Am I The Only One Listening?

[Harry]

Back when I was working in radio, and a song on our station would be playing, I imagined that there could be many stations across the country, perhaps the world, playing that exact song at that exact moment. That thought came from the experience of hearing two stations in the same format in the same city actually playing the same song at the same time. I witnessed it many times. It was particularly prevalent with Top 40 stations all playing the same songs - they'd be bound to overlap occasionally. Nowadays I experience that with the Christmas format that might be syndicated across big station owners like I Heart Radio. I can pick up both Tampa and Orlando stations in the same format, often playing the same song at the same time, or maybe skewed by a minute or two.

And it's easy to imagine that someone playing a very popular album in their car might be among many playing that album or song at that time. For instance, a big album by a supremely popular artist like ABBA or Taylor Swift or even The Beatles, could easily be duplicated around the planet at that exact minute.

So, suppose I pick some really obscure album - say Herb Alpert's JUST YOU AND ME. That comes to mind due to a reactivated thread here on the forum, and the fact that I happened to have that album on in the car this afternoon. As something like "Grandpa Lou" played, I imagined that there was easily a chance that I was the only person on the planet listening to that song at that moment. Or was I?

Actually I imagine the odds would be slightly higher that someone else had it on then perhaps just due to the fact that there's been discussion here on the forum. Some 25 people responded to the thread, so they might have gotten a notification that it was active, and maybe placed it on a turntable or file server or even a CD-R like me. Many other non-members might have seen the thread recently and played it today. Who knows?

But what about a really, REALLY obscure album. Something like a George McCurn or any of the other really obscure artists and albums on A&M or any other label? Long out of print and rarely heard about except in maybe these pages - and even then, only scant interest.

Just something that crossed my mind today.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I've had that thought many times when listening to obscure stuff. Especially Primal Roots, or Under the Blanket.

I played a bunch of Sergio Mendes music in the store one Saturday recently when I was working alone. When Primal Roots was on, I was pretty sure I was the only one in the world listening to that album right then -- or at least, I was DEFINITELY the only one playing it in an auto parts store!

 

[Mr Bill]

I have that thought often... I guess great minds think alike!

--Mr. Bill

 

[Rudy]

I've thought about that also. Back in the days of Thriller and other smash hit albums, sure, there were probably thousands of others listening to the same tracks I was. But my tastes are so varied now that chances are that anytime I play something, I'm probably the only one listening to it...

 

[Bobberman]

I find myself in the same boat when the Syndicated Satellite delivered radio formats started for Example In 1981 the Satellite music network in Mokena Illinois ( later relocated to Dallas Texas) I believe that's when it became definitely possible for songs to be heard simultaneously by multitudes of people pretty much ahead of its time.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Same. My tastes are so non-commercial (at least in the context of the present) that I often wonder if someone at Apple Music is going to say "Hey, who's the one guy who listened to (fill in the blank) this week?"

 

[Rudy]

That was Qobuz for me also. "There was that one guy in the US who listened to Magnifico back in October 2022..."