Musical selections that seem out of character

[K.M. Richards]

When I was growing up, it was the same way. Most adults considered CHR to be for teens because that was the home to teen-oriented artists such as New Kids on the Block and Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.

Same way with adults during my childhood.

I think that has always been a universal factor in listener-based identification. "Top-40" as a format only had broad appeal because it crossed boundaries. In 1975, the year after I graduated high school, here is a sampling of the artists (over 30 different artists in all) who made it to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100:

Captain & Tennille
Elton John
Tony Orlando & Dawn
Glen Campbell
David Bowie
Eagles
Freddy Fender
Ohio Players
KC & the Sunshine Band
John Denver
Frankie Valli
Earth, Wind & Fire
Barry Manilow
Doobie Brothers
Staple Singers

Musically speaking, all over the road.

In fact, the first station I programmed would have been called a "hot AC" in today's terminology. It used the Hot 100, not the Adult Contemporary chart, to program currents* by essentially taking top-40 and removing the music that was too "bubblegum" (appeal to teens and not much else ... Music Lover's three examples would have been the kind of artists which were summarily rejected) and too "rocky" (the year we launched, 1978, "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones made #1, but we never played it). We played a 50/50 ratio of currents to gold/recurrents ... less currents than a top-40, but not overwhelmingly gold either. The audience ended up being 18-34, heavily female, and our listeners called us "top-40".

Older adults dismissed the approach as "chicken rock", which is consistent with Han Solo's experience. Today, with formats having splintered into sub-genres (soft AC/hot AC/modern AC, to give one example) there is a little less of that, but listeners still use terms such as Idol Girl's examples. All of which makes it more difficult for the professionals and the audience to communicate with each other.

I think I'd like to go back to when "AC" meant "air conditioner".

---
* - One concession we made back in that period was to play (daytime only) currents that made the top-10 on the AC chart even if they were not on the Hot 100. The two songs I remember most from that policy were "This Moment In Time" by Engelbert Humperdinck and "I Never Said I Loved You" by Orsa Lia. (I know ... most of you are saying "who?" about the second artist ...)

 

[DavidEduardo]

That's surprising, given Hot AC's presentation. It seems to generally be recurrent based, with more gold than CHR and more personality. It also plays AC type songs that CHR used to play when they were new. I wouldn't think it would appeal that much to 18 year-olds. It seems like it would fall in after all the Rhythmic and Pop CHRs. By the way, what are the teen rankings for those stations you mentioned?

KBIG is 4th in teens with just under a 7-share average, while KIIS is #1 with nearly a 12 share.

Also interesting is that each station is about or 5 rank positions higher in women than in men.

And another tidbit: KIIS and KBIG each share about 45% of each other's cume. Nearly 40% of KIIS' listeners also listen to KOST, the more traditional AC in the LA market.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I think I'd like to go back to when "AC" meant "air conditioner".

Or maybe back to when it meant "Alternating Current".

I had a similar experience a bit earlier in the 70's when I programmed an AM and FM in Birmingham, AL. The AM was what came to be known as AC, but in the trades was called Adult Top 40 or, derisively, Chicken Rock. It was Top 40 without the Allman Brothers and the bubblegum songs, with heavy personality, U of A football (Roll Tide!), a news staff of 6, and a lot of community involvement.

The FM, one of the early Top 40s on the band, kicked off with 24 hours of "Sweet Home Alabama" and did not play "Ben" and "The Morning After". The control room, at night and on weekends, tended to have a definite "Eau de Cannabis" aroma to in.

 

[semoochie]

KBIG is 4th in teens with just under a 7-share average, while KIIS is #1 with nearly a 12 share.

Also interesting is that each station is about or 5 rank positions higher in women than in men.

And another tidbit: KIIS and KBIG each share about 45% of each other's cume. Nearly 40% of KIIS' listeners also listen to KOST, the more traditional AC in the LA market.

OK, you set me off again: With AC playing songs like "Uptown Funk", how is it doing with 18-34 and teens and is it a significant change from six years ago or so?

 

[DavidEduardo]

OK, you set me off again: With AC playing songs like "Uptown Funk", how is it doing with 18-34 and teens and is it a significant change from six years ago or so?

I could only go back to 2009 with compatible PPM data, but the change is clear when looking at KOST: about a 3.1 average in 18-34 back then and a low 4 share range today.

 

[semoochie]

I could only go back to 2009 with compatible PPM data, but the change is clear when looking at KOST: about a 3.1 average in 18-34 back then and a low 4 share range today.

This sounds very good for AC. It gives them a head start at attracting their future core audience. I meant to mention about your previous post that it looks like KBIG doesn't quite make it to P3 status in teens but it's still encouraging.

 

[JeeperOne]

That has nothing to do with anything.

On the contrary. It has to do with EVERYTHING

Cheers & 73

 

[vchimpanzee]

There have been some young singers on shows such as American Idol and The Voice who have had interests in throwback music styles.

Also "Glee".

 

[Music Lover]

Also "Glee".

Glee doesn't count because it's not a competition show where contestants get signed to recording contracts.

Here's a couple of examples of young people with throwback sounds who recently auditioned on The Voice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyw8cC0mKZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXOqEj5DYns

Here's a couple of Idol alums whose albums have throwback sounds:
http://www.amazon.com/High-Hopes-Heartbreak-BROOKE-WHITE/dp/B002C2XXGC
http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Whats-Real-Elliott-Yamin/dp/B005VB60XY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

There have been many young people with throwback sounds like the examples given on these competition shows over the years.

 

[Music Lover]

Glee doesn't count because it's not a competition show where contestants get signed to recording contracts.

Here's a couple of examples of young people with throwback sounds who recently auditioned on The Voice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyw8cC0mKZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXOqEj5DYns

Here's a couple of Idol alums whose albums have throwback sounds:
http://www.amazon.com/High-Hopes-Heartbreak-BROOKE-WHITE/dp/B002C2XXGC
http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Whats-Real-Elliott-Yamin/dp/B005VB60XY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

There have been many young people with throwback sounds like the examples given on these competition shows over the years.

While they aren't the majority, it shows that not every young person goes through a music rebellion phase, rejecting their parents and grandparents music.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Glee doesn't count because it's not a competition show where contestants get signed to recording contracts.

Glee is irrelevant, but not for that reason...

Glee is a scripted show written by a team of writers who likely have an average age in their 40's and targeted at a viewer in the TV sales demos of 18-49.

 

[Music Lover]

Glee is a scripted show

That's the reason why I didn't count it.

 

[Music Lover]

One of my favorite boybands from the 90s has reunited. Their latest album is Motown covers: http://www.amazon.com/Dublin-Detroit-Boyzone/dp/B00O3UY1FS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top. I'm not too surprised about that decision. Most of their 90s albums featured cover versions of classic hit songs.

What I liked about their original material on their albums was that it consisted of slow meaningful ballads, giving them a more mature sound than some of the other boybands of the time. They pretty much stick with that on their prior two reunion albums.
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Boyzo...d_sim_m_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0K7MA8QEH1NG0ZFSHK80
http://www.amazon.com/Bz20-BOYZONE/dp/B00FEKS42W/ref=pd_sim_m_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0K7MA8QEH1NG0ZFSHK80

 

[vchimpanzee]

And we seem to have wandered off topic.

Let's go back.

"The Game of Love", maybe.

"You Really Got Me", definitely not.

 

[K.M. Richards]

You know, this thread got me to remember an experiment my friend Chris Compton tried out in Lancaster-Palmdale, California back in the late 1980s, and it is relevant because of some of the trainwrecks he created in the process.

What he did was compile a library of the 400 biggest AC hits from the previous ten years or so and played them on a 50/50 basis with the biggest AC hits of the past 18 months or so (you could call it an expanded recurrent category), except that the last song of each half-hour was an oldie from 1960 to 1977.

He would always start each half-hour with a recurrent and used the positioning liner "the greatest hits of all time ... ALL the time" as a sweeper through that segue. It was a very wide variety of music but some of those oldies up against a recent softer hit was jarring.

Chris had the freedom to experiment because Lancaster-Palmdale (commonly called the Antelope Valley) is actually part of the Los Angeles market but none of the local signals turn up in the ratings because they aren't receivable outside the immediate area, while a good chunk of the L.A. proper stations do. So I couldn't tell you if it was a success or not.

 

[Unregistered]

When someone who is into easy listening listens to a station like this, what matters more to him or her is the overall sound of the station, not what age demographics the songs are for. http://LoveRadioUSA.com

 

[Music Lover]

On page 4 of this discussion, it was brought up about that, while adult standards and soft AC can occasionally overlap, because soft AC covers more musical territory, many listeners wanting to hear soft AC wouldn't want to hear adult standards, and vice versa in the same setting. http://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?680023-Looking-For-Internet-Soft-AC-Streams/page4

It appears that Mr. Picky Chimp is bringing up the vice versa view. Certain oldies he's mentioned would not sound out of place on soft AC but when played on a station concentrating on playing Doris Day and Frank Sinatra, it's rather jarring to him.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I haven't heard Doris Day lately except on the morning show, although that's where "Hey Jude" and "Hard Days Night" and "You Really Got Me" also air.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I was late getting in the car Wednesday so if "Nothing But the Best" got played (still waiting for the usual morning DJ to come back, but if he is there when he music starts during the 8:00 hour, he often plays that, and last week whoever was there did, playing a recording of that DJ saying "Good morning"), I didn't hear it. I heard "Listen to the Music". I like it okay but it just sounds so out of place on this type station. I heard "Foolish Heart" today and that was on America's Best Music.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This may be the wrong place, but I'm going to say it anyway. I watched the movie "Heartburn". Right away, I recognized the incredibly annoying theme song in the opening scene at a wedding. The instrumental arrangement is essentially the same as what I hear on America's Best Music with Carly Simon singing, except I believe this seemed even worse since I could hear more detail. It sounded like a broom sweeping. Now a broom sound is a good thing in slow jazz. Not here.

Still, the song "Coming Around Again" showed up on Stardust, so it has been around a while on standards radio. However, it was used as a sample of the new format on a station in my area. The man who ran that station liked standards and had played "It's Been a Long, Long Time" and similar songs in a format pretty much like what I hear now on the morning show on the station I listen to most, except with fewer actual standards. I sampled the new format and it turned out to be soft AC, and when I asked why he said Stardust wouldn't allow two of its affiliates to be so close together, never mind the directional antenna which made such a rule unnecessary in this case. He didn't like what is now called America's Best Music, saying they repeat the same songs over and over. And that format wasn't as much of a standards format as Stardust. Ironically, America's Best Music is more standards now than it was then. And measured by the age of the songs, way more traditional than then. So "Coming Around Again" was a symbol of how I was promised my music and didn't get it. I could drive west or south and hear Stardust, or east or north and hear what is now America's Best Music (another affiliate of that format was using it at night, with talk shows during the day--not helping!). At home, I still wasn't getting a satisfactory signal from anyone.