be a terrific Xmas number with an English lyric. The arrangement's great too (gorgeous and surprising strings); wish I could give credit where it's due there.

That's one of the standard Christmas songs for Spanish language Adult Hits stations even today. it was recoded sometime in the 70's.

 

[TheBigA]

Wonderful. In any case, now as in the past, it is the record label that is responsible for launching an artist in different continents and countries. If the labels don't release in the US, stations are not going to get access to the songs and, even more important, they are not going to be fingerprinted for BDS, MediaBase and MonitorLatino for detections

One aspect we haven't mentioned is that the US royalty system differs from the European system. In Europe, there is something called a Label Royalty, where labels receive money for airplay. They split that royalty with the artist. In the US, our broadcast performance royalty only goes to songwriters. European labels aren't really motivated to cultivate US airplay, since they won't get a royalty.

 

[BOZ Profit]

Translation: "If OTA radio doesn't do what I want, it's dead. Because everyone wants what I want."

I'm not sure how this contributes to the conversation. I have deleted the original.

For your reference: Once I have the moderation policy in place for all to review and follow, these types of post will be deleted.

 

[JeffM]

Since I brought up the European pop instrumentalists a couple pages back, I guess I should mention that the reverse is true as well. Long after they passed their peak of popularity here, The Ventures sold tons of records in Japan (and I would guess other Far Eastern countries and elsewhere overseas.) It's probably safe to assume other US instrumentalists (Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, etc.) also surmounted the language barrier. And of course, American jazz (most of it instrumental) is much bigger in foreign sales than domestic.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Since I brought up the European pop instrumentalists a couple pages back, I guess I should mention that the reverse is true as well. Long after they passed their peak of popularity here, The Ventures sold tons of records in Japan (and I would guess other Far Eastern countries and elsewhere overseas.) It's probably safe to assume other US instrumentalists (Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, etc.) also surmounted the language barrier. And of course, American jazz (most of it instrumental) is much bigger in foreign sales than domestic.

That is true in Latin America as well. Beautiful Music was a viable format well into the 90's in that region, long after it was almost totally gone in the US. And those stations had real 25-34 listening, unlike Beautiful Music stations in the US.

However, instrumentals as part of pop and contemporary formats had pretty much disappeared earlier than in North America. And the taste for Beautiful Music, which as I said was strong even in younger demos, just sort of evaporated over a very short window of time.

 

[semoochie]

That is true in Latin America as well. Beautiful Music was a viable format well into the 90's in that region, long after it was almost totally gone in the US. And those stations had real 25-34 listening, unlike Beautiful Music stations in the US.

However, instrumentals as part of pop and contemporary formats had pretty much disappeared earlier than in North America. And the taste for Beautiful Music, which as I said was strong even in younger demos, just sort of evaporated over a very short window of time.

Why do you suppose it evaporated?

 

[Avid Listener]

Why do you suppose it evaporated?

Maybe it was market saturation. Maybe folks just has a limit to how much elevator music they could handle. Besides, if they don't play it on the radio, you could just visit the mall.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Why do you suppose it evaporated?

Somewhat the same thing that has happened with the dramatic change of CHR to very rhythmic flavors which appears to be due to a change in mood across the region and just the samenesss or tiredness of the old format. Keep in mind that by the mid-80's the record labels had all but discontinued the production of light instrumental music, and syndicators had to record their own material at great cost.

 

[JeffM]

Somewhat the same thing that has happened with the dramatic change of CHR to very rhythmic flavors which appears to be due to a change in mood across the region and just the samenesss or tiredness of the old format. Keep in mind that by the mid-80's the record labels had all but discontinued the production of light instrumental music, and syndicators had to record their own material at great cost.

I've believed for some time there was a "sea change" in the music biz much the same as in the movie industry in the 70's. Please hear me out. Until the mid-70's, a couple hundred prints of a feature movie was a typical laboratory run, and the film would make its way across the country gradually, opening in the largest cities first then working its way thru the smaller cities, second-run houses, drive-ins, etc. JAWS changed all that; Universal made something like 1500 prints and opened it "everywhere" at once. This was the beginning of the summer (or holiday or whenever) "blockbuster," and it largely put an end to the little "program" pictures small-town theatres in particular depended on.

Comparing that to the record business; I'll use Ray Conniff as an example. Columbia knew they could sell on average X number of copies of a Conniff album, so if they could produce one for less than Y number of dollars, they would make a modest-but-reliable profit. Then came the go-go-go multi-platinum-shipment era, and every label was looking for "the next" Fleetwood Mac or Bruce Springsteen or Michael Jackson or whoever. They wanted, then NEEDED blockbusters; and "product" albums (and the artists who made them) were pushed aside. Those who still wanted albums by "product" artists couldn't get them as the labels were no longer interested in making them, so they gradually lost interest; sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

(I could be wrong though, y'know...)

 

[vchimpanzee]

Maybe it was market saturation. Maybe folks just has a limit to how much elevator music they could handle. Besides, if they don't play it on the radio, you could just visit the mall.

If only that worked. The mall I go to most has some curious mix of classic hits. Sometimes it's 80s, sometimes it's 70s. There may even be 90s.

 

[Avid Listener]

If only that worked. The mall I go to most has some curious mix of classic hits. Sometimes it's 80s, sometimes it's 70s. There may even be 90s.

You know you're old when you hear songs from when you were in high school played by 101 Strings on the Muzak.

 

[semoochie]

David, aren't there tons of people who give radio almost no thought at all, listen to just one station and when they're done, just turn it off? I would think that there are enough of them to affect the "6 to 9 station" average, at least.

 

[Avid Listener]

David, aren't there tons of people who give radio almost no thought at all, listen to just one station and when they're done, just turn it off? I would think that there are enough of them to affect the "6 to 9 station" average, at least.

But then there are the people who use their car radio's "seek" button who briefly touch on every station on the dial strong enough to make the seek system pause. There was a station in my old hometown that I absolutely hated with a passion because their music programming was to terrible. But, they had a different traffic report system than the one the other stations used, so if I got stuck in a traffic jam, I'd switch over to them long enough to check out if the alternate routes were clear. Otherwise, I never, ever listened to the station. That would count as part of my "6 to 9 station" average.

My dad used to listen to a dinky little battery-powered local station on Friday afternoons because it carried my younger brothers' high school football games. Otherwise, it wasn't part of his listening habit, but it counted towards his "6 to 9 station" average.

The bottom line is that overall averages of numbers of stations listened to tend to be accurate yet totally useless information.

 

[DavidEduardo]

There was a station in my old hometown that I absolutely hated with a passion because their music programming was to terrible. But, they had a different traffic report system than the one the other stations used, so if I got stuck in a traffic jam, I'd switch over to them long enough to check out if the alternate routes were clear. Otherwise, I never, ever listened to the station. That would count as part of my "6 to 9 station" average.

A station only counts, in PPM, in the 5-6 station weekly average and 7-8 station several week average if you listen enough on any single occasion to credit the station with a quarter hour of listening. Otherwise, what you listened to is not taken into account.

Simplified, you must listen during 5 discreet minutes in a quarter hour for the station to get credit for listening for that quarter hour. The quarter hour is the smallest unit of measurement in radio. In the diary, the 5 minutes must be continuous.

If you tune in for a couple of minutes, even if you do it every day, the station will not receive credit for your less-than-5-minute listening spans.

My dad used to listen to a dinky little battery-powered local station on Friday afternoons because it carried my younger brothers' high school football games. Otherwise, it wasn't part of his listening habit, but it counted towards his "6 to 9 station" average.

In the diary, the average is about 3 stations in a week. As diaries cover only a week, there is no two-week or longer data available.

The bottom line is that overall averages of numbers of stations listened to tend to be accurate yet totally useless information.

Actually, it is among the most reviewed data by radio programmers. We often look at the stations we share with to determine market airplay of songs that we share. We look at the 1-hour-and-over per week sharing to eliminate accidental and incidental listening, to see flow patterns and changes in who our direct competitors are. The data is extremely, extremely useful.

I question these snap opinions you have. You are an admitted "outsider" (not said in a demeaning fashion) and you have no idea how the full ratings data and things like TAPSCAN and PD Advantage are used, yet you tell people that useful data is "useless" because, fundamentally, you do not understand the process and the procedures.

And these comments come from someone who things Gordon McLendon was just "some old man" and who was unaware of the Merlin fiasco. Unless you know some of the history and some of the names, you really are in a poor position to make comments on how radio should be done: it would be better if you added "IMHO" to some of those statements which are personal and are backed with no empirical data or, worse, based on erroneous assumptions.

 

[DavidEduardo]

David, aren't there tons of people who give radio almost no thought at all, listen to just one station and when they're done, just turn it off? I would think that there are enough of them to affect the "6 to 9 station" average, at least.

The only people who listen to just one station... and in the PPM world they are scant few in number... are those who listen to very specific kinds of religious or Christian stations and who do not listen to "secular" radio.

Nearly everyone else listens to or hears multiple stations.