If you had to choose a moment when the No. 1 single started to lose its potency, it was probably the early '90s. And, ironically, it may have been because music charts became more credible. While it had already been decades since any station's No. 1 song consistently rotated in its own category, as it did at WABC, the switch from reported to monitored airplay also helped underscore that most stations didn't have a true No. 1 song, but three to nine powers receiving relatively equal rotation. As monitored airplay took hold, even reported playlists stopped featuring a subjectively chosen No. 1 record, in favor of a handful of songs tied at the top.

....And it's not hard to take advantage of your station's No. 1 song. Your jocks are already front-selling it, just not to maximum effect. There are probably jocks still identifying "Baby Boy" as "the new one from Beyonce and Sean Paul," even after three months on the radio. "This song is going for a third week at No. 1 when the new chart is unveiled tomorrow" says a lot more. Staging the No. 1 song is as simple as cutting one new piece of production - which could very well tie in with the "No. 1 Hit Music Station" or "No. 1 for Hip-Hop and R&B" imagery that many stations are using already.

All those station drops about being "No. 1," by the way, emphasize just how much power that concept still has with listeners. No station has a liner about being "No. 2 overall, but No. 1 in demo." Programmers clearly understand the power of being No. 1, but they haven't necessarily put it to work for their own product, particularly at a time when that product could use some on-air bolstering. [Edison Media Research] I vividly remember my L.A. childhood in the '60s listening to KHJ ("Boss Angeles") when Top 40 was amazingly powerful and eclectic. I used to pore over the charts and Number 1 was always written in BIGGER PRINT. For good or for ill we are now hopelessly fragmented.