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[RadioInsight] A Radio History of Fleetwood Mac
RadioInsight /////////////////////////////////////////// A Radio History of Fleetwood Mac Posted: 23 Oct 2020 09:30 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/ross/200130...fleetwood-mac/ Over Christmas break 1976, I went to visit a radio friend and asked him about “Go Your Own Way,” the new Fleetwood Mac single, which I hadn’t heard yet. “It’s just okay,” he said. “They’re going to be a one album band.” Six months later, they were clearly more than that. “Dreams” was No. 1, already the inescapable song of the summer, and I was never able to enjoy hearing it on the radio again.* But I sought out “Dreams” on the radio this week because WWWQ (Q99.7) Atlanta is playing it as a current. Since it began playing the song a week ago, five other Cumulus Top 40 outlets have followed suit, including WSSX (95SX) Charleston, S.C., and WNTQ (93Q) Syracuse, N.Y. Cumulus VP Top 40 Louie Diaz compares it to the movie-driven “bring-backs” of the ‘80s and ‘90s.” Now, TikTok has that kind of influence. So, he explained in a recent memo to the sales and airstaff, “we will treat it like a current song. You don’t need to wait for a DJ like KYGO to remix the song. People love it as it is So when you hear it into the Weeknd or Post Malone on Q99.7, don’t think it’s weird.” “Dreams” didn’t sound out of place on Q99.7, perhaps because when I heard it, it was coming out of “Circles,” another song with a similar loping feel. It was followed by a brief whisper sweeper and Saint Jhn’s “Roses.” The segue didn’t sound abrupt; “Dreams” winds to its conclusion in a way that makes it easy to schedule next to a lot of songs. But “Roses,” which had started to feel a little less unusual after six months, sounded hotter than ever. “Dreams” is indeed one of those pop-culture moments that current-based formats should acknowledge. Like Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” two years ago, it doesn’t fix anything. It does show up Top 40’s current product issues, in the same way that “Bohemian Rhapsody” did in 1992. But that’s not Stevie Nicks’ fault, and it buys PDs some more time to address those issues. If the familiarity of its hook helps propel “Dreams” toward power rotation — think Surf Mesa — we can discuss that later. It is interesting that TikTok would propel Fleetwood Mac on to the airwaves at even the handful of CHRs that have played it thus far, at a time when a once-reliable act was in danger of being reduced to one enduring song at Classic Hits radio. So here are some thoughts on Fleetwood Mac’s radio history: In 1977, the simultaneous success of the Rumours album and the Eagles’ Hotel California was the epicenter of multiple trends: the increased overshadowing of Top 40 by Album Rock Radio; the mainstreaming of AOR at the Lee Abrams-consulted “Superstars” stations; the rise of Adult Contemporary radio on FM, with many of its first stations having evolved from “Soft Rock.” 1977 was also when callout research first took hold, perfect for a mainstream, consensus act that also happened to make good records.* Fleetwood Mac defied the “one album band” prediction. Instead, after the four consecutive hits from Rumours — a first-time occurrence — almost everything else on the album was played as a single in one market or another. Over the next two years, there were almost a Lindsay Buckingham/Stevie Nicks album’s worth of side projects — Bob Welch, Walter Egan, John Stewart, Kenny Loggins. As it turned out, those side projects would end up comprising the mainstream follow-up to Rumours that Lindsay Buckingham didn’t want to make for his own band.* By the time “Tusk” came out in September 1979, a lot had happened, and not just disco’s boom and bust. Van Halen had propelled AOR toward a harder sound. New Wave’s first American hits had surfaced. “Tusk,” the Eagles’ “Heartache Tonight” and the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” came out within a few days of each other. “Heartache Tonight” lacked the ambition of “Hotel California,” but it was an obvious enough hit single that radio could deal with. “Rapper’s Delight” was the seismic event, but it would take four months for Top 40 to acknowledge it, even a little. “Tusk,” at the time, was neither crowd-pleaser nor game-changer. The radio-friendly follow-ups came quickly—“Sara” and “Think About Me”—but neither felt like a real hit. “Tusk” was an instant abdication of Fleetwood Mac’s half of their shared “No. 1 core act” status at radio; (the Eagles gave back their half by breaking up). And yet the band and its members had airplay for almost anything they did at radio for nearly another decade. Here’s a timeline: 1980-81 As current hitmakers, Fleetwood Mac are mostly out of action during Top 40’s doldrums, although the Rumours hits are certainly present. The unavoidable side projects now belong to Michael McDonald — the Doobie Brothers having reclaimed their place in Soft Rock in 1979 while the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were recording. Buckingham’s “Trouble” is a bright spot. Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” is one of the bearable hits of early ’82, but it’s not as big as we remember it now. 1982 – “Hold Me” and “Gypsy” give radio the Fleetwood Mac it wants; they arrive as things are changing in pop music, but when Fleetwood Mac (or Crosby, Stills & Nash) can still have hits. The third single from Mirage, “Love in Store,” is the propulsive, harmonic Fleetwood Mac I like, but by early 1983, as MTV and an R&B resurgence drive the format, it sounds quaint. 1983-84 – Fleetwood Mac are largely MIA during Top 40’s golden era, except for Nicks’ “Stand Back,” the most propulsive of her hits to date. It’s interesting to wonder if Buckingham’s sonic experiments could have worked better in an era when Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen were doing the same. His “Go Insane” and Christine McVie’s “Got a Hold on Me” get an airing at the long-playlisted CHR of 1984 for a few weeks, but Top 40 doesn’t really need those songs. The Rumours hits are still part of AC, but at this point, most CHRs don’t need to go back to the ‘70s for gold. 1985-86 – Nicks’ “Talk to Me” comes out in late ’85 at the end of Madonna’s two-year rise to superstardom, and as the CHR boom is starting to wind down. I like the follow-up, the hyperkinetic “I Can’t Wait,” but there’s another, even more hyperkinetic song with that name from Nu Shooz, and that’s the one that fits on KPWR (Power 106) Los Angeles as dance pop ascends. 1987-88 “Big Love,” the first single from Tango in the Night, sounds different. I remember thinking at the time that perhaps Buckingham had wanted to make a song Power 106 could play, and it does for a while. By this time, even the mainstream stars of 1983-84 are being overshadowed by dance-pop and the emergence of hair bands. Nicks’ “Seven Wonders” no longer sounds like what major-market CHR radio plays, although McVie’s “Little Lies” and “Everywhere” become hits. 1992 – The hitmaking lineup of Fleetwood Mac has been dormant for three years. As Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign theme song, “Don’t Stop” returns them to the spotlight, but not in a “Bohemian Rhapsody” way to CHR radio. As Top 40 descends into doldrums, Nicks gets an assist from Bon Jovi on “Sometimes It’s a Bitch,” but to little effect. Buckingham has a great single, “Countdown,” that sounds particularly out of time that year. The group’s real pop-culture moment during the doldrums is the 1994 Smashing Pumpkins’ remake of “Landslide,” setting the stage for what happens three years later. 1997 – Top 40 is rebounding. Releasing the live version of “Landslide” from The Dance is meant to remind people of Fleetwood Mac’s influence on the Modern AC hits of the mid-‘90s, but it comes when pop radio is changing again and teen pop is resurgent. At the time, a Warner Bros. rep bemoans how current radio seems to be ashamed to play a Fleetwood Mac record. It takes the Dixie Chicks/Sheryl Crow version of “Landslide” five years later to drive the point home. Even when the Chicks are exiled from Country radio shortly thereafter, “Landslide” is the one song of theirs that reliably continues to test, even at Country radio. By this time, “Landslide” is as big a Fleetwood Mac song as any, despite (or perhaps because of) not having been a hit single until now. 2000s – As the Oldies format (not yet Classic Hits) pushes into the ‘70s, the Rumours singles are among its powers. I’m not initially happy about that — they feel like AC songs to me, not good-time oldies, and the same goes for all those Billy Joel and Elton John titles from the era. By the end of the decade, “The Chain” and “Gold Dust Woman” also test for Classic Hits stations. 2010s – Fleetwood Mac begin the decade as one of Classic Hits, Classic Rock, and Mainstream AC’s most reliable acts. Only Queen, the Eagles, and Elton John seem to still have as many titles in play. As the Classic Hits format rebounds in the early 2010s, AC radio moves away from the ‘70s — even “Dreams.” “Landslide” still creeps in because some stations treat it as a ‘90s/’00s song.* At Classic Hits, I see both the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac start to lose traction in the late ‘10s. Occasionally, I wonder if it’s because two acts that have been open in their politics over the years have lost at least a few fans in our polarized America, but it’s probably more a passage-of-time issue. Even the early ‘80s are starting to shed some of their reliable hits, and those listeners being tested by radio are kids of the late ‘80s or later. (You’re more likely to hear “Little Lies” than “You Make Loving Fun.”) In any event, “Landslide” is a more enduring song now than “Dreams.” Until now.* I’m still working through my feelings about TikTok as America’s CHR music director. So it’s interesting to imagine streaming’s impact on Classic Hits and Classic Rock. I’m always thrilled when a new song comes into the canon. Over the last decade, I’ve seen Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” emerge as an all-ages pop culture mainstay, but I haven’t found a lot of Classic Hits PDs willing to consider it. But “Jolene” happened over the course of a decade, driven by talent shows and Parton’s own pop-culture footprint. (Its interesting that Miley Cyrus, who reworked Jolene last year, has a current single that recalls both Little Lies and Edge of Seventeen.) Could a “Dreams”-level phenomenon have made it happen in three weeks? Then again, could a “Dreams”-level phenomenon have happened in three weeks for an older title that was not already a mega-hit on that level? I would have preferred “Tusk,” which seems custom-made for goofy videos, but if somebody is choosing a 1970s song, it’s probably going to be the one that endured in the first place. I’m looking forward to the next breakthrough, and I can only hope it’s not “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” /////////////////////////////////////////// The Fan Debuts In Pensacola Posted: 23 Oct 2020 07:20 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...-in-pensacola/ Miracle Radio has launched Sports The Fan 101 1450 WBSR/101.1 W266AL Pensacola FL. The station will carry the national Fox Sports Radio lineup along with an hourlong local show at 11am hosted by Paul Chestnutt that will be simulcast from sister News/Talk 790 WPNN/103.7 W279CY Pensacola. WBSR will also be the Pensacola affiliate for the NFLs Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NHLs Tampa Bay Lightning and NBAs Orlando Magic. The move marks a return of Sports to the frequencies as the station was ESPN Pensacola from 2011 through 2017. Scott Schroeder’s Miracle Radio filed to acquire WBSR/W266AL earlier this month for $75,000. WBSR most recently had been simulcasting Agage Educational Media’s Christian “Wow 90.9” WOWB Brewton AL via Time Brokerage Agreement. Pensacola’s sports talk radio scene got another shakeup as WBSR, a.k.a. “The Fan” 101.1FM/1450AM became the newest FOX Sports Radio affiliate, effective October 19, 2020. “The Fan,” will introduce the Fox Sports Radio weekday lineup; Outkick The Coverage with Clay Travis Show 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., The Dan Patrick Show 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., The Herd with Colin Cowherd 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., The Doug Gottlieb Show 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Straight Outta Vegas with R.J.Bell Jonas Knox 5:00 pm.to 6:00 p.m., The Odd Couple w/Chris Broussard Rob Parker Show 6:00 p.m.to 9:00 p.m., The Jason Smith with Mike Harmon Show 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., and The Ben Maller Show 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.. The station becomes home to the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NHL Tampa Bay Lightning, and NBA Orlando Magic. Each professional team will bring additional coaches shows and programming to the station. Scott Schroeder, Miracle Radio Inc’s. general manager, says “Pensacola finally has a radio station that delivers Florida’s sports and Pensacola’s diverse lifestyle programming.” Schroeder added, “Listeners can expect a new type of radio station featuring Florida’s best professional sports teams, live local sports talk shows, and a new and exclusive addition to the lineup, Pensacola-based lifestyle talk shows, which will be announced in the near future.” Miracle Radio Inc., also owns and operates, WPNN 103.7/790AM, “Pensacola’s Information Leader” delivering major sports programming; NFL New Orleans Saints, NBA New Orleans Pelicans, University of Alabama Crimson Tide Football, SPHL Pensacola Ice Flyers Hockey, Reese’s Senior Bowl, Sports Roundtable Show, Coaches Corner Show, and is the flagship station for Catholic High School Football. /////////////////////////////////////////// iHeartMedia Acquires VoxNest Posted: 23 Oct 2020 06:16 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...uires-voxnest/ iHeartMedia has announced the acquisition of podcasting publisher, monetization and analytics providerVoxNest. iHeartMedia states that through the deal the company will now be able to provide podcast advertisers with additional targetable inventory at scale by allowing the effective and efficient monetization across an entire range of podcast inventory on this one-of-kind programmatic platform.*This additional inventory will increase the monetization of iHeartMedia’s full range of podcasts and advance the podcast marketplace for both buyers and sellers. VoxNest was created from the 2017 merger of Spreaker and BlogTalkRadio. iHeart held a minority stake in both Spreaker and VoxNest. iHeartMedia, the No. 1 audio company in America and the No. 1 commercial podcast publisher globally, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Voxnest, the leading consolidated marketplace for podcasts and the best-in-class provider of podcast analytics, enterprise publishing tools, programmatic integration and targeted ad serving.* With this acquisition, iHeartMedia, through Voxnest, will now be able to provide podcast advertisers with additional targetable inventory at scale by allowing the effective and efficient monetization across an entire range of podcast inventory on this one-of-kind programmatic platform.* This additional inventory will increase the monetization of iHeartMedia’s full range of podcasts and advance the podcast marketplace for both buyers and sellers. iHeartMedia will also be able to drive greater monetization for creators of podcast content – wherever they currently publish their shows – by connecting Voxnest’s advanced ad technology with multiple publishing platforms across the industry. Voxnest’s additional advertising technology capabilities include: Dynamic ad insertion; Audience and content targeting to the right listeners based on demographics, territories, devices and interests; Programmatic podcast buying across all audio platforms by providing: ○***** Native support of VAST, the industry standard template for audio and video advertising. ○***** OpenRTB, a protocol for enabling integrations that connect to all major audio programmatic exchanges. A full podcast analytics platform. “This is an important addition to the iHeart digital product ecosystem, which includes our SmartAudio suite of data-driven broadcast radio advertising solutions; our position as the No. 1 commercial podcast publisher with massive distribution and promotion across all our broadcast assets; and the iHeartRadio digital platform,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “The addition of iHeart’s offerings to Voxnest will ensure critical mass for the platform and accelerate its growth.* As we continue to invest in podcasting and lead the industry, we anticipate this acquisition will have an important impact on iHeart’s ability to more fully monetize its podcast inventory, and will also benefit the other podcast publishers that are part of the Voxnest network and the advertisers who are using it.” “We’re excited about the growth potential from this unique combination,” said Francesco Baschieri, CEO of Voxnest. “The podcast marketplace has been fragmented, with supply and demand spread across multiple platforms – creating scale challenges for marketers who want to buy podcasts. And despite the massive growth of the podcast industry, with more than 100 million Americans listening to a podcast every month now, podcast creators and networks have not had an effective way to fully monetize their content and brands.* With this combination, for the first time there will be one podcast technology platform that can bring together all of the demand sources with the largest supplier of podcast inventory – creating the only podcast technology platform that consolidates all the podcast markets into one, making buying more efficient for buyers and sellers of podcast advertising, and creating a unique benefit for the 10,000+ podcast publishers that are part of the Voxnest network today.” iHeartMedia owned a minority stake in Voxnest prior to this acquisition. /////////////////////////////////////////// The Jubal Show Debuts In San Antonio Now Posted: 23 Oct 2020 05:57 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...n-antonio-now/ Jubal Fresh is returning to San Antonio. The former host of Brooke Jubals new Jubal Show based in mornings at iHeartMedia CHR Hits 106.1 KBKS Seattle, debuted Thursday on iHeartMedia CHR 96.1 Now KXXM San Antonio. KXXM will air The Jubal Show from 9am to 12pm daily following The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show. Alpha Medias Energy 94.1 KTFM was the third affiliate of Brooke Jubal when it began syndication in early 2016 and continues to carry Brooke Jeffrey in mornings. KXXM is the third station this week to launch The Jubal Show following its addition in mornings at Cumulus Media CHR “98.9 Magic-FM” KKMG Colorado Springs and Townsquare Media CHR “102.5 Kiss-FM” KZII Lubbock. /////////////////////////////////////////// Station Sales Week Of 10/23: iHeartMedia Consolidates License Holding Companies Posted: 23 Oct 2020 04:30 AM PDT https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...ing-companies/ iHeartMedia is consolidating all of its license holding companies into one. The move will eliminate the remnant holding companies of its predecessor companies as iHM Licenses LLC will absorb AMFM Broadcasting Licenses LLC, AMFM Radio Licenses LLC, AMFM Texas Licenses LLC, Capstar TX LLC, Citicasters Licenses Inc, and Clear Channel Broadcasting Licenses Inc. Michael Holderfield is acquiring WOOF Inc. and its Sports 560 The Ball WOOF/100.1 W261AT/107.1 W296DQ Dothan and AC 99.7 WOOF-FM Dothan AL. Holderfield, who owns Classic Country Weevil 101.1 WVVL Elba AL, will pay $1.2 million for the stations with $1.16 million going to ADD LLC to pay off mortgage debt owed to be paid off in $10,000 monthly installments through August 1, 2030. Joseph Rice and Todd Fowlers GT Radio will purchase Country 93.7 WPGI Georgetown SC from Colonial Radio Group for $275,000. Darren Girdners G2 Media Corp. purchases 1580 KHGG Van Buren/Fort Smith AR from Pharis Broadcasting for $34,000. G2 owns Southern Gospel 98.7 The Cross 1650 KFSW/98.7 K254AM Fort Smith and Country/Rock Mix 105.1 KXMX Muldrow OK in the Fort Smith market. East Texas Results Media sells 1400 KEBE/104.7 K284CT Jacksonville and 1580 KTLU/103.9 K280CL Rusk TX to William Wachter, Mike Greene and Julie Harrisons Chisolm Trail Broadcasting for $100,000. Chisolm Trail owns Classic Hits K-Hits 95.5 KOME-FM Tolar/ 106.5 KITT Meridian TX. Both KEBE and KTLU began simulcasting KOME-FM when they resumed operations this summer. La Promesa Foundation sells Spanish Catholic 1380 KWMF Pleasanton TX to Virgen de Guadalupe Global Communications for $367,500. Ernie and Wanda Barbees Casa Pinon LLC sells Country KBear 100 1470 KXSL Show Low/100.5 K263CA Taylor and 107.9 K300CL Show Low AZ to Vance and Karey Barbees New Star Broadcasting for $40,000 and the cancellation of $49,000 in debt owed. New Star is in the process of acquiring 97.7 KXMQ McNary and 103.5 KXBK Taylor, which serve Show Low from Cochise Media. Karey Barbee previously controlled 99.7 KVBX-LP Show Low until its transfer closed in August. Oscar Aguero Ministry sells Spanish Christian 88.3 WBIY La Belle and 100.5 W263BY Naples FL to Association Des Haitiens Vivant A LEtranger Pour Le Develop for $500,000. The buyer began operating WBIY via Public Service Operating Agreement on October 1. Legacy Broadcasting purchases Christian 88.7 WCDG Dahlonega from Silver Dove Broadcasting for $75,000. The buyer also owns Christian Country 89.9 KYMS Rathdrum ID. Translator Sales Bustos Media will purchase 92.5 K223CI Tucson AZ from RadioForSale LLC for $450,000. K223CI currently operates as Spanish Adult Hits Toño 92.5 rebroadcasting Lotus 96.1 KLPX-HD3. As part of the deal, Bustos will lease KLPX-HD3 for $5000 per month starting November 1 to simulcast either Conservative Talk 1030 The Voice or 106.3 KTGV-HD2. Vic Michaels Mountain Community Translators sells 107.5 K298CK Phoenix AZ to Amigo Multimedia for $60,000. K298CK rebroadcasts Amigos Spanish News/Talk Onda 1190 KNUV Tolleson. Woof Boom Radio sells 98.3 W252CY Anderson IN to Inter-Mirifica for $10,000. The translator already rebroadcasts the buyers Indy Catholic Radio 90.9 WSQM Noblesville. |
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