Bruce Springsteen: "Magic" Refused Radio Play

There is nothing new here,it's only being brought forth now because it's Springsteen,Fogerty's mention is a mere after thought.Where was Roger Friedman when Clear Channel ''and radio in general'' ignored the latest works from The Stones,Bob Dylan,Tom Petty,John Mellencamp,Lindsey Buckingham,Steely Dan and other great classic rock artists.This is the same windbag who just recently denigrated Mellencamp and his very respectable body of work for his nomination to the RRHOF.Yes radio sucks and so does Clear Channel,but at least they're being consistent,which is more than you can say about these media heads.Where's the barf bag.

 

Are you ****in' serious.Maybe if your idea of young is 40 and up.

 

I'm 48 and I STILL feel young! lol

It's the same old story. "Classic rock" Radio is just not interested in playing new work by the same artists they play day after day. When Seger's album came out last year, it was the same thing, no staion touched it. And here was a guy that hadnt had new material in over 10 years.
My local station would say "Bob Seger has a new album out" then play "Night Moves" for the gazillionth time.

 

Yeah it's pretty sad,they're telling us the album is good enough to buy,but they won't play it.
This is why the only radio i listen to is on the far ''left'' side of the dial.

 

I agree, there's nothing new here. Perhaps a better comparison would be Chuck Berry. How much of his stuff did radio play when HE got "old"?

 

LONG LIVE SIRIUS,XM & WXPN-FM!!!! THATS ALL I NEED!

 

well, clear channel won't play it at least. and until i see something that preoves me wrong, i assume it's for the reasons you describe.

i don't think making that statement is discussing politics in any way.

 

XM for me unless I want news on NPR

 

The London Chuck Berry Sessions got airplay in the 70s from the live side. He was old then, he's ancient now. On the other hand his Rockit LP got nada.

 

1.

2. So is Bruce . . . from what gets played on the radio these days.

For the record, I like Bruce and think long-time consistent artists like him ought to get a shot at regular radio now and then. Enough with the ageism.

 

my radio listening is confined to KYW if i'm stuck in traffic or need a weather report, and maybe NPR if there's something interesting going on there.

if radio disappeared tomorrow it would leave no hole in my life.

 

I don't know where Friedman is getting his info. "Radio Nowhere" is #3 on the AAA charts this week (down from #2 last week):
http://www.radioandrecords.com/Formats/Charts/Triplea_chart.asp
It's #22 and rising on the "rock" charts:
http://www.radioandrecords.com/Formats/Charts/Rock_Chart.asp

 

Friedman also quoted sales figures at 100,000 more than they really were. He's also predicting that sales will hit one million with nothing to back him. Neither of these pieces of information support or had anything to do with his argument anyway. No fact checkers or editors were harmed in the making of that article.

 

Should radio stations play "Radio Nowhere"?

 

If you make a google search on "Clear Channel" AND Springsteen, you'll find many blogs discussing this. Some think it's about politics.

 

Most classic rock formats won't play anything unless it's at least 10-15 years old. It cracks me up to hear the classic rock station here play stuff from Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They didn't play those when they came out, but suddenly 10 years later they are ok to play.

 

We have a Clear Channel classic rock station here in DE called the River. I heard Radio Nowhere on there last week, although I don't listen to radio much. I really liked the song a lot, and was surprised they were playing it.

 

This is very true. A local classic rock station rarely used to play anything from Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" when it was first released, but being that this album is now 13 years old, I am finally hearing "You Wreck Me" and "You Don't Know How It Feels" in rotation.

It seems whenever Aerosmith are about to release a new album, this particular radio station will invite some of the band members over and make a big "to-do" about it by discussing it over the air and by playing tracks from the album. After a month a so, those tracks never seem to see light of day on that station anymore.

On a side note, they often play U2's "Beautiful Day" which is rather new for a classic rock station to play in heavy rotation.

 

Yet another reason not to listen to certain radio stations.

 

WNEW-FM in New York had a DJ that used to slip in Sinatra between Bowie and The Beatles. Kind of weird, but it worked.

 

I never understood why a Classic Rock Station can't play some new stuff by Classic Rock Artists. Here in the market #12 (Ft. Lauderdale/Miami), my ex PD at the Clear Channel Classic Rocker here always said that Classic Rock listeners don't want to hear NEW music by these very same artists. It doesn't and never made sense to me. At the moment, there isn't a single station in any format in this market playing anything from the Springsteen CD. As far as old Springsteen, the Classic Rocker here barely plays any and for the most part really never did. Maybe, you'll hear Born to Run and Dancing in the Dark but even those will come up in a Lunar rotation. Let's face it, who in their right mind would even want to hear Dancing in the Dark now, much less on a so called Classic Rock Station? Radio continues to baffle me (even though I'm a radio jock) and Clear Channel, well nothing more can be said about them that already hasn't. Their Classic Rocker here is nothing more than a bad Classic Hits station that masquerades as a Classic Rock station now. It's pretty sad when they play the wimpy and I do mean wimpy Billy Joel songs, Jim Croce and same 2 or 3 wimpy Fleetwood Mac songs while the 60's and 70's non Clear chanel station rocks much harder! The Classic Rocker doesn't play much if anything that even remotely rocks unless it's Van Halen or Zeppelin. This market is very, very sad radio wise. To quote the Boss......"THIS IS RADIO NOWHERE"!
Bruce

 

This is so unlike Clear Channel. How odd...

 

The clear channel "classic rock" stations that I can pick up - Nashville, TN and Huntsville, AL play the same crap day in and day out for the most part.

They do shun new releases by certain artists. For some reason U2 and Aerosmith will have their new stuff played while "new" stuff by the Stones and Springsteen are ignored. I also have been hearing the new Eagles stuff on these two stations.

I think their business model is aimed at the casual listener who wants to hear something familiar. Although this does not explain playing new stuff by The Eagles, etc.

I don't quite understand it. IMHO the last Stones album had some radio worthy hooks as does the new Springsteen album. I guess the play lists are determined by surveys and focus groups as well as the large advertisers.

 

So, which stations can you listen to?

This very day, Halloween, is the tenth anniversary of the day I got bounced out of the radio business. Even with a decade passed, none of this looks new at all to me. In fact, as David Byrne once said, it seems "the same as it ever was" from here. Consultants decide what gets played and what doesn't, and they're not interested in anyone over 35 years old. As far as they're concerned, Springsteen, Fogerty, Davies, McCartney, Townshend & Daltrey, etc. are from the stone age. They're only the latest to be pushed aside by radio.

Where are things different? Are we upset because radio isn't the way we always fantasized that it was, when we thought DJ's picked their own music, and if it was good, it got airplay? That sure wasn't the radio business I worked in all those years.

 

It's not because Bruce is old. The members of Rush are about the same age (and their first album came out in 74, Bruce's in 73), but that didn't stop Clear Channel stations from playing "Far Cry" earlier this year.