Advertisement
Monday, December 5, 2011

Is Hot AC's Balance Shifting Again?

All Of You A year ago, the CHR success of "Turbo-Pop" and an ever increasing amount of Rhythmic Pop lured Hot AC closer to Mainstream Top 40's orbit. Now, there are signs of the Adult Top 40 format moving back to its traditional pop/rock/singer-songwriter sound of the last 15 years. Read More

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Hardest Working Act In Station Shows: 2011

Stations On Stage Who is this fall’s “Hardest Working Act In Station Shows”? Here’s a hint: they come with their own transportation.Every year, we take a look at the roster of acts who are playing radio station holiday shows and other artist events, looking for the artists who are most actively making themselves available for those shows. Read More

Sunday, November 6, 2011

New Coldplay! New Rihanna! New Coldplay AND Rihanna! So Why So Glum About Q4?

Ross On Records Logo In the natural order of things, the fourth quarter in the record business used to mean albums from superstar artists. The first quarter was for new acts. Read More

Sunday, October 23, 2011

NYC's "Z-100" announces the "Jingle Ball 2011" lineup headlined by Lady Gaga

WHTZ The annual event for WHTZ-FM (100.3) "Z-100," to be staged on December 9 at Madison Square Garden, as usual features an all-star cast. The headline act is Lady Gaga. Read More

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Ross On Records: Another Asterisk For PPM Law

Adele After topping the Billboard Hot 100, Adele’s “Someone Like You” would have been remembered as a No. 1 record, regardless of whether it actually fought its way past Mainstream 40’s “Ballad Blockade” to No. Read More

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bad Career Moves, But Great Singles

Bruce Springsteen Consider the pressure for an act preparing a first single from the new project that follows-up a smash album. Sometimes they walk in with an even more phenomenal song than their previous hits, and they move from stardom to superstardom (think Prince’s “When Doves Cry” or Pink’s “Get The Party Started”). Read More

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

CHR In 2004: “I Don't Want It Back”

Outkast If 1981, recently saluted in this column, was the year where Top 40’s first life-threatening doldrums finally started to turn around, its equivalent year in CHR’s current dominance has to be 2004. That came back to me recently when I came across a copy of the WHTZ (Z100) New York Top 100 Countdown for the year that had somehow not gotten filed away… Read More

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Summer Song Week 4 – Party Out Of Bounds

Pitbull Everything So as I pondered who should be the Week No. 4 winner in our “Song of Summer” sweepstakes, I found myself trying to choose between the song about partying and waking up with a tattoo (Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight Tonight”) or the song about partying and waking up with an arrest warrant (Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night [T.G.I.F.]”).Eventually, I decided… Read More

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Few Potholes On Country Rap's "Dirt Road"

Jason Aldean It was only two months ago that PDs were still taking stock of Jason Aldean’s just-released version of “Dirt Road Anthem.” Coming on the heels of a mini-tempest over Sugarland’s reggae/rap break in “Stuck Like Glue,” Radio-Info’s Phyllis Stark asked “Should Country Stars Rap?” and found both PDs who were supportive, many of whom d… Read More

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

‘Idol’ & Country: A Brief History

Carrie Underwood On the popular “American Idol” Internet discussion board MJ’s Big Blog, fans justified the critical radio programmer comments about eventual winner Scotty McCreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina in the May 17 Stark Country by attributing them to a bit of a “fatigue factor” at country radio when it comes to “Idol” contestants, but it’s worth noting tha… Read More

Sunday, February 27, 2011

AC PDs Vary Widely On Country's Current Influence

Back To December In the early-to-mid-’00s, AC programmers—who were being sent little usable product from Mainstream Top 40—relied heavily on Country crossovers. Country and Mainstream AC stations were reliable sharers and a strong Country station was often thought of as a de facto AC or Hot AC for its market.  So now that AC has more viable pop music coming from CH… Read More

Thursday, May 27, 2010

How To A&R Your New American Idol

How To A&R Your New American Idol Some random thoughts after last night’s “American Idol” final about the chart prospects of this year’s idols. For starters, “American Idol” as a springboard to a hit is no longer guaranteed. Read More

Advertisement
Advertisement