Phil Collins, Elton John, and Gloria Estefan dominated Adult Contemporary radio back in the 1980s and '90s, yet have disappeared from modern radio. Seemingly, the only time you ever hear them is at the grocery store or your local CVS. This blog remembers the music, the stories and the quirky characters from my days working in Adult Contemporary radio.
Showing posts with label Sarah McLachlan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah McLachlan. Show all posts
The door to the on-air studio opened late one evening at the soft rock radio station where I worked as a board operator and in walked Keith, the station's chief engineer. Keith was a character. He told great stories, had an infectious laugh, liked his whiskey, and was rumored to take naps in the transmitter room. Keith told me that at midnight he was taking the radio station off the air so they could performed scheduled transmitter maintenance. Before this happened, he said I needed to go on the air and give the station's call letters. Since I was simply a board operator, I had never gone on the air (a board operator does everything a DJ does -- except talk).
"Do you have headphones?" Keith asked.
"No, why?" I responded.
"You're gonna need them when you go on the air."
I quickly found a beaten-up set of headphones that looked like they lost a fight with a hungry German Shepherd.
"What do you want me to say?" I asked Keith.
"Just do the legal ID which is the call letters and Chicago and then say that we'll be off for a few hours," Keith nonchalantly responded.
I could almost feel my heart beating through the clunky headphones as I muttered through Keith's check-list of things to say. It was the first time I went on the air at Chicago's Windy 100, but it wouldn't be the last...
Sometimes life has a way of gently reminding us that things may not be perfect in our life, but they could be far worse. I spent my morning at the Dermatology Department of Rush University. Over the summer, my primacy care doctor noticed a couple suspicious looking moles on my back and referred me to Rush. With my fair skin and collection of freckles and moles, I'm apparently more at-risk for melanoma that your average Joe Suntan. I had to wait two-plus months for their first available appointment, but finally had my full body screening in September. There was one particular mole that concerned my dermatologist, so he took some pictures and arranged for a follow-up visit. Thankfully, today's visit concluded that there was nothing to be concerned with, and I walked away with a clean bill of health and instructions to be vigilant and lather on the SPF-50. My mind was preoccupied with thoughts of my $2500 insurance deductible on my way back to work while riding Chicago's "L" train. I was almost too distracted to notice two blind men boarded the train. The two were no more than 18 or 19 years old and were being assisted by an older woman. She gave detailed and helpful instructions to the two guys in a way that was friendly yet firm. "Be mindful of the gap between the platform and the train car," she advised them. "You always want to count the number of stops until it's yours just in case the announcement isn't audible," she added. One of the blind guys who donned a baseball cap appeared more confident than the other. The other reminded me of Conan O'Brien: pale, thin and had a hairstyle much like Conan's. The other detail that struck me (and tugged at my heart) was the look on his face. He looked absolutely, 100 percent terrified. He struggled to board the train and find a seat--his stick was flailing left and right while he reached out frantically with one of his hands trying to find something to hold. The older woman was there to assist, but her role was clear: teach these young blind men to be self-sufficient. She was calm, patient and reassuring, but wasn't there to coddle. She told them not to worry if she wasn't there because there would always be someone willing to help. Within ten minutes, the trio exited the train and exited my life almost as quickly as they entered. To this day, I still wonder about these two boys. What happened to them that caused their blindness? Has the older woman continue to assist them or are they out on their own? What if they try to board the train during rush hour when it's crowded and people are less patient? I haven't shook the image of the frightened guy with the Conan hair and may never do so.
After this incident, I helped a blind person who rode the train one morning during rush hour. He struggled to find his way from crowded train to crowded platform to crowded escalator. I grabbed hold of his arm and reassured him that I would get him through the sea of people. While standing on the escalator, a man gave me a tap on my shoulder. At first, I thought he wanted something but soon I realized he was just giving me a tap to say "you're doing a good deed". It's a friendly reminded to help those who may be afraid to ask for help...and to acknowledge those who do offer assistance.
"ATTENTION: Please wear your Sunday best and keep your work areas clean. Visitors from corporate will be in the offices the rest of the week."
Although our radio station had a rather strict dress code (something unheard of in radio), a memo to run an iron over our khaki pants was commonplace when I first started in radio thanks to our very conservative corporate owners. Whenever they paid a visit to our radio stations, a note circulated. Although I didn't mind the dress code, many of my old-school radio colleagues rolled their eyes at it. Aside from wearing business casual clothes, I never understood the need for a reminder to keep our desks and work space clean...until someone clued me into the mystery pooper.
According to sources, someone at the office was going #2 on top of the toilet seat in the women's bathroom. Our bathrooms were locked, so you needed a key for access...meaning it had to be a current employee. It didn't happen every day or weekly, but it always seemed to happen whenever folks started to believe the poop storm had passed. The legend of who was responsible for this remained alive for a good handful of years when I worked there. Those same sources usually listed one or two suspects, yet no one knew for sure. What this says about an employee who goes to this length to express themselves was quite telling (and frightening). To this date, no one has ever correctly identified or admitted to being the mystery pooper. If it's anything like the story from New Jersey, it might have been someone from management.
If at first you don't succeed, try try again. In 1995, Sarah McLachlan recorded the somber "I Will Remember You" for inclusion on the Brothers McMullen Soundtrack. At the time, the ballad barely registered as a hit (#65 on the Hot 100). When McLachlan re-released a slightly more uptempo live version in 1999, the song soared to #14 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.
Most Adult Contemporary radio stations shuffle through 300-400 songs on any given day -- lending an answer to the age-old question from listeners: "Why do you guys always play the same songs?". Radio stations develop their music library by testing the hooks from hundreds of songs in focus groups (known as auditorium testing). While not a perfect method, auditorium testing is standard in the industry. One of the major problems with it, however, is that certain songs may test well, yet you don't want to hear them day after day on the radio. One such example is the death march known as "Angel" from Sarah McLachlan. While the song proved to be a massive hit in 1999 thanks to its inclusion on The City of Angels Soundtrack, there's certainly a time and place to hear a painfully slow ballad about a keyboardist who overdosed on heroin...and that time and place is not every day at work.
Sarah McLachlan's angelic voice soars in "World on Fire" and offers further proof that she is so much better than "I Will Remember You", the song most people associate her with.
Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan and other Lilith Fair darlings took over Adult Contemporary radio stations in the late-1990s. McLachlan's "Adia" was one of the most played songs of 1998.
During the late-1990s when women like Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, and Sheryl Crow took over contemporary music, Loreena McKennitt found success with a remixed version of "The Mummer's Dance". Unique in its sound, "The Mummer's Dance" rose to #3 on the Adult Top 40 Chart.