The Music
Radio Stations followed progamming formats, and WMSN in the early 1970s was no exception. The following is an actual play list for the week of October 15, 1972. MSN had five song rotations during the period. Kickers were the most popular songs, followed by an A-List of 17 records that received the heaviest airplay. The B-List were tunes that were popular but on the way down or up, and a shorter C-List contained 5 records that were considered “Hitbounds”, songs that were about to crack the top 40. In additoin, WMSN featured six Album Cuts, selections from LPs that had not been released as singles by their respective record companies. In some cases, album cuts eventually became single releases based on the popularity generated by airplay. This playlist is reproduced as closely as possible to the original document. Only spelling errors were corrected.
WMSN Playlist – Week of October 15, 1971
| Kickers One Fine Morning – Lighthouse Gypsys-Tramps-Thieves – Cher Story in Your Eyes – Moody Blues Do You Know What I Mean – Lee Michaels Theme From Shaft – Issac Hayes Questions 67&68 – Chicago Charity Ball – Fanny If You Really Love Me – Stevie WonderA List Marianne – Stephen Stills One Tin Soldier – Coven Uncle Albert – Paul & LInda Only You & I Know – Delaney & Bonnie Drove Dixie Down – Joan Baez Trapped by Love – Denise LaSalle Maggie Mae – Rod Stewart Lookin Back – Bob Seger Wedding Song – Paul Stookey Peace Train – Cat Stevens Superstar – Carpenters The Love We had – Dells Imagine – John Lennon down by the River – Joey Gregorash I’ve Found Someone – Free Movement Everybody’s Everything – Santana It’s a Crying Shame – Gayle McCormick |
B List Reason to Believe – Rod Stewart Smakwater Jack – Carole King So Far Away – Carole King Desdemona – Searchers Inner City Blues – Tin Tin Your Move – Yes Natural Man – Lou Rawls Black Seeds – Main Ingredient Life is a Carnival – Band Desiderata – Les Crane Midnight Man – James GangC List (Hitbounds) I’d Love to Change the World – Ten Years After Don’t Wanna Live Inside – Bee Gees Wild Night – Van Morrison Never My Love – 5th Dimension I’m Coming Home – Tommy JamesAlbum Cuts Long Promised Road – Beach Boys Student Demon Time – Beach Boys I’m Losing You – Rod Stewart Rock & Roll Island -0 Jefferson Airplane Keep on Movin’ – Magic Gimmie Some Lovin’ – Traffic |
Music Surveys
From the earliest days of radio, stations have tracked the popularity of the music they played. The idea began with programs like “Your Hit Parade” during radio’s golden age and continues to be recorded religiously by the broadcast and music trade publications like Billboard and Radio and Records magazines. In the heyday of the Top-40 format, nearly every rock ‘n roll station produced their own music surveys, to document what tunes were hot, and more often as a way to get free publicity for the station through distribution at local record stores.
WMSN and the stations of the Michigan State Network all enjoyed free “record service” by the major labels. The record companies would continually ship new product to each station in the hopes that the music directors would latch on to an artist or album. Campus radio had wider playlists than did their commercial counterparts and the labels knew that if they could get students excited about an LP, it could more easily break into the mainstream.
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In the 60s and early 70s, MSUs campus radio stations published music surveys and playlists, showcasing the records that students were listening to. At WMSN, the playlists often contained promotional information on contests and concerts. Marshall Music, a perennial music retailer in East Lansing sometimes donated records that didn’t fall under the music service subscription list in return for a mention on the MSN Sound Survey. The MSN editions were funded by the Residence Hall Department, in addition to the Radio Tax levied on each student each term. As the 70s progressed, widely distributed music guides began to vanish from the radio scene, however playlists data for new music is still compiled to this day and forwarded to the major trade magazines to help generate a variety of national hit lists associated with each programming format. WDBM maintains a list of the most popular cuts featured on the station. Click Here to view their latest sound survey.
Another popular station promotional vehicle is the RadioGuide, an invention of Eastern Michigan University graduate Arthur R. Vuolo, Jr. Art Vuolo holds a unique place in the history of Campus Radio at Michigan State as a tireless promoter of the medium and mentor to many Detroit area Jocks who passed through the MSN studios. In 1985 Radio and Records editor John Leader dubbed Art “Radio’s Best Friend”, a title that is true today as Art continues to document broadcasting through his company Vuolo Video Airchex. Since 1972 The RadioGuide People have published nearly 100 million Guides directing listeners to their favorite programming. WMSN was an early client, distributing the WMSN AM/FM Rock guide on and around the campus. Meticulously researched, the guide provided call letter and frequency information for Rock Stations in all 50 states.
