Livin on a prayer...the journal entry

M. Andrew Barton
Media Journal

I was driving to St. Helens the other day and decided to listen to the radio in an attempt to generate media thoughts for this class. I typically listen to CDs and get all my news from some rather off-beat sources, so actually tuning in to a radio station is fairly unusual. The station I chose to listen to was 107.5 FM.
I know it was 107.5 FM because after virtually every song or commercial break they stated their signal location and call sign. They also repeatedly spouted their tag line, “The best of the 80s and more.” I found that slogan fascinating.
I was a teenager throughout most of the 80s. I remember it as a time when people celebrated pointlessness. Pet rocks were a huge fad. I remember some of my neighbors painting rocks they grabbed off our street. They sold those rocks for 5 or 10 dollars each. I thought that was ridiculous even then, but that was the feel of the 80s.
Clothing trends moved towards ripped jeans and long haired men gyrating frenetically with women wearing obscene amounts of make-up. Music ran the gamut from pulsating guitar driven tracks by “hair-bands” such as Poison, Def Leppard, or Guns & Roses to the sleepy time melodies of women who made sounds because they could. Those sounds were devoid of words and served only to emphasize their range.
The call sign “The best of the 80s and more” carries with it all those implications for the designated target audience. It helps them reflect on their young adult years and feeds their nostalgic desires to return to those days. It is obviously a carefully chosen slogan.
I wonder how many people actually think about that connection and connotation when they listen to 107.5. It would not surprise me if the average male listener was driving a rusted out Z-28, his mullet blowing in the wind as he holds a cigarette in one hand, his chain steering wheel in the other, and he and his faux-blond, ripped jeans and tank top wearing girlfriend bellow out together, “Whhhhhhoooooooaaaaaaahhhh….we’re halfway there….wwwwhhhhhhhhoooooooaaaaaaaaaaa…livin’ on a prayer” as they rip through town to their pool and darts tournament at the local bar.
Slogans have power, and I would be interested to know how many people selected the station for that very reason. They simply want to relive a decade of decadence.