re: RADIO REPEATS:
Well, I can't say that I didn't see this one coming ...
Cumulus Media Networks has revealed they
will stop distributing Scott Shannon’s True Oldies
Channel at the end of June.
Shannon’s True Oldies Channel currently
airs on over 100 stations
nationwide including Cumulus’ “Oldies
98.9” Atlanta. The network’s future had been up in the air since
Shannon departed Cumulus’ 95.5
WPLJ New York for WCBS-FM. Shannon intends to
seek a new distributor to keep the network running.
Interestingly, Cumulus registered TrueOldiesHouston.com for its 104.1
KRBE-HD2 on March 14. Likely the local station management had no idea of the
plans coming from the network side of the company.
Here's hoping Scott finds a new home for his True Oldies Channel quickly
... with millions of faithful listeners all over the globe, it's a given that
we'll follow him anywhere!!!
Meanwhile, more good news for both Scott Shannon AND oldies music fans ...
Times Square Gossip is reporting that Shannon's ratings are through the roof since he joined WCBS-FM ... (you'll even find a quick mention of FH here if you read deep enough!) ...
Meanwhile, more good news for both Scott Shannon AND oldies music fans ...
Times Square Gossip is reporting that Shannon's ratings are through the roof since he joined WCBS-FM ... (you'll even find a quick mention of FH here if you read deep enough!) ...
The numbers are in for the first weeks of Scott
Shannon’s CBS-FM drive-time morning show … and, they are huge. Congrats Scott
…
http://www.timessquaregossip.com/2014/03/concert-event-peter-gabriel-back-to.html
And Cumulus is starting their OWN syndicated oldies network!!! (Hmm ... maybe ... just MAYBE ... they really WERE listening to us after all!!!)
And Cumulus is starting their OWN syndicated oldies network!!! (Hmm ... maybe ... just MAYBE ... they really WERE listening to us after all!!!)
Cumulus revealed a brand new “Good Time Oldies” network to debut on April
28.
The new Westwood One Good Time Oldies promo sheet
states the format will target Men 45 - 64, with a music mix featuring 60% 1960s,
25% 1970s, and 15% 1950s and 1980s described as “the golden era of pop, rock,
and soul: hit music of the ’60s and ’70s with a healthy portion of “oh-wow”
songs from other decades. The music is up tempo and the presentation is full of
energy, including features about rock and roll history and the timeless artists
of the era.” To contrast, Westwood One’s Classic Hits network is 60% 1970s, 25%
1980s, and 15% 1960s.
Core artists will include The Beatles, Elton John,
Chicago, Eagles, The Rolling Stones, The Doobie Brothers, The Temptations,
Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Fleetwood Mac and Three Dog Night
A "sample hour" might sound something like
this:
Three Dog Night - Celebrate; Elvis Presley - Jailhouse
Rock; Los Bravos - Black Is Black; Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine; Steam - Na Na
Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye; Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle; Four Seasons - Let's Hang
On; Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate; Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs -
Sugar Shack; Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe; The Rascals -
Good Lovin'; Kenny Loggins - Footloose; A Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie;
The Beatles - Drive My Car; Chicago - Feelin' Stronger Every Day; Arthur Conley
- Sweet Soul Music; The Eagles- One Of The Nights; The Champs - Tequila; The
Supremes - You Keep Me Hangin' On and First Class - Beach Baby
What?!?! No Journey? No John Mellencamp? No Steve Miller? No Boston?
OK, count me in ... for a little while anyway ... until I see how much you
overplay the tracks that you ARE featuring! Still it's worth a shot ...
ANYTHING to get away from the same old, same old, day in and day out (although
we'll clearly still get some of that ... but maybe in smaller doses!)
They're currently looking for outlets across the country to air this new format ... we'll keep you posted once we obtain a list of participating stations. (kk)
Meanwhile, according to Chicagoland Radio And Media, we may start to hear a little more variety here locally, too!
They're currently looking for outlets across the country to air this new format ... we'll keep you posted once we obtain a list of participating stations. (kk)
Meanwhile, according to Chicagoland Radio And Media, we may start to hear a little more variety here locally, too!
Starting Monday (that's TODAY!), WLS-FM's Greg Brown will play exactly what listeners want to hear. Each weekday from Noon, Brown will host "Open Turntable Reservations," one hour of nothing but listener requests. Fans who wish to request a song may do so by calling 312-922-9470 during that hour or online at this link HERE.
This could prove to be
very interesting ... I'm just wondering how far it can go ... especially since
WLS-FM seems to only have about 40 albums in their music library!!! But hey,
it's a step in the right direction ... and who knows ... maybe it'll even lead
to the station listening to their listeners for a
change.
In other local radio news, congratulations to Bob Stroud of The Drive ... according to the latest ratings, he is now the #3 Mid-Day Host on Chicagoland Radio (and has always been a favorite of ours).
In other local radio news, congratulations to Bob Stroud of The Drive ... according to the latest ratings, he is now the #3 Mid-Day Host on Chicagoland Radio (and has always been a favorite of ours).
Just a quick note to remind you how
much I LOVE Forgotten Hits!
When I go down to Florida, the St.
Pete / Clearwater area, there's a station I always turn to called The Dove,
105.5. It's a very light rock station, and when we first started going to
Florida, I enjoyed it so much. They played songs like "Too Much Too Little Too
Late" "All Out of Love", "On Broadway " by George Benson and other easy
listening songs you never hear much. Apparently I listened a little too long
this time, and started to notice, it's the same damn songs all day and all
evening! I swear they don't have much more than a 50 song playlist! So many
wonderful songs, and these are the same ones they play every time I'm
there!
I also wanted to mention that I am very sorry to hear that Joe Lala has passed away. Over the last five years, having a home in the Tampa area, I have seen him play many times. He had been a "guest star" sitting in with many of the area bands I have seen there in concert, and at various music festivals. They would always give a list of his accomplishments before bringing him out to the stage, and I'd think"Nobody could have possibly played with all those people and I've never even heard of him!" I'm sure he will be missed in the Tampa area. R.I.P. Percussionist Joe Lala
I also wanted to mention that I am very sorry to hear that Joe Lala has passed away. Over the last five years, having a home in the Tampa area, I have seen him play many times. He had been a "guest star" sitting in with many of the area bands I have seen there in concert, and at various music festivals. They would always give a list of his accomplishments before bringing him out to the stage, and I'd think"Nobody could have possibly played with all those people and I've never even heard of him!" I'm sure he will be missed in the Tampa area. R.I.P. Percussionist Joe Lala
~~Eileen~~
>>>The thing that confuses me is the number of Oldies that you can't find on commercial radio that are being used for commercials. "When" (1958) and "Happy Go Lucky Me" (1960) are featured on commercials right now. That seems to be a disconnect of some sort. (Paul Evans)
>>>It is ... and somebody clearly isn't paying attention. In the past, it was many of these type of "song revivals" ... movies, tv, advertising campaigns ... that resurrected some of the great oldies as they were being discovered by a whole new generation. Not to mention a GREAT opportunity to "milk" the genre as their newly piqued curiosity inspires them to seek out other music from this same, great era. Radio USED to jump onboard and add these songs back to their playlists (in an effort to feel "relevant" again) ... but once again, they've truly dropped the ball here ... and don't even realize it. Your future audience is out there waiting to discover something new ... and you continue to ignore that opportunity by playing another Journey song instead. (kk)
Kent -
>>>The thing that confuses me is the number of Oldies that you can't find on commercial radio that are being used for commercials. "When" (1958) and "Happy Go Lucky Me" (1960) are featured on commercials right now. That seems to be a disconnect of some sort. (Paul Evans)
>>>It is ... and somebody clearly isn't paying attention. In the past, it was many of these type of "song revivals" ... movies, tv, advertising campaigns ... that resurrected some of the great oldies as they were being discovered by a whole new generation. Not to mention a GREAT opportunity to "milk" the genre as their newly piqued curiosity inspires them to seek out other music from this same, great era. Radio USED to jump onboard and add these songs back to their playlists (in an effort to feel "relevant" again) ... but once again, they've truly dropped the ball here ... and don't even realize it. Your future audience is out there waiting to discover something new ... and you continue to ignore that opportunity by playing another Journey song instead. (kk)
Kent -
Your ironies are duly noted and appreciated - I
thoroughly agree that "somebody", or rather, "more than one somebody" isn't
paying attention. I will keep on listening to Dave the Rave, because the powers
that be are clueless as to what constitutes good pop music.
I'm glad to
hear that "When" and "Happy Go Lucky Me" are in ads, even if they're just
background period pieces. What commercials are they being played in?
Bobster
I put your inquiry to Paul Evans, composer of these two great tunes and asked if he could not only supply the info, but also a YouTube clip of each of the two ads. And here they are! (kk)
Hey Kent,
Bobster
I put your inquiry to Paul Evans, composer of these two great tunes and asked if he could not only supply the info, but also a YouTube clip of each of the two ads. And here they are! (kk)
Hey Kent,
Here are a couple of links:
"WHEN" Wren Furniture ( a UK group)
"HAPPY GO LUCKY ME" Clash of the Clans (A game app)
(As recorded by the vaudevillian, George Formby, who beat my
record out in the UK)
"HAPPY GO LUCKY ME" Was used by the World Wildlife Fund in
Canada in 2013. I can't find it on-line now. I guess it's had its run.
(They used my version of the song)
Paul
Hi Kent,
Paul
Hi Kent,
Just
wanted to drop you a line and let you know that sometimes you bump into great
music in the most unlikely places and today it was in a fish 'n' chips place!
It was a format you would have loved!
Oh, yeah, there were the formula-focus group Oldies but this time interspersed with "Summertime" by Billy Stewart, "Shimmy-Shimmy Ko-Ko-Pop" with Little Anthony & The Imperials, "A Thousand Stars" with Kathy Young & The Innocents, "Slippin' n' Slidin'" with Little Richard, even "Back In Love Again" with the Buckinghams -- and a few others that I wish I could recall at this time ... but it certainly was refreshing to hear some "surprise" music mixed in the ones that have been over-played and no longer have the surprise element. And being it was fish 'n' chips, coleslaw, and hush-puppies, "Grease was the word!"
Peace,
Oh, yeah, there were the formula-focus group Oldies but this time interspersed with "Summertime" by Billy Stewart, "Shimmy-Shimmy Ko-Ko-Pop" with Little Anthony & The Imperials, "A Thousand Stars" with Kathy Young & The Innocents, "Slippin' n' Slidin'" with Little Richard, even "Back In Love Again" with the Buckinghams -- and a few others that I wish I could recall at this time ... but it certainly was refreshing to hear some "surprise" music mixed in the ones that have been over-played and no longer have the surprise element. And being it was fish 'n' chips, coleslaw, and hush-puppies, "Grease was the word!"
Peace,
Tim
There really is something special that comes today when hearing something OFF the traditional play list. The other day at Walgreens it was like they had one of those Time/Life Soft Rock CD's playing or something ... LOTS of great music you never hear anymore like "Lost Without Your Love" by Bread and "That's Love" by Jim Capaldi. (Man, when's the last time you heard THAT one?!?!?) SOMEBODY out there is programming Muzak geared toward the more discriminating listener. Now all we need is for this new concept (that we've been preaching for nearly fifteen years now!) to catch on!!! (kk)
Kent,
A note from the west coast ...
Check out good guys radio KISN out of Portland, Oregon.
The old jocks are putting on a 24 hour blast from the
past with playlists from 1956 to 1974.
You will really find some past hits and rarities, more
like Top 40 Radio used to be.
A second heads up is for the new website run by Mark
Thompson out of North Carolina called Cool Stories in Music. They feature a new
45 minute story every week trying to emulate the back stories that only the
intense fans would know ... sort of like Casey Kasem but it's more like old Paul
Harvey's "The Rest of the Story".
Keith Brodkorb
Kent,
Kent,
This is FYI. Yesterday the radio ratings came out for
the stations here in the OKC area. The number one
rated radio station (Oklahoma's Greatest Hits) as they say they are,
just happens really to be the one and only station in
town playing those songs from the 70's and 80's.
There are really no less than seven sports talk stations here in town
as well as no less than seven stations that program
country.
This station is just like yours in
Chicago in that you hear the same songs over and over again. Steve Miller, Journey, Foreigner, etc, you know
what I'm talking about. Apparently in Chicago you have more than one station playing the
same songs over and over again.
Basically here in OKC, we just have the one.So don't try persuading our station to add new songs or try
something different. They are
number one with what they are doing so why should they change?
For the past two weekends, they
have dropped live announcers and are playing music non-stop with the traditional commercials, jingles,
promos,etc thrown in.
Finally, it appears to me that the songs I
heard on Saturday, I heard also on Sunday. Which come to think about it, are the same songs you hear Monday -
Friday.
Again, I knew you knew this since this problem
is nationwide.
Larry Neal
With seven sports channels and seven country channels, it's
no wonder a format like this comes out on top. At some point, all of these
other options cancel each other out.
When you're basically sharing the same audience ... and
playing the same music ... there's really nothing to distinguish one channel
from the other. Sooner or later, it all just becomes white noise background
music that you aren't even really paying attention to. None of those stations
will ever top the market ... and yet they all seem content to fall somewhere between #10 - #20 on
the list. Sadly, there isn't any pride or determination to even try and BE #1
... it doesn't matter to them ... they just want their own share of this
audience ... and will settle for whatever they can get, rather than trying to
program something just a LITTLE bit different that might help to make their
station stand out ahead of the others.
Here in Chicago, we have six or seven stations now that all
seem to be drawing from the same song pool ... and another three or four that
have that "overlap" factor. For example, you're likely to hear "Don't Stop
Believin'" by Journey on about ten stations in town, EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! "Jack
and Diane", "Hurt So Good", "More Than A Feeling" also fall into that category.
Key artists like Steve Miller, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel and others are
all part of the mix ... which really isn't much of a "mix" at all
anymore.
With today's radio standards, why would a radio station ever
need to employ a program director again? If you're only going to play the same
200 songs anyway, just hit the "shuffle" button and let 'em rip. Sequence
doesn't even matter ... at some point, they all sound the same.
That's also why there is more and more automated "jock-free"
programming going on. Again, it doesn't take a genius to give out the call
letters, temp and announce 98 minute to 104 minute non-stop, commercial free
music blitzes! (And, as we've discussed before, even the jocks are sick and
tired of playing the EXACT same songs over and over and over again ... hard to
sound fresh and excited when nothing about your station sounds the least bit
fresh or exciting!)
REGULATED RADIO: Here's an interesting question. Remember the days of payola ... and all the under-the-table scams and deals going on? Wouldn't it be REALLY interesting to find out, years from now, that the reason for this radio take-over of playing the same 200-300 songs ... and 25-40 artists ... is because the radio conglomerates themselves have a stake in these songs and artists? Meaning they all get a piece of the pie ... and are lining their own pockets through royalties and kickbacks filtered through the record labels and publishers. Would you really be surprised to find out that, thanks to all this "mandatory" airplay that they've manufactured under the guise of "consulting", they are in fact insuring that EVERY radio station across America is playing the EXACT same songs, again and again ... while corporate radio is getting hand-over-fist richer in the process? Hey, think about it ... it's really not an unthinkable concept ... and it's not like we haven't seen this sort of thing before ... in this very medium. Shawn Swords ... are you listening? I think this warrants some SERIOUS investigation ... before they drive us all COMPLETELY mad with this repetitive torture!!! (Boy, I wonder how all the jocks on the list forced to play the same songs over and over and over again, day in and day out non-stop would feel about this should it come to pass that I've uncovered radio's dirty little secret!!!) Seriously ... it all kinda makes sense now, doesn't it?!?!? I say there needs to be an open investigation into this new form of "regulated" radio ... and soon. Unfair business practice? You betcha! Penalties for torturing the listeners? Duly deserved. SOMEBODY needs to look into this and put an end to it ... and make radio "for the people" again. (kk)
REGULATED RADIO: Here's an interesting question. Remember the days of payola ... and all the under-the-table scams and deals going on? Wouldn't it be REALLY interesting to find out, years from now, that the reason for this radio take-over of playing the same 200-300 songs ... and 25-40 artists ... is because the radio conglomerates themselves have a stake in these songs and artists? Meaning they all get a piece of the pie ... and are lining their own pockets through royalties and kickbacks filtered through the record labels and publishers. Would you really be surprised to find out that, thanks to all this "mandatory" airplay that they've manufactured under the guise of "consulting", they are in fact insuring that EVERY radio station across America is playing the EXACT same songs, again and again ... while corporate radio is getting hand-over-fist richer in the process? Hey, think about it ... it's really not an unthinkable concept ... and it's not like we haven't seen this sort of thing before ... in this very medium. Shawn Swords ... are you listening? I think this warrants some SERIOUS investigation ... before they drive us all COMPLETELY mad with this repetitive torture!!! (Boy, I wonder how all the jocks on the list forced to play the same songs over and over and over again, day in and day out non-stop would feel about this should it come to pass that I've uncovered radio's dirty little secret!!!) Seriously ... it all kinda makes sense now, doesn't it?!?!? I say there needs to be an open investigation into this new form of "regulated" radio ... and soon. Unfair business practice? You betcha! Penalties for torturing the listeners? Duly deserved. SOMEBODY needs to look into this and put an end to it ... and make radio "for the people" again. (kk)
