Music Director

Music Director /inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/home.aspxMark Laurence, Music Director of MAGIC 106.7, shares his expertise on the music that makes the station the most listened to station in Boston. en-usCopyright 2012, WMJX-FMMon, 20 May 2013 16:41:15 GMTWed, 15 Feb 2012 19:41:31 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comWe will always love herI've been surprised, with this week's Whitney Houston tributes, at how much time has passed since we heard some of her biggest songs. We played “One Moment in Time” this morning, and it's one of her many hits that you could sing the hook without even stopping to think. But when the song started, it took a moment before I recognized it, and here's why: we hadn't actually played that song on Magic since Fall, 2000. It's the same story with many of her great songs: “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” “All at Once,” “Didn't We Almost Have it All,” “Hold Me,” “I'm Every Woman,” all of these songs slipped out of the music library and went unheard for over a decade. Of course Whitney kept a strong presence on the radio: “How Will I Know” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” continue through today with consistent airplay. And “I .../inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10349187mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10349187Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:41:31 GMTGood news for AdeleAs you've probably heard, Adele was in Boston recently for throat surgery.  The world renowned surgeon Dr. Steven M. Zeitels, director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Voice Center, says she is recovering well and he expects her voice to get "completely back to normal." She had been forced to cancel many concert appearances as a result of hemorraging in her vocal cords. More good news for Adele: along with her many weeks at the #1 spot for her album "21" in the US, she just passed a huge landmark for sales in Europe.  She's the first artist to sell one million copies of an album in Europe.  Adele wrote on her blog this week that she's "chilling out...and getting back to my mime show now" after the surgery.  We wish her the best!/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10313661mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10313661Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:40:15 GMTThey're hot, but how do you say that name?I'll admit it. The first time I saw the name “Hot Chelle Rae” in print, I thought you'd say it almost like hot chili peppers, “hot chelly ray” to be exact-ly wrong. It's a good thing I got it right before I went on the air. :) The way you say it is “hot shell ray” but the big question is, how did this group come up with their name?   It's not from the band member's names, which are Ryan Follese, Nash Overstreet, Ian Keaggy, andJamie Follese. It's not from any mystical philosophy or strange family pets. Actually, they are named after their first crazy fan, who discovered them on My Space and stalked them with online messages mercilessly. She took on the identity of a model and told them she had all kinds of music business connections, none of which turned out to be true. But her .../inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10298996mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10298996Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:02:25 GMTTesting...testing...1..2..3One of my favorite times as a Music Director is right after we've done a big round of audience research on the music we play. We call it a “music test” and we've just finished the latest project. We took pieces of 700 songs and played them for a group of people who we hope are just like you – a representative sample of listeners to Magic 106.7.   You might think, after decades of programming Magic, we would already know what you wanted to hear. But you keep changing your favorite songs! We want to play exactly what you want to hear, not what we think. Every time we do a new music test, you end up changing about 1/3 of the songs we play – and this month, you've done it again.   So...what is the typical Magic listener's #1 favorite song this time around? (I should take .../inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10294976mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10294976Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:46:50 GMTA family band gets it rightFamily bands have had a long history in pop music.  From the Bee Gees and the Beach Boys in the 60's to Heart in the 80's, and Kings of Leon now, there's big pop appeal for family ties - even if the most famous family band of them all was a work of fiction!   (OK, maybe the Partridge Family isn't actually #1, but they've got to be close).   Now we have a new family band heading for the top of the charts, and The Band Perry looks like they can hold their own with those other legends.  Kimberly, Neil and Reid Perry grew up in the small city of Ridgeland, right in the middle of Mississippi.  It's also the birthplace of Faith Hill!  From their sound, you know they have a lot of country music roots, but they're also firmly grounded in rock & roll, learning songs from the .../inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10284141mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10284141Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:41:33 GMTAdele is on a roll!Here's something for trivia fans...name the #1 best selling artist of 2011, whose second album has already hit number one on the charts 5 different times?The answer is, Adele, who as I write this has sold 1.3 million copies of her album "21".  It topped the charts the week it came out, and since then it has been knocked out of #1 four times - and bounced back to the top again and again.  Pretty good for a girl from a working class neighborhood of London who was virtually unheard of until she appeared on Saturday Night Live in 2008.Adele Laurie Blue Adkins still lives with her mother and says she's her best friend.  For a while though, between her debut album "19" and the current hit, she was in love with a man 10 years older than her, in a year long romance.  The end of that .../inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10231289mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10231289Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:38:08 GMTMaybe 11 Million Fireflies?You know by now that Owl City is not an actual city, but one guy named Adam Young, who produced his first hit and album in his parents' basement. Now he's moved up in the world and he's getting his new album ready in an actual studio. It's a long process, Adam says, but he's halfway finished, which should mean there'll be a new Owl City album early next year. He's hoping to get Taylor Swift to sing along for a song or two. Isn't everybody? /inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10131502mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10131502Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:02:12 GMTMiley's new tattooMaybe it's part of the separation process from being Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus has a new tattoo - on her ear! She told Marc Malkin at E! Online that it's the word "love" and it's black letters on her right ear. She says "love is what makes the world go around and that's all we need to focus on." So, I guess we should all focus on Miley's ear. By the way, in Massachusetts this would be illegal because Miley is still under 18 - for 5 more months. /inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10119666mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10119666Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:17:55 GMTMan! I feel like a swap!Shania Twain's divorce from Mutt Lange is final...and Shania is "radiantly happy," according to an article in People Magazine. And who is the latest in her life? Frédéric Thiébaud, the ex-husband of Shania's ex-best friend, the woman said to have an affair with Mutt Lange that caused the breakup. /inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117676mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117676Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:46:11 GMTUpdate on U2UPDATE: Bono is now out of the hospital, but U2 has postponed their entire North American tour until 2011. It's quite an elaborate tour - in Montreal they're building an entire temporary 80,000 person stadium just for that concert! Concertgoers should hold onto their tickets while the band is working out the new schedule. [Earlier] U2 singer Bono is in the hospital after undergoing emergency back surgery. Not much word on what caused it except it happened during "tour preparation training," according to U2 management. The band's website says Bono "was admitted to a specialist neuro surgery unit in a Munich hospital." U2 will postpone the first concert of their upcoming world tour, which was scheduled for June 3 in Salt Lake City. There's no New England stop currently listed in Pollstar. /inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10114473mlaurence@magic1067.com (Mark Laurence)/inside-magic/personalities/mark-laurence/Blog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10114473Tue, 25 May 2010 15:57:50 GMT