From: jwg@acd4.acd.com ( Jim Grey )
Subject: Re: KIIS-FM 
Originator: wdp@gagme
Organization: Applied Computing Devices, Inc., Terre Haute IN
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:07:48 GMT

In article <1992Sep26.072602.960@gagme.chi.il.us> jim@jimmc.chi.il.us (Jim
McNicholas) writes:
>prmount@attmail.att.com (Paul R Mount) writes:
>>[Moderator's Note:  Yes I, too, am sick of predictable, sanitized oldies and
>>so-called 'classic' hits. I have no problem with playing music of past days,
>>but there are so many many songs that are NEVER played.  Every once in a
>>while they play a 'lost hit' that is not in the '100 safest' list. I
>>immediately get riveted back to the time it was a hit.  But such
>>predictability is not limited to oldies, it is everywhere.  I miss radio.]

>I also miss radio and we have a whole category of WOW songs, WILDFLOWER 
>by skylark!!  Remember that one!
>sure is fun to here them once in a while though which is all you'll hear 
>em after they play they rest for almost a week before they play again and 
>they gotta play in all dayparts before it comes back to the original 
>daypart!

This is one of my pet peeves about radio today -- the fear in the hearts of
Program Directors to play anything that isn't familiar -- read done to death.
As I punch the buttons and twiddle the knobs part-time at the local rock
outlet, I say:  If I have to play Smoke on the Water and Comfortably Numb
and all that again, I may just have to start tearing out my hair, follicle by
follicle.   
 
As a listener, I sure don't want to listen to a station that plays only stuff
I've never heard, or only oldies I vaguely remember -- that gets boring.  But
I really, really LOVE to hear a good "wow!" on a regular basis.  Once per
hour for one of those bottom-level categories (our Selector is set up so it's
Category I) and you'll make a loyal listener out of me every time. 
 
As for Skylark's "Wildflower"; when I worked at a full-service AM here in
Terre Haute, that was on the playlist as more than just an
every-now-and-again.
We were targeting 25-54s with a mix of news, talk, personality morning and
afternoon drives, and hits from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  That was just about
exactly the kind of thing we looked for, mixing it well with stuff from
Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, the Beatles, and a whole bunch of other pop tunes
from when I grew up.  Unfortunately, ownership didn't like the format, and
pulled the plug on it even before it could see its first book.  Too bad.
 
I just came off an "all request weekend" at the rock station.  Overwhelmingly,
requests were for the same top 100 songs we always play.  It's unfortunate,
but the old tried-and-true seems to be what the unwashed masses want to hear.
We compiled all our request logs from the past year and also solicited cards
and letters for listeners'  five fave rock tunez of all time, and presented
a "Top 500 of All Time" deal over Labor Day weekend.  Guess what the top five
songs were.  Hotel California, Layla, Stairway to Heaven ... You can 
probably fill in the rest of them.  The listeners chose these songs.  They 
really went nuts over the last hour of the countdown, where the top ten or
so songs were played.  They loved every minute of it.  Those of us in the
booth were holding our noses at the overplayed wonders on the list.
 
I really wonder if there's anyone else out there like me who likes to be
challenged occasionally by a depth track, and likes to hear the occasional
"Wow!" tune, on top of the standard and familiar.                
 
jim grey
jwg@acd4.acd.com

Newsgroups: rec.radio.broadcasting