A to Z weekends & Top 500

[Deleted User 14803]

When was the last time Detroit Radio has had an A-Z weekend ,WCSX used to do Led Zeppelin A-Z and a few times a Rolling Stones A-Z and even a Beatles A-Z weekend ,also How about a Top 500 Classic Rock weekend like on a Holiday weekend, I’m not saying it’s creative but it was cool to hear this type of radio once in a while. And how about this! now that we have an Alternative Station in Detroit how about you clowns at Alt 106.7 consider doing a Top 500 Alternative songs of all time weekend, like it’s not tough finding 500 cool Alternative tunes from 1977- Today.Just saying!

[Mega Hertz]

WCSX has recently done "24 hours of" featuring Led Zeppelin and (shocker!) Bob Seger.

The reason you don't hear those much anymore is because of too many album cuts, deep tracks and, frankly, because in PPM, you WILL lose listeners. The guy down the dial WILL play the hits and take your listeners, too. Plus, the average Joe that usually listens doesn't know what's coming next. Could be a #1 Beatles hit or it could be a deep Traffic album cut. Joe wants to know what he's tuning in to hear.

Don't shoot the messenger; I've had this conversation with many a PD and MD. It's the way the ball bounces.

[Deleted User 14803]

Mega,It’s really sad that radio has reached this point,Again Corporate Radio sucks give radio back to the people and let the Little Guy be able to buy stations again.Just maybe will see this happening one day.

[Mega Hertz]

I'm not saying I like it, I'm not saying I agree with it, but it's the way it has to be. Also bear in mind, the deep cuts and album cuts YOU want to hear aren't really what the other listeners want and vice versa. I'd love to hear deeper Van Halen and Alice Cooper songs, but don't play any Pink Floyd or Foreigner deep cuts.

Ironically, over the holiday, SiriusXM was doing a free preview weekend. Every time I rolled by the Deep Trax channel, it was something I didn't know and didn't wanna know. It comes down to comfort. A vast majority knows and likes "Jump" but doesn't wanna hear Mean Street. They know and like "School's Out", but doesn't even know "From the Inside" exists. And yet there's a guy out there going "Play Interstellar Overdrive! Play See Emily Play!"

Like I said in the other thread, in 1975, when rock radio was still in its infancy, jocks had more freedom. Note that they didn't on CHR/Top 40 radio. They were always playing the hits. But in most cases, by 1975, you still only had a handful of bands and songs to go around. So you could go 3, 4 songs deep on a Zeppelin or Deep Purple album. Even then, there were still rules instituted. You still had to play an A song every hour, a B song every other hour, etc. Then the guy down the dial figured out the formula and put out his own version of it. Then more and more music started coming out. And "Oh, if they play these songs this many times an hour, we can do better if we step THAT up!". Then music testing. Then consultants. Do I think changes could be made for the better? Sure. But note my "I wanna hear MY deep cuts but not YOUR deep cuts" theory above. And if things worked that way, I'd be making the big bucks, going town to town, breathing down PD's necks. But because that isn't the case, I'm sitting here typing this. If I knew what really worked, I'd be in a studio right now instead of an office. As is life. See you down the dial.

[stopnswop2]

I remember at one point WCSX did just plain A-Z weekends and would play the entire playlist in alphabetical order.

[Deleted User 14803]

That’s true I forgot that one ,and some stations still once in awhile, do Block Party weekends .WABX back in the day did Two for Tuesday’s and 3 for all Thursday’s and at 11 PM every night did a Album Replay those were great days.

[Mega Hertz]

Those things have been around since rock radio was in its infancy. It's usually a way to push core artists or bands the station is playing that have a new single or album they're promoting. You usually don't see too much of that in other formats, generally in rock formats (AOR radio was notorious). I remember WLLZ and WRIF doing those. Twofer Tuesday still happens on Riff to this day. But it also goes back to the tune-out factor. "I hate Aerosmith and they're playing THREE songs? I'm out". Better hope that guy comes back!

[szmigiel]

The tune out factor for me is when a station is completely playlist controlled, where you know the songs on heavy rotation because they are practically played in the same order day after day. Where if they play classic hits, it is always the same songs, artist have only a few songs from their entire catalog worth playing on air. Usually it was whatever the biggest hit on their best selling album was, the others aren't even worth playing regardless if they were a hit back in the day. If they have a request line, it better be a song on their playlist or selected classics because otherwise they can't play it. In a day where I have more mp3s then radio station have access to it is pretty sad. Even stations that are playing classic hits, they always seem to be the same songs by the same artist. If they announce playing an artist coming up, you can probably guess what song it is before they play it.

I remember tuning into stations playing themed weekends plenty of times and keeping them on because I would get a chance to hear something I hadn't heard in a long time, or sometimes something new. I also fondly remember 3 2 1 Saturday nights when it was The Cutting Edge on 88.7. They would do 3 classic songs from a well known band, 2 songs from a band on the rasie, and then 1 new song from a band with a debut album. It keep me listening because even if the song on wasn't my favorite I knew the next one coming up would still be something I wanted to hear.

Even if a station I listen to regularly plays a song I don't like I will probably be back because the other stations aren't really playing anything worth tuning into and staying anyways.

[Chris1980]

When was the last time Detroit Radio has had an A-Z weekend ,WCSX used to do Led Zeppelin A-Z and a few times a Rolling Stones A-Z and even a Beatles A-Z weekend ,also How about a Top 500 Classic Rock weekend like on a Holiday weekend, I’m not saying it’s creative but it was cool to hear this type of radio once in a while. And how about this! now that we have an Alternative Station in Detroit how about you clowns at Alt 106.7 consider doing a Top 500 Alternative songs of all time weekend, like it’s not tough finding 500 cool Alternative tunes from 1977- Today.Just saying!

In the late '90s, Planet 96.3 did the 396 Coolest Flashbacks of all time every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend. I was more a fan of the classic alternative they played than anything else (with a little bit of classic WLLZ flavoring like Donnie Iris and Pat Benatar) so I always looked forward to that. I remember one Memorial Day weekend (I think it was 1997) 93-1 DRQ and Q95-5 both also had Top 500 countdowns going on in addition to Planet's top 396. I had a ball switching between the three all weekend to check them out. (Some of Planet's lists are visible by punching planet963.com into Archive.org.) And of course, WOMC had the Firecracker 500 every Fourth of July.

Back in the '60s and '70s CKLW did all-time Top 300 lists from time to time (the list from 1970 is posted on the Classic CKLW site). I also have a brief aircheck of the very end of a Top 500 countdown they did in 1975 - if memory serves their #1 song was "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas.

Funnily enough, the last station I recall doing an A-Z marathon was My 96-1 in the Tri-Cities. I doubt that list would interest too many here though.