Radio Airplay & Sense of Satisfaction

[Edendude]

I'm guessing a fair number of you have had the pleasure of hearing yourself over the FM radio waves, but I thought I'd share my own feelings on the subject. And maybe others will chime in with anecdotal descriptions of their own radio airplay experiences.

 

In the past I have experienced this pleasure numerous times, but as a guitarist, and with songs of my own. But this week a song my old band recorded went into regular rotation on a province-wide FM radio station, here where I live. It's the first time I've had the pleasure of hearing my bass playing on air, and a bassline which I developed for another song writer.

 

There's something more satisfying about radio airplay, in my opinion, than the money one has made from a recording, or from the subsequent live performance opportunities with a band.

 

Anyone else feel this way? Does radio airplay give you a sense of accomplishment, greater than many other musical experiences?

 

I've watched myself playing bass on a TV broadcast in the past, but it just doesn't have the same thrill attached to it, as hearing myself playing bass on the radio, for some reason. I wonder why. Maybe it's because I'm old enough to have been around long before the advent of MTV.

[Mighty Thumb]

I played a couple songs live at the local college radio station some years ago as a promo for an upcoming show. We also spun (real vinyl!) a couple recorded tracks of ours and the other bands on the line up. It was a great experince.

 

Did a few songs on cable access too, which was cool (think Wayne's World and you're right on track).

 

Personnally, I get more out of playing live than any of those other things. But it is cool to hear yourself on the radio. Congrats!

[g.]

Back before I was a bassist, a great guitarist and I wrote and played all the parts for a song which we then edited down and sold as a news program lead-in/tail for local commercial TV stations. The money was decent, but hearing the full song gave more sense of achievement than the edit. But no radio here.

[silver32012]

I've never heard had the pleasure of hearing myself on the radio. Apparently one project that I'm involved in is getting regular rotation on some college stations here in Canada. Maybe it's better that I don't hear my bass playing on those tracks...I don't want to get a big head

[g.]

Congrats, actually! ; }

[jeremy c]

Congratulations!

[HowieKrishna]

Can't say as I've had the pleasure, even though a number of my tunes made the rotation on a few college stations back in the early '80s. I always seemed to be listening to the wrong station or at the wrong time; and I'd always hear about it in the past tense. A friend went so far as to tape one broadcast (he phoned me -- I was out), but it just wasn't the same thing.

Congrats, Edendude!

[Edendude]

Thanks for the congrats.

 

I wonder if the satisfaction of the radio experience might have a connection to one's earliest musical discoveries as a child listening to the radio. I know for me, the AM radio was my first pipeline to what music could be, and how it could make me 'feel'. I grew up as a kid in the sixties, so listening to the radio in bed, late at night, became an escape into another world for me. I'm guessing that this is why (for me at least, and maybe others of my generation) that hearing oneself on a CD recording, or even on TV, is a far less inspiring experience.

 

I know it seems like a kind of esoteric subject, but it remains a curiosity and an enigma of sorts to me, why there seems to be such a sense of wonder associated with hearing oneself on the radio.

 

Maybe it also has something to do with the fleeting nature of radio airplay...

 

You have no control as to when you might hear the song, and you know it's just a matter of time before the song is nolonger played.

 

Anyhow...

 

Sorry about the eccentric ramble.

 

[moot]

I know for me, the AM radio was my first pipeline to what music could be

Ditto! I was always the kid with the the earplug and the AM radio in his pocket.

 

One band I was in had a song adopted as a jingle for a tire company - I still hear it once in awhile on the radio and every time I feel like grabbing whoever is closest and making them experience it.

 

Ultimately, I think a lot of us do this for the recognition or the "fame factor" and that is as close as it gets - at least for me.

[...]

Congratulations! I still get all giddy whenever I hear myself on the radio. There is something extra special about that experience.

[wraub]

Congrats to you, Edendude!

 

I also do enjoy the experience of hearing myself on the radio.

 

I still remember hearing a song I wrote played on a local music show, years ago.

 

Most recently, I was in a band that played live for a hour on a popular local station.

 

I have also worked in radio broadcasting as a "personality", but that is another story altogether.

Seriously.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[RHINO_ROB]

I have heard myself on the radio once. It was 12:30 on a sunday night, still it was very cool. I have also been on t.v. twice(cable access) .I enjoyed the radio more even though we got to play an hour of original music on t.v.