Janis Joplin not on radio anymore

Just curious. I live near Boston and never hear JJ played anymore on the radio. We have several classic rock stations and nothing. Just the usual AC/DC, Bon Jovi etc. They play the crap out of Hendrix and the Doors who were from the same time frame but no Janis. I even reached out via e-mail to one of the D.J.'s and asked why no Janis. He said they don't get calls for her music and she is not in their demographics. I explained to him that when I saw A night with Janis in Virginia the hotel I was staying in was packed with people from all over the country/world to see this show. Told him to go on e-bay and they sell tons of Janis shirts, cd's, and anything signed by her is big bucks and people pay for it. Her Porche sold for 1.6 million. So how can there be zero interest in her music on the radio.

The D.J. was nice and responded several times saying he loved Janis and her whole catalog but says there are no calls for her music. Now last Sunday that same D.J does a 2 hour blues show. I turned on the radio and who did I hear...Janis...singing a deep cut from Cheap Thrills called the Turtle Shell Blues. However, other than that one time I never hear her played in regular rotation on any of the classic rock stations. I mean they just did that documentary on her and there is a A night with Janis touring the U.S. and Canada so there is an interest in her still. Do any of you folks see the same thing where you live?

 

Haven't really listened to commercial music radio since the early 80s, so I have no idea.

 

I'm surprised that he's talking about calls period. I assumed all radio playlists were sent from HQ and had nothing to do with requests.

 

Like many artists she's reduced on most CR stations to one song. I believe "Bobby McGee" is hers.

 

Or "Mercedes Benz" or possibly "Piece of my Heart."

 

And "Move Over" for awhile, but I think that went away as CR got even more formatted.

 

This is the answer:

 

I think you may be on to something. But why are the Doors and Hendrix played all the time. Don't get me wrong I like the Doors and Hendrix but they are from the same time frame. Hendrix died weeks before Janis and Jim Morrison died within a year. So I don't think it's because Janis has been gone for such a long time...so have Hendrix and J.M.
.

 

F FM...its a joke. But we knew that.

 

I just heard "Piece of My Heart" on classic rock radio in Chicago yesterday. And that was just because someone else had the radio on.

 

Yup..thats me e-mailing the D.J. but why?

 

From what I hear on classic rock radio-- which admittedly is as little as possible-- you hear way more Journey and Eagles than Doors or Hendrix. And far as the Doors go, it's "La Woman" or "Riders on the Storm" 90 percent of the time.

 

Perhaps her music just didn't age well with what people prefer.I'm 55 and have one Greatest Hits lp that honestly can't remember when I played it last.I do think she was great.Love Summertime and Down on me.

 

It's pretty badly dated music that only appeals to older listeners. That isn't really what you want to be playing on even Classic Rock stations in 2017.

 

she had a good run. time moves on.

 

Rock stations in general, and especially the classic rock ones seem to have the narrowest of playlists these days, and i fear it's only gonna get worse. On the rare occasion that i tune in out of curiosity i hear the same songs i heard twenty years ago, it's as if time never passed. Sure enough it happened again this week when i tuned in to Pixie 1.03 and the first thing i heard was ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" followed by Kiss and 3 Doors Down, ten minutes was about all i could take, and it was back to NPR.

 

Where I live in NYC, only "Piece Of My Heart" is played. Haven't heard "Me And Bobby McGee" on the radio in years.

 

I think it's exactly what the DJ said to you....demographics, which basically means demand. It doesn't matter if her stuff sells on eBay - if that radio station (and btw be thankful they curate playlists at all) feels that the demand is low, they aren't going to play songs from those artists.

Not sure how many people in your area are even listening to the classic rock radio anymore, at least outside of the usual Freebird and Stairway.

Even going back to the late 1970's / 1980's, I can only remember a handful of Joplin songs being played on the radio. What you mentioned plus "Mercedes Benz".

 

Around here the 60's music is rapidly disappearing from the radio in the same way 50's music disappeared in the 90's.

 

Sadly you may be right. I guess I'm just an old guy.

 

She is too intense for the living dead.

 

In terms of dated-ness, keep in mind that "Move Over" and "Bobby McGee" were released eight months before "Stairway".

 

She never exactly had a radio-friendly voice to begin with. Combine that with the dated, often tuneless music and the fact that that demographic is rapidly aging away from where advertising demos want to target, and I'm not surprised you don't really hear her music anymore.

But really, who cares? If you want to hear her music you have endless options that are better and more easily accessible than AM/FM radio.

Hippie protest stuff doesn't play well now that it's... you know... old as dirt.

 

Lemme tell you about the days (about 40 years ago) when an FM oldies station here in So Cal had Pride of Man (Quicksilver Messenger Service) on their playlist.

 

I heard "Piece Of My Heart" on the radio last week, but now that it's been mentioned I do seem to hear her less on the radio and more old Heart than I used to.