POP MUSIC

JUKEBOX RESURGENCE: If you think jukeboxes are relics of bygone days when diners and seedy bars were on every corner, you haven’t been to a small town lately.

With less competition for the entertainment dollar, small towns are the most popular locations for jukeboxes--and the colorful machines have made a resurgence since the mid-’80s, when the number dipped to an all-time low of about 210,000 nationally.

Dock Ringo, spokesman for the Amusement & Music Operators Assn., which represents the nation’s jukebox owners, estimated that the current national total to be 250,000--including 40,000 to 50,000 of the new CD jukeboxes.

Billboard magazine has even inaugurated a jukebox singles chart, listing the 40 most popular box tunes. Ringo is also president of Records Source International, which compiles the chart.

Why did jukeboxes fade in the ‘60s after reaching a peak of 400,000?

“Jukeboxes have always been found more in lower-income entertainment spots,” says Ringo, a veteran of the business who remembers the heyday in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. “There were more places like that in those days--places like diners, small restaurants, inexpensive bar and grills. But when urban renewal happens and new highways are built, those kind of places fall by the wayside. Now fast-food chains have taken over many of those locations.”

Although the number of jukeboxes is increasing, that growth may be short-circuited because the 45 is becoming an endangered species.

“With the move away from vinyl, some record companies have stopped pressing them, and others may follow suit,” Ringo says. “Without a steady flow of new 45s, revenue drops and the owners get rid of the boxes. The jukebox business would go down the drain again.”

The Billboard chart--mainly a guide to jukebox owners who are looking to keep their machines stocked with the most popular singles--may only be temporary. The magazine is printing it monthly, from October through December, on a trial basis.

The November jukebox Top 5 is totally different from the pop Top 5: 1--Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”; 2--Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”; 3--Scorpions’ “Wind of Change”; 4--Travis Tritt’s “Here’s a Quarter”; 5--Black Crowes’ “Hard to Handle.”