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sriv94
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| Posted: 07 September 2022 at 3:54pm | IP Logged
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Since some of you are a little more connected in the radio biz than I am, maybe you can answer this. Let
me give you the long drawn-out story. Grab yourself a beverage. :)
Over the Labor Day weekend, SiriusXM's 70s on 7 channel did a listener-voted countdown of the Top 1000 of
the 70s. And it was for the most part really well done. Lot of variety--including a number of songs
that haven't aired on the channel in quite a while (even going back to the days when it was under
different management and the music selection was a lot more liberal). An anonymous Reddit user (no, it
wasn't me) was adventurous enough to listen to the entire top 1000. He/she was even more adventurous
enough to type out the top 1000 longhand (for the benefit of the those of me who couldn't listen for all
58-some hours of the countdown). So I thought to myself, "Self, I have all of these songs in my library,
so why not create a playlist just to be able to refer to it?" (I'm traveling next month, and it'd be
great to load it onto my iPhone to listen on the plane.)
I start work, I'm moving along at a really good clip (taking an all-70s playlist I have and working from
there), and I find that Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City" (great record) winds up at 991...and
at 596. Oy. While I love the record and could listen to it more than twice, somehow I don't think that
what the programmer had in mind when compiling the votes. And doing a search of XMplaylist.com does
indeed indicate the song was played twice within the 58-some hours of the countdown. EDIT: As does the On
Demand section on the app.
So the question is this--does anyone know who handles the programming for SiriusXM 70s on 7 so I can at
least try to get an answer as to which position "Living For The City" should've been and what song should
have been played in the other position?
Thx!
Edited by sriv94 on 08 September 2022 at 8:50pm
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 07 September 2022 at 9:13pm | IP Logged
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Ron Parker, who did afternoons at
WLS-FM a few years ago and is on 70s
on 7 now, is pretty active on
Facebook. You may want to reach out
to him directly and he might be able
to find out for you.
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sriv94
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| Posted: 07 September 2022 at 10:17pm | IP Logged
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eriejwg wrote:
Ron Parker, who did afternoons at WLS-FM a few years ago and is on 70s on 7 now, is
pretty active on Facebook. You may want to reach out to him directly and he might be able to find out
for you. |
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That's an idea. And I am friends with him on the Book of Face.
Thx!
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Paul C
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| Posted: 08 September 2022 at 5:45am | IP Logged
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Might one of them actually be the superb 1975 version by
Ray Charles, which won the 1975 R&B Male Vocal Grammy (#91
Hot 100, #22 R&B)?
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sriv94
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| Posted: 08 September 2022 at 6:40am | IP Logged
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Paul C wrote:
Might one of them actually be the superb 1975 version by
Ray Charles, which won the 1975 R&B Male Vocal Grammy (#91
Hot 100, #22 R&B)? |
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I would seriously doubt it. That’s a deep cut even for them. :)
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Scanner
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| Posted: 08 September 2022 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
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Did "You Light Up My Life" rank at all on this countdown?
I always marvel how that song is never included in any '70s
retrospectives that are not determined objectively (e.g.
charts, record sales). I was stunned when I watched "The
Year In Music" for 1977 on AXS-TV and they did not even
mention the song - they even listed the year's biggest
Grammy winners and only noted "Evergreen" as Song Of The
Year. The fact that this was the only time two songs tied
for the award would have been worth noting "Light" for that
reason alone.
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sriv94
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| Posted: 08 September 2022 at 6:14pm | IP Logged
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Scanner wrote:
| Did "You Light Up My Life" rank at all on this countdown? |
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Yes. 450.
It was listener-voted, so make from that what you will.
Edited by sriv94 on 08 September 2022 at 8:30pm
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Hykker
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| Posted: 09 September 2022 at 6:06am | IP Logged
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sriv94 wrote:
| It was listener-voted, so make from that what you will. |
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Uhhhh, yeah.
I take these "listener voted" surveys with a tablespoon of salt. Only a VERY small percentage of listeners EVER contact a "station" for any
reason, let alone vote for these things, and you'd never even know about it if you weren't a S-XM subscriber so it's not exactly a
representative group who's voting here.
Back in the 70s I worked for a station that did a couple of these type of holiday weekend countdowns, and I can assure you that much fudging of
the results took place!
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torcan
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| Posted: 10 September 2022 at 8:32am | IP Logged
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Hykker wrote:
sriv94 wrote:
It was listener-voted, so
make from that what you will. |
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Back in the 70s I worked for a station that did a couple
of these type of holiday weekend countdowns, and I can
assure you that much fudging of
the results took place! |
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There wasn't fudging just on these all-time lists, but
many radio station's weekly charts as well.
Here in Toronto, both CHUM and CFTR published weekly
charts in the newspapers. Both referred to them as
"Toronto's Top Singles". During the '80s, CHUM's format
changed to more of a rock/alternative format and many hit
songs (like "Physical") never appeared on their lists.
When "Thriller" hit big in '83, they moved back to more
of a pop direction again.
When I was in college. one of my instructors was a former
CHUM employee. I asked him about the charts they
compiled and he said "...basically you bull----, you TELL
people that's what the No. 1 song is".
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NightAire
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Hi, another former radio jock here, can confirm: radio station charts are a combination of listener input, staff guesswork, and Music Director opinions.
Filled in one night in 1990 for the night jock on my local top 40. They did a "Top 8 At Eight" every weeknight. Asked where the log of requests were so I could start totaling them up.
Was LAUGHED at, told we couldn't trust requests (partially true), and shown how listener input influenced but didn't determine the nightly countdown:
"That song wouldn't have fallen from here to there, so we'll only move it a space or two. This song doesn't fit our format even though it got enough requests to land on the charts. We're wanting to see how many people will start reporting they like this song so we're putting it on the countdown every night..."
I left the studio that night even more disillusioned than I had been before (which I didn't think was possible).
(FWIW, when I survey people for my internet station every week, I'm ACTUALLY counting each vote and ACTUALLY playing songs more or less often based on the votes of my listener advisory board... 12 listeners who tell me each week what they think. That's why I think I can win, because I know broadcast stations DON'T do that. They think they're "smarter" than the listener. Sad, really.)
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Scanner
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| Posted: 10 September 2022 at 2:03pm | IP Logged
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At least Debby made it onto the countdown. I always "enjoy"
how much these listener voted countdowns deviate from what
actually occurred on the charts and was heard on the radio
back when. I appreciate time does not age all songs the
same. "Physical" was is in the midst of its ten week reign
atop the Billboard Hot 100 when Journey's "Don't Stop
Believing" peaked at No. 9. Yet, it is Journey that 40
years later is played and streamed more often than most
current songs!
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AdvprosD
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I honestly never cared much for this Debby Boone song, ever!
I ended up at Debby Boone school one night at a wedding. Seems I was having a bit of trouble reading the room at a gig.
One near-teen came up to me a couple times and requested "You Light Up My Life" more than once. I was figuring that a bad night couldn't get much worse after a few requests. So,
I played it, and while I was expecting to be shot by the younger crowd, (Which also greatly outnumbered the older ones), the floor filled all the way up!
Still to this day, I can't understand what was working with Debby. This group was at least two generations behind the music.
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sriv94
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| Posted: 12 September 2022 at 8:42am | IP Logged
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Which reminds me of one of the great radio bits in the history of WLS in Chicago. Nighttime jock John
Records Landecker (one of the greatest of all time) couldn't stand the song, so he hatched a brilliant
idea to play the song and keep his sanity. He had the engineer divide the song into twelve 17-second
increments, and then he'd play each increment during the course of his four-hour show (he called it "The
Debby Boone Installment Plan").
Edited by sriv94 on 12 September 2022 at 8:43am
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Santi Paradoa
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Great story Doug. Love the punch line ("The Debby Boone
Installment Plan"). So is there a link somewhere online
that takes us to the entire list for this countdown?
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eriejwg
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Hi Santi,
The only link to the list I found is on Reddit. The link
first takes you to 1000-751 but the other links are within
the thread.
https://www.reddit.com/r/70smusic/comments/x5dabw/siriusxm_
70s_on_7_top_1000_hits_of_the_1970s/
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Santi Paradoa
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Thanks John G.
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Hykker
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AdvprosD wrote:
One near-teen came up to me a couple times and requested "You Light Up My Life" more than once. I
was figuring that a bad night couldn't get much worse after a few requests. So,
I played it, and while I was expecting to be shot by the younger crowd, (Which also greatly outnumbered the older
ones), the floor filled all the way up!
Still to this day, I can't understand what was working with Debby. This group was at least two generations behind the
music. |
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The song was #1 for 10 weeks in 1977...clearly a lot of somebodies liked it back then. Thing is, because it was on the
charts for so long lots and lots of those same somebodies got really really tired of it.
To a younger generation, it was more like discovering a new song.
sriv94 wrote:
He had the engineer divide the song into twelve 17-second
increments, and then he'd play each increment during the course of his four-hour show (he called it "The
Debby Boone Installment Plan"). |
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Hopefully, this was done as a one-time joke with the OK of the PD.
Is there a DJ anywhere who hasn't had to play songs they didn't like? Thing is, your job is to come across like you
love it and can't wait to play it again with the speakers cranked.
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crapfromthepast
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I'd guess that the PD approved the Installment Plan. It was likely well into the song's chart run, and the joke struck the tone that we all (including the listeners) were a little tired of the song.
In 1983, WPLJ in New York had a "Maniac-free Weekend", which basically acknowledged that we were all a little tired of the Michael Sembello hit. They ran "Maniac-free Weekend" sweepers during the whole thing, and might have even teased it beforehand. I thought it was a great stunt that resonated with me (as a listener).
But I can't think of any other time when a radio station actively disparaged one of its songs. (I remember some jock saying something like "this is really a hit" when playing "Achy Breaky Heart", but that's as far as it went.)
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Scanner
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| Posted: 14 September 2022 at 9:07am | IP Logged
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I recall a "No Bee Gees" weekend on a local Top 40
station a few months after "Saturday Night Fever" was
released. As a kid, I got the point, but I did wonder
what Bee Gees fanatics thought of the stunt.
(Ironically, I recall the same station playing Debby
Boone after "Light" dimmed (sorry, couldn't resist!)
introducing the song by saying, "Here's Debby Boone for
you one more time!")
Thanks for posting the countdown - a very intriguing list
more representative of songs that were actual hits back
when than I thought it would be. Could you imagine if
any station still regularly played many of the songs that
were featured?!?
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PopArchivist
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crapfromthepast wrote:
I'd guess that the PD approved the Installment Plan. It was likely well into the song's chart run, and the joke struck the tone that we all (including the listeners) were a little tired of the song.
In 1983, WPLJ in New York had a "Maniac-free Weekend", which basically acknowledged that we were all a little tired of the Michael Sembello hit. They ran "Maniac-free Weekend" sweepers during the whole thing, and might have even teased it beforehand. I thought it was a great stunt that resonated with me (as a listener).
But I can't think of any other time when a radio station actively disparaged one of its songs. (I remember some jock saying something like "this is really a hit" when playing "Achy Breaky Heart", but that's as far as it went.)
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I think one morning when I was driving back in 2019 the station here in Albany (102.3) morning show was like "If anyone requests Old Town Road we are not playing it. Let's move on people."
If you didn't know Ron, Old Town Road was #1 for 19 weeks and pretty much consumed the air waves for most of 2019. I sure know that I could listen to Maniac 200 more times compares to Old Town Road!
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Semi-OT: SiriusXM 70s on 7 Top 1000
