One of the biggest movies of the year is Spider Man: Brand New Day. It’s been out for less than a month and has already broken countless records, earning $2.225 billion at the box office. From the soundtrack come two massive songs, “Loser” by Tame Impala and “Oh Yeah?” by Steve Lacy, which plays during the end credits. Both are currently in the Spotify Top 5 right now, where they’ve been for weeks.
“Loser” came out last fall on the Deadbeat album with the original “Dracula.” Once featured in the movie, its stream counts spiked by more than 850%. The music video stars Joe “Djo” Keery (Steve Harrington on Stranger Things). It debuted two weeks ago in our Top 20 at #14 and just this week shot up to #5. It’s a perfect example of people living in the moment. Nearly every single person requesting it says, “I just saw the movie” or “I’m gonna see it this weekend.” It’s our No. 5 request this week on Liveline. “Oh Yeah?” is Liveline’s No. 12 request this week.
People love these songs more than almost any other song right now, as evidenced by the huge streams and requests. So why wouldn’t stations be all over these pop moments that set them apart from every other format. Top 40 and Hot AC are the only two formats where you can really play the biggest current hits of any genre and attract the widest audience, if done right. Pop radio is the format with something to love for everyone.
CHR is quickly coming aboard on both songs—by radio standards. “Loser” is at No. 28 with +718 Mediabase spins as of Wednesday. “Oh Yeah” debuts at No. 39, +343. Both have the support of major stations. And yet, because streaming is so immediate, it still seems like radio is playing catch-up.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The streaming charts are primarily driven by 18–34-year-olds and show you exactly what they want to hear by the millions. It’s not the same as three teenagers telling you what they and their friends “like.” It is consistent, fresh, interesting, immediate, real, and valuable information. The numbers still need context; you have to evaluate why certain songs are charting well at any given time, whether it be streaming or radio airplay, both of which are often completely out of sync from each other.
Liveline is heard six nights a week on 90 affiliates and has been on the air six years. We receive over 1,000 tabulated requests per night via call, text and social media. The request tally we publish each week is increasingly the best tool for judging which streaming hits are also going to work as radio records.
Liveline is the only true source of request information these days. Few stations solicit or play requests now, and if they did, would not have the advantage of a large national database of affiliates and listeners that provide a clear representation of what real radio listeners want to hear. And our requests show that radio isn’t playing most of the top-streaming songs by the time listeners are calling for them more than other songs.
We are not talking about two or three requests for the #1 song, just voted by hardcore fans of the artist and repeat callers. We track and vet all of that stuff. The original John Garabedian version of Open House Party used to tabulate over 2,000 phone requests nightly at its peak from 1995-2005. What he saw was the same. The top four or five songs get more requests than every other current total. Many of the most requested songs weren’t getting significant airplay on other stations, and that was before streaming. Because of that, OHP was early on dozens of massive hits, not because John was psychic, but because he tallied requests and respected the very basic concept of respecting listeners’ choices first.
John was able to recognize a hit, but it was the confirmation from listeners that actually solidified his personal beliefs. “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga is the best example. Interscope wasn’t prioritizing the song at all, but John saw the video, recognized her starpower, heard the track in a club and felt that this was exactly where music was heading. It became the #1 request, and even then, most American stations still were not playing it much or at all. This, along with the song’s Canadian success, caught the eye of Interscope who made it a priority, and the rest is history. But if John didn’t see the listener requests coming in to support it, he would’ve dumped it.
Liveline is driven by the same ideas, concepts and formatics that made the original Open House Party so legendary. He is now at the epicenter of everything we do (aside from still being involved in everyday operations and being the literal creator of the show) and inspired me more than anything in my life. There is almost nothing inspiring or memorable about most music radio programming today, and the proof is the obvious decline in radio’s relevance and popularity among young people because it is constantly late on music trends and not clearly focused on entertaining the listener.
For the past 10 years, I have been archiving old airchecks of John’s Open House Party, many of which were sent to me by fans, recorded on VHS, CD, cassette and webstream. My uploads to YouTube and Mixcloud have generated over a million views. Like old Howard Stern shows, these were golden years of radio and never sounded like anything else on the air. There are subscribers who pay a monthly fee just to access these old shows in high quality–commercial free and downloadable, including PDs in top 20 markets from major broadcast companies who say they “owe everything” to John, simply because they could feel it. What show or station would prompt someone to go through all of that trouble, let alone even record something off the air now?
That’s why we pride ourselves on Liveline being in real time. We’re able to offer contests, prizes, dozens of live callers from all over the place, live beat mixing, hot remixes, superstar interviews, every audio element being fired manually on the board, and the vibe, soul and energy only a passionate, in-demo, super-talented host can deliver. It’s the combination of all those things that sparked me as 10-year-old in northern Wisconsin to want to do this for the rest of my life.
Liveline works nightly to create appointment listening and to build passionate loyal fans by connecting and creating FOMO. Our Liveline mobile app (livelineradio.com) streams the previous night’s live show nightly and replays it 24/7, and there are hundreds of daily listeners from all over the country who have it on during the day. It’s not just because of the music. It’s just an energy that something is going on, and they feel connected to what’s happening now. What is anyone doing today on voicetracks that is worth recording?
