Is Hot AC really boring right now or what??

[NORTHCOAST]

I really am bored with the Hot AC music that is being played the past couple of months.  Really nothing is grabbing me.  Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" has hit, but it sounds old to me because I've had the album since 2002.  "Accidentally in Love", "Away from the Sun", "Heaven", even the new Sherly Crow song all sound so boring to me.  Know what I mean? Anything new and exciting due up soon? 

[Love Plastic Love]

Hanson's Lost Without Each Other is fun and upbeat.
However its a joke to think that any radio station would give it a chance

[singingsparrow]

Yeah, it is getting old.

Alternative is one format that in my opinion has become much better compared to two-three years ago.

AC radio remains the king of boredom though.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[krazymack]

Hot AC is boring to say the least. But whatever floats your boat I guess.

There are some great songs at the format. But a considerable amount are quite lackluster IMO.

[irice22]

I like Hot AC right now. Maybe it's just my station. They're playing the new artists like Jennifer Marks, Jem, Avion, and Diana Anaid.

[ultramix1978]

Hot Ac is an awesome format only if you like your top 40 without rap and hip hop like me and it has alot to do with the individual station and not the actual chart that makes it boring. Like here in Charleston,WV we have 2 hot ac's. 1 mixes the 80's every 3 songs and alot of 90's with all the current top 40 hot ac hits not just 20 of them all of them, now that station is awesome. The other plays the top 30 over and over mixed with a couple dozen gold tracks of the last 10 years which is good but gets boring faster................

[Ragin]

Agree with that. The format isn't boring in and of itself, but a station can be if they don't keep things interesting. I like to see my HotAC station throw in a rocker every once in a while to keep it interesting, maybe something from alternative, or even active rock.

The chart, now the chart if you get sucked into following it every week is bound to get boring after a while because there is little movement compared to nearly every other chart out there except for AC.

[Radical347]

It's true that it's the station that makes Hot AC seem boring -- but if there weren't so many boring stations then the chart wouldn't be so boring! Most of the Hot ACs I've heard are pretty bland and generic and only have like one or two unique song in the playlist. And there aren't that many songs that are unique or first to Hot AC. The only one that comes to mind right now that's doing extremely well is that Gavin DeGraw song.

[allow that]

I agree that HAC is going downhill. HAC used to be the place to hear songs that Pop wouldn't play due to artist image or whatnot. But lately, instead of playing songs that pretty much depend on the format for any airplay at all, it plays Pop-crossovers.

For example, instead of jumping on Sarah McLachlan's great, radio-friendly new single "World On Fire," they are jumping on Ashlee Simpson "Pieces of Me." A perfect example of hype determining airplay, and not the song/artist. Isn't that what POP radio is about? Even if you LIKE Ashlee's song, you're likely hearing it enough on Pop already that when you do turn on your HAC station, you want to hear something different. Who wants a song that's already overplayed on Pop to become a song HAC also overplays for the next 6 months??? Give us something different!

ANd now the biggest problem at the format: the turnover rate (or lack thereof).

[Rural Juror]

Jersey said:

For example, instead of jumping on Sarah McLachlan's great, radio-friendly new single "World On Fire," they are jumping on Ashlee Simpson "Pieces of Me."

I agree. I mean I like the Ashlee song but it seems obvious to me that Hot AC stations are only playing it because her album went to #1 and that she's the "it" thing right now. I absolutely love Sarah's new single and it's a shame that it's not doing well. "Stupid" should have been a big hit too but that went nowhere.

Anyway, I'm with the majority here. Hot AC is just boring right now. There are no original songs in there and I'm sick of hearing Switchfoot, Hoobastank, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down on my Hot AC station. That's why I seldom listen to the radio nowadays. I mean, what's the point? Every time I turn it on, a song which I hate comes on and I just end up turning the radio off every 10 minutes or so.

I'll start listening again if/when Vanessa Carlton's new single gets added to the format. Now that's something original and different!

[Radical347]

Your theory works well enough but I'm not sure that example fits. The Ashlee Simpson song sucks, but it's Hot AC friendly enough.

As for "World on Fire" it went 35-24 the first week and even the second week it still gained like +187. So I wouldn't say quite yet that it's not doing well. I think the problem with that, though, is that she released "Fallen" first, which is the second most boring song in the history of the universe (behind "All at Sea") and since it was her, all the Hot AC stations obviously had to eat it up like candy and still play it 100 years after it was released. I think that song may have actually killed her chances at any future hit at that format, since now people are going to still hear that song all the time and therefore associate her with boring despite having better songs like "Stupid" and "World on Fire."

[j]

Jersey said:

I agree that HAC is going downhill. HAC used to be the place to hear songs that Pop wouldn't play due to artist image or whatnot. But lately, instead of playing songs that pretty much depend on the format for any airplay at all, it plays Pop-crossovers.

For example, instead of jumping on Sarah McLachlan's great, radio-friendly new single "World On Fire," they are jumping on Ashlee Simpson "Pieces of Me." A perfect example of hype determining airplay, and not the song/artist. Isn't that what POP radio is about? Even if you LIKE Ashlee's song, you're likely hearing it enough on Pop already that when you do turn on your HAC station, you want to hear something different. Who wants a song that's already overplayed on Pop to become a song HAC also overplays for the next 6 months??? Give us something different!

ANd now the biggest problem at the format: the turnover rate (or lack thereof).

I agree, mostly.

1. It's become a crossover format. I see only 2 songs that appear to have originated at Hot AC itself - "Ordinary" and "I Don't Want To Be".

2. But the turnover rate is slightly faster than the last couple of years I think. No song is over a year old - the oldest being "Someday".

3. I agree that Ashlee's song is Hot AC-friendly enough, but it should be switching places with "World On Fire".

4. I don't find it boring - the songs they play to death are the ones I like a lot.

5. AC is far worse.

[allow that]

j said:

3. I agree that Ashlee's song is Hot AC-friendly enough, but it should be switching places with "World On Fire".

Exactly.. I don't have a problem with HAC playing Ashlee, but it currently has a bullet of +644. That's not because of hype? It's HAC-enough to be added to playlists, but the song itself is nothing that screams "HAC staple." Meanwhile, "World On Fire" is a song about the music, and by an artist HAC usually latches on to. Its bullet is now down +98. Why? Sarah has no hype, she's a veteran artist that POP-fans don't identify with anymore. But come on, HAc is its own format. Ashlee's +644 is proving that its becoming more about Pop culture and less about an outlet to hear the kind of music you can't hear on Pop.

HAC stations need to take songs like "WOF," "Lenny Kravitz "California," Howie Day "Collide," Dido "Don't Leave Home" and play them. Make them your own. Who cares about "what's popular." That's not supposed to be the concern of this format. And as a consequence, HAC *IS* loosing listeners.

[ultramix1978]

Ashlee Simpson & Sara Mclachlan are pretty much close in the top 20 gaining. They are both great songs. Sometimes people analyze things to death, all charts get boring if you analyze them to death every 6 hours looking for movement. I think Hot AC maybe needs to move its chart faster because all the stations i hear play just as much new stuff as chr pop but the recurrent or should be recurrent stuff still clogs up the top 20 making it hard for songs to hit the top 20 like the new Richard Marx song, which is at #21.......

[roadrunner]

Hot AC can be boring, predictable and unimaginative. They never seem to be the first to play anything. It's always "leftovers" from other stations or 80's.They try to make themselves "different" by playing harder songs by Nickelback, Creed, and for me it just doesn't work.
I could never sit and listen to them all day without wanting to change the station. Recently, however, Star 97 has started playing "Naughty Girl", "Leave (Get Out)" and a few other songs that chr/pop The River plays. I wish they would play something different and go out on a limb once in a while, but they never really do during regular programming.

[EvanJ]

Jersey said:

And as a consequence, HAC *IS* loosing listeners.

wargod.arbitron.com/scripts/ndb/fmttrends2.asp
The sum national rating of Hot AC and Modern AC has been in the 4s for a while. I wouldn't say it's losing a lot of listeners.

[Slinky]

Jersey said:

HAC stations need to take songs like "WOF," "Lenny Kravitz "California," Howie Day "Collide," Dido "Don't Leave Home" and play them. Make them your own. Who cares about "what's popular." That's not supposed to be the concern of this format. And as a consequence, HAC *IS* loosing listeners.

Completely disagree with this. Hot AC is top 40 for adults. It is ALL about playing what's popular, minus the rap. Ashlee's song is popular with 25-34 women, and it isn't hardcore rap, so Hot AC should be playing it. "World On Fire" might fit in there too, but only if it becomes popular. You seem to want Hot AC to do what AAA does, and concentrate on a sound and core artists instead of hit songs. That just doesn't work for Hot AC's target audience.

[allow that]

Slinky said:

Completely disagree with this.  Hot AC is top 40 for adults.  It is ALL about playing what's popular, minus the rap.  Ashlee's song is popular with 25-34 women, and it isn't hardcore rap, so Hot AC should be playing it.  "World On Fire" might fit in there too, but only if it becomes popular.  You seem to want Hot AC to do what AAA does, and concentrate on a sound and core artists instead of hit songs.  That just doesn't work for Hot AC's target audience.

You misunderstood what I was saying in a way. Obviously HAC should play hit songs and popular songs. I'm just saying it should play its own hits and its own popular songs instead of what the MTV crowd deems popular. If a song like "WOF" or "California" isn't "popular" at HAC, then its only because not enough people haven't heard it, because radio isn't playing it... right? What's played is popular since it has exposure. So basically I'm saying HAC should expose its own "hits" and not Pop's leftovers and songs that wouldn't get played without hype, and the kind of hype driven from NOT within the format.

[NORTHCOAST]

My Hot AC station has started playing Kenny Chesney's "When the Sun Goes Down".  Whenever it comes on I just want to run to the phone and scream at them!  LOL!  Sorry, just too country for Hot AC, IMO.

[Arson]

I agree Hot AC has the potential to be a good format.  I would love a Hot AC station which plays a good variety of golds, and combine it with a good variety of currents.

My local station plays the same old golds, and then repeatedly plays the same few currents over and over. 

They switched over from pop recently, so they still play Nelly and Beyonce's songs from last year, but they don't add any current rap songs. 

I keep wondering, though - If a listener liked Nelly last year, why wouldn't he/she like Nelly this year?  Meanwhile, why would a Hot AC listener want to hear Nelly at all on their station? 

Non-rock songs are only added if they make top 5 on the pop chart, such as Jojo, which is just starting to be played.

[reception]

I dont listen to American Top 20 with Casey Kasem because it seems to feature the same songs over and over again.

[Libra]

NORTHCOAST said:

My Hot AC station has started playing Kenny Chesney's "When the Sun Goes Down".  Whenever it comes on I just want to run to the phone and scream at them!  LOL!  Sorry, just too country for Hot AC, IMO.

The only reason ANY format outside of Country is even giving it the time of day is because Uncle Kracker's on it.

You could replace Kenny with anybody (or nobody) and it would make no difference.

[crash46]

Well the question was if Hot AC is really boring, and I'll submit that it's the most boring format in existance. And the reason is because it is the only format that does absolutely nothing groundbreaking in terms of the music it plays. Sure AC plays mostly boring music, but at least many of its songs are exclusive to its format.

Slinky mentioned how Hot AC is just "pop for adults", and I would agree, except that the actual pop format actually has a significant amount of songs that are serviced there first, and become pretty decent sized hits. Hot AC, right now, has only 4 songs in its top 20 that aren't pop retreads (Mayer, Degraw, Mclachlan, and Duran Duran), and it seems to me that's more than it normally is. A radio format needs more of an identity than that.