Apologize, 'Apologize'
Saturday, December 1, 2007
From NYT: 'Radio’s Newest Strategy: Play a Hit, Again and Again':
For the millions of Americans who listened to Top 40 radio last week, it was almost impossible to miss “Apologize,” the string-tinged elegy performed by the modern rock band OneRepublic and remixed by the eclectic producer Timbaland.
WIOQ-FM, a pop station in Philadelphia, played the song 123 times last week, letting as little as 50 minutes tick by between repeat spins. And this month, “Apologize” broke the record for the most plays of a song on the nation’s Top 40 stations in a single week since computerized tracking began in 1990. The song played more than 10,240 times in a week, reaching an estimated audience of more than 70 million listeners, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, an airplay monitoring service, and the chart-keepers at Radio & Records, a music trade magazine.
What's to say here, except I'm really, really glad I don't listen to Top 40 radio. Even allowing for Timbaland's gifts -- hey he got me to listen to Justin Timberlake, but this song is fairly pedestrian -- those numbers above are insane.
I guess I'm not really the target demographic for Top 40 anymore, but when I turn on a radio, I guess I'm hoping to be surprised occasionally. Not all the time; songs gain charm from wearing a groove in your brain on repetition. But if you're playing the same song every 50 minutes, where's the room for surprise?
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Posted by Jester (Nick Spacek) on December 1, 2007 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Repetition may let me get used to a song, but it's more to the point where I don't even notice it. Just because I hear a song fairly often doesn't mean I'll get to the point where I like it. I may tolerate it, but it's equally as likely that I'll want to call up the radio station and scream at them to play something different.
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on December 1, 2007 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ahh. The paradigm is shifting. Radio is becoming a toilet bowl. Well, it has been, but the stains are etching into the porcelain. The democracy of the new media is good for the listener willing to do a little work. Radio will be the last theater of war for mega corporation branding and promotion. I'm also a bit past the top 40 demographic, but they are after my kids. The key is to be too busy too listen to radio.
Posted by lilchick (anonymous) on December 1, 2007 at 1:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, am I glad that we live so far out in the boonies top 40 stations don't reach us very well (the static make it even more headache inducing!) and that we have Sirius and lot of records to occupy our time.
However, we are also incredibly out of touch with society as I don't know who Timbaland is!
Posted by CafeSiren (anonymous) on December 1, 2007 at 10:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This reminds me of a recent news story on musician/producer T-Pain, explaining why, with six performer or producer credits on songs out right now, you're more than likely to hear his work if you tune into just about any hip-hop-format station:
"Most stations have about 16-20 songs in their rotation."
16-20. That's...what? Two to two-and-a-half hours of unique programming (if you count out 20 minutes of every hour for commercials and chatter)?
This would make me crazy, in very short order, no matter what the music was.
Posted by Jester (Nick Spacek) on December 2, 2007 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard that story on NPR, and it gave me a headache. It's not surprising, however. Radio stations (especially top 40) have been that way since the format was created - going on 60 years now. It's not a case of "the radio used to be better," unless you're talking about the first five years or so of FM.
Posted by Weezy_Jefferson (anonymous) on December 2, 2007 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Back in the mid to late 80s, a Topeka DJ got in trouble for repeatedly playing "Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer" over and over and over. Come to think of it...this was the same DJ who played "Rock Me, Amadeus" three times in a row one afternoon when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on December 2, 2007 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
and people try to say media consolidation isn't a problem?
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