Lower Charting Songs your Local Station Loved to Play

[sabre14]

What have been some sub-20'ish singles your station of preference loved to spin, often.

The Highway can probably be excluded since they play tons and tons of songs.

WYRK:

Rebecca Lynn Howard - "I Need A Vacation"
Craig Morgan - "Look At Us"
James Otto - "Days Of Our Lives"
Trick Pony - "The Bride"
Trent Willmon - "Beer Man"
Sawyer Brown f/Robert Randolph - "Mission Temple Firework Stand"
Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband - "Dream Big"
Jeff Bates - "Good People"
Halfway to Hazard - "Daisy"
Cole Deggs & the Lonesome - "I Got More" (yet, they totally ignored "Isn't She" by Carolina Rain) :(
Donovan Chapman - "House Like That"
Joey + Rory - "Cheater, Cheater"
Dean Brody - "Brothers"
Pat Green - "What I'm For"
Bucky Covington - "I Want My Life Back"
Jewel - "Stay Here Forever"
Tyler Dickerson - "Tell Your Sister I'm Single"
Montgomery Gentry - "While You're Still Young"
James Wesley - "Real"/"Didn't I"
Sara Evans - "My Heart Can't Tell You No" (I heard this all the time. If I wasn't a chart follower, I would've assumed this was a top 10 single, easy)
Kelly Clarkson - "Mr. Know It All"/"Don't Rush" (program director here is a gigantic Clarkson fan -- they played all her Country singles)
Shania Twain - "Today Is Your Day"
Trace Adkins - "Million Dollar View"
Sunny Sweeney - "Drink Myself Single"
Andy Gibson - "Wanna Make You Love Me" (they adored this one, too)
Joanna Smith - "We Can't Be Friends"
Joel Crouse - "If You Want Some"/"Why God Made Love Songs"
Jerrod Niemann - "Only God Could Love You More"/"Shinin' On Me"/"Donkey"/"Buzz Back Girl" (they love Jerrod too)
Josh Thompson - "Cold Beer With Your Name On It"/"Wanted Me Gone"
Gloriana - "Trouble"

[.indulgecountry]

Aaron Lewis - "Forever"
Lauren Alaina - "Next Boyfriend"
Tate Stevens - "Power of a Love Song"
Toby Keith - "35 MPH Town"
Alan Jackson - "Jim and Jack and Hank"
Eli Young Band - "When It Rains"
Cam - "Mayday"

[sabre14]

Jul 5, 2016 3:01:58 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Toby Keith - "35 MPH Town"

This too for WYRK.

+ "Shut Up And Hold On"

[Ten Pound Hammer]

WATZ: Anything ever.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

In terms of playing a lot when they were current singles...

WKJC went through an odd spell in late 2004 when they were playing an unusually high number of low-charting songs: "I Meant To" by Brad Cotter, "I Love NASCAR" by Cledus T. Judd, "Beer Man" and "Dixie Rose Deluxe's..." by Trent Willmon, "No End in Sight" by Katrina Elam, "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips..." by the Notorious Cherry Bombs, "Crooked Little Heart" by Tift Merritt, "Ain't Drinkin' Anymore" by Kevin Fowler, and "November" by Emerson Drive. "November" even made their weekly "Top 5 at 5" countdown of the five most-played songs that week, which was a very strange departure -- usually their "Top 5 at 5" would be pretty close to that week's Billboard Top 5.

They also added "Hillbillies" by Hot Apple Pie before it even hit the top 40, but that was only because my sister heard WATZ spin it before it was even a single, and kept begging their PD to add it.

Historically, I seem to remember them spinning "Rub-a-Dubbin'" by Ken Mellons, "Down Came a Blackbird" by Lila McCann, "Cherokee Boogie" by BR549, "Here's Your Sign (Get the Picture)" by Bill Engvall/Travis Tritt, and a few other songs an awful lot for such low-charters.

====

WATZ has historically added singles very early in their lifespan. As I said above, they added "Hillbillies" before it was a single. They did likewise with "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" (although apparently they weren't alone in the latter; I remember it notching a single week at #58 well before its release.)

Other early WATZ adds:

* "Mission Temple Fireworks Stand" and "They Don't Understand" by Sawyer Brown (I still hear them play the former on occasion)
* "Kiss Me" by Shelly Fairchild (they also hung onto this one for a very long time)
* "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" by Tracy Lawrence (yes, this means they had it on deck way before the Tim/Kenny remix existed)
* "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys (another one that stuck to their playlists FOREVER)
* "The Talkin' Song Repair Blues" by Alan Jackson
* "Good to Go" By John Corbett (they've played this one several times THIS YEAR)
* "A Good Man" by Emerson Drive (I once heard it six times in one day)
* "Eight Second Ride" by Jake Owen (they spun the version off his first album several times before he re-cut it on the second album)
* Just about all of David Nail's singles
* "Wild at Heart" by Gloriana (WITL in Lansing was also quick to add this one, to the point that I got them to play it during an all-request hour even though it was only at like #33 then)
* "Beer on the Table" and oddly, "Wanted Me Gone" by Josh Thompson
* "Pray for You" by Jaron and the Long Road to Love (I also remember seeing singles of this at f.y.e. in Saginaw, which were clearly pressed in-store and had labels printed by a basic inkjet printer)
* "Voices" by Chris Young (they played it a lot on the first go-round when it only got to #37; oddly, WKCQ did likewise)
* "Could It Be" by Charlie Worsham
* "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me" by Hunter Hayes/Jason Mraz (also got a lot of recurrent spins; pretty sure I've heard them play it just this year!)
* "Cold Beer Conversation" by George Strait

I remember WBCT being one of the stations on the Billboard survey that played "Before He Cheats" before it was a single. They also spun "Bomshel Stomp" nearly a full year before it was released (back when "Ain't My Day to Care" was the current single), and I believe WATZ did likewise. This is because the label chose to test the song in Michigan first.

WATZ also seems to have a weird relationship with Toby Keith singles. Ever since about "Trailerhood", they get to a point where they'll spin the song a lot when it's out, and then completely forget about it afterward. Even "Beautiful Stranger" was averaging three plays a day.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Sorry for the double post, but I remember a few more:

When WWTH was still locally programmed, they loved "My Kind of Music" by Ray Scott (also a WATZ favorite), "Up!" by Shania Twain, and "Men Don't Change" and "Love's Got an Attitude" by Amy Dalley.

WATZ still plays "800 Pound Jesus" now and then.

I'm also sure I've heard at least one local station play "I'll Take That as a Yes". Certainly moreso than I've ever heard "Love Is a Beautiful Thing" or "Last Day of My Life".

[Ten Pound Hammer]

WCZE is a country station out of The Thumb that started up a couple years ago. They appear to target a more conservative audience, as they edit out all alcohol references, such as "Sometimes I drink too much" in "Hard to Love", "build your cornfield whiskey bonfires on it" in "Dirt", or "And we got children walking around with guns / And they got knives with drugs and pain to spare" from "Love's the Only House". (Strangely, they didn't touch "had a nice long toke" out of "Wagon Wheel". But that doesn't change the fact that the song's about sex.)

Anyway, the nature of their playlist means they often play some oddballs. They regularly play "Shadows of the Heartland" by Sawyer Brown and "Dust" by Eli Young Band, among others.

[gonecountry]

Jan 2, 2017 21:12:17 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

Anyway, the nature of their playlist means they often play some oddballs. They regularly play "Shadows of the Heartland" by Sawyer Brown and "Dust" by Eli Young Band, among others.

Love "Dust", wish it made more of an impact on the charts.

WYCD played Chuck Wicks "Old School" quite heavily as well as "Country Comes To Town" by John Rich.

[Deleted]

Dierks Bentley "Riser"

Definitely not complaining though as they still play this at least once a weekend

[sabre14]

Sarah Johns - "The One In The Middle"/"He Hates Me"
Mica Roberts (feat. Toby Keith) - "Things A Mama Don't Know"

[.indulgecountry]

Jan 22, 2017 15:09:23 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Sarah Johns - "The One In The Middle"/"He Hates Me"
Mica Roberts (feat. Toby Keith) - "Things A Mama Don't Know"

Jealous! I love these!

[sabre14]

Jan 23, 2017 0:07:38 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Jan 22, 2017 15:09:23 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Sarah Johns - "The One In The Middle"/"He Hates Me"
Mica Roberts (feat. Toby Keith) - "Things A Mama Don't Know"

Jealous! I love these!

They had "The One In The Middle" in medium rotation if I recall correctly, although I'm basing my memory off my teenage self, so don't hold me to that. lol They did play both of Sarah's singles a lot though. "He Hates Me" is such a fun song with the huge fiddle presence and humorous lyrics.

Mica's song was a pleasure to hear on my local station, too. :)

[countrymusicjunkie]

David Nail-"I'm About To Come Alive"