Chuck Wicks - "Saturday Afternoon"

[sabre14]

Artist: Chuck Wicks
Single: "Saturday Afternoon"
Label: Blaster Records
Add Date: September 29th, 2014
Source: Billboard



Listen: All Access

[zjames]

I really loved his last single "Us Again" and would love to see him have some success.

[hosssulpizio]

Is this song an uptempo? I like Chuck Wicks and I hope this song does better than "Us Again".

[gonecountry]

I still can't believe Salt Life didn't chart and that Old School didn't make the Top 40. Both were really good. Old School actually was in the Top 10 countdown here in Detroit for a couople weeks if I recall correctly.

[hosssulpizio]

Sept 8, 2014 21:14:22 GMT -5 gonecountry said:

I still can't believe Salt Life didn't chart and that Old School didn't make the Top 40. Both were really good. Old School actually was in the Top 10 countdown here in Detroit for a couople weeks if I recall correctly.

It was extremely sad to see that happen. I especially love "Old School".

[rgreen0625]

Ahh, still releasing songs from the Rough EP??  I wish he would try something newer, something that he's recorded while being on Blaster

[sabre14]

Delivered to country radio today.

[onebuffalo]

Sept 10, 2014 10:53:26 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Delivered to country radio today.

We get Friday Night by Eric Paslay. Now it's Saturday Afternoon. Is it just me or does Chuck Wicks look like David Nail?

[sabre14]

Am I the only one who think Chuck sounds way different on this song? He definitely sounds different on this than he did on "Us Again" - a song I actually think he had one of his better vocal performances.

To me this song won't do much since I thought "Us Again" had some potential and only barely cracked the top 40. Plus Blaster has yet to get a song to the top 30 on MB or Billboard.

[rgreen0625]

Sept 29, 2014 12:35:57 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Am I the only one who think Chuck sounds way different on this song? He definitely sounds different on this than he did on "Us Again" - a song I actually think he had one of his better vocal performances.

To me this song won't do much since I thought "Us Again" had some potential and only barely cracked the top 40. Plus Blaster has yet to get a song to the top 30 on MB or Billboard.

I agree with his voice sounding different. I wasn't sure if it was really Chuck when I first heard it, he comes across very raspy.

And I don't have high hopes for this single either, I was hoping he would release something that we hadn't heard yet.

[someguy]

Sept 29, 2014 12:35:57 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Am I the only one who think Chuck sounds way different on this song? He definitely sounds different on this than he did on "Us Again" - a song I actually think he had one of his better vocal performances.

To me this song won't do much since I thought "Us Again" had some potential and only barely cracked the top 40. Plus Blaster has yet to get a song to the top 30 on MB or Billboard.

I was just thinking the same thing. I heard the song for the first time tonight, and would never have guessed it was Chuck if I didn't already know who was singing. I wonder why he sounds so different.

[Deleted]

It's unlikely Chuck Wicks can ever get a single much higher than top 40 as long as he does a morning show for Cumulus. iHeartMedia stations would probably never add a single of his unless it made a huge impact with listeners. I'm actually surprised Big Machine is able to still score their artists much airplay after signing that Nash Icons deal with Cumulus.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2014 21:15:02 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

I'm actually surprised Big Machine is able to still score their artists much airplay after signing that Nash Icons deal with Cumulus.

This is an interesting point and I've wondered it myself, but I have a feeling that Big Machine wouldn't have signed the deal with Cumulus if they thought it would be detrimental to the overall chart success of their stable of artists. But perhaps they didn't think things through enough? You did mention in another thread that "Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "Meanwhile Back At Mama's", and "This Is How We Roll" all missed out on the #1 spot on BOTH Billboard and Mediabase after big pushes, and after TIHWR missed out on #1, I started thinking about their deal with Cumulus as well.

I'm not surprised that Big Machine IS still able to get their artists up the charts (it'd be completely ridiculous for Clear Channel to simply stop playing the likes of Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, The Band Perry, etc), but the one thing that wouldn't surprise me a bit is if there is something going on behind the scenes when it comes to the label going for #1. Up until recently, Big Machine had never really 'whiffed' on any of their #1 pushes, and so I think that it could indeed be possible that one of the big bean-counters at Clear Channel was having just a couple of stations hold off so that Big Machine promoted-singles would just barely miss out on #1.

I think we need to see this trend continue in order to have more evidence, but it's definitely a theory worth entertaining.

Chuck Wicks can probably get his singles added on all the Cumulus stations but I do think he'd need a much bigger label and a song that really connected with listeners to ever have a shot at cracking the top 20 again. Ronnie Dunn has publicly stated that he believes Clear Channel wasn't playing Brooks & Dunn's new material due to Kix's affiliation with Cumulus and that was one of the big reasons as to why there was tension between the two of them (although Ronnie insists that they are still friends). I'm sure Ronnie knows a lot more about it than I do, and of course B&D also had a long career so radio was probably naturally phasing them out anyway, but I still think he might have been on to something there.

[sabre14]

Sept 29, 2014 22:12:25 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Sept 29, 2014 21:15:02 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

I'm actually surprised Big Machine is able to still score their artists much airplay after signing that Nash Icons deal with Cumulus.

This is an interesting point and I've wondered it myself, but I have a feeling that Big Machine wouldn't have signed the deal with Cumulus if they thought it would be detrimental to the overall chart success of their stable of artists. But perhaps they didn't think things through enough? You did mention in another thread that "Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "Meanwhile Back At Mama's", and "This Is How We Roll" all missed out on the #1 spot on BOTH Billboard and Mediabase after big pushes, and after TIHWR missed out on #1, I started thinking about their deal with Cumulus as well.

I'm not surprised that Big Machine IS still able to get their artists up the charts (it'd be completely ridiculous for Clear Channel to simply stop playing the likes of Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, The Band Perry, etc), but the one thing that wouldn't surprise me a bit is if there is something going on behind the scenes when it comes to the label going for #1. Up until recently, Big Machine had never really 'whiffed' on any of their #1 pushes, and so I think that it could indeed be possible that one of the big bean-counters at Clear Channel was having just a couple of stations hold off so that Big Machine promoted-singles would just barely miss out on #1.

I think we need to see this trend continue in order to have more evidence, but it's definitely a theory worth entertaining.

Chuck Wicks can probably get his singles added on all the Cumulus stations but I do think he'd need a much bigger label and a song that really connected with listeners to ever have a shot at cracking the top 20 again. Ronnie Dunn has publicly stated that he believes Clear Channel wasn't playing Brooks & Dunn's new material due to Kix's affiliation with Cumulus and that was one of the big reasons as to why there was tension between the two of them (although Ronnie insists that they are still friends). I'm sure Ronnie knows a lot more about it than I do, and of course B&D also had a long career so radio was probably naturally phasing them out anyway, but I still think he might have been on to something there.

Unfortunately there's no way to know for sure about these things. If Clear Channel (iheart media, whatever) really was bothered by Big Machine's affiliation with Cumulus, then it would still take some work to make sure that "Meanwhile Back At Mama's", "This Is How We Roll", etc. didn't get to #1 since those races were as close as close can be. I would love to go back and see the numbers for the CC stations with those respective singles the week those pushes happened.

Anyway, I do agree that Chuck's affiliation with Cumulus does and will have something to do with where his singles peak. But like I've said before - Blaster just isn't a house hold name right now and they have yet to score a hit. 

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2014 22:27:09 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Unfortunately there's no way to know for sure about these things. If Clear Channel (iheart media, whatever) really was bothered by Big Machine's affiliation with Cumulus, then it would still take some work to make sure that "Meanwhile Back At Mama's", "This Is How We Roll", etc. didn't get to #1 since those races were as close as close can be. I would love to go back and see the numbers for the CC stations with those respective singles the week those pushes happened.

Oh, certainly, I don't think there's any way we can know for sure, and I personally don't think there is anything going on there, but you never know. I could see Clear Channel being petty like that simply because of Big Machine's Nash Icons partnership with Cumulus. But like I said, there won't be any way to prove it. I think the only way for the theory to have some credibility is if a bunch of Big Machine releases start missing out on #1. Right now there really isn't a trend since "Rewind" topped the Mediabase chart and "Bottoms Up" was an easy #1 on both charts. Justin Moore also got an easy #1 with "Lettin' The Night Roll" and I can't imagine FGL missing out on the top spot with how "Dirt" is moving now.

The one thing I DO feel confident of is that there are probably some high-ranking executives or PD's/MD's at Clear Channel (and also Cumulus) who know the amount of spins that a label needs when they are pushing for #1, so if enough stations didn't want that song to hit #1, they could probably stop it from doing so (by not giving it quite the amount of spins that the label needs) and you'd never know.

It's probably nothing, though. "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" had some struggles long before it got to #2 and it wasn't selling at all, while "This Is How We Roll" went up head-to-head with "Play It Again" and "Meanwhile Back At Mama's" went up head-to-head against "Drunk On A Plane". I personally feel that Big Machine whiffed with Tim...I think they could have waited a week and then gone for #1 after Dierks' 2nd week; I think it would have been easier for them to outlast "Bartender" instead of DOAP, but oh well...it's water under the bridge now.

Anyway, I just listened to "Saturday Afternoon" and I agree, it doesn't really sound like Chuck at all. His voice sounds a lot deeper and raspier than it did on a song like "Stealing Cinderella" and even recently on "Us Again". "Saturday Afternoon" is a pretty catchy song but I just don't think it'll be able to cut through the competition (and I agree with you sabre14 in that this one's likely inability to do well will be because of Chuck's label situation; Blaster simply isn't a big enough label at this point in time).

[Deleted]

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions too quickly with the Big Machine-iHeartMedia theory. I've just been surprised by all the struggles Big Machine has had on the charts lately. "Dust" seemed like a definite top 10 and a likely #1 single, but ended up taking over 30 weeks just to reach #15. Justin Moore's new single has had the weakest chart run of all the songs that have ever received the iHeartRadio world premiere deal (and may end up with the lowest peak position, too). "Payback" is really struggling in the 20's, and Cassadee Pope, Danielle Brabdery, and The Cadillac Three haven't been able to do anything this year. Big Machine currently has only nine songs on the entire top 60 Billboard chart (four of which are outside the top 30). One particular situation that surprised me was the way iHeartMedia seemed to take forever to add "God Made Girls" even though it has been selling really well and RaeLynn was a contestant on The Voice (which led to all those weeks the single spent stalling at the lower end of the 30's, which debut singles from Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery didn't do). Anyway, I don't want to get too off-topic here, since this is a Chuck Wicks thread, but thanks for the insight on the situation, jhomes87 and sabre14! I think we'll see at the end of the year when the top labels are announced if Big Machine has really started to fall through the cracks this year.

[Kanenrá:ke]

Oct 3, 2014 10:33:39 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions too quickly with the Big Machine-iHeartMedia theory. I've just been surprised by all the struggles Big Machine has had on the charts lately. "Dust" seemed like a definite top 10 and a likely #1 single, but ended up taking over 30 weeks just to reach #15. Justin Moore's new single has had the weakest chart run of all the songs that have ever received the iHeartRadio world premiere deal (and may end up with the lowest peak position, too). "Payback" is really struggling in the 20's, and Cassadee Pope, Danielle Brabdery, and The Cadillac Three haven't been able to do anything this year. Big Machine currently has only nine songs on the entire top 60 Billboard chart (four of which are outside the top 30). One particular situation that surprised me was the way iHeartMedia seemed to take forever to add "God Made Girls" even though it has been selling really well and RaeLynn was a winner of The Voice (which led to all those weeks the single spent stalling at the lower end of the 30's, which debut singles from Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery didn't do). Anyway, I don't want to get too off-topic here, since this is a Chuck Wicks thread, but thanks for the insight on the situation, jhomes87 and sabre14! I think we'll see at the end of the year when the top labels are announced if Big Machine has really started to fall through the cracks this year.

Just a small correction RaeLynn isn't a winner of The Voice. I don't remember where she placed but it wasn't 1st.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the heads-up, Kanenrá:ke Stacey! I guess I need to keep up with all these reality TV stars a bit more. I corrected it.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2014 10:33:39 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

Justin Moore's new single has had the weakest chart run of all the songs that have ever received the iHeartRadio world premiere deal (and may end up with the lowest peak position, too).

Justin Moore's "Home Sweet Home" didn't get an iHeartRadio premiere deal. They did give him a big first day, but it wasn't once an hour spins like the "traditional" iHeartRadio launches.

[Deleted]

"Home Sweet Home" did receive hourly airplay on my local iHeartRadio station on July 1. The surprising thing was that the single did not debut on the Mediabase chart until July 8, and the reason it fell off on July 9 was because it lost those hourly spins from July 1. Whether the single was played hourly on every iHeartRadio station I don't know, but I do know for a fact that the single was world premiered on the local iHeartRadio station I receive on July 1.

To avoid totally derailing this thread, I'll comment that I agree "Saturday Afternoon" sounds very different from Chuck Wicks' previous material. I do see a chance of this single gaining some support on several radio stations, but again I think that IHM will be very skeptical to add a song by a radio host for their competitor, so I don't see Chuck Wicks getting a top 30 single here. This actually sounds familiar...maybe like something Uncle Kracker might have recorded?

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2014 21:04:04 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

"Home Sweet Home" did receive hourly airplay on my local iHeartRadio station on July 1. The surprising thing was that the single did not debut on the Mediabase chart until July 8, and the reason it fell off on July 9 was because it lost those hourly spins from July 1. Whether the single was played hourly on every iHeartRadio station I don't know, but I do know for a fact that the single was world premiered on the local iHeartRadio station I receive on July 1.

That's what I'm saying, though--it wasn't. I checked AllAccess after its debut and not even close to all of the Clear Channel stations had played it that often. I think only about a third of them had played it at all.

Anyway, Chuck is hardly getting any airplay so far. Only 2 new stations have started to play this song in the last 7 days, with those stations being WZZK in Birmingham and WQHK in Fort Wayne. His last single got into the top 40, but he's going to need Cumulus to get on board again for "Saturday Afternoon" to be able to do much of anything on the charts.

[sabre14]

Oct 3, 2014 21:04:04 GMT -5 @daydrinker said:

"Home Sweet Home" did receive hourly airplay on my local iHeartRadio station on July 1. The surprising thing was that the single did not debut on the Mediabase chart until July 8, and the reason it fell off on July 9 was because it lost those hourly spins from July 1. Whether the single was played hourly on every iHeartRadio station I don't know, but I do know for a fact that the single was world premiered on the local iHeartRadio station I receive on July 1.

To avoid totally derailing this thread, I'll comment that I agree "Saturday Afternoon" sounds very different from Chuck Wicks' previous material. I do see a chance of this single gaining some support on several radio stations, but again I think that IHM will be very skeptical to add a song by a radio host for their competitor, so I don't see Chuck Wicks getting a top 30 single here. This actually sounds familiar...maybe like something Uncle Kracker might have recorded?

Chuck actually has recorded material along the same vein like "Old School" and "Salt Life". I don't know what to think of Chucks music. His material has kind of been all over the place since he came out in 2007, and his voice seems to be different on some songs including "Saturday Afternoon".