Do these songs really belong on a AAA playlist?

[SuperRadioFan]

Call me a purist if you will, but the following songs were on the regular playlist of a commercial AAA station in Oregon, all played since midnight today.

Are they kidding?? There's so many more appropriate tracks than songs by Wang Chung, Chicago, and the burned beyond recognition "Every Breath You Take" IMHO. These slots could have been better used. I used to think this station was better, but I now retract that opinion.


Heartbreaker-Pat Benatar
Old Time Rock & Roll-Bob Seger & The Silver Bulle
Heartache Tonight-Eagles
Every Breath You Take-The Police
Missing-Everything But the Girl
Dance Hall Days-Wang Chung
Feelin' Stronger Every Day-Chicago
DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME - ELTON JOHN
Hey Yeah-Steve Miller Band
Start Me Up-The Rolling Stones
Jackie Blue-Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Mother and Child Reunion-Paul Simon
I Could Not Ask for More-Edwin McCain
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey-Paul McCartney
It's My Life-No Doubt
Touch Me-The Doors
We All Fall In Love Sometime-Elton John
Not Ready to Make Nice-Dixie Chicks
Ventura Highway-America

 

[turmoil1000]

i think america could be considered a 1970's aaa band and therefore the only song on that list that i would consider for rotation play at a triple a station.

 

[Talk_Dude]

If a station is playing the "classic alternative" variation of Adult Album Alternative, then those songs are all totally appropriate.

Missing-Everything But the Girl and Dance Hall Days-Wang Chung really suck, and I'd change the station the instant they came on, but otherwise that entire list should fit just fine on "Classic AAA".

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I don't think they're into the "Classic Alternative" all that much but you be the judge:

Check as many hours as you have time to

http://www.tunegenie.com/onair/klrr/

 

[SuperRadioFan]

i think america could be considered a 1970's aaa band and therefore the only song on that list that i would consider for rotation play at a triple a station.

So if A Horse With No Name came on, you'd be fine with that?

 

[Talk_Dude]

I don't think they're into the "Classic Alternative" all that much but you be the judge:

Check as many hours as you have time to

http://www.tunegenie.com/onair/klrr/

Given that you didn't reveal the station in your first post, none of us who read your launch post could have known specifically which AAA station you were talking about, could we?

Any station is going to have more success playing the songs that the people who can hear them over the air want to hear, not what some anal-retentive suit decrees from some office somewhere is or isn't worthy to be called Adult Album Alternative. If adults like a song, and the song comes from an album, and it's an alternative to the corporate crap being pushed down people's throats by a bunch of suits who know research printouts better than they know actual music, then it's an AAA song.

 

[DudeFan]

For the most part, wouldn't be what I would program on a AAA, but it may work for them.

 

[AM FM listener]

Let's see, I know two "AAA's" in Oregon -- KINK/Portland and KLRR/Bend. Was the station in question KLRR?

Some (many? most?) commercial AAA's are probably better described as "Adult Rock". They aren't really "Alternative" or very "Album"-oriented, but they are more "Adult" (i.e., mellow) than other popular rock formats.

Oh, and SRF, you are indeed a "purist".

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Let's see, I know two "AAA's" in Oregon -- KINK/Portland and KLRR/Bend. Was the station in question KLRR?

Some (many? most?) commercial AAA's are probably better described as "Adult Rock". They aren't really "Alternative" or very "Album"-oriented, but they are more "Adult" (i.e., mellow) than other popular rock formats.

Oh, and SRF, you are indeed a "purist".

Haha did you not see the link to the playlist above? [from August 11, 2010, 08:47:42 PM]
As far as mellow goes, I do not lean towards those AAA stations that incorporate toooo much mellow

 

[firepoint525]

Heartbreaker-Pat Benatar
Old Time Rock & Roll-Bob Seger & The Silver Bulle
Heartache Tonight-Eagles
Every Breath You Take-The Police
Missing-Everything But the Girl
Dance Hall Days-Wang Chung
Feelin' Stronger Every Day-Chicago
DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME - ELTON JOHN
Hey Yeah-Steve Miller Band
Start Me Up-The Rolling Stones
Jackie Blue-Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Mother and Child Reunion-Paul Simon
I Could Not Ask for More-Edwin McCain
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey-Paul McCartney
It's My Life-No Doubt
Touch Me-The Doors
We All Fall In Love Sometime-Elton John
Not Ready to Make Nice-Dixie Chicks
Ventura Highway-America

Most of these (but not all) would be on the "periphery" of an AAA station's playlist. I have noticed that Lightning 100 here in Nashville has added more classic rock to their playlist. They have long had "Retro Lightning" on Saturday morning, in which they play songs like these, so I wonder if adding more classics is an attempt to have "more of a good thing."

The Steve Miller tune is a new one, so it would be perfect for a AAA station. I even heard it during the "then and now" segment on Retro Lightning.

As for the Dixie Chicks, Lightning 100 had that one on their playlist for maybe a week or so, back when it first came out back in 2006. But I (thankfully!) never heard it played. I am thinking that maybe the "tune-out factor" was simply too high on that one. At any rate, it was a "flavor-of-the-moment" song, so I definitely couldn't see them playing it now.

 

[TripleAGeek]

Call me a purist if you will, but the following songs were on the regular playlist of a commercial AAA station in Oregon, all played since midnight today.

Are they kidding?? There's so many more appropriate tracks than songs by Wang Chung, Chicago, and the burned beyond recognition "Every Breath You Take" IMHO. These slots could have been better used. I used to think this station was better, but I now retract that opinion.


Heartbreaker-Pat Benatar
Old Time Rock & Roll-Bob Seger & The Silver Bulle
Heartache Tonight-Eagles
Every Breath You Take-The Police
Missing-Everything But the Girl
Dance Hall Days-Wang Chung
Feelin' Stronger Every Day-Chicago
DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME - ELTON JOHN
Hey Yeah-Steve Miller Band
Start Me Up-The Rolling Stones
Jackie Blue-Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Mother and Child Reunion-Paul Simon
I Could Not Ask for More-Edwin McCain
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey-Paul McCartney
It's My Life-No Doubt
Touch Me-The Doors
We All Fall In Love Sometime-Elton John
Not Ready to Make Nice-Dixie Chicks
Ventura Highway-America

Paul Simon and The Police are played on TONS of Triple-A stations, so I have no objection to that. And "Missing" is played on quite a few of such stations as well (and it's one of my faves!) The America, Elton, and McCartney tunes would be fine for a station like, say, KCSN, WXRT, or WEHM that "digs further" than most late-'70s-on-up Triple-A stations, but I wouldn't expect to hear them on, say, WRNR, or another station like that which goes for more "modern" sounding material. The rest of them are pretty weird choices, IMO.

 

[TheRob]

I'm guessing that playlist was from KINK. I airchecked them in 2005, and ended up with verrrrry mainstream songs by Creed and No Doubt, but also Fleetwood Mac's version of "Black Magic Woman" and some local blues band.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I'm guessing that playlist was from KINK. I airchecked them in 2005, and ended up with verrrrry mainstream songs by Creed and No Doubt, but also Fleetwood Mac's version of "Black Magic Woman" and some local blues band.

Dude, you must have NOT read reply #3 (by me) ....sooooo go back and click on the link

 

[Talk_Dude]

I'm guessing that playlist was from KINK. I airchecked them in 2005, and ended up with verrrrry mainstream songs by Creed and No Doubt, but also Fleetwood Mac's version of "Black Magic Woman" and some local blues band.

Dude, you must have NOT read reply #3 (by me) ....sooooo go back and click on the link

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. Is KLRR some sort of officially sanctioned example endorsed by the National Association of Enforcement of Adult Album Alternative Playlist Standards? Is there some other national standards organization that makes official decisions of what is and what isn't AAA? Is there a branch of the FCC that fines stations for not strictly following the official rules and policies of what is and isn't permitted on AAA stations? Or is it a more casual, locally enforced set of rules, with villagers armed with torches and pitchforks storming the studios of stations that don't strictly conform to the official AAA standards, and dragging the staff into the streets to be burned at the stake as heretics?

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Oh geee talk_dude, quality is in the ear of the beholder. But you know that don't you? YMMV

At the bottom of every page on this site reads:

"Postings on Radio-Info.com are the opinions of the people who post them." [emphasis added as if I needed to] :

 

[Talk_Dude]

Oh geee talk_dude, quality is in the ear of the beholder. But you know that don't you? YMMV

At the bottom of every page on this site reads:

"Postings on Radio-Info.com are the opinions of the people who post them." [emphasis added as if I needed to] :

What does that have to do with what you posted? You didn't post an opinion about the quality of songs, you posted an opinion about the suitability of songs for some arbitrary radio format definition.

Please also be aware, everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if they are ill-considered, badly expressed, or just plain silly. They are not entitled to expect no one to challenge their opinions if their opinions are silly.

 

[AM FM listener]

I guess that's what makes AAA so intriguing. It may be the most varied, the least predictable of the "established" formats out there. That is what makes Super Radio Fan's job so difficult because he IS the National Enforcer of AAA Playlist Standards.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I guess that's what makes AAA so intriguing. It may be the most varied, the least predictable of the "established" formats out there. That is what makes Super Radio Fan's job so difficult because he IS the National Enforcer of AAA Playlist Standards.

I just wish that when he read the bit at the bottom of the page, he'd have read the whole thing, especially what I highlighted:

Postings on Radio-Info.com are the opinions of the people who post them. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Radio-Info.com or its parent in3 media, inc. In fact many of the views expressed here are just plain wrong. But they are opinions and this site allows us all to discuss those opinions. Any reliance on information posted is done so at the user's own risk.

One thing that I am having trouble getting my head wrapped around is that the term Adult Album Alternative includes the word "alternative". No other musical passing fad or genre is part of a radio format. There are no Heavy Metal or Punk formats. "Alternative" was a passing thing that came along in the early 90's. It has had its 15 minutes, which ended a long time ago. So why are there still "alternative" radio formats?

 

[Dick Skinner]

I guess that's what makes AAA so intriguing. It may be the most varied, the least predictable of the "established" formats out there. That is what makes Super Radio Fan's job so difficult because he IS the National Enforcer of AAA Playlist Standards.

I just wish that when he read the bit at the bottom of the page, he'd have read the whole thing, especially what I highlighted:

Postings on Radio-Info.com are the opinions of the people who post them. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Radio-Info.com or its parent in3 media, inc. In fact many of the views expressed here are just plain wrong. But they are opinions and this site allows us all to discuss those opinions. Any reliance on information posted is done so at the user's own risk.

One thing that I am having trouble getting my head wrapped around is that the term Adult Album Alternative includes the word "alternative". No other musical passing fad or genre is part of a radio format. There are no Heavy Metal or Punk formats. "Alternative" was a passing thing that came along in the early 90's. It has had its 15 minutes, which ended a long time ago. So why are there still "alternative" radio formats?

Most formats were named by various trades over the years in order to join similarly programmed stations into panels that could be marketed to labels. If memory serves me, The Hard Report coined the "Adult Album Alternative" (AAA) moniker in the early '90s and it stuck. I always preferred Album Network's designation of the format as "Adult Rock." It seemed more succinct and definitive.

 

[AM FM listener]

I guess that's what makes AAA so intriguing. It may be the most varied, the least predictable of the "established" formats out there. That is what makes Super Radio Fan's job so difficult because he IS the National Enforcer of AAA Playlist Standards.

One thing that I am having trouble getting my head wrapped around is that the term Adult Album Alternative includes the word "alternative". No other musical passing fad or genre is part of a radio format. There are no Heavy Metal or Punk formats. "Alternative" was a passing thing that came along in the early 90's. It has had its 15 minutes, which ended a long time ago. So why are there still "alternative" radio formats?

Most formats were named by various trades over the years in order to join similarly programmed stations into panels that could be marketed to labels. If memory serves me, The Hard Report coined the "Adult Album Alternative" (AAA) moniker in the early '90s and it stuck. I always preferred Album Network's designation of the format as "Adult Rock." It seemed more succinct and definitive.

I agree. "Adult Rock" is probably a better moniker for so-called AAA stations. I also think "Modern Rock" is a better name for so-called Alternative Rock stations. Nowadays, the only stations playing "alternative" music are non-commercials.