More than a half century ago, the Fab Four hit the shores of America for the very first time. “Beatlemania” ensued, captivating the country as the British Invasion became the biggest force in music in a generation.
If you were around back then or you follow music history, you’ll remember the Beatles made their exclusive TV appearance in New York City on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the weekly variety show that aired on CBS-TV on Sunday nights. This show was “must-watch TV” back then, long before we used the label. Every week, Ed drew the biggest and hottest entertainers and celebrities to his stage (along with wacky novelty acts) to wow and amaze America.
So, it was only logical the Beatles would make the Sullivan show their first major media stop after their Pan Am flight touched down at JFK Airport that February day in 1964.
But radio – New York Radio, to be exact – was a big part of the story, too. The Top 40 radio battle was in full swing at that time. WINS had Murray the K, who became known as “The Fifth Beatle.” There’s much footage of this iconic DJ interviewing John, Paul, George, and Ringo in their suite of rooms at the the Plaza Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
Across the street, WABC was taking no prisoners. They became W-A-Beatles-C under the guidance of mastermind Rick Sklar. When I joined ABC Radio a dozen or so years later, Sklar had risen to the company’s head of programming. On a couple of late night evenings at industry conventions, Rick spun the stories of Beatlemania from the WABC point of view – including an all-points bulletin to locate Ringo’s missing ring. It was the kind of promotion radio stations did back then. It would’ve made Paige Nienaber proud.
All that is to say, radio owned the Beatles during those heady years. Even when the emphasis shifted to FM around the time “Abbey Road” was released in 1969, radio (and your record player) was where you heard the Beatles.
Fast-forward to the mid-80s when Classic Rock stations started to appear, and the Beatles were the foundation of this new radio format. It was not 
uncommon to hear Beatles A-to-Zs to commemorate the anniversary of an album release, or even marking the date when the Fab Four played your hometown.
But all that shifted as the 25-54 year-old dictate became cemented in radio advertising circles. While the Classic Rock generation aged, the agency demo did not, leaving programmers with something of a dilemma.
In general, 60’s music – including its patriarchs, John, Paul, George & Ringo – began to gradually disappear from Classic Rock playlists out of fear of the dreaded “demographic cliff.” Soon, the Stones, Kinks, Animals, the Jefferson Airplane, and Steppenwolf started to fade from playlists – at least on broadcast radio.
In personal collections and on streaming services, this music is alive and well. SiriusXM’s “60’s on 6” channel features this music front and center, played by former radio stars like Cousin Brucie and Shotgun Tom Kelly.
A few Classic Rock and Rock stations continue to prominently feature the Beatles and rock n’ roll’s roots. WMGK, WDRV, and KLOS come to mind, – but for the most part, British Invasion music has become increasingly missing in action in recent years.
Numerous radio stations around the country recognized “Abbey Road’s” momentous anniversary last week. A handful honored the event, MGK (congrats on the Marconi, you guys) actually built a weekend around this seminal album.
A look at Nielsen BDS spin data reveals more Beatles airplay during this celebratory time. Looking at the entire country last week, the Beatles earned 4,467 spins compared to 3,876 the week before. That’s an increase of nearly 15% week to week.
As for “Abbey Road” airplay, these songs generated 1,302 spins – +40% over the previous week. That’s a good sign.
Why does this matter?
Because a number of radio’s new media competitors stepped up big time. On SiriusXM’s blog – “Hear & Now” – you can see how the network pulled out the stops. They included a live broadcast from Abbey Road Studios, along with an interview of Giles Martin (son of George who remixed the album for this anniversary).
Spotify also provided big-time coverage of “Abbey Road” – with data. According to a story by AdWeek‘s David Cohen, Spotify created an “Abbey Road” playlist (below), and also noted that “Here Comes the Sun” from that album is the all-time streamed song by the Beatles – 350+ million plays.
They also provided a list of the most-streamed Beatles songs – by age:
- 18 through 24: “Yesterday”
- 25 through 29: “Come Together”
- 30 through 34: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
- 35 through 44: “Blackbird”
- 45 through 54: “Here Comes the Sun”
- 55+: “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
Radio broadcasters may still want to mostly shy away from the Beatles to keep themselves out of demographic jeopardy. But off their air, there’s opportunity to celebrate these occasions with no collateral damage to the ratings. Videos featuring members of the audience telling us their favorite “Abbey Road” tracks, online playlists, and even dedicating an HD2 channel to the album for a week are all ways to acknowledge and celebrate.
These are the times when syndicated shows could be repurposed for this type of off-air placement, Corporate digital departments should be hard at work creating assets for their groups of radio stations across the country to prepare them for moments like this. At a time when radio broadcasters are hungry for web content, these milestones mark the perfect occasion to provide web resources.
And if you’re looking for some reinforcement, here’s another fun fact from Spotify:
The demographic group that streams the Beatles the most – over 30% of all streams – is 18-24 year-olds. You read that right.
And it’s even more reason why radio’s Classic Rock stations need to stay focused on the pillars of the format – even if they don’t “test” like they used to. Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and other music channels are acknowledging these events – radio needs to be in the game, too.
After all, your kids may be listening to these bands more than you are.
Special thanks to Nielsen’s Haley Jones and Adam Foster for the data.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
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Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Great seeing/hearing you and the content at The NAB/RAB. The magic’s in Boomer Music, essential local connection and plenty of dollars for refreshed Radio: aka Audio Delivery, FM, AM, HD and all digital platforms at sea. (BTW, one of the first 3 songs from the Beatles first Ed Sullivan Show appearance was a show biz album cut: ” ‘Til There Was You.” Later known as Adult Alternative: Sgt. Pepper. Without general chaos.
Good to see you as well, Clark. Thanks for the comment.
There is curiosity and nostalgia when it comes to a milestone. Most 25-35 year olds couldn’t name a handful of Beatles songs or sing the lyrics. The shocker, ask them to name 3 Michael Jackson, Prince, or Bon Jovi songs. You’ll be surprised (and yes now I’m officially old). If radio is going to survive, we need to quit programming our stations like we did in 1984, it’s not coming back. XM© and Spotifiy© will always have a place for those who want to walk down memory lane, and that’s good.
Damon, radio has already given up a number of formats & genres to satellite radio & streaming pureplays. Jazz, Oldies, and Soft AC are just a few examples. Classic Rock is a viable format, even though it does a lot of “looking back.”
Always good to see you talk “Beatles” in your blog, Fred.
As a huge Beatles fan, and host/producer of my syndicated “Beatles Weekly” radio show, I can tell you that The Beatles are STILL on everyone’s minds…and are gaining NEW fans every year. I certainly understand that 18-24 demo loving The Beatles. It’s almost a right of passage with college kids. Oh, and yeah…Abbey Road reissue is #1 on Amazon…and that’s not just boomers buying & downloading. It’s millennial’s and Gen-Xers.
In addition, I program a group of many “classic” stations on streaming service GotRadio.com. There are 40 stations in all…but can you guess what our #1 station is???
I’ll help: It’s THE 60s….where Motown Monday and Fab-Four Friday reign supreme!
Thanks for the Beatles post!
Appreciate it, JC. Thanks or the comment.
I have a perfect solution to tying into something very cool with the Beatles without having to play their music….(sorry for the plug) I tour an upscale traveling Beatles Cartoon Pop Art Show featuring Ron Campbell who was one of the original animators on Yellow Submarine and the Director of the Saturday Morning TV Beatles cartoon series. He is 80 years old and the last of the hand drawn animators. (He also was involved with 50 years of other cartoons such as Scooby-Doo, Smurfs, Jetsons, Winnie the Pooh, Ed, Edd n’Eddy etc). We go to a few cities each month. Upcoming is Pittsburgh, Akron, Detroit, Portland, ME, Durham, and more. Learn more at http://www.BeatlesCartoonArtShow.com
Hey, that’s really cool, Scott! Don’t be sorry for the plug. I just looked at your site and it sounds great! I’ll be keeping an eye out for any dates in San Diego, or otherwise we’ll drop in on the gallery next time I’m up in your area. Thanks!!
Scott, your company does a great job. Thakns for letting us know about these upcoming shows.
Well, I love all things Beatles so of course I loved this column. One of the first prizes I ever won from a radio station (KCBQ, where I grew up on Shotgun Tom) was “Hey Jude.” I couldn’t have been more excited. And later, from B-100, I won the whole library! And I still never tire of them.
I have a couple of Beatles shirts and always get more enthusiastic comments from younger people–often teens and sometimes younger–than older people. I’m always stunned at just how well they know the music.
True story, I was at a Beatles show this past Friday night wearing my Hard Day’s Night shirt and got offers to BUY it! But when people realized I’d be walking around shirtless if I sold it, others bid even higher for me to KEEP it! (Ok, that part’s not true, but for real, I did get offers on it.)
50+ years later and we still find these four just fab.
Incredible how Beatlemania endures. Thanks for the story, Dave, and hang onto that shirt!
Years ago, stations would highlight events like this with Specialty weekends.
I don’t know of many stations that do that anymore and i suspect it has to do with two things – reduced manpower and/or laziness on the part of the PD.
Doing a specialty weekend requires a lot of work (programming and imaging) and stations may not have the manpower to do it or there are also PD who don’t want to put in the effort.
Specialty weekends can give the station the image and the credibility even if they don’t play the artist extensively. While I agree with the posters that the Beatles tend to skew older, their image, if not always the music, resonates with a much larger audience.
Specialty weekends can also sound fun and spontaneous to listeners, generating passion.
Alas…another way cutting our staffs to the bone has hurt us.
Mike, I believe that staff cutbacks are only part of the story. In PPM markets, many programmers believe that specialty weekends can be double-edge swords, especially those containing interviews and sound bites. In any case, we’re on the same page – opportunity missed.
I’ve heard that as well. Is the hit in Cume or TSL?
But sometimes I think the value of the promotion – and the image it gives the station – may outweigh the slight hit if it generates passion with P1’s.
The ratings “hit” can be everywhere. But by the same token, a strong specialty weekend can score. Maybe it’s an issue of risk:reward. And how often you do these.