Today’s Hit Music – Adult Friendly?

2009-06-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

When I worked in Top 40 radio from 1985-1989 KDON was doing what was called “Mass Appeal Top 40,” meaning that instead of trying to only target a certain share of the listeners we tried to be everything for everybody. You would hear a rap song, followed by a rock song, then a New Wave tune, and maybe mainstream pop artists like Phil Collins or Howard Jones or Heart. We tended to be a little lighter during the workday so we could compete for the “at-work” listener and rocked out with The Beastie Boys and Poison and Salt N’ Pepa at night and on weekends. In 1989 the station decided to go in an Urban/R&B direction. At the time it meant more dance songs and rap and eliminated the rock, New Wave, and mainstream pop hits. Now the station is mostly rap with some R&B tunes and once in a while an Old School jam.

This sadly was the direction a lot of “Top 40” stations were heading in the late 80s and early 90s. The ones that stuck it out trying to play everything were snuffed out because they weren’t “hip” enough. The announcer sound of Top 40 from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s gave way to the “street cred” talk that most of us hear on the radio now. Top 40 became a very segmented format. The “Top 40” stations meant that they played the Top 40, minus the songs that wouldn’t fit the “hip” format, plus some extra songs from the Urban or Rock or Rap charts that DID fit the sound they were looking for. Very few stations like KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and Z-100 in New York stuck it out playing “all the hits,” and even these were heavily compromised. A station like KIIS would play a bunch of rap and R&B hits and then once or twice an hour they would play the obligatory non-Urban track so they could say “yes, we play all the hits….(eventually)” Even so the mainstream hits would be relegated to a few hours during the mid-day and overnight hours. A hip station like KIIS wouldn’t be caught dead playing Howard Jones after school or in the evening when the “hipness” factor had to be higher than the “hitness” factor. I truly believe that this style killed a lot of the big artists of our time. Hit music today doesn’t seem to be playing The Stones, Billy Joel, Elton John or Sting. Artists that were somehow able to survive from the 80s to today were Madonna, Janet Jackson, U2, Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson and to a slightly lesser extent, Aerosmith, and Will Smith (he was Fresh Prince in DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince for those that need a memory boost). These artists survived mainly because they stuck to the walls of their own genre or had a lot of extra support. Madonna, Janet, Michael and Will Smith were no-brainers…. They fit the urban sound that had dominated much of the late 80s and 90s. U2 and Depeche Mode had a huge fan base with Alternative Rock and generated enough buzz to stay in Top 40’s good graces….the same with Aerosmith, whose partnership with Run D-M-C in the late 80s kept them hip enough to rock on through the 90s. Even so, many “hit music” stations refused to play U2, Depeche Mode and Aerosmith because they were “rock” groups and wouldn’t be hip with the hip-hop crowd… so even if U2 had the number one song in the country, stations like KDON were NEVER going to play them again during their reign.

In the mid-1990s a hole needed to be filled to get the non-urban music out to radio. That hole was filled with a new format called “Hot Adult Contemporary.” These stations did the opposite of the Top 40 stations. They played the “other hits” and didn’t play the rap and street R&B or the real hard stuff. You know these stations. They are known then and now as “Star,” “Mix,” or even “Alice.” A new brand of artists began appearing on the charts thanks to these stations. Artists like Matchbox 20, Sarah McLaughlin, Nickelback, and Dido. We tubthumped with Chumbawamba and Savage Garden. Many of the “hip” Top 40 stations started to take notice and slip some of these artists into the mix… usually keeping it within that 2 or 3 song an hour rotation during the workday hours, still sticking with the rap at night.

Now here we are at the end of the 2000s. I read an article from Sean Ross, who writes a column online called “Ross on Radio” for the radio industry. He was mentioning that there are a lot of hit songs today that are “adult-friendly” and I realize that I’ve started actually liking a lot of the Top 40 hits being played nowadays, after about a 15-year absence of not listening to hit music on the radio. Oh sure, there were some artists I would listen to now and then, but since 1992 or so I could not listen to more than 20 minutes or so of straight Top 40 radio. The other day I found myself listening to Top 40 radio for nearly two hours without switching, and the only reason I switched was because the songs were starting to repeat, as per the just under two hour rotation common with most Top 40 stations. Traditionally Top 40, or hit music is geared toward people in the 18-34 year old bracket, predominantly women. At night it tends to skew down to age 12-25. Hot adult contemporary targets ages 25-54. I am one month from turning 40. Why am I starting to like what constitutes hit music these days?

There could be a number of reasons for this. One, is there may be more from the talent pool these days. Singer-Songwriters are coming back into the fold (John Mayer, Katie Perry, Taylor Swift). Teen pop, although shallow in the lyrics department, appeals to an adult audience too. The Hip Hop department is sporting a wider appeal sound these days too, with artists like Black Eyed Peas, Akon, and Timbaland. And even the dance-pop Lady Gaga and Fergie put out is basically un-offensive pop that appeals to adults as well.

Another reason is that kids these days are not getting their music from the radio anymore. It’s all Internet downloads and iPods, while adults are still listening at work and slow to jump on track with new technology. We’re still getting our music from the radio….and without the kids to appeal to, guess who is structuring the Top 40 today? We are!!! We have taken back control of the music charts!

In 1997 my friend Mike and I worked in radio together and we decided to deconstruct hit music as a cyclical factor. There are trends in the music industry that favor predominant patterns of “black” and “white” formats. Now, before anyone calls the race card on me I am simply saying that the charts were either predominantly white artists or black artists. Follow this example - Let’s start with the early 1960s for lack of going back further. Besides this was the first FULL decade that the “rock n’ roll” style of music existed….we could go back further and you’d see that it followed the same cycle. In the early 60s we had doo-wop, and country but by the mid-60s it was Beatles and other psychedelic (British-style) rock. (The Who, The Monkees, Herman’s Hermits) Then in the late 60s we started to get more into Motown, which also ran into the early 70s. Then it was hard rock (we know it today as classic rock). In the late 70s of course the Disco era began, and when that was over in 1981-1982 we started to get on the New Wave train as British techno-pop and some rock began to influence the charts. By the late 80s we were getting into early rap and R&B and dance, which carried over into the early 90s. There was a small hiccup of young country and late 80s early 90s hair bands but by the mid-90s we started to get the aforementioned “Hot AC” artists which were a combination of grunge and alterna-pop. In the early 2000s rap and some hip hop came in full force, making Top 40 radio virtually unlistenable until about 2005 or 2006 when today’s singer songwriters and more “adult” artists of today started to populate the charts…. Which brings us to today.

I decided to check out the most popular artists from the last 20 years, and compare what we were listening to on the radio. Let’s look at 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003 and today.

In 1988 we had George Michael, INXS, Rick Astley, Guns N’ Roses, Whitney Houston, Belinda Carlisle, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Phil Collins and Steve Winwood.

In 1993 the big artists were Whitney Houston (still), Janet Jackson, SWV, Mariah Carey, and some novelty rap records, and smooth R&B (R Kelly, Shai, etc.)

In 1998 big artists were Next, Brandy, Monica, Shania Twain, Savage Garden, LeAnn Rimes, Janet Jackson (still), Usher, Matchbox 20 and Sugar Ray

In 2003, the big artists were 50 Cent, Sean Paul, Beyonce, Jay-Z, 3 Doors Down, Matchbox 20 (still), Aaliyah, Evanescence, Gwen Stefani

And today we have FloRida, Timbaland, Sara Bareilles, Miley Cyrus, All-American Rejects, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

So it doesn’t prove my point EXACTLY, but I think you can see the pattern. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts and maybe expanding on my idea….and if I got too technical and bored you with this, it was meant for radio people and people that said “oh, yeah…..I see where this is going.”

CheckPOINT - February 20, 2009 - Was Ryanair really ahead of the curve?

2009-02-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

by Jeff Gerstl (Travel Hub Radio) Special--

I read last week that United Airlines is going to drop its customer complaint and compliment line. The phone line, currently based in India, will be going offline altogether by the end of April. The number is currently being removed from the website and all literature over the next couple of months. The airline is going to force customers to instead write the letters of complaints (compliments, in parentheses because this happens so rarely) via e-mail or snail mail.

In the airline industry, many times when one airline makes what they believe to be a "cost-cutting" move, the other airlines almost immediately follow suit. It happened long ago when airlines began cutting travel agent commissions, eventually to zero. It happened when someone came up with the "fuel surcharge." It happened when airlines began taking away free food and onboard amenities. It most recently happened when airlines began charging for checked bags (my sincere thanks to Southwest Airlines for not taking these privileges away). Now, United pulls a customer complaint line. Not only does this take jobs away (from India or otherwise), it allows United to control the entire complaint/compliment process. They can even choose to not respond if they wish.

According to the article I read, American Airlines and Delta, which are the two largest airlines in the US, also do not manage customer complaints and comments via telephone, directing passengers to write via mail or e-mail. And now that Delta has taken over Northwest, also a major airline, that means that Northwest won't have this service much longer. Continental Airlines, an airline that I probably have the most respect for, will continue (for now) to include a Customer Care Department to handle these issues. Is there any wonder that Southwest Airlines, which treats their customers much better, does so well against the legacy carriers?

I am reminded of Europe's Ryanair when I hear about this. For those that don't know, Ryanair is a very low-cost carrier based in Ireland. They offer very low cost fares throughout Europe. However, they don't offer much else. They have been criticized as being rude to the customers, all the way up to CEO Michael O'Leary, who has been known to shout at passengers that they should feel lucky that they pay such low fares to travel and essentially to "shut it." One controversial move had no way to contact the airline except to use a Premium rate phone number, fax, or post mail. They didn't even offer an e-mail address. Eventually British Parliament forced Ryanair to offer e-mail access as well.

Ryanair also led the way in Europe with "extra fees." They always charged extra for checked baggage, added airport taxes, and even surcharges for using a credit or debit card to pay for flights. Although they claim to be one of the most popular airlines, due to their low fares, they also hold a reputation as being a real "bad boy" when it comes to operations. To a lesser extent, London-based low-cost carrier EasyJet also doesn't hold the best customer service reputation, but they score several marks higher than Ryanair. I also hold respect for them because I was in e-mail contact at one point with EasyJet Founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou to appear on Travel Hub Radio as a guest. We could never nail down an interview time however.

So maybe, unfortunately, Ryanair is on to something. We are increasingly being asked to bend over further and further as the major airlines claim their profits are shrinking and are feeling bolder to add charges for everything. Now the airlines get to keep the fares relatively low, and screw us with the extra charges, and lack of service. Who is the winner in air travel now?