Very rarely do commercial radio announcers get to program their own music. Fortunately, in 1996, thanks to Maria, a very open-minded program director, I was allowed to choose the music I played on WEW 770 AM. At the time, WEW had a big band/jazz/oldies format. (The station still plays three hours of this type of music on weekdays but now airs mostly international programming.) I was allowed to choose any appropriate track in the station's library and bring in my own selections from home.
As much as I enjoyed setting the musical agenda for the hours I was on the air, I kept in mind that a large percentage of listeners was at least three times my age and expected to hear certain key artists, such as Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Peggy Lee. My approach to programming was to blend familiar artists with less familiar ones. At a commercial station, the objective is to get ratings by playing the music the majority of the audience wants to hear. When done skillfully, however, there's a way to introduce listeners to unfamiliar music; as long as you give listeners a reasonable number of familiar hooks, they will be more primed to keep the radio on for unfamiliar music that's compatible with their favorite songs.
Here, for instance, is my playlist for the 6-10 a.m. shift on Saturday, August 17, 1996:
1. Since I Fell For You-Vince Guaraldi Trio
2. How High The Moon-Erroll Garner
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3. On The Boulevard-The Manhattan Transfer
4. Something's Gotta Give-Buddy Greco
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5. Fascinating Rhythm-Antonio Carlos Jobim
6. The Girl From Ipanema-Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto
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7. I Can't Begin To Tell You-Bing Crosby
8. A Sunday Kind Of Love-Claude Thornhill and his orchestra with Fran Warren
9. Love Won't Let Me Wait-Nancy Wilson
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10. (Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All-The 5th Dimension
11. Till There Was You-The Beatles
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12. September Morn-Neil Diamond
13. Mission Bell-Fleetwood Mac
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14. Sleepy Lagoon-Harry James and his orchestra
15. Wish You Were Here-Michael Feinstein
16. When You Wish Upon A Star-The Lettermen
17. Willow Weep For Me-Helen Merrill
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18. Love Walked In-Charlie Watts Quintet with Bernard Fowler
19. Just One Of Those Things-Dionne Warwick
20. Penthouse Serenade-Bobby Short
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21. Sentimental Journey-Tony Bennett
22. Straighten Up And Fly Right-Natalie Cole
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23. I Get A Kick Out Of You-Mary Martin
24. From Here To Eternity-Frank Sinatra
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25. These Foolish Things-Les Brown
26. More Than You Know-Toni Tennille
27. In The Still Of The Night-Johnny Mathis
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28. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me-Duke Ellington Orchestra
29. Sail Along Silvery Moon-Billy Vaughn and his orchestra
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30. It's Only A Paper Moon-Nat King Cole
31. At The Jazz Band Ball-Louis Armstrong with Bing Crosby
32. Bicycle Bounce-Erskine Hawkins
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33. Coquette-John Pizzarelli
34. Lost And Found-Michele Shaheen
35. Cab Driver-The Mills Brothers
36. The Best Things In Life Are Free-Jo Stafford
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37. Baby, You've Got What It Takes-Brook Benton & Dinah Washington
38. Fools Rush In-Keely Smith
39. Someone To Watch Over Me-Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra
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40. It's A Good Day-Peggy Lee
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41. It's Been A Long, Long Time-Keely Smith
42. Hobo's Blues-Paul Simon with Stephane Grappelli
43. Summertime Dream-Gordon Lightfoot
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44. It's Alright With Me-Harry Connick, Jr.
45. Everybody's Boppin'-Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
46. Flying Home-Doc Severinsen & The Tonight Show Band
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47. Strike Up The Band-Rosemary Clooney
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48. Canadian Sunset-Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra
49. How Little We Know-Joey DeFrancesco
50. Love Is Here To Stay-Dinah Shore
51. Twilight Time-The Platters
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52. Sleepytime Gal-Glen Gray
53. Jamaica Farewell-Harry Belafonte
54. Stranger On The Shore-Richard Clayderman
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55. Mr. Lucky-Henry Mancini
56. Love's Theme-Love Unlimited Orchestra
57. (CLOSING THEME) Closing Time-Tom Waits
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--- indicates a short break for a slogan and time check or a longer break for back announcing the music.
Neil Diamond's "September Morn" is a well-known soft rock hit, for example, while Fleetwood Mac's "Mission Bell" isn't. When those songs are paired together, however, listeners can hear their lyrical compatibility. That's the philosophy I used when programming, and I think it served the audience well.
I was especially pleased that Maria and her successor, Rich, endorsed my choice of "Closing Time" for the last song of each of my air shifts. It's a compelling throwback of an instrumental and made a classy lead-in to the top-of-the-hour news.
For anyone reading this whom I've never met, welcome to my blog. My name is Drew, and music is one of my main reasons for living. As a DJ, programmer, and bassist, I've had the honor of playing and programming music from Bach and Duke Ellington to Digable Planets and Suzanne Vega. For the indefinite future, I plan to blog here about music, in different ways. Some days, I might post a playlist from a radio show and comment on it. Other days, I'll comment on a favorite artist or album. Other posts might be about a memory in which music is critical to the story. In any case, music and/or broadcasting will be the common threads in all of my posts. Thank you for reading. We'll see where the muse takes me tomorrow.
