Jon Secada "Stop"

As Rob Thomas and Santana's "Smooth" dominated the radio well into Y2K, Jon Secada followed suit with his spicy uptempo "Stop". With an abundance of "Latin Explosion" artists like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Christina Aguilera's all over the radio at the time, "Stop" got lost in the shuffle and the song barely registered on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Cher "Strong Enough"

Radio at the end of the 1990s featured hip-hop (Brandy, TLC, Destiny's Child), the "Latin Explosion" (Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Santana), and Cher. The ageless wonder returned to Top 40 radio with her mega-hit "Believe". That song ended 1999 as the #1 single of the year. Lost in the shuffle was her follow-up hit to "Believe" called "Strong Enough". Aside from a home on the radio, dance clubs couldn't get enough of it. With its disco-dance flavor, "Strong Enough" played like an updated version of Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park".

Santana f/ Rob Thomas "Smooth"

Every hour, a radio station airs something called the Legal ID which is just that: a legally mandated station identification. The Legal ID airs as close to the top-of-the-hour as possible and includes the station's call letters and licensed city of broadcast. In the case of the former WENS-FM in Indianapolis, I heard their Legal ID countless times during my many drives to and from Indiana University in Bloomington. It said: "97-point-1, W-E-N-S Shelbyville, Indianapolis. The flagship station of Emmis Communications." WENS-FM was licensed to Shelbyville, Indiana but broadcast out of Emmis' studios in Indianapolis.

For years, Production Directors spent lots of time crafting big, booming Legal ID's, but that changed when the ratings system morphed from diaries to Personal People Meters (PPM) in the late-2000s. Listeners no longer had to write down what stations they listed to since the PPM (a device that looks like a pager) now automatically records that information. This caused some stations to bury their Legal ID within a commercial break.

In 2006, I voiced a Legal ID for a radio station, and it proudly aired every hour until 2015 until the station switched formats and, ultimately, call letters. The day before the switch, I joked to my boss that my mom would be very upset if she didn't hear her son do the hourly Legal ID. He told me not to worry because I could voice the new Legal ID. The next morning at 10:00AM, the first of my five new Legal IDs started airing. It continues to air today much to the delight of Stephani, a part-time DJ at our sister-station. She liked them so much that I gave her what amounted to the worst cheapest birthday gift ever: an MP3 of said Legal IDs. Happy birthday, Stephani!

The Calling - "Wherever You Will Go"

The Calling scored the #1 song of the decade with "Wherever You Will Go".  Just how popular was that song?  It topped the Adult Top 40 for 23 weeks--the second longest in the history of the chart (Rob Thomas & Santana's "Smooth" sat at #1 for 25 weeks between 1999 and 2000).

Santana & Michelle Branch - "I'm Feeling You"

After finding success with Rob Thomas in "Smooth", Santana resurrected the formula a couple years later with Michelle Branch for "The Game of Love".  Seeing a nice little pattern here, he gave Michelle a call in 2005 and the two cranked out "I'm Feeling You".  Though not as big of a hit as previous duets, the song did climb to #5 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Santana f/ Chad Kroeger - "Into The Night"

Think of a wildly successful band that's hated almost more than it's loved.  Justin Beiber?  You could probably put him at the top of the notorious list up until his most current album.  How about Nickelback?  Bingo!  Despite the band's haters, Nickelback is the second-best selling foreign act in the US (next to The Beatles!) and has racked up more than 50 million album sales worldwide.  It's tough to argue with numbers like that, yet Nickelback always seems to turn up near the top of informal lists of most-disliked bands.  Lead singer Chad Kroeger joined forces with guitar legend Carlos Santana for one of a few new tracks on Santana's Ultimate Santana compilation disc.  The result was a tune that was all over the radio in 2007.

Ricky Martin - "She's All I Ever Had"

The year 1999 will be remembered for the craziness surrounding Y2K. Wait, you didn't stock up on canned peaches while storing all your money under your mattress? Some folks did. Aside from the Y2K lunacy, 1999 gave us the "Latin Explosion" with names like Santana, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin dominating the radio. While "Livin' La Vida Loca" has stood the test of time, Martin's follow-up hit "She's All I Ever Had" now sits next to that can of expired cling peaches from your parent's Y2K shelter.