https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Wed, 06 May 2026 16:41:55 +0000 Sat, 05 Jan 2019 13:08:53 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=9027 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50925&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50925 Author: eriejwg
Subject: 9027
Posted: 05 January 2019 at 1:08pm

I was considering at one point subscribing to ERG discs in
the last month or so after PrimeCuts ended production. A
DJ in Buffalo who i've networked with, Mike Setlock, is
the VP/Programming For ERG/Multi Music Group. Instead, I
went with Promo Only.]]> Sat, 05 Jan 2019 13:08:53 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50925&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50925 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50917&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50917 Author: aaronk
Subject: 9027
Posted: 03 January 2019 at 10:36pm

Great info! I forgot about those ERG discs. I've seen those, too, but my stations never received them. I also thought they were more targeted toward mobile DJs rather than radio.]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2019 22:36:13 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50917&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50917 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50912&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50912 Author: EdisonLite
Subject: 9027
Posted: 03 January 2019 at 2:47pm

Is there anyone here who got the Promo Only Mainstream circa 2011-2013 (the early years of the POOL service) and also get the POOL service? Were there a lot more mainstream songs included in POOL but not on the CDs? I recently bought most of the PO Mainstream CDs from 2001-2012 from a fellow Pat Downey subscriber (and the 1997-2000 CDs from someone else). I'm just wondering if the 2011 and 2012 Mainstream radio CDs I have aren't really representative of all the songs PO made available during those 2 years. But I guess it would take someone who both had PO CDs and the POOL service to know the answer to this :)]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2019 14:47:45 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50912&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50912 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50909&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50909 Author: eric_a
Subject: 9027
Posted: 03 January 2019 at 12:32am

EdisonLite wrote: When did Promo Only expand from a genre (like Mainstream Pop) having one 20-song CD per month to digital, where there were many more than 20 songs in that genre being made available in a month?

It looks like they announced the POOL service
officially in their August 2011
Promo Only
Newsletter. I vaguely recall some digital
delivery options as early as the mid-'00s but limited
to the same tracks as the hard-copy CDs.

At one point, PO also had a partnership with the
company that became PlayMPE. They offered digital
delivery to radio stations, but that was essentially a
replacement for labels' promo single service. From
what I could tell, labels determined which individual
station recipients would receive each track.

As for other services, no one's mentioned Cutler
Currents CDs. I think we had these in the Hot AC
station in cluster where I worked in the late '90s.
Our country station across the hall used TM Century
Hitdiscs; our AC had already transitioned to music on
server but still had a wall of TM Golddiscs.]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:32:43 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50909&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50909 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50901&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50901 Author: EdisonLite
Subject: 9027
Posted: 02 January 2019 at 3:05pm

When did Promo Only expand from a genre (like Mainstream Pop) having one 20-song CD per month to digital, where there were many more than 20 songs in that genre being made available in a month?]]> Wed, 02 Jan 2019 15:05:30 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50901&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50901 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50894&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50894 Author: Hykker
Subject: 9027
Posted: 01 January 2019 at 9:15am

At the station I worked at (in a number of different
capacities) from 1991 thru 2004 we never subscribed to
any music services. Since we were an R&R reporter we
received pretty good label service, especially given
the market size we were in and most of the northern
New England label promo reps would stop by regularly.

We did receive quite a few monthly promo sampler CDs
including Promo Only and Hitmakers, plus ones from
Entertainment Resources Group (Nu Music Traxx, Nu
Dance Traxx), and Modern Tracks (several different
ones...dance, urban, mainstream pop and alternative
IIRC). We never asked for any of these, they just
started showing up. They did come in handy,
especially the dance ones for our Saturday night mix
show. Never heard of Xmix though.
I don't recall that we subscribed to Network 40, but
we did receive their samplers.
Occasionally, there were unique mixes on these
CDs...one that immediately comes to mind was Gina G's
"Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit" with a cold ending, which
is what we played.

This station never (at least when I worked there)
played CDs on the air...we got our first Scott Studios
system in 1994, before that everything was on carts.
]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2019 09:15:28 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50894&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50894 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50892&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50892 Author: Bill Cahill
Subject: 9027
Posted: 01 January 2019 at 4:41am

You can find copies of "The Album Network" magazines on eBay. It was a weekly publication but I'd normally see
it around Album Rock stations. But they did have a Top 40 chart I believe, probably the "Network 40" and they'd
send you those CDs, but I don't even think you needed to subscribe to get them. There was a fine line between
some of the magazines and Independent Record promoters. (or no line at all)

I forget which magazine it was but they'd organize a call with groups of PDs to discuss new music as a
"service", but I believe it was really to sell what PDs were thinking about adding back to the labels. And the
organizer might subtly suggest songs.

I remember the calls as one of the PDs would have to put us on hold every now and then. One of the PD's noted,
"Hey that's the fourth time I've heard "I Love Rock and Roll" on the call, you might want to look at your day to
day song rotations", and the PD says, that's my THEME song, I start every show with it and my GM keeps giving
me a hard time about it". Then somebody on the call said, "Your GM is right!"

Edited by Bill Cahill]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2019 04:41:46 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50892&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50892 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50891&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50891 Author: Paul Haney
Subject: 9027
Posted: 01 January 2019 at 3:17am

Here at Record Research, we have the entire run of the
Country CD-X monthly discs. Been very helpful, especially
for the radio edits and yes, there are probably more of
those for Country hits than you would suspect.]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2019 03:17:14 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50891&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50891 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50885&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50885 Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 9027
Posted: 01 January 2019 at 12:25am

Short answer: None of the stations I worked at officially used any of the promo services. Quite a few used promo CD singles from the major labels, in the 1990-1995 time frame.

Personally, I accumulated whatever promo service CDs I could find, usually in used record stores. At the time, I appreciated getting the radio edits for the hits. In hindsight, I appreciate even more the failed singles that labels wanted to turn into hits. The non-hits from that time frame indirectly explain why the hits were indeed hits. Great stuff for us musical historian-types.

Hitmakers started in 1987, I think. TuneUp also started in 1987, with various flavors that evolved over the years to match the evolving radio formats (Next40, Rock40, Top40, etc.) The CMJ discs also started in 1987. A Little On The CD Side started in 1990. Spread The Jam was produced by Navarre here in Minneapolis, starting around 1991 or 1992. Powertrax started in 1994. B.L.A.S.T. ran from 1994 to 1998.
I'm sure there were more. They came and went pretty quickly.

Usually, the discs were free, but the record companies would pay to have their tracks included on them. The discs were excellent promotional tools, and were very convenient for reaching the ears of the PD or MD. I don't think they actually got used on air, except for specialty shows or college radio types that didn't get regular CD service from the labels.

I gobbled up in-store retail promo CDs whenever I could. Those turned up very frequently in the stores, since those stores were the exact target audience for them. I got to buy them because I knew the owners pretty well. Schwartz Brothers released about 12 numbered CDs from 1989 to 1991. In Play released 10 CDs in 1990 through 1991.

In 1989 or 1990, I joined a record pool that would mail me a batch of 45s each week. Record Source International, based in Mineral Wells, TX. It was much more convenient than visiting the local one-stop, which I only found out about late in my college career. In addition to the 45 packages, RSI would mail me a little mini-magazine with useless articles and ads geared toward DJs and jukeboxes.

I found two jukebox services through the ads in that little mini-magazine: Hot Hits and Spotlight On Hits. I signed up for both in 1991, branding myself as a jukebox operator. Hot Hits usually used the radio edits, Spotlight usually used the LP versions.

Around 1995, I got on the mailing list for AV Sebastian, a terrific mail-order vendor that catered to mobile DJ types like myself. I found that Top Hits USA had a series of recurrent discs that gave me all of the radio edits that I'd need for a full year - 6 discs a year, at 18 tracks a disc, and released just after the songs were hits. All killer, no filler! I signed up for weekly Top Hits USA service in early 1996 and dropped Hot Hits and Spotlight On Hits. I bought all the recurrent discs going back to their very first one from January 1992, the very same month that I started "Crap From The Past". I still use the Top Hits USA weekly and recurrent discs to this day.

Over the years, there have also been pre-packaged CD libraries that are geared toward particular formats. I bought the last known copy of The A-List, a tremendous 50-CD set that covers US pop hits from 1979 to 1990. The A-List was released in 1994, and was produced by a company I've never heard of called "swaitek". Sonically, the A-List set borrows most or all of its tracks from the TM Century discs. I've seen comparable sets covering the pop hits from the '70s, and mobile DJ sets that include 50 or 100 discs. These sets aren't documented very well, that's for sure. Anyone interested in a mint condition The A-List, in its original jewel boxes, send me a PM!]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:25:43 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50885&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50885 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50884&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50884 Author: prisdeej
Subject: 9027
Posted: 31 December 2018 at 11:12pm

aaronk wrote: I've not heard any of their remixes on the top 40 stations I worked for or listened to over the years, the exception being weekend mix shows.

Off the top of my head, the above mentioned stations spun these XmiX Re-Edit
versions as currents.
"Be My Lover" by La Bouche
"Diggin' On You" by TLC.
Their may have been others.   
Here's my guess -- XMiX is based in Massachusetts, (north of Boston) and their was
some overlap with the XMiX producers and local jocks/MDs
at the time. Probably just a regional thing, but one never knows.

Edited by prisdeej]]> Mon, 31 Dec 2018 23:12:37 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9027&PID=50884&title=hitmakers-network-40-album-network#50884