1 of 1- Jim Southern
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Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
Lorne, I have always wondered if there was as much discussion, concern, and all that in Canada about payola as there was here in the U.S.A. I know that CKLW, the great 8, had a ton of influence in helping the Canadian artists make the U.S. charts. I used to listen to CKLW when I was working in Cleveland, after I got off work at night.
I will say that I was never given, offered or asked for it when I had any say about what my station played. I did see some very likely examples of it such as follows. I had just finished a 6 hour Sunday afternoon shift at a Salt Lake City C&W station, so I had played the entire playlist at least once plus a few. As I'm driving home, I tune in a local Top 40 station and about the second song I heard was Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden". Lynn was an automatic add at any C&W outlet then, but it had not been in the stacks where I was working.
The Program Director at the Top 40 station was a friend of mine and I knew he did not play any R&B or C&W releases until they had made a decent showing on the Hot 100 national charts, so him playing "Rose Garden" before it even hit the C&W charts was most unusual. I never did ask him about that, wish I had.
I worked at the other Top 40 SLC station for a brief time in 1970 so I got to researching their old Top 40 lists. As I looked over the mid 1960's samples,I noticed a continuing situation. Even though I was working a C&W station, I listened to both pop stations a lot. As I looked at the old charts I would see 4 or 5 titles listed that I had never heard on the air at all. As I thought about it, I realized that whoever made up the list could include non-airplay sides for the record promotion guy. That guy would send the list back east to the label that had retained his services and they would pay him accordingly since he was paid to get airplay not sales. The guys back east never bothered to actually checkout the market, and probably didn't care.
I was a friend of the local music hall promo guy so I had free admission to any acts they brought into town,as well as any receptions they had. In turn, any act that came to town that was even loosely aligned with our format would be interviewed on the air along with performance dates and times. I met so many mainline artists that way, still some of my favorite memories.
I give thanks every day that I was able to play on the radio back in the really good days for music and programming.
- Lorne
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
- G.
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
I raised this on a Cdn radio board, based in Toronto.
Responses were all over the map, including one who stated that payola has never been illegal in Canada, another who got upset and implied that my question was "playing games" and still another stated that it is a touchy subject that some would rather not discuss. That last comment is supported by two pm's, both of which said they frequently rec'd gift certificates for restaurants, that kind of thing, but nothing material. Both declined to answer my follow-up as to who was distributing such goodies.
- G.
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
Some have argued that the "scandal" was manufactured by politicians because rock 'n roll had become a political issue in the late 50s, with many determined to bring down popular broadcasters incl. Alan Freed & Bob Horn (both of whom burnt out) and Dick Clark who survived but barely, at first.
Canada being a smaller market eventually had its own domestic influencers to deal with, namely the % of Cdn content requirement which IMHO is Canada's ongoing "scandal"
Last edited by G. (August 12, 2019 2:06 pm)
- GrimsbyFan
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
This talk about payola to get records played on-air reminds me of a story told by Gary S. Paxton (writer/producer) of such songs as "It Was I", "Alley Oop", and "Monster Mash". It details some of the trials and tribulations of those who chose not to offer incentives to DJs to play their songs.
After Gary had recorded and made a demo copy of Monster Mash, he went around to several radio stations looking for airplay. The question he encountered most often was "Do you have any distribution of this record?". Of course he didn't, so the DJs didn't even give the song a play. Gary then searched out someone he knew who had some rudimentary equipment to press records, and convinced him to press a thousand discs on a label he called Garpax, on credit (Gary had little or no money at the time). Paxton then went to record stores in and around LA, giving them 5-10 copies of Monster Mash, asking the shop owners to keep the records nearby their phone.
Paxton began his calls on DJs at various radio stations once again. Now, when they asked him if he had distribution, he said, "Oh yeah, it's in the record stores." The DJs would call up the stores to verify his story, and the store owners would reply, "Oh yes, I have copies right here on my counter."
Monster Mash reached #1 in 1962, returned to the charts in 1970, and then once again in 1973, peaking at #10. It sold a million records in both 1962 and 1973.
- Jim Southern
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
As an add-on to the payola discussion, two other factors played a part. (1) Station management did not like money coming in the door without hitting their books first. (2) It doesn't much to get the IRS interested if there is money being passed around without them getting their percentage. Mentioning Dick Clark, I am sure that the reason EMI turned over the Beatles "She Loves You" to Swan after Capitol turned it down was the Philadelphia/Bandstand connection. I will also add that even with the payola stuff and other behind-the-scenes action, Radio was so much fun to listen back then and even more fun to work in!!!
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Thread Starter- Scotty
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Re: Talk About, Talk About Pop Music Airplay
When I spent some time at at a talk station the contra had been dialed back but was still happening. Before I was around they told me the sales staff all had deals going and would be all out at their cars come lunchtime loading up with free electrical appliances like microwaves and stuff. That got knocked on the head but then a host only had to casually mention a brand of tyre he had on his car, a particular watch he wore, restaurant he ate at, and he would get all he needed free of charge from then on.. That was rife back then in 80's ,
Last edited by Scotty (August 14, 2019 9:50 pm)