I once saw how this worked. I thinking about a job in radio, and observed a local dj in the studio in 1974.
The request would come in and the dj would say he’d play it.
Then he did nothing…
I asked about it and he said it was a request for one of their top 5 songs. They played it every hour or so anyway, so it would come around eventually.
DJs did have some leeway back then, though a top 40 station stuck with a set playlist each week.
I was doing some inspection work in a suburban Chicago radio station. While in the break room I was listening to the morning crew do their thing when one of them walked in for some coffee. I must have given him a “WTF?” look because he explained that the mundane banter I was hearing was recorded when songs or commercials were playing. They very rarely ever broadcast live. In fact they had already recorded the entirety of the show. The only reason he was still at the station was in case of a breaking news story that required them to go live.
Later I was walking by one of the studios and saw the midday guy recording his show. This was 2 hours before the show started. Kind of took away the magic of radio for me.
Booger
I was lucky enough to have a radio show where I did have free reign. It ran for 6 years on a 100,000 watt Community radio station (and 4 years on a college station). People asked me why I never tried to become a “professional DJ” and that’s the reason. I never could imagine playing music I didn’t like. I played a lot of requests for artists (not a specific song), but never the same night. My show ran one night a week and I put the shows together in advance because all the music came from my own collection, even though the Community station did have a library. If it was an artist I didn’t have, I’d go to local record stores and buy a record (usually used because I was poor). I had a lot of fun.
I don’t know that anyone would be interested, but here are a few of my playlists. I’ll put them in spoiler boxes just so no one has to scroll past lists of artist and song names.
This was an end of the decade (a couple of decades ago) show…
[spoiler]… and I played some favorite artists of the '80s, though not all the songs were my favorites from the artists, but I’d played my favorites recently. Lots of artists I liked a lot were missing because the show just wasn’t long enough, like The Sugarcubes, Nina Hagen, Sarah McLachlan, Yaz, Anna Domino, Toni Childs, Hetch Hetchy, on and on and on.
Suspended In Gaffa #95
(Some) Favorites of the '80’s
December 30, 1989
Kate Bush…Night Of The Swallow
Jane Siberry…The Empty City
Le Mystere des voix Bulgares…Svatba
Cocteau Twins…Cicely
Monsoon w Sheila Chandra…Third Eye & Tikka TV
Laurie Anderson…Language Is A Virus
Throwing Muses…Green
Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin…Leipzig
Siouxsie & The Banshees…Cities In Dust
Happy Rhodes…Come Here
Happy Rhodes…The Revelation
Happy Rhodes…Many Nights
Happy Rhodes…Under & Over The Brink
The Innocence Mission…Come Around & See Me
Indigo Girls…Kid Fears
Wendy Wall…Wandering The Streets Of Modern America
10,000 Maniacs…Lilydale
Concrete Blonde…Little Conversations
Virginia Astley…A Father
Bel Canto…Blank Sheets
Dead Can Dance…Dawn Of The Iconoclast
Victoria Williams…TC
Michelle Shocked…V.F.D.
kd lang…Tune Into My Wave
Mary Margaret O’Hara…Dear Darling
Najma…Neend Koyi
Area…I’ll Gather Flowers
Shona Laing…Soviet Snow
Kate Bush…December Will Be Magic Again
YouTube playlist (though not all the songs are on YouTube)[/spoiler]
The show before that one was a “Christmas” show, but anyone who wasn’t a regular listener was probably scratching their heads, because I played no Christmas music.
[spoiler]Suspended In Gaffa #94
Gaffa In My Soul
December 23, 1989
Excerpt from the film Resurrection
Diamanda Galas…You Must Be Certain Of The Devil
Zella Jackson Price…I’m His Child
Judy Mowatt…Down In The Valley
Zella Jackson Price…Say A Little Prayer
Texas…Prayer For You
Gothic Voices…O Euchari
Dead Can Dance…The Host of Seraphim
Nina Hagen…Ave Maria
The Roches…Hallelujah Chorus
Kate Bush…Disbelieving Angel
Queen Ida…When The Saints Go Marching In
Dagmar Krause…Lily Of Hell
Nina Simone…Sinnerman
Zebra Stripes…Sinners
Madonna…Act Of Contrition
Deux Filles…Who Art In Heaven
Sonoko…In Heaven/Wedding With God
Fibonaccis…March To Heaven
Eurogliders…Heaven
Patti Smith…Hymn
Christmas…Hymn
Excene Cervenka…Here Come The Crucifiers
About 9 Times…Crucifixion
Concrete Blonde…God Is A Bullet
= Ad for Planet In My Kitchen’s “Planet In My Manger” show
Siouxsie & The Banshees…Bring Me The Head Of The Preacher Man
Sister Rosetta Tharpe…Jericho
Sister Rosetta Tharpe…Up Above My Head
Sister Rosetta Tharpe…Fly Away
Sister Rosetta Tharpe…99 1/2 Won’t Do
Danielle Dax…Big Hollow Man
YouTube playlist (though not all the songs are on YouTube)[/spoiler]
This was a Halloween show.
[spoiler]Suspended In Gaffa #35
Halloween
October 30, 1988
Siouxsie & the Banshees…Halloween
Toyah…The Creepy Room
Happy Rhodes…Asylum Master
Jane Siberry…The Strange Well
Hugo Largo…Scream Tall
Nina Simone…I Put A Spell On You
Carla Bley…Musique Mecanique III
Danielle Dax…The Passing Of The 3rd Floor Back
Dead Can Dance…De Profundis
Diamanda Galas/John Zorn…Metamorfosi
Kate Bush…Carmilla
Kate Bush…The Infant Kiss
Happy Rhodes…Ecto
Toyah…Angel & Me
Mary Kelley…Ghostriders In The Sky
Kate Bush…Get Out Of My House
Annabel Lamb…Things That I Fear
Fibonacci…Old Mean Ed Gein
The World Of Skin…Blood On Your Hands
Kate Bush…Mother Stands For Comfort
Fibonacci…Leroy
Nico…Janitor Of Lunacy
Siouxsie & The Banshees…Trust In Me
Happy Rhodes…I’m Going Back
Kate Bush…Waking The Witch
Dead Can Dance…Mesmerism
Diamanda Galas…Wild Women With Steak Knives
Valaida Snow…You Bring Out The Savage In Me
Lene Lovich…You Can’t Kill Me
Kate Bush…Hammer Horror
Santra…Mein!
Santra…As A Mirror
Buffy St. Marie…The Vampire
Siouxsie & The Banshees…Head Cut
Siouxsie & The Banshees…Voodoo Dolly
The Shaggs…It’s Halloween!
YouTube playlist (though not all the songs are on YouTube)[/spoiler]
Most of my shows weren’t themed, but the ones that were were the most fun to do. This one had a space-ish theme. Leaving Earth, bopping around the universe, then coming back, because, it has its good side. Like music.
[spoiler]
Suspended In Gaffa #117
Around The Universe
June 9, 1990
Goodbye Cruel World - Mary Kelley
Rocket’s Tail - Kate Bush
I Feel Like An Astronaut - Fetchin Bones
Postcard To The Stars - Wendy Wall
Picnic On The Moon - Bel Canto
Venus Sands - The Creatures
Mercury Towers - Hex
Solar Choir - The Creatures
Solar Systems - Annette Peacock
Red Planet - Tiny Lights
Jungles Of Jupiter - Toyah
Space Between Rings - Christine Lavin
Planet - The Sugarcubes
Planet In My Kitchen - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Pluto Drive - The Creatures
UFO - Nina Hagen
Starbound She Said/The Stars - Deux Filles
Little Spacey - The Cocteau Twins
Across The Universe - Laibach
My Shooting Star - West India Company
Bengalis From Outer Space - West India Company
Hello Earth - Kate Bush
YouTube playlist (though not all the songs are on YouTube)[/spoiler]
In 2017, KSHE in St Louis 7th Day program played
Three Days Grace - Life Starts Now released 9.22.2009
Seether - Poison the Parrish released 5.12.2017
Monster Truck – Sittin’ Heavy released 5.28.2013
You can say “booger” - you just can’t say…
jive-ass
I realize that this is what happens, but I still wonder how many hours a week Alice Cooper works to host his syndicated radio show. I know he’s not sitting in his studio several hours each weeknight… that his between-songs stories and lead-ins are recorded in advance. But I’m still sort of impressed/amazed that he has his radio show, and he’s entertaining to listen to, even if a lot of his stories are about stuff that happened decades ago. Does anyone know what his actual recording schedule is like?
And would that have been the inimitable Jim Ladd?
He was always the M-F 10pm to 2am guy on first KMET then KLOS.
Uncle Joe Benson was the host
Let me ask this: Maybe this won’t fly today, but even into the 1980s, they claim DJs are responsible for making some hits, For example, I always heard “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” was a duet created by a DJ’s creativity. As I heard it, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand each had their own versions, but a DJ mixed the two to create the well-loved duet. Related to this, I believe I heard some “B” sides became hits thanks to DJs, like Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein”. I’ve also heard that some artists have been upset that too many songs got air play. For example, I seem to recall that Billy Joel did not authorize so many songs to be aired from the “Innocent Man” album. While the latter issue here may not have been radio’s fault, is the former part of this question feasible?
I’d not heard that story before, but it appears that there’s a grain of truth to it, if Wikipedia is to be believed. However, it also sounds like the actual hit (as a duet with the two of them) was specifically recorded as a duet, though there are apparently some competing stories about who came up with the idea (and who did the original “mixes” of their solo recordings of the song).
A couple of other examples of songs that became unexpected hits due, at least in part, to DJ support: Styx’s Lady, and Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust (though, again, those are from the 1970s and 1980s).
My suspicion is that, as noted earlier in this thread, with the strong, centralized control over playlists at the vast majority of U.S. radio stations today (most of which are owned by the big radio holding companies), it’d be far, far more difficult for something like this to happen today, at least through traditional / terrestrial radio.
If you aren’t aware, Jim is currently doing a Deep Tracks show on Sirius/XM Channel 27.