November 9, 2018
How would you rate the music cycle this year, where it’s currently at, and where you would like to see it head going forward?
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Chris K, The End: 2018 has been one of the weakest years for Pop music that I can remember. Going forward, I’d like to see more of a focus back on songwriting again, instead of beat-making. The Dance music vibe is getting pretty tired and my audience is not feeling it anymore. Brian Mack, WXXL: I have no horse in the race outside of hoping for great songs people are passionate about. I’d like to see it keep trending that way.
Gina Gray, WERO: In 2019, I would like to see more of a variety of artists to pop on the scene that are not named Khalid, Halsey, or Post Malone. Don’t get me wrong, I love these artists, but for my own selfish scheduling reasons, we need variety. It takes me forever to edit my music mix because of the same big artists on so many different records. Jon Zellner, iHeartMedia: We’re definitely in the midst of a weak music cycle, usually the result of extreme sounds moving toward the middle. When a true balance of all kinds of music is in the center and recognized as “Pop,” everything else seems to fall into place.
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Rick Vaughn, Power 94.9: Disposable. Polarizing. Garbage. Other than that, it is has been a pretty good year! There has been enough to get us through 2018, but I am a little concerned about where we are going to emerge from the holidays. We need superstars with some home runs next year.
Mike “OD” O’Donnell, WKRZ: We started 2018 well, but I think we’re ending in a limp. I’m hoping for more songs from more core artists in 2019. There aren’t a lot of core artists out there right now and we need them. Kobi, WNRW/WLGX: I give it an 8. I think we’re in a good spot. I would like to see some more core artist artists like Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake and Ed Sheeran release some new hits.
Fish Boy, WKRZ: Below par, I would love to see way more variety in 2019 and way better artist development. Derrick “DC” Cole, WAEB: I’m enjoying the state of music for Top 40 right now, it’s been a solid balance of sounds for the format. I’m happy living in this middle world for a little bit, but what I’ve gathered from more experienced programmers is it will shift one way. Jason Squires, KFRR: I’d like to see more stuff like Koko B. Ware – Piledriver! |
Jeff Hurley, WLAN: We’ve been in the extremes which is a tough spot for mainstream Top 40. We need to get more mass appeal and back more to the middle, and I believe that will come in time. The problem is that labels are fixated on streaming metrics which is moving the needle financially for them, but that’s not exactly what calls out. Radio needs to follow the mass appeal callout research and stay true to what we do. Java Joel, WAKS: Post Malone and Ariana Grande all-year… Can we get some tempo up in this bitch??? Raphael Opida, WIOQ: It was very Rhythmic and Urban. I think now we’re finding our way back to pop music center and I hope it continues.
Mase, CD1025: Guitars…More Guitars. Matt Johnson, KSLZ: The Worst. Anything but Emo Rap, please, ANYTHING ELSE. |
JB King, KLUC: Well, it could have been better. Definitely, a few major HITS but not as many as I had hoped. So much fluff this year, especially songs that peaked and got stuck on chart between 13-20. Fingers crossed for 2019!!!!
Jonathan Reed, WNOK: I don’t think the music cycle is as bad as people claim it is. Has this format had its struggles, yes. I think this is an exciting time for our format with a lot of new artists that have become core over the past couple of years.
Chris Michaels, FM100: For Hot AC it’s been really good! Maroon 5, Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, One Republic, and Taylor Swift have done well in the format this year. I also like that we have artists the format can own like Matt Nathanson and AJR, to name a few. I would like to see the core artists continue to release new music. We need more Pink, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars on the air.
Jonathan Shuford, WRVW: On a scale of 1-10 the music cycles this year has probably been like a 3. We just need an artist to shake the format up and dare to be different, the way twenty-one pilots did back in ’15 and ’16.
Mike McCoy, WNCI: Rating this year is meh, where it’s currently at is meh, and where I’d like to see it go is Wow! Going forward I’d like to see a few superstar artists being born that we can rely on for the next ten years. Hopefully they will come with the next cycle. We need more pure Pop as well. I’m tired of computerized music, we need a rebirth of authentic music.
Kobe, WWHT: This year and currently it’s the extremes that are working, Hip-Hop and Rock/Adult records, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I think it’s a pure reflection of the mood of our country. Not to get political, but I think it directly correlates to the morale of our country which is really poor these days. Music just reflects the divisiveness and the bilateral rebellion that exits in society. It’ll change when we get our sh*t together as a country.
Rob Roberts, WRQX: Very Urban and a lot of the music that sounds the same coming from the Top 40 world. Need to fix that crap sooner than later. Some tempo would also be nice. We seem to all be using streaming as one of our most important sources for decision making but I would propose we aren’t doing it correctly yet.Next Week’s Question Of The Week:
In life in general, what is the one thing you dislike that many other people seem to like?
e-Mail your responses to: jodorisio@fmqb.com or bburke@fmqb.com
