The reason why a Soft AC station is playing "Unchained Melody" is not because it was a hit when first released in the '60s; it's because it became a #1 AC hit in 1990 after it was featured in the movie "Ghost".
Ah, I see. I like that movie very much (this was late 90s-early 2000s, so I'm not old enough to remember Ghost's original theatrical release – I was about 1 or 2 years old at the time – but I saw it on a VHS tape, which we rented from Hollywood Video (remember
that ancient relic? I do!)), and I got happy when I heard that song
Similar story with Louis Armstrong's recording of (What A) Wonderful World. Never a Top 40 hit back in the 60's, but after being prominently featured in the Robin Williams movie Good Morning Vietnam it started appearing on Oldies stations. (I was surprised to spot it in one of the cart racks at WCBS-FM while visiting a friend one night in the late 80's or early 90's.) And yet the song didn't sound out of place at all.
I also saw that movie, but I don't remember hearing that song for some reason?
Dont you think if it was profitable, someone in the SF area would do it among the 3-4 dozen stations in SF?
Well, it would be nice if somebody did. Even as an HD subchannel (akin to the old KFRC sound-alike that recently got discontinued on 106.9, but more up to date).
In the SF-Oakland market, only about 12% are over 70. Of those only a fraction are looking for the music of 60 years ago. And only a fraction would be willing to listen to that music on AM radio.
Wow, I guess I'd be like 0.01% of the audience, then!
KYNO, KNOT and WABF are all independent standalones...
Maybe that's a good thing, because perhaps it gives them more leeway to run whatever format they like, even if it's not as profitable, because they don't have the overhead of a megacorp. with it's sprawl of hundreds, maybe thousands of stations and millions of dollars in debt to pay down.
But then again, I think KVIN was independent until recently, so I guess indie stations can and do get poached, particularly if they're in a desirable market.
And more power to the Punjabi stations., they are :
1.) serving an underserved audience
2.) usually making darn good moneyu
3.) They are usually VERY involved in the communities they serve
Something we radio people bitch about, but then when a station does it.. its not good enough, because what theyre programming isnt our cup of tea.
Frankly, some of the music these punjabi stations play is pretty rad!
I'm not saying it's bad at all. I'm glad they're serving a traditionally under-served audience, and not enough stations do that, on either band.
If anything, I know how they feel, being somewhat of an under-served audience myself, in a manner of speaking!
c
www.ktvu.com
