Have you ever found yourself not giving a new song a chance because you disliked the artist? Have you ever heard a song that you liked, only to find out that you hate the artist and so refuse to admit to anybody that you actually like it. I think we are all probably guilty of this at least once.
For that very reason, Spike, the program director at Chicago alternative rock station WKQX (Q101) decided make all the DJ’s start playing a song and only allowing them to say it was performed by a mystery guest.
So, on August 9 the station began playing a catchy blues rock song called The Great Divide, followed by an announcement that the song was produced by a “mystery artist.” Spike said:
“I told all the DJ’s, ‘I want you to hear this song before I tell you who it is,’ and when they heard the song, they all dug it. They were initially nervous to play it, but they were blown away by the positive reaction.”
The song took off and quickly became the most-requested song on the station and was put into power rotation by the programming department. The station played the song for three weeks before finally revealing the name of the artist.
The band was pleasantly surprised by the success of the song, which for the week ending September 2 saw a 95 percent increase in digital downloads compared with the previous week.
I think this is a great idea. A lot of older artists are not getting a fair chance to get their music heard. This happens largely due to their age, or because they are lumped into a certain genre of music and are never given a fair chance to break out of it.
So without telling you who it is, let’s see what you think. Here is The Great Divide.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-PNithK6UQ[/youtube]
Did you like it?
Did you figure out who it was?
If not, I’ll tell you later in the comments.
Thanks Yahoo.
Wow … I didn’t know Fall Out Boy had such a socially-conscious acoustic song in them!!
The song is okay, I guess. It doesn’t do much for me, and that preachy video does even less.
This is Eminem.
I almost forgot to answer. The song you heard was by Hanson, you know the Mmmmm Bop guys.
This isn’t the first time the Spike’s name has come up with doing something a little bit different at his station (granted, I work in radio, so I’m liable to hear stuff like this with some frequency). It’s really a great idea. Guys like Spike tend to be lacking in an industry that desperately needs more good and fresh ideas instead of another wacky morning host doing phone scams.
@ dreamrot – A-FUCKING-MEN!! Radio is almost dead because it never looked at the changing trends.
Who on earth actually listens to morning drive-time radio?? It’s just three or four people in a studio fake-laughing at dumb jokes.
Hey Rot, let’s start something new!!
Radio faces the same challenges that TV and Movies face…familiarity sells. If I move from Detroit to Atlanta, I can turn on the radio and hear essentially the same songs with only a slight variation on who is speaking between them. We get conditioned to expect the same thing when we turn on the radio. The rock station has a guy making dick and fart jokes. The sports talk station is talking about how bad the quarterback is. The AC station is having a family friendly Battle of the Sexes. Radio formats are so rigidly defined that no one is willing to experiment in fear that it will hurt ratings. (And satellite radio is no better. It’s fucking amateur hour over there whenever someone opens up the mic). It makes me sad in a lot of ways. The same way TV does when it churns out another sitcom about some wacky roommates or another generic family show, or the way the studios churn out sequel after sequel after prequel.
Dreamrot, I’ve never heard this put better. I like to call this good old fashioned regurgitation! Is it too much to have something fresh and new?
Rec Radio?
@ Dreamrot – Damn, you said it perfectly!! Touche!!
Is the world yet ready for Rec Radio?>?
Are WE ready for it? Obviously not quite yet … LOL