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Chapter 5
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  • PERFORMANCE BOX 5.1 Top 40 Radio
    • Radio in the first half of the 20th century changed from its original concept into something entirely different
      1. Broadcasting was originally built around specific types of programming —
        • Similar to the way television is now
        • Some portion of each day was reserved for national shows
        • Dramas, soap operas, mysteries, comedies, news, music, or variety shows
      2. Television drew audiences away from radio
      3. Television featured viewable versions of what radio had provided
    • The transistor radio was introduced in the 1950s
      1. The audience that embraced this technology was younger and more active
      2. This audience was more interested in music than previous generations had been
    • The actual origin of the Top 40 radio format is not known
      1. The first all-music radio station was KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska
      2. KOWH owner-operator Todd Storz abandoned network programming and just played music all day
        • It was cheaper
        • Surveys indicated that listeners preferred music to any other type of programming
        • The idea caught on quickly and spread across the nation
      3. The Top 40 format is a simple concept:
        • The host of the show was a disk jockey - or DJ as they came to be known
        • The DJ must develop an "on air" personality that will hold the listeners' attention
        • The DJ played records, occasionally inserting news and advertising in between songs
        • The songs the DJ played came from a prescribed list provided by the station programmer
        • This list would be based on the weekly Billboard singles chart
        • That chart indicated the most popular songs in the nation for that week
      4. The Billboard chart was based on several factors
        • Number of records sold
        • Jukebox selections
        • Call-in requests to radio stations
      5. Not all songs played were from the Billboard chart
        • They could be songs selected by the station programmer
        • They could be selected by the DJ
      6. Songs could become hits if a DJ played one and the audience liked it and began requesting it
        • DJs played songs based on educated guesses about a new song's potential to become a hit
        • If the audience liked a song, the DJ would play it more often
        • This generated more sales, jukebox selections and call-in requests
        • These factors would affect the song's position on the Billboard chart
      7. This cyclical concept is the reason songs exploded into hits
        • It happened with songs that had distinctive qualities
        • New styles
        • Novelty songs
    • Top 40 radio played an important role in the integration of music styles
      1. The bottom line for stations was advertiser income
      2. Listeners are potential consumers of the advertisers' products
      3. Stations had to play a wide variety of music hits to have a broad listener audience
      4. Songs by artists from different racial or ethnic groups had positive potential for the station
        • If the audience liked it then it would get more airplay
        • This meant more income for the station because it increased the listening audience
    • The personality of the DJ played an increasingly important role in radio
      1. Often the DJ would be the deciding factor in whether or not people tuned in
      2. Some DJs became national stars
      3. They played an important role in the hit making process
        • Wolfman Jack
        • Cousin Brucie
        • Murray the K.
      4. Many of these celebrity DJs made a point of informing their listeners of new styles or artists
        • This helped to promote songs that crossed the color line
        • It brought about greater stylistic diversity
        • It accelerated the changes that occurred in all styles of popular music


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