Record labels, radio stations,
and royalty checks
Years before Graham Parker
would release the classic song
“Mercury Poisoning,” which many
artists could relate to, Mas signed
with Mercury Records. It was not
the first record label interested
in her though. She nearly signed
with Infinity Records until they saw
her perform live. They wanted
her to record an album of ballads
instead of rock and roll. Mas re-
members being told, “a woman
doing rock and roll will never sell”
in 1978 - a year before Pat Benatar
began her run on the charts.
If you were not listening to the
radio in the late 1970s, it’s hard
to comprehend just how differ-
ent New York rock radio was then
compared to now. There were two
major stations (WPLJ and WNEW)
who competed for listeners and
who actually took pride in breaking
new artists. Mas was first heard on
WNEW who played her demo tape
when she was still an unsigned art-
ist. Unfortunately, a great relation-
ship with WNEW soured when she
Watch Carolyne Mas perform “Stillsane”
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 61
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