Michael Blauner, VP/Director Of Sales, sent over this post by a guy who works for an oldies radio station. The song he is discusing is “Nothing But A Heartache” by the Flirtations.
Now read on…
For the last six months, this newsletter has forthrightly faced down the challenges of our industry – seeking to engage readers in constructive dialogue and problem solving. So what was it that is really on people’s minds in these tough times? We should have had some clue after the e-mails generated by our casual recent mention of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” But I was unprepared for the torrent of response to Thursday’s item on “Nothing But A Heartache” by the Flirtations—a 40-year-old Lost 45 soul classic that we decided was the “Brown Eyed Girl” of Oldies specialty programming.
“Nothing But A Heartache” prompted a lot of “first time callers,” many of them involved themselves with specialty Oldies programming. As Richard “Ricky the K” Kaufman, host of Internet radio’s “Solid Gold Time Machine” put it, “You finally wrote something that means something to me.” A lot of readers still hear “Heartache” on specialty shows, or play it there themselves. Many have encountered it on an aircheck; (I had no firm memories of doing so, even though it was a legitimate hit in markets like Boston, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.) At least three readers, including one from Australia, compared it to “Right On The Tip Of My Tongue” by Brenda & the Tabulations, a mellower R&B nugget of a few years later.
Here’s just a smattering of the response:
“CKLW [Detroit] wailed on ‘Nothing But A Heartache.’ I have heard it on a ‘Big 8’ aircheck, and not long ago. It was a terrific top of the hour record.” – Randy Michaels, newly named CEO, Tribune Co.
“Nice to see you acknowledge the genius of that song. It has some history in our market with KSTP-AM pounding it during their 1973-74 heyday as ‘The Music Station.’ We still get positive calls and e-mails when we spin it.” – Dave Hamilton, Citadel/Minneapolis, whose WGVX (Love 105) may be the only large-market Greatest Hits station giving the song any regular airplay.
“Love that one! Art Bell used to use it as bumper music all of the time, and that was the only place I’ve heard it since the late ’60s.” – Mark Kassof, Kassof & Co., Ann Arbor, Mich.
“Sometimes [Art Bell] would let the entire song play because he liked it so much. It sure is a great song.” – Jason Steiner.
“It is simply the greatest ‘oh wow’ song of all time . . . So, why did it stall at #34? Probably in part [due to] lousy promotion. If you look at its rise week-to-week, it would get a bullet one week, stall the next, bullet the next week, stall again. But it spent 14 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, no mean feat in an age of short chart runs . . . I play it on my tiny Oldies station, Great Gold 1410. I can’t imagine anyone turning it off, even if they don’t know it.” – Don Tandler, WHTG Monmouth/Ocean County, N.J.
“It is an all-time, if not the all-time turntable hit.” – Rich “Brother” Robbin, RichBroRadio.com
“Okay, we’ll call you ‘The King of Geek’ … but only because ‘King Of Pop’ and ‘King Of All Media’ are already taken.” – Harvey Kojan, PD WZBA (The Bay) Baltimore.
“That intro is what makes the song so beloved by jocks from that era. It sounded like an atom bomb went off with Phil Spector behind the controls.” – Jay Sorensen, newly minted part-timer at WCBS-FM New York.
“If you’ve ever heard the David Letterman aircheck from his Ball State days that’s posted on ReelRadio.com, you’ll hear him backsell that very song! Too bad the station, WAGO, was only carrier current.” – Mark “Abbott” Erdman, WDUX-AM-FM Waupaca, Wis.
“Insanely great record, thanks for the recommendation, Sean.” – Frank Bell, VP of programming, Keymarket Radio, Pittsburgh
“You’re right about the ‘retro’ sound: it feels more like 1965 than 1969, and it’s hard to imagine any other four-year span where music changed so quickly.” – Charlie Mitchell, WDSY (Y108) Pittsburgh
“’Nothing But A Heartache’ may be one of those songs that got enough airplay in Philly that one impressionable kid like me thought it was huge everywhere. Next, you’re going to try and tell me that ‘Boogaloo Down Broadway’ by The Fantastic Johnny C was not No. 1 for 18 weeks. I’m not buying it.” – Smokey Rivers, Clear Channel/Phoenix
“I actually toured with the Flirtations. We played the TV show ‘Where The Action Is.’ S—, I’m old.” – Carl Strube, WNBP Newburyport, Mass.