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Hot AC = Tomorrow's Hit Music?

W

westlife

Guest
Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play James Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend will continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing new hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations. So, I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit Music", so Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".

It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend of CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been completely reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations have just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee... wasn't that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's so old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the AC chart.)

<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>
 
> Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play James
> Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend will
> continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing new
> hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations. So,
> I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken
> advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations
> have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit Music", so
> Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the
> slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".
>
> It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend of
> CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the
> slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been completely
> reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations have
> just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee... wasn't
> that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's so
> old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the AC
> chart.)
>

I don't know if I'd say it's the Hot A/C's that are "ahead of the game". I think music will sometimes show up on the AAA's or Modern A/C's before the Hot A/C's.
 
> Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play James
> Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend will
> continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing new
> hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations. So,
> I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken
> advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations
> have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit Music", so
> Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the
> slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".
>
> It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend of
> CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the
> slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been completely
> reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations have
> just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee... wasn't
> that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's so
> old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the AC
> chart.)
>
WTMX in Chicago uses (and has been for several years) "Today's New Music"<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> > Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play James
> > Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend will
>
> > continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing new
> > hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations. So,
> > I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken
> > advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations
> > have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit Music",
> so
> > Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the
> > slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".
> >
> > It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend of
> > CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the
> > slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been
> completely
> > reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations have
>
> > just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee... wasn't
> > that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's so
> > old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the AC
>
> > chart.)
> >
>
> I don't know if I'd say it's the Hot A/C's that are "ahead
> of the game". I think music will sometimes show up on the
> AAA's or Modern A/C's before the Hot A/C's.
>


It seems the trend now... Hot AC radio will play a song like James Blunt or Daniel Powter because it sounds good and fits in well... then the song gets featured on SNL or Oprah (Blunt) or is used every week on American Idol (Powter), and it instantly crosses over.

Overall, I think Hot AC is getting a little better at jumping on new music earlier, and a little better at not driving a song well into it's grave. (Except Lifehoue- You And Me... it's a damn good song... but has been Top 10 FOR A YEAR! It moved BACK into the Top 10 with a gain this week!)<P ID="signature">______________
"Growing old, and living for the moment."
~Rufio</P>
 
> It seems the trend now... Hot AC radio will play a song like
> James Blunt or Daniel Powter because it sounds good and fits
> in well... then the song gets featured on SNL or Oprah
> (Blunt) or is used every week on American Idol (Powter), and
> it instantly crosses over.

As Liam mentioned, AAA (Adult Album Alternative) stations are usually the first to play new singles -- some of which become huge mainstream hits, some of which become minor hits, and some which never go anywhere... and "You're Beautiful" peaked on the AAA chart weeks before it did on the Hot AC and AC charts. But in this case, as far as I can tell, Hot AC station WPLJ in New York City was the first commercial radio station in the USA to feature Blunt's song in regular rotation, in July 2005. As the story goes, one of WPLJ's DJs was on vacation in Europe, heard the song over there, and knew it was going to be huge in the USA if only someone would give it a chance... and the rest is history. (Gee, what a novel idea... a DJ playing a song on the air, just because they like it!)

New York's AC station, WLTW "Lite FM", was also very early in adding both of these hits -- in fact, according to Mediabase, WLTW added "Bad Day" in July 2005, while WPLJ didn't add it until January 2006... and Z-100 didn't add it until March 5th.

However, it'll be interesting to see what Blunt's follow-up hit, if any, is... AAA stations are getting big on "High" (his first UK hit), while WLTW is giving lots of airplay to "Goodbye My Lover".
<P ID="signature">______________
It's a common mistake to not use punctuation in its proper form.
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/its.html>Be kind to your friend, the apostrophe.</a></P>
 
> > Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play James
> > Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend will
>
> > continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing new
> > hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations. So,
> > I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken
> > advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations
> > have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit Music",
> so
> > Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the
> > slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".
> >
> > It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend of
> > CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the
> > slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been
> completely
> > reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations have
>
> > just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee... wasn't
> > that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's so
> > old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the AC
>
> > chart.)
> >
> WTMX in Chicago uses (and has been for several years)
> "Today's New Music"
>
WTMX now uses: Today's New Music (British accent) and Whatever We Want.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by dave73 on 04/02/06 05:02 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> > > Hot AC was the first mainstream U.S. format to play
> James
> > > Blunt and Daniel Powter, and it seems like this trend
> will
> >
> > > continue for a while, with Hot AC and even AC playing
> new
> > > hits months before they show up on CHR/Pop stations.
> So,
> > > I'm just wondering if any Hot AC stations have taken
> > > advantage of this in their on-air imaging. CHR stations
>
> > > have always laid claim to the slogan "Today's Hit
> Music",
> > so
> > > Hot AC stations could put a twist on that by using the
> > > slogan "Tomorrow's Hit Music".
> > >
> > > It just seems rather ironic that the traditional trend
> of
> > > CHR, Hot AC, and AC stations being the quickest to the
> > > slowest, respectively, to play new hits has been
> > completely
> > > reversed. For example, a handful of CHR/Pop stations
> have
> >
> > > just began to play Michael Bublé's "Home". Gee...
> wasn't
> > > that song huge on AC radio LAST YEAR!? (In fact, it's
> so
> > > old that Mediabase now lists it as a "recurrent" on the
> AC
> >
> > > chart.)
> > >
> > WTMX in Chicago uses (and has been for several years)
> > "Today's New Music"
> >
> WTMX now uses: Today's New Music (British accent) and
> Whatever We Want.
>
Bonneville's Max FM in San Francisco uses that same British "whatever we want"
<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> WTMX now uses: Today's New Music (British accent) and
> Whatever We Want.
>

That's not a British accent, it's John O'Hurley, best known for Dancing With the Stars and Seinfeld. He certainly has a distinctive voice, but it's not British.
 
> > WTMX now uses: Today's New Music (British accent) and
> > Whatever We Want.
> >
>
> That's not a British accent, it's John O'Hurley, best known
> for Dancing With the Stars and Seinfeld. He certainly has a
> distinctive voice, but it's not British.
>
Well it sounds British to me.
 
I personally think it's more a sign that music is moderating and that you're going to see more traditional pop and rock influences infuse CHR in the next six months. I'm thinking the age of rap and hip hop dominating the CHR charts is on the decline.
 
Two things...

1. About 5 to 7 out of the Top 20 on R&R's CHR/Pop are heavy R&B/rap/hip-hop influenced. That's down considerably from where it has been.

2. The rise of the MySpace generation leads me to believe that you'll see more mall-friendly pop-punk, even alt starting to hit the chart. They are the ones downloading... heck, even buying in some cases... the music.

Just some food for thought.
 
OR ... You could look at it in this way:

Out of the TOP 40 hits right now at CHR-POP radio only 9 (22.5%) are rock-based tracks. They are from The Fray, Panic! At The Disco, The All-American Rejects, Nickelback, Ashley Parker Angel, K.T. Tunstall, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blue October, and Shinedown. The other 31 tracks are non-rockers.

THE MAJOR

CanadaRadioDude said:
Two things...
1. About 5 to 7 out of the Top 20 on R&R's CHR/Pop are heavy R&B/rap/hip-hop influenced. That's down considerably from where it has been.
2. The rise of the MySpace generation leads me to believe that you'll see more mall-friendly pop-punk, even alt starting to hit the chart. They are the ones downloading... heck, even buying in some cases... the music.
Just some food for thought.
Click to expand...
 
Again, looking at the R&R Top 40 for 7/7/06... of the top 40, 20 of the songs are HAC or Rock crossover potential... read - moderate, more adult music.

- Nelly Furtado / Promiscuous
- Shakira f. Wyclef / Hips Don't Lie
- Rhianna / Unfaithful
- Ft. Minor / Where'd You Go
- Fray / Over My Head
- Nick Lachey / What's Left of Me
- Panic! at the Disco / I Write Sins...
- All-American Rejects / Move Along
- Nickelback / Savin' Me
- Rihanna / SOS
- Gnarls Barkley / Crazy
- Daniel Powter / Bad Day
- Natasha Bedingfield / Unwritten
- Ashley Parker Angel / Let U Go
- Jessica Simpson / A Public Affair
- KT Tunstall / Black Horse & The Cherry Tree
- Natasha Bedingfield / Single
- RHCP / Dani California
- Blue October / Hate Me
- Bon Jovi / Who Says You Can't Go Home

All I'm saying is that CHR is starting to display some HAC sensibilities in including more moderate, adult music that you didn't see 12-18 months ago. That, and HAC seems to be more accepting of playing newer tracks sooner.
 
CanadaRadioDude (nice name by the way),

Point well taken. I guess I was looking at it from the standpoint of the lack of rock at pop radio (9 out of the TOP 40 hits), and you are looking at it from the standpoint of more 'adult hits' at pop radio (half of the TOP 40).

I agree with you that HOT-A.C. radio is much more accepting of newer tracks - particularly mainstream and rock-based tracks - basically your 'adult hits'.

Good points all around.

THE MAJOR
 
The-Major said:
CanadaRadioDude (nice name by the way),
Click to expand...


All three are true I guess, so just slapped them together :) That's what happens when a guy's creativity is spent - lol!
 
Quoting the original post of this thread (it's too long for me to make a real quote html mark), it may not always be "Tommorow's Hit Music," - hot AC that is. CHR/Top 40 stations were the first to add "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira and Rhinanna's "SOS." This is going by one in particular, 94.5 WKTI (very slow to add new music). But I've heard hundreds of hot AC stations so I think I'm right but tell me if you disagree. ;)
 
westlife said:
But in this case, as far as I can tell, Hot AC station WPLJ in New York City was the first commercial radio station in the USA to feature Blunt's song in regular rotation, in July 2005. As the story goes, one of WPLJ's DJs was on vacation in Europe, heard the song over there, and knew it was going to be huge in the USA if only someone would give it a chance... and the rest is history. (Gee, what a novel idea... a DJ playing a song on the air, just because they like it!)
Click to expand...

I find this a bit hard to believe...djs have little or no say in what they play...especially in a major market like NYC. Is Scott Shannon still PD at WPLJ? He's been known to occasionally add songs from left field...most likely he did so in this case.
 
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