RE: Market Research

["David Merrill" <dmerrill@exchange.com>]

> >When people ask "Why are they not playing: 'list of
> >songs that were popular in the past'?", the stock answer
> >is "Research shows they don't 'test well'"
>
>
> Case in Point....
>
> ....."Ballad of the Green Beret".....VERY popular song in it's day.
>
> Very irrelevant today to listeners....and NO ONE wants to
> hear it today.
>
> It's not simply a question of how "popular" a song was in the
> *past*...
>
> It's how relevant that song is to people *today*!.

What is amazing to me also is that a song that was not originally a radio
hit gets played NOW more than ever.  Case in point "Solsbury Hill" by Peter
Gabriel and "Melt With You" by Modern English.  I believe they appeal high
to the female demos, but I still don't get why they have found a life later
on in their shelf lives.

Yesterday's topic on "the talk station" was jukebox from hell.  The song
"You Light Up My Life" came up.  I would have to agree that you couldn't
just blame that on the 70's for being a hit.  Even back when it was #1 for
10 weeks, my circle of friends all wondered who even liked it or wanted to
hear it.  I don't know anybody that ever bought it or requested it.

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #358
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