Is there a radio battle to find the least popular track and play it?

It seems several stations in town are on a trip to play the most obscure, least popular track they can find. You're supposed to play the HITS and popular tracks guys. I think Hip Hop stations The Boom and The OG are the worst-best at presenting obscure tracks nobody wants to remember or hear.

Such as....

From a rock perspective, I think I prefer a bit more spice to the mix with a few obscure tracks from time to time. That is why for classic rock, I find myself listening more to Classic Vinyl on XM. Beats hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" 24/7.

gregg75 said:

It seems several stations in town are on a trip to play the most obscure, least popular track they can find. You're supposed to play the HITS and popular tracks guys. I think Hip Hop stations The Boom and The OG are the worst-best at presenting obscure tracks nobody wants to remember or hear.

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So you just want to hear commercial music 24/7 huh? Well drive across the country and at least on the hip hop stations generally speaking you will hear the same songs from city to city, generally speaking and that's what you want? If you had a station playing only "HITS" your station would suck. IMO radio is about play hits and then digging in the crates and playing those hits that the artist might not have made a video for or promoted properly but their fans know it is a hit. That's why I love 87.7 because they dig in the crates. If you want to hear commercial hits just listen to the OG station

I'm just saying that both stations could do better by playing more of the hits instead of junk tracks that peaked at #94 on the Urban charts and should really never be heard again.

Do you have a list of songs that you think is obscure?

No list, just my ears......and sorry I don't visit this site much anymore. With so many hits available to pick from, going deep will only satisfy a small number of listenres. They should be FOCUSED on the bigger picture and gaining more listeners instead of trying to make the "deep cuts" folks happy.

acheron1982 said:

Beats hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" 24/7.

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I'm guessing you are hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" more often because you live in the heart of the Deep South. Out here in the West we don't hear it nearly as often.

Given what time spent listening (TSL) is on your average station, most stations want to play the hits over and over. For example, you get in your car and drive 20 minutes to work, most programmers think you'd like to hear the hottest songs of that format - the hottest hits for CHR or very recognizable classic rock hits for that kind of station. So that's why they play the same tunes over and over again. I remember back in the 80's, a station in Philly, Electric 106. They played the top song every 45 minutes. I had a friend who could figure out what the next song was that they were going to play nearly every time. They did their adds for the week on Thursdays. He even figured that out!

I've been monitoring this thread since its inception, waiting to find out what "obscure" and "unpopular" tracks are being forced on Atlanta listeners, because that would be the exact opposite of the programming philosophy found in every other major market. So disappointed that the OP could not come up with even one title. (Now, that's obscure! You hear it over and over on a big-market radio station and still can't remember what it was!) Come on, think harder!

97.1 has played Driving and Crying which even for a local band has not had the commercial success that REM. Ga. Satellites and Almond Brothers had.

secondchoice said:

97.1 has played Driving and Crying which even for a local band has not had the commercial success that REM. Ga. Satellites and Almond Brothers had.

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Allman Brothers?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually the 'oh wow' songs appear on weekends when listenership is lower than during the week.

eriedj said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually the 'oh wow' songs appear on weekends when listenership is lower than during the week.

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I have heard "Straight to Hell" by Drivin N Cryin weekday afternoons after after 3:30PM which is the unofficial start of pm rush hour here in the ATL.

IMHO with PPM it really doesn't matter when you play an "oh wow" song you will be punished at least a quarter hour.

landtuna said:

Allman Brothers?

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That was my bad. Fat fingers and a small phone screen. After "rip and reading" live on the air for decades, my brain usually "auto corrects" most mistakes. I guess I will have to type everything in MS Word to keep the spelling police happy.

secondchoice said:

I have heard "Straight to Hell" by Drivin N Cryin weekday afternoons after after 3:30PM which is the unofficial start of pm rush hour here in the ATL.

IMHO with PPM it really doesn't matter when you play an "oh wow" song you will be punished at least a quarter hour.

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I just heard "Straight to Hell" @ around 3:20 pm Atlanta time today Friday the 13th on 97.1.

IMHO: If Nirvana ever made a country song with their style of bad guitar work and not quite on pitch harmony this would be it. I get it there are band members that live in Atlanta but I wish 97.1 would quite treating this song as a hit. This song is off "Mystery Road" which never charted. The "Fly Me Courageous" Album which followed did have some top twenty tunes. The 1993 "Turn It Up or Turn It Off" went to #11 on the album chart in 1993. Why 97.1 is hung up on "Straight to Hell" when the group had tunes that charted (and sound better IMHO) I will never know.

secondchoice said:

Why 97.1 is hung up on "Straight to Hell" when the group had tunes that charted (and sound better IMHO) I will never know.

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It's possible that it's getting some play in local clubs. I've seen that with certain songs that get revived in clubs, and so a local radio station will play it.