Posted by Craig on October 15, 2009 at 09:41:52:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Hall Oates...on a country station? posted by Bob Harrison on October 15, 2009 at 08:42:49:
The artificial divide between pop and country is the business of the record companies, in which radio went along.
As Bob mentioned above, why would 1050 WHN play 50% crossovers in the days when they were a top ten NYC radio station and yet fail to play "Amy" by the Pure Prarie League?
Or why does the country music industry allow some artists to cross over and still support their very pop sounding songs, while they won't do it for others? Here, I'm thinking of Shania Twain who was allowed to put out very non-country songs like "From This Moment" or "Man, I Feel Like A Woman."
Meanwhile very talented stars such as Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley, who keep telling us they grew up listening more to rock and roll than to country, can't cross over, no matter how hard they try to reach a larger audience. Not that I'm crying for these multi-platinum multi-millionaires. I'm just not sure why some artists can't break the country barrier and some can. Could it be the hat? Male country stars MUST wear a stupid hat whenever they perform but women don't?
Then there's the "add-a-twang" thing to country music that keeps songs from crossing over. How often do I hear a song on country radio that sounds nearly the same as the version I hear on AC radio, except they added twangy guitars to get the song on the country stations? How different is Brian McKnight's version of "Back at One" than the version that got played on country radio?
Or how about the aging pop star finding refuge at country radio? Maybe this isn't as true today since even country stations have intense pressure to keep their demos young, but it wasn't long ago that Kenny Rogers, Marie Osmond, etc. continued their careers on country radio when they couldn't have pop hits anymore. When Seals & Crofts stopped finding success on the pop charts, Dan Seals had hits with songs like "Bop" on country radio that weren't that much different than his pop hits.
Country stations in the north can play a limited number of oldies that were pop hits, never charting on country countdowns. But the Program Directors torture themselves over whether the country audience will accept "Take It Easy" from the Eagles or "End of The Line" by the Traveling Wilburys, which they add in VERY small doses.
Craig
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