Tim McGraw "Tiny Dancer"

Tim McGraw choose the safe (and wise) route when remaking Elton John's signature "Tiny Dancer". His 2002 effort perfectly matched the original. In fact, the two performed the song together on the American Music Awards in celebration of the song's 30th birthday.

Kelly Clarkson "Miss Independent"

Fox stunned all the television networks when its reality singing contest American Idol: The Search for a Superstar caught fire during the summer of 2002. Rarely did summer television shows ever become a sensation, but Idol connected. The show made Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Ryan Seacrest household names. Season 1 of Idol culminated with Kelly Clarkson defeating Justin Guarini on September 2, 2002. While Idol went on to change the way television networks programmed their schedules, it also changed the music business. Artists regularly appeared on the show hoping to promote their new single and theme nights helped introduce older music to a new audience. No format seemed to benefit from Idol more than Adult Contemporary who embraced the show's winners (and losers). Names like Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, and Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson peppered the AC Chart. Clarkson alone charted more than a dozen AC singles including 2002's "Miss Independent" -- a song initially written for Christina Aguilera.

Jennifer Lopez "Alive"

A few months before Celine Dion tore up the Adult Contemporary Charts with "I'm Alive" we found Jennifer Lopez and her ballad "Alive". Just like Dion's "I'm Alive", J-Lo's tune also appeared on a movie soundtrack: Stuart Little 2 for Celine while J-Lo's "Alive" appeared on the soundtrack to Enough. Though not as big of a bomb as her next film, Gigli, Enough also crashed at the box office and the stresses of juggling her busy singing and acting career eventually caused J-Lo to suffer a nervous breakdown.

Celine Dion "I'm Alive"

Celine Dion recorded "I'm Alive" for the Stuart Little 2 Soundtrack and the uplifting tune went on to become one Celine's signature songs when she performs in Vegas.

Michael Bolton "Only A Woman Like You"

In my new role as Morning Show Producer, I had to meet guests of the morning show in the lobby of the Prudential Plaza (where the radio station was located). One of the first celebrities to visit the morning show under my watch was Michael Bolton. Busy promoting his newest album Only A Woman Like You, Bolton visited crosstown Adult Contemporary rival WLIT-FM as well as my station, Windy 100 (WNND-FM). Women started to buzz as a leather-pants wearing Bolton made his way up the stairs with his entourage. I immediately ran up to him and introduced myself. Bolton was cordial and made small-talk about his hotel having a basketball court. He asked if I played basketball. Instead of telling him I avereaged 0.0 point per game as the starting forward of the St. Joseph Warriors when I was in 5th grade, I simply said that indeed I was a basketball player. Bolton said I was welcome to come shoot hoops at his hotel that day if I was interested. I declined. 

No Doubt "Underneath It All"

Adult Contemporary radio stations helped buoy No Doubt's "Underneath It All" into a hit in 2002. In fact, the tune became the band's biggest hit in the United States. Yes, even bigger than "Don't Speak". The group wrote the song while in Jamaica which likely helped to influence the tune's ska sound.

John Mayer "Your Body Is A Wonderland"

Originally titled "Strawberry Wonderland", John Mayer eventually changed the title of his ode to his first girlfriend to "Your Body Is A Wonderland". The song went on to outperform his debut hit "No Such Thing". With any success comes backlash and "Your Body Is A Wonderland" wasn't immune. Despite winning a Grammy for the tune, critics mocked Mayer for it. This caused him to shelve the song while on tour. Nowadays, Mayer claims he's embraced the song for what it is and has no problem playing it.

Chris Isaak "Let Me Down Easy"

Folks in radio (myself included) often joke about how we're in the communications business yet somehow we fail at basic communication with one another. Mistakes happen, instructions don't always get conveyed and balls occasionally get dropped, but I remember working for one person in particular whose communication style could best be described as "Huh?". This person's memos contained more grammatical and spelling errors than most fifth graders. Conversations with this person usually resulted in him repeating the phrase "Good, good!" throughout. More times than not, I left his meetings with more questions than answers. One particular note he once pasted in the on-air studio became the rallying cry of all the DJs. It read: "Keep You Energy Up".

Britney Spears "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman"

Sometimes a girl tries to make a statement, but no one wants to hear it. "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" was Britney Spears' answer to being stuck in the awkward phase  between teenager and adulthood. The syrupy song fared well outside the US, but never caught on here. At one of her concerts, I'm guessing you'd rather hear her do "Toxic" or "Baby, One More Time", right?

John Mayer "No Such Thing"

Q: Do radio stations take requests?

A: They take them, but 99% of the time they don't actually play them.

Q: Why not?

A: Most playlists are determined well in advance.

Q: What do you mean?

A: Radio stations "test" songs using auditorium testing (or other means) and develop a playlist of songs that score as "familiar" and "likable". From there, a station has a list of (usually 300) songs they deem "safe" that gets played.

Q: So why do DJs always say that they'll "try to get that song on"?

A: Because they're being nice.

Q: So there's no such thing as a request that actually gets played.

A: Not really although people tend to request songs that are current and would likely be played anyway. 

Q: I see.  

Elvis Presley "A Little Less Conversation (JXL Remix)"

When celebrities make appearances on radio station morning shows, everyone from Donna in accounting to quirky Fred in sales shows up early for work in order to catch a glimpse and (hopefully) snap a selfie. Celebs such as Katy Perry, Kevin Costner, Kerry Wood, Patrick Sharpe, and Robin Thicke are favorites among the office staff and then, of course, there are other big names who made the rounds and left an interesting impression. For example, when Lisa Marie Presley stopped by the radio station where I worked in 2003, her handlers had a strict policy that she wouldn't pose for pictures or answer questions about Elvis. Oh, there was one other demand: no one except for the two hosts were allowed to make eye contact with Lisa Marie. That's right, a memo went out to the staff requesting that no one be near the on-air studios unless they absolutely had to be and that no one should directly look at Miss Presley.

Vanessa Carlton "A Thousand Miles"

Budding artists usually make stops to radio stations to meet Program Directors and listeners; sometimes they even perform their newest song. In the case of 2002 breakout pop singer Vanessa Carlton, she paid a visit to the radio station where I worked, but security at Prudential Plaza wasn't letting her upstairs. The singer of "A Thousand Miles" decided to bring her dog with her to the radio station and our building had a no-animals policy at the time.

Kelly Clarkson "A Moment Like This"

Do you remember the name Brian Dunkleman? Dunkleman infamously co-hosted season one of American Idol alongside Ryan Seacrest only to disappear after Kelly Clarkson won the first season. His name became a joke as the show's popularity took off after he left leaving Seacrest to collect all the profits. Word is that Dunkleman resigned from the show just before the show was about to fire him.

Faith Hill "Cry"

Faith Hill spent the majority of her early career toeing the line between Country and Adult Contemporary artist. Her 2002 ballad "Cry" found most of its success on the Adult Contemporary Chart. The song sat in the #1 spot for 11 weeks. Despite this, the song netted Hill a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Five for Fighting "Easy Tonight"

For bands, sometimes it takes another song's success to help a previously released song find success. In the case of Five for Fighting, "Easy Tonight" didn't do much when released in 2000. A year later, the band's "Superman (It's Not Easy)" hit #2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart giving the band their first breakthrough hit. Their record company hoped to capitalize on that by re-releasing "Easy Tonight" in 2002.

Sheryl Crow "Soak Up the Sun"

Sheryl Crow slathered on the SPF-30 during the Spring of 2002 and released "Soak Up the Sun".  The catchy song featured Chicagoan Liz Phair on backup vocals.  

Paul Simon "Father & Daughter"

Originally featured in The Wild Thornberries Soundtrack, Paul Simon re-released"Father and Daughter" for his 2006 Surprise album.  The song also gets plenty of spins during wedding receptions, so could Bob Carlisle kindly leave the dance floor?

Natalie Imbruglia - "Wrong Impression"

The summer of 1998 belonged to Natalie Imbruglia (pronounced: im-BRUE-lee-uh).  The Aussie soap star-turned-pop singer's mega-hit "Torn" found itself in heavy rotation on pop and Adult Contemporary radio stations.  Don't get the wrong impression and call Natalie a one-hit-wonder.  Four years after "Torn", Imbruglia released "Wrong Impression" -- a mild hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart (#30), but a Top 10 hit on the Adult Top 40 Chart.

Alanis Morissette - "Hands Clean"

Radio tends to focus on Alanis Morissette's breakout hits "Ironic" or "You Learn" over others such as "Hands Clean".  Like many of her earlier hits, "Hands Clean" is audio therapy for Alanis as the song touches on the subject of underage relationships.

Jim Brickman & Jane Krakowski "You"

Remember that time Jane Krakowski had that song on the radio?  No?  Well to refresh your memory, it happened in late 2002 when she teamed up with pianist Jim Brickman.  Brickman made a career with a simple formula of: "I'll play the piano while a sweet sounding female sings" (see: "Valentine", "Simple Things", and "The Gift").