4.10.12 NNN Awards, New Single??, Concert news??

Interesting info! I was confused about this before... Thanks for clearing it up, aralid.

This is long and rambling, so scroll away if needed. After listening to Trespassing at the NNN, I’m in love with the song. I’m singing and dancing around the house with it in my head. I would love to hear this on the radio. Why would radio not play it? Why is it considered not safe? Why this? Why that? Why?

Every time the whole “what will get played on the radio” thing comes up, my brain comes up with tons of questions. Before becoming a fan of an artist via the internet, I didn’t even really think about it. How did PD’s decide what to play when I was a pre-teen and teenager? I grew up listening to all types of music. 50’s and 60’s oldies via my Mom and Aunt’s old albums. Old time country (Eddy Arnold, Merle Haggard, etc.) via my Aunt’s albums. Old standard types of artists (Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Sinatra, etc.).

I listened to an AM top 40 pop station on the radio. Were those songs the equivalent of the stuff that is played on top 40 now? I have the 70’s Time Life cd collection and know every word to every song on 6 cd’s. When I thought about that, I realized that I hardly ever bought a 45 or album of the artists that got played on top 40, yet I really liked all of the songs.

My first album was Moody Blues Days of Future Past. Sure, Nights in White Satin was a major hit on radio, but I bought the entire album because my older cool cousin played it for me and I loved almost every single song. I remember loving Elton’s Rocket Man on the radio. I probably bought that 45, but my first Elton album was Madman Across the Water. They weren’t playing Levon and Tiny Dancer on top 40. The same cousin, when hearing that I liked Rocket Man, played Madman for me and I was in love. OT, but I like a lot of Elton’s older album cuts better than the songs that became his mega hits.

Then came Loggins and Messina. I guess their radio hits were Your Mama Don’t Dance and Danny’s Song which I liked. I don’t remember how I learned about their albums and came to love every single song on every single album (better than their radio hits) – possibly the same cousin.

Through the years a lot of my favorite artists were those who were not played on top 40 radio. I’m talking in circles here, but how the hell do artists really become stars? It’s got to have a lot to do with radio play, but then I remember not buying a lot of music that was played on top 40 over the years, yet I liked their songs. Do today’s fans really mostly buy what they hear on the radio?

Then there is the classic rock station that I used to listen to faithfully. After a while, I realized that they played the same songs over and over. One DJ would play songs “off the back wall” which were album cuts. I looked forward to that one song every day. Several years ago, they announced that Loggins and Messina were doing a reunion tour. I was excited to say the least and got tickets to two shows. They were giving away tickets and talking about how great the concerts were. I e-mailed the DJ and requested she play some of their songs. Her reply was that the songs weren’t considered classic rock and weren’t on their playlist. The next time this happened was when Elton John and Leon Russell made “The Union” a few years ago. The DJ’s gushed over it. It got rave reviews. I got tickets in the second row at the Beacon for their first tour date. Again, I e-mailed the DJ and requested they play some songs off the album. The reply – Sorry, but that is new music, not classic rock. Same thing happened when Bob Seger came out with an album and toured several years ago. Lot’s of promoting, gushing and ticket give aways, but they never ever played any of the new songs.

I guess all of this rambling is just about why I do not understand radio. Just curious if others have thought about this and have had the same experiences.

I disagree. Kelly Clarkson, the first idol winner broke thru the wall on radio a long time ago. She currently has the #1 pop song in the country. Daughtry has had pretty significant successs on radio, hell even Adam had success with WWFM. It's about the climate of radio and what songs they are playing at the moment not about whether they came from Idol.

With the right song and the right support from RCA radio will play Adam. I personally think that song is NCOE. It's the most radio friendly of the 4 snippets we heard (other than Naked Love which unfortunately doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of getting on radio sung by a gay guy). The Bruno connection helps tremendously and should be taken advantage of.

ITA!