Did that radio station just play Britney after an Eagles song?

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Does anyone remember the days when many radio stations would play Jimi Hendrix followed by The Jackson Five, then a Glen Campbell song? That was certainly a good way to introduce a young person like myself to different genres of music. I spent many hours of my preteen life (in the early 70's) listening to New York's "Musicradio" WABC. They were playing the newest pop songs and played them very frequently. I vaguely recall something known as "instant replay", where they would actually play the same new song twice in row. Over the years, I've decided that I prefer what has now become the norm for radio stations and that is to play only a specific chosen genre or decade. Even though I love to occasionally listen to ABBA, I don't want to hear Van Halen next. I recently had a DJ job at a local radio station working the 7-12PM slot. The general manager (a nice guy) is also the program director. He basically purchased a collection of mixed genre songs that were deemed very likable for the "average" listener specifically the average female listener. These songs are from the 60's through now and were all in the top forty at one time or another but Rock songs were mostly excluded. My gripes while working there were several things. First, there were very few Rock songs. Being a guy, I love most rock music except for Heavy Metal. Second, I would be jumping from one decade (and genre) to the next. For example, I might play the classic Eagles song "Hotel California" then have to play a Britney Spears song right after that. Those two artists just don't belong on the same radio station in my opinion. And finally, the songs that we were playing never changed. The computer would simply shuffle the same set of songs around so as not to be heard at the same time each day. The station's small collection did not include the many thousands of other great songs from the past four decades and although the station boasts variety, if you listen often enough, within a week or two, you'll have heard almost every song on the play list. I will admit that if a station is playing strictly old songs then obviously they will eventually go through their entire collection no matter how big it is. That's why great DJ's are very important to keep people listening. So for the station manager's reasons and my own reasons, I no longer work there. Anyway, I'm glad most radio stations today stick with a specific genre instead of trying to include everyone's taste in music. I can enjoy songs from The Andrew Sisters to Pat Benatar to Dolly Parton. Or Dean Martin to Ozzy Osbourne to Kenny Rogers. Basically anything but RAP. But I don't want to hear all those artists together. When I'm in the mood for any of them, I'll find a station that plays their music style. That's just my middle aged opinion.

4 Your comments?

joe said...

I just can't see, in concert, The Eagles opening for Britney Spears.. that just seems so wrong...

October 17, 2009 at 6:21 AM
Ed Donnelly said...

Joe,
Thanks for checking out my blog. Yours is really enjoyable.

October 17, 2009 at 10:38 AM
joe said...

Thanks Ed! You don't have a bad place here yourself, btw.

October 17, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Anonymous said...

ED..Just checked your blog for the first time. Loved reading about your taste in radio programming!

October 27, 2009 at 4:56 PM