The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » a question for music experts, such as Mr. Hedley

December 12, 2017 10:06 am

AM 740 seems to play an awful lot of Tom Jones, including It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat and Green, Green Grass of Home, which were recorded & released before the introduction of MAPL (CanCon) legislation. They also play "She's A Lady" 3, 4, 5 times a day which is CanCon because it was written by Paul Anka and recorded at a Canadian studio.

What about the other 3 tunes named above?

G.

December 12, 2017 11:37 am

geo wrote:
It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat and Green, Green Grass of Home

Not a music expert, geo, but I've never seen the above 3 titles counted as Cancon. That's why you're
hearing She's A Lady more often.
mike

[Edit] Anka wrote music and lyrics, two points, enough, I believe, to qualify the tune as Cancon,with
every right to be driven into the ground by radio stations from coast to ever-lovin' coast.

Last edited by mike marshall (December 12, 2017 12:06 pm)

Fitz · December 12, 2017 11:37 am

geo wrote:
AM 740 seems to play an awful lot of Tom Jones, including It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat and Green, Green Grass of Home, which were recorded & released before the introduction of MAPL (CanCon) legislation. They also play "She's A Lady" 3, 4, 5 times a day which is CanCon because it was written by Paul Anka and recorded at a Canadian studio.

What about the other 3 tunes named above?

G.

Don't think the other tunes have anything that could stretch them into can con territory. Woodstock and Tell My Why by Ian Matthew's Matthew's Southern Comfort however do and maybe AM 740 should add these to their rotation if they have not already.

Dale Patterson · December 12, 2017 1:50 pm

geo wrote:
AM 740 seems to play an awful lot of Tom Jones, including It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat and Green, Green Grass of Home, which were recorded & released before the introduction of MAPL (CanCon) legislation. They also play "She's A Lady" 3, 4, 5 times a day which is CanCon because it was written by Paul Anka and recorded at a Canadian studio.

What about the other 3 tunes named above?

G.

According to Ron Hall's CHUM Chart book, those three songs are not Can-Con.

RadioActive · December 12, 2017 2:49 pm

I can guess that one reason "It's Not Unusual" gets played so often is it's one of those hits that run less than two minutes. It allows stations to give the illusion they're playing a lot more music than they actually do. "Unusual" runs 1:58 and it's done. But what a great 1:58!

December 12, 2017 3:43 pm

It's Not Unusual to hear just the first few notes in my vehicle which has a dozen FM + six AM choices at the driver's finger tips

G.

December 12, 2017 6:31 pm

Charlie wrote:
I never listen to 740. My mother does. She's 89

Bless her

G.

December 12, 2017 10:44 pm

geo...only She's a Lady is Can Con...and for the reasons you cited. But...really? They play it several times a day...every day? Once it's burnt out twice...it's toast. So-called "oldies" stations which burn out their core library...and a song played within the confines of THAT format several times a day is most assuredly "core"...will find themselves with a whole new format before too long.

And that's just the basic, bottom line, mistake all 'oldies' stations make. After all these years and all of these failures you would think somebody would have figured it out by now. But NO!!!

They don't deliver what THAT audience wants...AND...in keeping their playlists as tight as they do...they are also no where near as selective and imaginative as they need to be. Sure there has to be a blueprint so that the audience knows what to expect...BUT...it can't be the same thing every day or the format is dead before it begins. Look...even regularly programmed stations with the new[er] music...'cause after 39 to 45 weeks I've got news for ya. It ain't 'new' anymore...nor are the re-currents...you CAN'T 'do' the same show every day. Same songs. Same items of interest. Same formatics. Same show bits. Same old/same old. The audience doesn't spend their free time checking out the same movie every day. They don't read the Monday December 1st newspaper stories, either in print OR on-line, every day.

Radios's big advantage USED to be its ability to be immediate. They've given that over to telephones. Gotta do better. Just giving it away without a struggle is death. How's YOUR breathing? Not good? Well that's not unusual. If there's nothing new 'pussy cat' they'll be laying YOU 'neath the green green grass of home.

Smoke some grass. Get some new ideas. Save the medium. Satisfy the audience. THEY'RE the ONLY ones who matter. After you make them happy...everything else just magically falls into place. Give it a whirl...'ladies'.

Dale Patterson · December 13, 2017 1:17 am

AM 740 hasn't played a single Tom Jones song this week, much less She's a Lady "3, 4, 5 times a day."

http://www.zoomerradio.ca/what-was-that-song/

Last edited by Dale Patterson (December 13, 2017 1:18 am)

December 13, 2017 2:29 am

Old Codger wrote:
Smoke some grass. Get some new ideas. Save the medium. Satisfy the audience. THEY'RE the ONLY ones who matter. After you make them happy...everything else just magically falls into place.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Neil Hedley · December 13, 2017 6:00 am

Dale Patterson wrote:
AM 740 hasn't played a single Tom Jones song this week, much less She's a Lady "3, 4, 5 times a day."

http://www.zoomerradio.ca/what-was-that-song/

Thanks, Dale, for introducing pesky little things like facts into the conversation.

To back up what Dale says with some further context, MusicMaster says we play that track about once every five and a half days for the last few years. And several of those plays come during the all-night show.

Wanna go back further? Since January 1, 2015, we've played a song with Tom Jones on it 846 times - roughly one every thirty hours or so. If you don't count the all-night plays, there's a Tom Jones song twice a week. Not a bad average for a guy with a couple dozen hit songs who's sold more than 100 million records.

...but please... I don't want the truth to foul up anyone's analysis. Let's pretend one song runs "3, 4, 5 times a day".

Last edited by Neil Hedley (December 13, 2017 6:37 am)

AMFM · December 13, 2017 6:13 am

You see what happens; when Brian Peroff leaves the building. He understood that format. His direction of how to make “theater of the mind” work was also well done. He was an amazing music director. By the way; just adding that the 3 Tom Jones tracks are not CanCon.

December 13, 2017 7:56 am

this thread flushed out Mike Marshall, Fitz, Dale Patterson, RadioActive, Charlie, O. Codg, AMFM and last but certainly not least, Mr. Hedley his self (not one mentioned AM 640). Thank you to the co-moderators for providing this valuable & important service.

Last edited by geo (December 13, 2017 8:45 am)

mace · December 13, 2017 11:26 am

When I was growing up in the 60"s, my parents had a radio with only two knobs. CFRB and off. lol.

December 13, 2017 1:09 pm

Neil Hedley wrote:
To back up what Dale says with some further context, MusicMaster says we play that track about once every five and a half days for the last few years. And several of those plays come during the all-night show.

Wanna go back further? Since January 1, 2015, we've played a song with Tom Jones on it 846 times - roughly one every thirty hours or so. If you don't count the all-night plays, there's a Tom Jones song twice a week. Not a bad average for a guy with a couple dozen hit songs who's sold more than 100 million records.
.

Oh? And with Can/Con from that era...at least decent Can Con which is somewhere in the same ballpark as the international hits in terms of quality and staying power...why would you play them on the all night show? These songs should ONLY be played when you HAVE to play them in order to lengthen their shelf lives.

Then there's the other side of the coin...you know...the folks who really don't like Tom's 'sound'. I think he's swell myself but for people who don't...ALL of his songs sound the same. So to them it's going to seems like you play him far more often than you do.

Something to consider.

Last edited by Old Codger (December 13, 2017 3:24 pm)

ig · December 13, 2017 1:13 pm

Neil Hedley wrote:
Wanna go back further? Since January 1, 2015, we've played a song with Tom Jones on it 846 times

Love it .

I can remember a time in Oakville where you'd be digging into recipe cards and cassette tapes to come up with that kind of data .