May 8, 2020
During the course of your career, which songs do you feel you’ve had a significant impact on in helping making them hits?
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Bob Patrick, WXLK: First one that comes to mind for me is “U + UR Hand” by Pink. It lost its bullet and I was convinced it was a hit. We kept it on the air and when it got its bullet back and shot up the chart I felt like the smartest MD in the whole wide world. Jordan, KSLZ: During my time at WFKS/Kiss 107 in Cincy, we were extremely early on Kesha’s “Tik Tok.” Josh Wolff, WAEB: I’m relatively new to Top 40 so I’ll need to go recent here. We were on both Doja Cat “Say So” and Camila Cabello “My Oh My” pretty early and I believed in both of those from the jump.
Kobe, @kobeontheradio: Cassie “Me & U” when I was at WIHB in Charleston, at WPXY we were literally one of the first stations ever to play “Sandstorm” by Darude, and at HOT in Syracuse we were super-early on NF “Let You Down” and MAX “Lights Down Low.” Max Volume, KOZZ: Ratt “Round and Round,” Poison “Talk Dirty To Me,” Scorpions “No One Like You,” Dio “Holy Diver,” Europe “The Final Countdown,” Queensryche “Silent Lucidity,” Warrant “Down Boys,” Whitesnake “Still Of The Night,” Pearl Jam “Evenflow,” Soundgarden “Rusty Cage,” Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit,”and Alice In Chains “Man In The Box.” |
Orlando, WLLD: “I want my BabyBack, BabyBack, BabyBack, BabyBack” – Chili’s, “Love the chicken from Popeye’s” – Popeye’s, “You deseve a break today, at McDonald’s” – McDonalds.
Jammer, WEZB: Los Del Rio “Macarena,” Aqua “Barbie Girl,” 2 Unlimited “Get Ready For This,” World Class Wreckin’ Cru “Turn Off The Lights” Johnny O/Cynthia “Dream Boy Dream Girl” and more recently, Hozier “Take Me To Church.” Jagger, WKSS: There’s been a lot over the years. Here are a few. “whatcha say” and “In My Head” by Jason Derulo. I was very influential on both of those songs. In fact, I helped Jason pick “In My Head” as a single. James Arthur “Say You Won’t Let Go,” which was one of my first adds when I got to Connecticut. We put it on KC101 and watched it blow up, then we put it on WKSS. Cash Cash “Take Me Home,” we got behind this one real early at Z100. Recently, Black Eyed Peas “Retmo.” Matt Johnson, KSLZ: “Hey Ma” by Cam’Ron. Java Joel, WAKS: Lil Nas X “Ol’ Town Road.” We were the 1st station in the country to play/add it in back in March of 2019 and we had the most spins on it.
Adam Rivers, WKCI: James Arthur, “Say You Won’t Let Go,” Kiiara “Gold,” Maren Morris “The Bones.” |
Rod Phillips, iHeartMedia: Two completely different plays here, but it was fun to be part of them from the VERY beginning. Katy Perry “I Kissed A Girl,” easy to say now it should have been played, but we didn’t hesitate and took it into the studio immediately. Scotty McCreery “5 More Minutes,” I randomly caught that song on an Opry performance and knew it had to be heard. Fun stuff! Jared Fallon, KBKS: The one that REALLY sticks out as a hit was when I had a visit from a label friend at Epic (who was pitching a song I can’t even remember). I know it ended up not being a hit. BUT during that visit she gave me the “before I go, just listen to this quickly and let me know what you think…” and played Meghan Trainor “All About That Bass” which made the entire room stop and say, “THAT’S A HIT!” And we played it again and again in that meeting! I should note, we’ve said that before…a lot…and have been wrong. That time we happened to be right. It’s still my ringtone for Colleen Shea.
Jeff Z, SiriusXM/Pandora: I remember going to Ibiza with Erick Morillo while he was the resident DJ at Pasha. We were sitting by his pool with a group of friends and Erick was playing some new music that he was going to play that night at Pasha. One of the songs really caught my ear and Erick kept playing it over and over and the crowd by the pool was jammin’! He asked me what I thought about it and when I said it was a smash, he introduced me to the two dudes behind the project. Those guys were Daft Punk and the song was “Around the World.” I came back from Ibiza with the vinyl and we added it right away to KTU. |
Buster Satterfield, Q102: Katy Perry “Dark Horse” with Dan Hunt when we worked together at Wired in Philly. We even mentioned it to Katy at the recent iHeartSummit. She was appreciative telling us that the record was a career changer for her.
Jonathan Shuford, WRVW: I had the pleasure of being a part of a lot of really big records. Meghan Trainor “All About That Bass,” Lewis Capaldi “Someone You Loved,” twenty one pilots “Stressed Out,” James Bay “Let It Go,” Lauv “I Like Me Better,” Kesha “Praying,” Macklemore “Thrift Shop,” and going way way back in the day to Jibbs “Chain Hang Low” when I was at WABB in Mobile.
Rob Roberts, Cox Media: I cannot begin to tell you the amount of crap I took when I added Cher “Believe.” Told people it was going to be huge…maybe only in Miami…but huge.
R Dub! Z90: Candidly, I’ve mostly been in the “We don’t ‘make’ hits, we ‘play’ them camp.” That being said, I was proud to be the leader (along with my MD Kat San Andres) on Nicki Jam “X” and a few others. John Legend “All of Me” and Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo” were a couple of other smashes I was grateful to have a very small part in breaking.
Alex Tear, SiriusXM / Pandora: I’m proud of these personal relationships through the years. Pretty much ground-zero, even with Enrique back at DRQ: Calvin Harris “Feel So Close,” Jason Derulo “whatcha say,” Enrique Iglesias “I Like It.”
Mike “OD” O’Donnell, WKRZ: Lauv “Like Me Better,” DNCE “Cake By The Ocean,” Maroon 5 “Harder To Breathe.”
Jon Zellner, iHeartMedia: We were rarely early on music back in the day, but the ones that come to mind are “Smooth” by Santana, “Truly Madly Deeply” by Savage Garden, “Over My Head” by The Fray and “There You Go” by P!nk.Next Week’s Question Of The Week:
Which concerts have you missed (or will miss) this Spring and Summer that you are still looking forward to seeing once they’ve been rescheduled?
e-Mail your responses to: jodorisio@deanemediasolutions.com or bburke@deanemediasolutions.com
