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HIT SONGS THAT WEREN'T HITS ON YOUR FAVORITE STATION
- Thread starter Markieo
- Start date
Quite right, CKLW did play it, and it went into their Top 10, I believe. That was probably the "other areas" the Cleveland DJ was referring to when he said the record wasn't doing as well in Cleveland as it was elsewhere.
Don't recall hearing Wham Bam by Silver on WFIL 560 Philly
...interestingly, this was largely what happened in Canada when CHUM Toronto formed the Canadian-content Much Records label. Except for a couple of Michel Pagliaro English-language hits ("Lovin' You Ain't Easy" and "Some Sing Some Dance" -- his French-language stuff was being issued by RCA Victor at the same time), most Canadian stations that weren't owned by the CHUM Group refused to play anything that label put out...Corky Marlowe said:
...interesting, since WCFL became widely noted for playing records that WLS banned (even when the records were put out by ABC Records, co-owned with WLS). The Shadows of Knight version of "Gloria" came into existence because WLS refused to play the original version by Them. Ironically, in 1971 WCFL made national news when, in alignment with WNBC New York, it announced its own ban on Brewer & Shipley's "One Toke Over the Line" (which didn't last very long, as there exists a WCFL aircheck of a Wolfman Jack syndicated show on which the record appears)...cyberdad said:
...in 1977, WOSH-FM Oshkosh played the Maynard Ferguson version of "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)" while every other Top 40 in the market played the Bill Conti original...
All of this discussion reminds me of the good days when PD's and MD's had true market autonomy, studied local and regional retail sales reports from home-owned record stores, charts, request logs, and other data...then they used their brains to generate a realistic, representative playlist for their stations. NO mandatory, corporate-fed playlists dumped right into the automation like some chain owners do today.
Back in the day, you DID NOT come to a PD or MD and dictate anything to them...unless you liked being cursed out and run away. But even if you had a key station's programming staff mad at you as a promo rep or label, if your product moved in "The Ville," it was played in appropriate rotations/dayparts. Holding a grudge can kill you if the record is movin' and you ain't playin'!
I remember when it was highly unusual for WAKY and WKLO, the two classic Top 40 stations here in Louisville during the '50s to the 80's, to have more than 75% unity on their playlists. Not only was this market unique to all others, even differences within the market were the norm. Louisville's station playlists may have been similar, but did not mirrror nearby Top 40, Black/Urban, or C&W markets...and that was a good thing. WAKY, WKLO (for years considered two of the top 25 most influential stations in the nation) and R&B stalwart WLOU (where Atlantic and Motown rush-releases routinely came in via air express on white-label discs with the song information written in) were fierce, yet respectful competitors who served this market with excellent radio during the Classic Era (1957-1982).
Back in the day, you DID NOT come to a PD or MD and dictate anything to them...unless you liked being cursed out and run away. But even if you had a key station's programming staff mad at you as a promo rep or label, if your product moved in "The Ville," it was played in appropriate rotations/dayparts. Holding a grudge can kill you if the record is movin' and you ain't playin'!
I remember when it was highly unusual for WAKY and WKLO, the two classic Top 40 stations here in Louisville during the '50s to the 80's, to have more than 75% unity on their playlists. Not only was this market unique to all others, even differences within the market were the norm. Louisville's station playlists may have been similar, but did not mirrror nearby Top 40, Black/Urban, or C&W markets...and that was a good thing. WAKY, WKLO (for years considered two of the top 25 most influential stations in the nation) and R&B stalwart WLOU (where Atlantic and Motown rush-releases routinely came in via air express on white-label discs with the song information written in) were fierce, yet respectful competitors who served this market with excellent radio during the Classic Era (1957-1982).
Ultimajock said:
I stand to be corrected, but my memory is that 'CFL typically had a tighter playlist overall than 'LS. But you're right, there still always seemed to be one or two tunes on the 'CFL playslist that 'LS wouldn't touch for one reason or another. As for "Gloria", I don't think the version by Them every made it onto any Chicago a.m. airwaves. Having a local act cover the original gave both top-40 stations a perfect excuse to go with the "safer" version. (As did WOKY and WRIT in Milwaukee, IIRC)
...Clark Weber claims that he did play the Them original version twice on his WLS show, but both times got complaints from eavesdropping parents. At that point, he made suggestions to either Dunwich Records and/or The Shadows of Knight's management that a "cleaner" version be recorded so that he could play the song...cyberdad said:
N
nightfly61
Guest
Growing up in the 80's I never heard "Wall of Voodoo", The Smiths, or Scandal's "Goodbye To You". Thank God. I started hearing them all AFTER they were (minor) hits. :
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