I love a lot of core classic rock, but interestingly, in this article, where I live the most played group is Foreigner, whose music I hate. Fortunately when I do tune into the local classic rock radio station, they almost always seem to be playing something else, with a (perceived) emphasis on Queen, Pink Floyd, and/or AC/DC. Go figure. Maybe it's the times of day I tune in?
The odds are your "Classic Rock" staion is owned by Clear Channel, as Sandy pointed out, as they went on a massive acquisition campaign back in the late '00s.
Look at the numbers in that article, 2200-some odd songs in 37,000 some-odd plays, and they weren't all played the same number of times.
What are the odds, when I only listen to "Classic Rock" about an hour per week in my car, that I'm gonna hear "Hotel California" 10 times in 6 months? Same goes for Pink Floyd and Foreigner too, as you mention. And with Floyd, it's ALWAYS one of the "Wall" cuts, right?
Bill asked, "Why aren't the advertisers trying to suck
me in?" Actually, we're probably just outside the "spending demographic" now, but I'm getting a clue when all the commercials are about sleep number mattresses, and picking the right investment broker, or re-financing a mortgage, and that was Clear Channel's goal: present a monster to the advertisers to strongarm 'em on the rates, becasue that's what this business has always been about, right?
It ain't "Classic Rock", it's "Corporate Rock".
Speaking of reeling in a demographic, I got introduced to conservative talk radio as I was surfing the dial shortly before the first Bush-Obama campaign and stopped on an AM station that was playing the Dead's first single: "Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion". WHEN's the last time anybody here ever heard THAT on the radio? In the next 10 minutes I was treated to Country Joe and the Fish("Love" and "Superbird"), the Airplane (and it wasn't "Somebody to Love", it was "Blues From an Airplane"), the Seeds, the Standells, and a couple of other obscure summer of love one hit wonders even I'd forgotten about.
And that station was locked into my presets.
Next morning, here's a conservative talk show host ranting about how we've got too much government.
Yep, we were the counter-culture, we were protesting back then, and savvy political analysts know there's nobody more conservative than an reformed radical.
It lasted about 3 months and then no more counter-culture music.
In fact there was a complete format change to sports radio.
Follow the bucks.
SO now that I think about it, maybe we oughta be grateful there's at least a few diamonds scattered here and there in the Coroporate Rock playlists.
Waitaminnit, like a grateul dog licking the hand that chooses its scraps?
NOT.
:excitement:
