THE END OF THE WGAJ TOP 40 SURVEYS.....ONLY
What happened to the charts?
From 1975 to 1995, I charted popular music here in Western Massachusetts. In the early 1990's pop music and the way it became tracked nationally became skewed, with Billboard Magazine using Soundscan technology to track sales. Although that method appeared fine on the surface, the sales of popular music of ALL formats was tracked, and there was a perception that many songs and formats were being embraced by the pop music community, especially Country and Rap; and they were to some extent, but it is my argument still to this day not nearly to the extent that was reported. Radio became and is still is fragmented, with a bunch of similiar formats on the dials...HOT AC and Top 40, how could satellite radio miss. The door was wide open.
Where is the going? In 1995, I made the decision to halt charting music as determining what was popular and trying to find it (buying CD singles of your favorite pop hit had become a treasure hunt, another story for another time) was difficult to say the least. The end, part one.
In April of 2002, the pendulum appeared to start swinging back toward the very early 90's and I decided to come "out of retirement." I had found a reliable music service in 1999 and had still followed pop music during my 6 1/2 year absence form charting it and missed doing it. And with Al Gore's nifty internet invention gripping the nation, I had a worldwide forum to post what was going on here in the Pioneer Valley. The WGAJ Top 40 Survey returns and makes it's debut on the world wide web.
But, as 2007 has progressed, I'm running into some of the same problems I saw in the fall of 1995. Although I never say never, it's hard to imagine the third time being a charm and I've hung the charting up for good....something I've done since I was 14 years old. I will miss it, again.
What's next?
I will do the same thing I did back in the fall of 1995: Continue to follow pop music. It's still one of my favorite things to do, it's just become too laborious to chart for many of the reasons stated above. The Brock Hines show will obviously continue here on WGAJ. I will continue to broadcast UMass hockey. Music and sports, two great things.
Enter my "Blog"
Any regular listener to my show knows that I rarely lack an opinion, whether it be about the music industry or the sports world. Soon, in this space, I will have weekly and monthly columns recapping and commenting on what's going on locally and nationally on these subjects and anything else that's newsworthy. I bet you can't wait. Me either. Haha.
And course, my pro football picks for my chosen charity, the Dakin Franklin County Humane Society will appear here. Keep and eye out for them.
More later. Thanks for being a faithful reader.
Brock
|
