Now, “Smoke From A Distant Fire” is more available on the radio this year than at any time since 1977. It was neither durable enough for most radio station libraries nor galvanizing enough to rate a mention when people who didn’t like ’70s pop began reeling off goofy titles from that decade.īut it’s 2005 and the spread of Jack- and Bob-FM and their 1,000 song playlists has sent AC and Classic Rock programmers scrambling to protect their variety images, even those stations that never really cultivated them in the first place. In fall 1977, “Smoke From A Distant Fire” by the Sanford/Townsend Band drifted amiably in the Top 40 and soft rock firmament between “What’cha Gonna Do” by Pablo Cruise and “Falling” by LeBlanc & Carr. It says a lot about 2005 that the record that best explained what was happening at radio wasn’t a new song, but a 28-year-old pop nugget that nobody would have considered significant at the time. By Sean Ross, VP of Music and Programming
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