How do you choose the most provocative song added by prominent Classic Hits radio stations over the last year?
If it’s a relatively new song that still feels like yesterday, that would probably be “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk on KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles. I first heard that song on KRTH’s then-sister CHR, KAMP (Amp 97.1), receiving saturation airplay on its first day. I thought that was a relatively recent memory, although it was 11 years ago.
If it’s the one that feels more like an AC song than a good-time oldie, it’s “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles on KOLA San Bernardino, Calif. If it’s the one that seems like the greatest challenge to upper-demo audiences, it might be Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” bringing “banging on the bathroom floor” to WCBS-FM New York.
KOLA, K-Earth, and WCBS-FM are all successful radio stations, whose evolution has been followed in this column for years. Part of our annual look at “What Classic Hits Stations Added” is the realization that by the original paradigm of the Oldies format (playing the ’50s and ’60s in the mid-’70s and ’80s), many of these songs would have been on years ago. Stations like KOLA have always served as their markets’ gold-based AC, and with AC playing less recent music than ever, that distinction is becoming further blurred.
How Classic Hits stations have evolved will be a central topic at “Keeping Throwback Radio Moving Forward,” part of the upcoming Radiodays North America convention to be held in Toronto June 2-4. I’ll be joined by Skip Dillard, Audacy’s VP of Rhythmic AC & Throwback formats, and CJOT (Boom 99.7) Ottawa PD Stephanie Hunter. Full conference information is available here.
The songs spotlighted here received their first Mediabase-monitored spins at various major Classic Hits stations since the last time we looked at this topic last June. In general, I tried to look for songs with three or more spins last week, to make sure I wasn’t getting special-programming or countdown songs.
A few major Classic Hits stations (WMJI [Majic 105] Cleveland and WOCL [Cool 105.9] Orlando) don’t have any obvious adds for the last year. But some have a lot, a reflection of more enthusiastically embracing the ’90s and early ’00s. Only a few stations are finding still untapped titles from the ’70s or early ’80s, although KJEB (95.7 the Jet) Seattle has added a few ’70s Classic Rock mainstays that might have been left to sister KZOK before.
The best example of a new format staple that emerged this year is Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn,” a 25-year-old title that isn’t just new to some of our stations, but already receiving significant airplay. “Torn” is an easy ’90s choice for the Classic Hits format. It’s by an artist with only one library title (in America, anyway). It’s also more bouncy/uptempo than some of the first Modern AC songs to test in, such as “Under the Bridge” or “Iris.”
Here’s a handful of what’s new on a variety of Classic Hits outlets since last year:
- 702, “Where My Girls At?”
- Boyz II Men, “End of the Road”
- Shaggy, “It Wasn’t Me”
KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles (Audacy)
- Foo Fighters, “Times Like These”
- Offspring, “Self Esteem”
- Alanis Morissette, “Head Over Feet”
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Californication”
- Daft Punk, “Get Lucky”
- Evanescence, “Bring Me to Life”
- Kings of Leon, “Use Somebody”
- Lady Gaga, “Poker Face”
- Radiohead, “Creep” — was already playing before our last cutoff, but moving into higher-spin territory now as K-Earth embraces more grunge-era Alternative
KJEB (Jet 95.7) Seattle (iHeart):
- Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Proud Mary”
- Haddaway, “What Is Love”
- Eagles, “Take It Easy”
- Kansas, “Carry On Wayward Son”
- Sugar Ray, “Fly”
- Natalie Imbruglia, “Torn” — not just an add but receiving K-Earth-style rotations (23x last week)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Under the Bridge”
- Cardigans, “Lovefool”
- Starship, “Sara”
- Bangles, “Eternal Flame”
- Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”
- Taylor Dayne, “Tell It to My Heart”
- Fleetwood Mac, “Everywhere”
- Natalie Imbruglia, “Torn” — not quite WLS levels, but 11x a week
- Cyndi Lauper, “She Bop”
- Linkin Park, “In the End”
- Madonna, “Open Your Heart”
- Oasis, “Wonderwall”
- Shaggy f/Rayvon, “Angel”
- Staind, “It’s Been Awhile”
- Third Eye Blind, “Jumper”
- TLC, “Waterfalls”
- Wilson Phillips, “Hold On”
- Cranberries, “Linger”
- Cher, “If I Could Turn Back Time”
- Lit, “My Own Worst Enemy”
KOLA San Bernardino, Calif. (Anaheim Broadcasting):
- Boyz II Men, “Motownphilly”
- Sara Bareilles, “Love Song”
- Blackstreet, “No Diggity”
- Warren G & Nate Dogg, “Regulate”
- Mark Morrison, “Return of the Mack”
- Christina Perri, “A Thousand Years”
- Timbaland f/OneRepublic, “Apologize”
WRBQ (Q105) Tampa, Fla. (Beasley)
- Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”
- Jennifer Lopez, “If You Had My Love”
- Uncle Kracker f/Dobie Gray, “Drift Away”
- Shaggy f/Rayvon, “Angel”
- Montell Jordan, “This Is How We Do It”
- No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
- Rod Stewart, “Have I Told You Lately (Unplugged)”
- Janet Jackson, “Miss You Much”
- Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”
- Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris”
- Natalie Imbruglia, “Torn”
- Wilson Phillips, “Hold On”
- No Doubt, “Just a Girl”
- Sixpence None the Richer, “Kiss Me”
- Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life”
- Tracy Chapman, “Give Me One Reason”
- Usher, “Yeah”
- Maroon 5, “She Will Be Loved”
- Timbaland f/One Republic, “Apologize”
- Alicia Keys, “Fallin’”
- Lifehouse, “Hanging by a Moment”
- Maroon 5, “This Love”
- Wallflowers, “One Headlight”
- Eagle-Eye Cherry, “Save Tonight”
WWZY (107.1 The Boss) Monmouth/Ocean, NJ (Press)
- Dolly Parton, “Jolene”–after a recent ROR article, both WWZY and rival WJRZ began playing it. “The Boss” has now transitioned from Classic Rock to Classic Hits.
- Pink, “Just Like a Pill”
- Green Day, “Basket Case”
- Alanis Morissette, “Hand in My Pocket”
- Bon Jovi, “Legendary”–as other stations embrace “It’s My Life,” the band’s hometown station plays its new retro-sounding song.
WEAT (Sunny 107.9) West Palm Beach (Hubbard)
- Tom Petty & Heartbreakers, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
- Cranberries, “Linger”
- Foo Fighters, “Learn to Fly”
- Foo Fighters, “My Hero”
- Snap!, “The Power”–there are also some other 1-2 spin Hip-Hop titles of the KRTH variety
- Stone Temple Pilots, “Interstate Love Song”
Finally, there’s the very different list of songs added to KDRI (The Drive) Tucson, Ariz., not a traditional Classic Hits station, but one of a handful of stations specializing in the ’60s and ’70s ever since other large-market FMs moved out of that territory. Last year, KDRI got new owners (Bustos Media) and a new PD.
An “add” on The Drive is harder to determine since a lot of songs on its wide playlist are 1-2x a week under any circumstances. But here are a few songs that got three spins last week and have made their first appearance on the station in the last 6-7 months. Some come from Classic Rock. But a few are true oldies or Soft AC songs that The Drive just hadn’t gotten to yet.
- Spanky & Our Gang, “Lazy Day”
- Cream, “Sunshine of Your Love”
- Cream, “Badge”
- Rolling Stones, “She’s So Cold”
- Bad Company, “Shooting Star”
- Genesis, “Taking It All Too Hard”
- Strangeloves, “I Want Candy”
- Don Henley, “Sunset Grill”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Midnight Special”
- Dan Fogelberg, “Hard to Say”
- Chris De Burgh, “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”
- John Denver, “Calypso”
- J.J. Jackson, “But It’s Alright”
- B.W. Stevenson, “My Maria”
- Glen Campbell, “Try a Little Kindness”
- Joe Cocker, “The Letter”
Sean Ross will discuss whether the Classic Hits evolution is a revolution at Radiodays North America. Full conference information is available here.
What I’ve found from listeners when they scratch their heads as to why a song like, Smooth from Rob Thomas/Santana is played on a station like K.Earth 101 is they just heard that song on 104.3 MYfm a bunch of times.
I remind them that Smooth is about 25 years old. When K.Earth 101 was an ‘oldies station’ in the 80’s & 90’s, they were playing songs that were 25 year old like, The Twist by Chubby Checker.
Here’s where I think the problem may lay with the listeners. First, as stated before, their other favorite station, the Hot AC, is playing Smooth. And remember, when that was a #1 song, every station played it…A LOT! In high rotation. For a long time. When AC stations got a hold of it, they were playing it in their high rotation. For a long time. You could hear Smooth in high rotation on ACs a couple years after it was #1. Then suddenly it’s 10 years old. 15 years old. 20 years old. 25 years old. The song never went away.
The other thing too is that music from the 50’s and 60’s sounded completely different from the songs of the 80’s and 90’s. The 70’s and 80’s sound so different from the modern music of today. But the music that ‘classic hits’ stations are adding today, sound so much like the music today. Good or bad.
RadioMaverick made a point about Smooth never going away. That is the crux of this post. See, when Oldies as a format achieved critical mass in the late 80’s, early 90’s, most of those songs from the 50’s and 60’s hadnt been heard since they were new and they felt fresh. There were a few exceptions but not many. Songs now never go away. That is a problem fory 74 y.o. self.
Radiomaverick articulated everything I was going to say. We are starting to see classic hits ratings fall in some markets and I think this is the reason why. I understand time marches on and the songs being added are old now. The problem is they don’t sound classic and they have been continuously played since they were new. By playing 90s/00s classic hits loses it’s special positioning in the market. They become a gold based (or gold only) AC. The newer they get the more generic they sound.
Another reason these songs don’t sound old or haven’t seemed to have gone away is because you have the Jack/Bob stations that have played them for the last 15+ years. Depending on the market, you have incredible overlap between classic and adult hits, especially the ones that play little to no currents/recurrents.
maverick brought up Los Angeles, which illustrates the example. Well, there is the classic hits, the hot AC, the AC, and the adult hits, and a gold based alternative, the gold based classic/ Active Rock. and that’s not considering the fringe market stations, depending on where people live. Crossover is one thing, but title sharing half a playlist honestly just looks foolish. there were times in LA when I could flip between three or four stations, and they would all be playing the exact same song, not a current, a gold. Jim Ryan recently did an interview with P1 media group about the strategy for WNEW, which is intentionally to avoid owning your own records and waiting till something gets to z. I get the idea, but I ultimately think radio is setting itself up for a war of attrition that they are already losing, very quickly! Not only have playlists for gold stations gotten way tighter, but now they are title sharing with most of the stations in the market, tell me what makes large market radio even worth listening to these days? You’re listener doesn’t care whether a station is classic hits, or adult contemporary, they care that they’re hearing things that they don’t expect, or that, maybe the one channel they flipped to for specific mood, isn’t fitting that mood anymore. But in an era where TSL is pretty much getting thrown out the window for AQH, I guess this is what we get. Now that I’m in the demo, I can say it, please don’t tell me you’re catering to anyone between 35 and 45, you’re not! you can update the playlist all you want, but until the imaging and presentation follows, it’s a fools errand, but sounds sloppy and disorganized. Perhaps for the weekend, some of us can play a fun drinking game and have a shot every time, you hear a fake listener promo about how this radio station is the greatest thing ever happened since the invention of air. but hey don’t hesitate, to maybe overcompensate.
Q105 (Tampa Bay’s WRBQ) has played Mary J. Blige’s 2001 hit “Family Affair” on its Saturday Night Dance Party block a few times that I know of. If that song hasn’t become part of Q105’s regular rotation yet, it’s only a matter if time before it happens. Also, the station has added some *NSYNC tracks to its playlist, which makes sense given that the quintet had some ’90s hits and the station has played ’90s music on the regular for a minute.
My station goes no closer than 20 years back…but every year we add songs from the “new” year, and drop songs from the 60s. As for what we add, it has to fit the “good times” vibe that the others have, and sound like it flows together. It’s a sonic thing, not a numbers thing (ie., AI would have a hard time duplicating it!) You also have to have imaging between songs to prevent train wrecks, such as Funkadelic’s Flashlight driving into Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It. Both fun, uptempo, but not a great segue. We’re definitely not a truncated AC, and we eschew whiny, sappy ballads (but if they’re sexy, bluesy ballads, they’re in.) We play P!nk’s Get the Party Started and two songs later Fleetwood Mac’s Monday Morning. And Michael Jackson, followed by the Stones, adjacent to Maroon Five. It’s fun. But it’s NOT Yacht Rock.
Okay, but try starting “We’re Not Gonna Take It” cold under the acapella ending of “Flashlight”–start at the second “under the sun”–and tell me it doesn’t work seamlessly!