Jason Derulo will save your relationship

If only we all had a brother like Jason Derulo to pick up the pieces when we made a mess of our love lives. The Miami-raised L.A. transplant's hit "Whatcha Say" -- currently lurking in striking distance of Jay Sean's "Down" at the top of the Hot 100 -- is a shimmering entry into the canon of R&B apology songs, penned after his wayward brother was caught stepping out, and needed a bold intervention to keep his relationship together. To judge from "Whatcha Say," nothing short of a vocoder-heavy Imogen Heap sample and piano-and-808s balladry from producer J.R. Rotem (himself enjoying a second chart wind after helming the rise of Sean Kingston) would be sufficient. Did it work? We asked Derulo about make-up etiquette, being "soul mates" with Rotem and what a lovelorn pop star can learn from Shakespeare.

"Whatcha Say" comes from a long lineage of make-up songs. Did it do the trick?

My brother called me one day to tell me he'd cheated on his girl, but that he felt terrible and really wanted to stay together. I told him, "Tell her this!" That feeling was so real, people go through it every day. So I wrote the song, and he played it for her, and now they've got a beautiful baby.

I guess it worked then. Speaking of interpersonal chemistry, you're doing your debut album entirely with J.R. Rotem. That must take a lot of trust, to work so closely with one producer on your first-impression record. Why him?

Our energy and connection was like nothing I'd ever experienced. We have a chemistry like Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones; we're really like soul mates. We've done something like 300 songs together. I'd always wanted the usual prospects to work on my record, like Timbaland. But I've got so many influences -- rock, country, rap -- that I really needed someone special. I didn't want to come off as an R&B artist just because of the color of my skin. When you hear the rest of the stuff, there's rock guitars, there's live drums, there's even banjos. I've studied classical music and jazz, and ballet and tap dancing and musical theater and Shakespeare, and I wanted all of that in there.

Radio airplay for Michael Jackson: Off the chart

Just how heavily did radio turn to the music of Michael Jackson after the news of his death? In the three days before Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday at age 50 at UCLA Medical Center, the title song from his “Thriller” album had been played 22 times on U.S. radio, satellite and cable music channels; by Sunday night it had logged more than 3,000 spins, according to the Nielsen BDS radio airplay monitoring service. That's an increase of more than 13,000%.

Eight Jackson songs registered more than 2,000 plays each from Thursday through Sunday evening. An airplay report issued Monday by Nielsen BDS tracked 20 songs by Jackson, either solo or when he was a member of the Jackson 5. All 20 exceeded 1,300 plays apiece through Sunday.

The most popular: “Billie Jean,” which registered 3,916 spins, followed by “Thriller” (3,548), “Rock With You” (3,343), "Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (2,984) and “Beat It” (2,810), edging out “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” by just two spins.

A breakdown of airplay on Thursday showed, not surprisingly, that stations almost immediately deluged listeners with his music. The 20 most frequently played Jackson songs logged a combined 147 plays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., shortly before news of his death became widely known.

In the four hours from 3 to 7 p.m. after word spread, those same songs registered 3,664 plays across the country. That figure almost doubled during the 7 p.m. to midnight period Thursday, during which stations reported playing those same 20 songs 6,413 times.

— Randy Lewis

Casey Kasem's final countdown

It’s the final countdown—again—for Casey Kasem.  The radio legend will wind up his “American Top 40” spin-off programs, “American Top 20” and “American Top 10,” on July 4— a date of significance: He created the franchise on July 4, 1970.

“Hosting various versions of my countdown program has kept me extremely busy, and I loved every minute of it,” Kasem, 77, said in a statement.  “However, this decision will free up time I need to focus on myriad other projects.”

But that famous voice (he provided the vocals for Shaggy on the “Scooby Doo” cartoon series) will live on. His classic 1970s and 1980s “AT40” countdowns will continue to be distributed by syndicator Premiere Radio Networks. 

KMVN 93.9 FM does the hustle into that good night

The mausoleum for L.A. radio stations is getting awfully crowded this year. Starting April 14, the disco-leaning station (and most recent home of popular host Rick Dees, pictured) KMVN "Movin 93.9 FM" will pack up the rayon and spangles for good. At that point, Grupo Radio Centro, the Mexican radio firm, will assume control of programming and marketing, with a clause to buy the station outright within seven years. The $7-million deal means 93.9 will flip to a Spanish-language format, and Dees is currently out of a regular morning-show slot.

"These have been challenging times in media, and this is just the best move for us," said Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications, the company that had operated KMVN until the deal. "The hardest thing is that it had been trending up in ratings, and we think the world of Rick, but it's the right decision for us now."