Radio & Records Magazine Is No More

Radio & Records, once known as the Radio Industry’s newspaper, is no more. The current owners of R&R shut them down this week with no warning. All the full charts that were free are now available online via the pay site at Billboard.

In my opinion, R&R ceased to be when the parent of Billboard bought them out in 2006. The “newspaper” became a slick magazine, replacing Billboard’s Radio Monitor magazine. Before 2006, R&R was a great alternative to Billboard when looking at charts. Rick Dees and Casey Kasem used their charts for countdown shows.  R&R used to have a messageboard where fans could get together and talk charts. Even one of their editors used to use the same board to talk to chart fans. How many other publications would have their editors talk to non-industry people on the ‘net?

R&R event asked fans to help with an upcoming book in the early part of this decade. Unfortunately, the book never was published, but at least we were asked to help.

Goodbye R&R, you’ll be missed…

Hot AC Turns 15: Part IV – Longevity

In this part of the series, we’ll take a look at songs that spent the longest on the chart, as well as artists who have been charting the longest.

Recurrent rules are rules that remove songs from the chart to “recurrent” status. This is done to keep the chart “fresh”. There have been different rules throughout the 15 years that the HAC chart has been around. For example, one rule was songs that have been on the chart for more than 20 weeks will be removed after they fall below #20. The current rule, just implemented this week, states:

Downtrending songs below No. 10 are removed from the chart after 30 weeks. Downtrending songs below No. 15 are removed from the chart after 20 weeks. Songs that have not peaked top 15 are removed from the chart after 20 weeks if they have had two consecutive down weeks in spins.

Thus not many new songs have a chance for getting into the top 10 longevity songs, which are listed below:

1. Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) – Train, 71 weeks
2. Smooth – Santana f/ Rob Thomas, 68 weeks
2. You and Me – Lifehouse, 68 weeks
4. Wherever You Will Go – The Calling, 67 weeks
5. Hanging by a Moment – Lifehouse, 64 weeks
6. Slide – Goo Goo Dolls, 62 weeks
7. Everything You Want – Vertical Horzion, 59 weeks
7. Over My Head (Cable Car) – Fray, 59 weeks
9. Why Don’t You & I? – Santana f/ Alex Band, 55 weeks
9. If You’re Gone – Matchbox Twenty, 55 weeks

Now let’s take a look at some of the artists who have been charting the longest on the Hot AC chart:

Madonna: “I’ll Remember” debuted in April 1994, “4 Minutes” debuted in April 2008
Mariah Carey: “Without You” debuted in April 1994, “Touch My Body” debuted in April 2008
Sheryl Crow: “All I Wanna Do” debuted in August, 1994, “Love Is Free” debuted in January 2008
Bon Jovi: “Always” debuted in October 1994, “Lost Highway” debuted in September 2007
Collective Soul: “December” debuted in August, 1995, “All that I Know” debuted in April 2008
Celine Dion: “The Power of Love” debuted in April 1994, “Taking Chances” debuted in December, 2007
Goo Goo Dolls: “Name” debuted in October 1995, “Real” debuted in October, 2008
Sarah McLachlan: “I Will Remember You” debuted in October 1995, “U Want Me 2″ debuted in September 2008
Alanis Morissette: “Hand in My Pocket” debuted in December, 1995, “Underneath” debuted in May, 2008
U2: “Staring at the Sun” debuted March 1997, “Magnificent” debuted March, 2009
Sting: “When We Dance” debuted October 1994, “Always on Your Side” (Sheryl Crow & Sting) debuted February 2006
Lenny Kravitz: “Can’t Get You Off of My Mind” debuted in May, 1996, “I’ll Be Waiting” debuted in November 2007

11/02/08 Hot AC Chart: O.A.R. gets closer to #1, Daughtry’s Consecutive Streak

At the top of the chart this week, Jason Mraz holds for a 5th week with “I’m Yours”. His reign may be coming to and end soon though, as O.A.R. climb another notch to #2 with “Shattered”. The song is still about 300 spins behind Jason, so it might take some time.

Pink will be serious competition for O.A.R. though. “So What” moves up to #5 this week, giving Pink her 3rd consecutive top 5 hit on Hot AC. The song is spending another week at #1 on the Pop chart this week.

Three songs tie for the biggest move of the week, and one of them was last week’s biggest mover. “Light On”, “Addicted”, and “Keeps Gettin’ Better” all move up 4 notches to numbers 26, 20, and 33 respectively. David Cook was the biggest mover last week as well.

Debuting this week are two veteran Hot AC acts: The Killers return for a 5th hit on the format with “Human”, the highest debut at #39. Plain White T’s get a third hit with “1,2,3,4″ at #40.

Finally, Daughtry have been on the chart now for 101 consecutive weeks with different songs. They have not been off the chart since their first single debuted in December ‘06.

All chart data (c) Mediabase 24/7.

Coldplay’s “Violet Hill” & Elton John’s “Believe”

I heard a bit of Coldplay’s “Violet Hill” the other day and it reminded me of another song, “Believe” by Elton John from 1995. I don’t think they’re identical, and I don’t think Coldplay copied Elton either (so no flaming please ) They’re both good songs. Does anyone else hear the similarity, or am I just crazy?

When is a station not Hot AC?

Radio formats are a continuous spectrum, like a rainbow.  Some stations may just barely be Hot AC while bordering on CHR or AC, but you have to draw a line somewhere. Different radio monitoring companies (BDS, Mediabase) have different rules on what stations report to which chart. Those rules are not available to the general public, such as myself. However, I believe that there should be one criteria that will move a station from Hot AC to CHR: rap. Hot AC evolved in the 1990s, in part, from CHR stations that played “Today’s Hits without the Rap”.  That’s what HAC should still be today, IMHO. Where would I go to get current music without rap? AC? Not likely, as AC is too slow and based on older established hits. CHR is filled with rap. Thus HAC should be the middle ground.

If a station plays Eminem, Kanye West, etc, they should go to the CHR panel. Some stations labeled as HAC are really more well rounded CHR stations that should be reporting to CHR. CHR used to be about playing all types of music, not just focusing in on Rhythmic material.

I once was listening to a local HAC station that played a version of “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse with a rap interlude. Why? Why risk alienating listeners when there is a perfectly good version without the rap?