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Top 40 Dead in America? (April 27, 2005)Fox and Ryan Seacrest thought they had an idea that would take American by storm.What if Ryan teamed up with Fox-TV and he produced and hosted a 2-hour special based in his weekly radio countdown show called "American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest?" Would people care to see the musicians and singers that they have heard on his weekly radio show in droves? Apparently, the TV viewers would rather watch the unsigned singers compete on American Idol (his other show) than to watch the Top 40 hitmaking singers on TV. A measly, disappointing, embarrassing, misterable, four million viewers bothered to watch any portion of "American Top 40 Live" on Fox, with more and more viewers tuning out as the show went on, and a sharp decline at 9pm Eastern and Pacific once ABC's "Desperate Housewives" began opposite the second hour of Ryan's special. The special was based on Premiere Radio Networks' nationally syndicated "American Top 40" radio countdown show, which, in one of those incredible coincidences, is also hosted and executive-produced by Ryan Seacrest. We'll be back after this. Say teenagers, want to have that awesome glowing white smile that Ryan Seacrest has on TV? Now you can, when you brush your teeth with SeaCrest Toothpaste! Yes, only SeaCrest has that special combination of whiteners, softeners, breath fresheners, gum cleaners, and cavity fighters to help your teeth shine like those in Ryan's mouth. And that's not all. SeaCrest is also a car washer, a floor wax, a window cleaner, a pipe leak fixer, a desert topping, and when it's empty, you can even use it as an iPod! Now isn't that amazing. SeaCrest Toothpaste. Now available in stores. Now back to the article. The live special had a lineup far removed from the good old days in the 50s through the 80s when Top 40 acts were so mass appealling that they were part of American culture. The lineup Ryan had on his special appeals mostly to a very narrow niche like young women 18-25 and are bereft of life for those outside the narrow range. Ciara, J-Kwon, Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, and many other acts that are legends only to Ryan's mind didn't keep the viewers from tuning out the boring lineup of cookie-cutter clone music acts in favor of "Charmed", a CBS movie about bionic locusts, and even radio's "Dr. Demento" show on satellite and on the Internet. People either had enough of Ryan Seacrest or the music acts he counts down on his show are devoid of mass appeal. I say that it's the music acts that are to blame for the decline of quality of the Top 40 radio stations, so bad that people are tuning them out in favor of satellite and programming their own iPods. The #3 least popular Prom Theme according to "Late Night with David Letterman:" Eternally Seacrest. Vicky Watts, the co-owner of the popular AAA rock station 95.3/95.9 KOZT The Coast (kozt.com), commented between segments of last Sunday's Dr. Demento show that while she and her KOZT crew were driving to and from Las Vegas to attend the National Association of Broadcasters Crystal Radio Awards, which their station was nominated for, she had the radio turned off because there was, to put it this way, no signs of intelligent life in any of the radio skylines she passed through on the freeways between Ft. Bragg and Las Vegas. I'm not sure if KOZT won the award, but I take her word for it. The sad state of radio and the poor lineup of today's pop acts lacking charisma and personality are to blame for listeners losing interest in radio, which spends an inordinate amount of time promoting teenage-aimed acts and alienating the older listeners. Let's face it. Listeners are sick of Ryan Seacrest, Top 40, and the boring music acts getting airplay on the radio. There's your cause of the problem; but even if radio fixes it today, it may already be too late for the symptons to be removed. Tuned in Dance Top 10 (April 27, 2005)And in case you're in the mood for pop music that sounds the way it used to back in the 80s (before Ryan Seacrest, KIIS and Channel screwed up Top 40 beyond recognition), listen to dance pop radio on several Internet-based radio stations and on the satellite. Here's the latest Tuned In Radio top 10 dance songs of the week.
1. Can You Hear The Butterflies - Dan Desnoyers f. Blossom These are the songs radio should be playing, but isn't. What's going on? People are leaving radio for iPods and Internet. Broadcasters need to put the fun back in Top 40 radio and replace the rap and boring stuff with pop dance music. It's what people want to hear, and if they don't hear it on Channel or KISS, they'll tune them out and hear the dance pop hits on the Internet and program it on their iPods.
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