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Grex > Oldmusic > #72: Music from a sociological perspective. | |
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| 11 new of 12 responses total. |
ea
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response 2 of 12:
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Jan 16 04:41 UTC 2002 |
Interesting essay. I would also say one of the trends is that small
independent radio stations are getting pushed out more by big
conglomerates such as ClearChannel. The big stations want to have
similarity from market to market, so more and more of the same stuff is
getting played in more areas.
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scott
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response 3 of 12:
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Jan 16 14:02 UTC 2002 |
Re the last sentence of #2: I don't think the majors necessarily want
similarity between markets. I think it's a side-effect of their way of doing
business. If you have several hundred radio stations you'd obviously use the
same playlist, promotions, and even air talent over as many as possible to
cut production costs.
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jaklumen
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response 4 of 12:
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Jan 17 08:15 UTC 2002 |
resp:1 well, I don't think it was just Elvis Presley. There was Carl
Perkins and Bill Haley, among others, that were fusing the 'black'
sound somewhat with the western swing style that what's-his-name and
his Texas Playboys had created. There's a big discussion on how rock
and roll was conceived, I believe, on the old music cf. The term was
originally coined by a DJ in order to get more 'race' or 'rhythm and
blues' played on the station that had currently banned it.
resp:3 No, of course I don't think Clear Channel or other major
networks intentionally create similarity. Scott's right. The biggest
thing to understand about the music industry (and I am including a lot
of business areas) is that they are all about keeping profits high and
costs low. The fact that radio formats also tend to be similar is
also likely to reflect the fact that appealing to the lowest common
denominator, in most cases, is going to maximize profit. Billboard's
categorizes tend to be what the formats are: Top 40, Adult
Contemporary, Urban/dance (used to be funk/disco, I think), Rock, and
Christian. There is also retro: Classic Rock, Best of (insert 2-3
decades here). Of course, with the Mexican radio I hear out here,
there is a plethora of campesino stations, along with a few, I think
Let me turn in a different direction, albeit slightly, to college
radio. When I was finishing up at Central Washington University,
there was a big debate regarding the fact that a number of DJs were
starting to play some current Top 40 and the like. Of course, you
realize that an unwritten and somewhat sacrosanct rule of college
radio is that it is mostly reserved for acts that have not yet broken
into mainstream sources. Although the station indubitably receives
government funding, I am sure that the station looks for means of
support. There are internships, club scenes, etc. I'm not sure if I
got the whole scoop, but I suppose it is impossible to keep all
college radio stations completely independent of the mainstream.
Rats, I should have done my homework.. I'm not sure if the university
media kept good coverage on it.
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mcnally
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response 5 of 12:
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Jan 17 10:52 UTC 2002 |
(Bob Wills was the leader of the Texas Playboys, I believe..)
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happyboy
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response 6 of 12:
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Jan 17 14:49 UTC 2002 |
yup. whats-his-name....jeeze.
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jaklumen
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response 7 of 12:
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Jan 18 11:55 UTC 2002 |
Bob Wills. Hey-- I don't always have a music encyclopedia at my side,
you know. What, you gonna critize because I couldn't remember the
name? =)
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happyboy
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response 8 of 12:
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Jan 18 13:28 UTC 2002 |
you forgot the name of bob wills...now prepare to die.
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mcnally
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response 9 of 12:
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Jan 18 14:02 UTC 2002 |
Actually, I think I'm with happyboy on this one.. :-p
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happyboy
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response 10 of 12:
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Jan 18 15:00 UTC 2002 |
see?
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tpryan
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response 11 of 12:
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Jan 18 17:49 UTC 2002 |
I can speak some on the Novelty/Comedy scene. As the owner
of about 8 feet of CDs of Novelty/Comedy/fun/Funny CDs, there is
a *lot* of artists with material out there. Finding it in the
record bins at 'skim the top of the market' stores (like K-mart,
Wal-Mart, Target) is hard.
Back in the early days of Rock and Roll radio (actually
true Top 40 radio) it seemed that there always was one funny tune
in the playlist any particular week. That is rare today. Lack
of airplay is in-part from the narrowing from the Top 40 sound to
Adult Contempoary (chicken-rock), Rock, Classic Rock, Oldies, Rap,
Urban and more. Other reasons include:
*) Radio stations follow each other. As we have larger
conglomerates, the more likely one is likly to have the same
playlist at the other. Even before the multi-station conglomerates,
many stations would subcribe to programing services ("consultants").
Any song a consultant gave the green light to would suddently be
getting airplay on 100 stations. The lower the local decision
making, the lower the variety.
*) Funny records get noticed, and when they do make it on
a station, gather a lot of requests. So much so that the song
can quickly burn out. Itself and the auidence that heard it
enough.
*) Radio personalities want to be funny and the focus of
the fun. Someone else being funny takes away from this. The
latest consultant approved method is for the DJ to keep the
mic open while playing something funny, so that 'e may talk,
laugh or what-not while it plays, making it part of 'is funny
bits.
*) Right, many record produces by-passed Weird Al, saying
he had great stuff, good talent, but would not produce it.
That is, they did not see it as Top Twelve material, thus
would not gamble on it. Weird Al's last CD, Running with
Scissors was a hit (Top 20) CD in the summer of 1999. It is
still in the record bins today, while others from the summer
of 1999 have already gone thru the clearence racks. Back in
time, it was Mel Blanc doing funny stuff for Capitol Records
that sold more copies than comptenporary Frank Sinatra records.
maybe more discussion later...I've done my keatsworth.
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jaklumen
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response 12 of 12:
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Jan 21 03:45 UTC 2002 |
thank you, sir-- I gladly expected you'd say something on that topic.
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