New Year's Day on Clearwater, FL...the onset of 1990. Some residents tuned into classic rock station WKRL and immediately hear Robert Plant working his way through the quieter opening moments of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven." Nothing to weird about that: "Stairway" is the most played song in FM history after all. After Jimmy Page plays his legendary solo and Plant utters his last word, a new song comes on: "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.
The track would end up playing for 24-hours straight as WKRL began to transition into an 100 percent Led Zeppelin format. No other classic rock...just all Zep all the time. That plan went south after two weeks, as the band's ten hours of total music at the time eventually got tiresome even to Clearwater's most hardcore of fans.
It wasn't the first time a radio station played one track for more than a day. Nor would it be the last. Here are six other classically annoying attempts:
"Mope-itty Mope" by The Boss-Tones
One of the first attempts at "stunting," the radio term for playing a song repeatedly, was actually one of the longest as well. We're not talking about the Mighty Mighty Bosstones here, after all, this was going down during 1961. At the time, San Diego's XEAK and its move to an all-news format was a revolutionary idea. Why they decided to air more than three days of the Boss-Tones playing "Mope-itty Mope"? Anyone's guess, although it could have been a thumbing-of-the-nose to those who protested a constant news barrage. One side was definitely right in terms of programming and profit.
"It's The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M.
Very often a "stunting" streak is an indication that a major programming overhaul is coming to a station, thus the popularity of R.E.M.'s single "It's The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is understandable. Many stations have opted to run the song for extended periods of time as it comes to an end. The absolute best example however was when WKDN out of Camden, NJ played the song as a jab at Family Radio and its founder Harold Camping. WKDN was leaving the Family Radio family following Camping, a Christian talk host, made the infamous prediction that the rapture would occur during May of 2011.
"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
The most dedicated use of stunting has to go to WJMP out of Kent, Ohio when it played "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" for more than two months during 1994. Major League Baseball went on its notorious work stoppage strike, disappointing fans everywhere, including the Cleveland Indians fans working at WJMP. Admittedly they did switch between two versions of the song, and it went off the air between sunset and sunrise but nonetheless, this was truly an epic act of trolling. Baseball fans must've sympathized because the station didn't go out of business during the run. The final count was more than 57,000 spins for "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." Too bad Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer weren't alive to collect royalties.
"Country My Ass" by Dale Watson
Depending on who you are as a country fan, you either think today's most p[opular tracks are the greatest things ever...or you long for the days of outlaw country and less formulaic fare. Dale Watson is certainly with you, having written the track "Country My Ass" to complain about the state of the songs currently filling the genre. KOKE FM in Austin, TX had always been a go-to for progressive country sounds during the '70s and many were disappointed when it later closed its doors. However, the station made a comeback during 2012 and Watson approved. The station played a newly recorded version of his song featuring the added line "now Austin's on track, 'cause KOKE FM's back."
"Hot in Herre" by Nelly
Spanish-speaking listeners were less than pleased when they tuned into Latino Mix 105.7 earlier during 2014 for two reasons: A) The song playing was most certainly not Spanish-language or by a Latin American performer and B) it wasn't by just any American performer...it was "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. Not only did the 2003 hit continue for one day...it continued for three days. And if any of the station's listeners stuck around for the entire run, they were disappointed to find out that it was all joust a preview for 105.7's new format as Hot 105.7, featuring Rhythmic Contemporary music.
"Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock
This is a less famous stunting event but the first that your correspondent experienced firsthand so he feels the need to relate it to you. Cincinnati rock station played Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" for 24-hours as a April Fool's event in 1999. We were being driven to to some party center or Chuck E. Cheese's for a birthday party and the father of the birthday child simply wouldn't change the channel for the 45-minute-or-so drive. There were at least two other rock radio channels in Cincinnati at the time. Why didn't he switch to another station? We'll never know.
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