The Best Pop Songs Pop Radio Isn't Playing

Oh, to be a radio programmer in the age of Clear Channel and Cumulus Media! You have to find exactly seven songs to rotate, and BAM you have your job done for the week. It's really easy, since all you have to do is check and see which songs feature Akon, Lil' Wayne and/or T-Pain and then you have one spot left to fill with an American Idol winner or runner up (or Daughtry, in more rock-receptive areas.) Then tell your DJs to intersperse "Where My Girls At?" and "In Da Club" in between those seven songs and you have Harrisburg's Hottest Hits: Hot 92 or Here's What Hot: 99.3 Kiss FM. Yay!

OK, I'm sure it's more difficult than that. I mean, there probably dozens of songs going for adds (yeah, I speak the lingo!) every week and you have to choose which ones you will have your DJs play. Some songs are crap, and those songs get played more. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'm trying to be sensitive to the fact that real people are making this music, then choosing to play this music.

But when I turn on the radio, I'd like to be able to choose something in between the somewhat hookless stuff on NPR or XPN and the literally ten songs that get played on the big pop stations. Would it kill them to play "Dangerous" only five times a day, and use the other spots left empty to play "Untouched" by the Veronicas, "With Every Heartbeat" by Robyn, "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" by The Black Kids, "L.E.S. Artistes" by Santogold, "Black And Gold" by Sam Sparro, "Into The Nightlife" by Cyndi Lauper, "U Want Me 2" by Sarah McLachlan and "Light On" by David Cook?

OK, so that list may lean to the gay-friendlier side of things, but the fact I could come up with 6 recent singles off the top of my head that I've never heard on the radio, and two that got very limited airplay, is sad. I'm serious, there are literally dozens of really catchy, interesting pop singles like that. I'm not sure I'd still like any of these songs if they played them 12 times a day (no exaggeration) but why do we need to play any song that frequently? It's why so many people prefer blogs to radio to find new music: there is no new music on the radio. Just the same tired track played over and over until I run for cover.