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CLAY GETS LITTLE AIRPLAY
« on: November 14, 2003, 10:03:55 AM »
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Clay gets little airplay
By DAVID MENCONI, Staff Writer
New & Observer, Raleigh, NC
Raleigh pop star Clay Aiken is anything but invisible nowadays, despite the title of his current single. Yet there's one place where his profile is lower than you'd expect: the Billboard singles chart.
Aiken's "Measure of a Man" is riding high at No. 8 on Billboard's album-sales chart after a month in stores. But "Invisible" is only now debuting on Billboard's "Hot 100" singles chart, bowing at a comparatively modest No. 57 in the Nov. 22 issue.
Billboard's singles chart is based on both sales and airplay, and thus far Aiken has been more of a sales phenomenon than an airplay one. During the summer, his "This Is the Night" single got little airplay despite selling more than 1 million copies.
"Invisible" is in power rotation on the Triangle's top-40 station, G-105 (WDCG, 105.1-FM). But elsewhere in the country, the song has yet to make much impact on mainstream stations. Bob Burke, vice president and managing director of the Friday Morning Quarterback radio tip sheet, says the "American Idol" star might still carry a stigma for radio programmers.
"Everyone heard Clay Aiken for the first time and thought he was the dorky guy who should be on Broadway," Burke says. "But radio needs Clay Aiken, as the next George Michael or Ricky Martin-type pure-pop mainstream male artist. Top 40 right now is all hip-hop, R&B or pop-rock bands -- Fountains of Wayne, Three Doors Down, Matchbox 20. It's tough because we're in a hip-hop world right now. When you battle records on the radio at night, Clay Aiken up against 50 Cent. You just can't do it."
Sean Ross, vice president of music and programming for Edison Media Research, also cites Aiken's style. which is not really in sync with the hip-hop flavor of contemporary pop radio.
"Both the singles he has done are unusual records from what you're hearing on radio in 2003," Ross says. "Either could have been made 20 years ago, and he's an act some people regard as a teen idol making records that are very 'adult.' Sometimes that works out great, but sometimes you get resistance. Some top-40 program directors just can't hear that record in between Beyonce and Fountains of Wayne. Some probably don't want to play it because it's too teeny-bopper. It's sort of a throwback to Donny Osmond in the early '70s, remaking 'Hey Girl' and 'Puppy Love.'"
Still, it's early in the promotional cycle, and Aiken has network television appearances on the American Music Awards (8 p.m. Sunday on ABC) and the "American Idol" Christmas special (8 p.m. Nov. 25 on Fox). "Invisible" still has time to catch on.
"Wait until Christmas break when everything shuts down for a few weeks at the end of the year," Burke says. "There always seems to be a record that either raises its head, or survives. That's one that could go into next year. Radio needs to find a balance because you can't play hip-hop and R&B all the time, and there's nothing else out there."
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