Radio's KFRC dropping oldies (STATION'S NEW FOCUS: 38- TO 49-YEAR-OLDS)

San Jose Mercury News ^ | Sep. 02, 2005 | Brad Kava

[nickcarraway]

At noon today, Bay Area oldies radio station KFRC-FM (99.7) will drop the format it has had for a dozen years and start focusing on an audience it says has been ignored for too long: the people some are calling Generation Jones, 38- to 49-year-olds who were too young to identify with Baby Boomers and too old to be Generation Xers.

With its first song, ``One of These Nights,'' by the Eagles, the San Francisco-based station will leave behind most of the music of the 1950s and 1960s, in favor of what was big from 1975 through the '80s.

``That's right in the center of the audience,'' said Infinity Broadcasting vice president and market manager Doug Harvill, who is overseeing the change. ``If you are 45 today, you were born in 1960 and you were 15 in 1975. That's the age when kids are typically getting into music.''

Oldies formats have been withering nationwide, the most visible of which was the country's largest market in New York City, where Infinity's WCBS-FM stopped playing the music of the 1960s and got rid of highly visible deejays including Bruce ``Cousin Brucie'' Morrow.

It wasn't that the format was doing badly -- it was in the market's Top 10 -- but advertisers thought its listeners were too old and didn't want to invest in them.

That station took on a format that is sweeping the country called ``Jack,'' a supposedly free-form format where listeners might hear unexpected songs from different eras. The trouble with it, say some listeners, is that it really isn't the free-form that launched FM radio in the 1960s, during which deejays played what they wanted. Rather, it is mostly a tried and true playlist of recognizable hits from a mix of generations.

[codyjacksmom]

At 41, this would be all the music I really like. We have a station here that plays mostly 70's and 80's every weekend...it's really awesome hearing some of the stuff I hadn't heard since I was a kid.

[tallhappy]

They should bring back Dr Don.

[tallhappy]

This Jack stuff is lousy music.

Moldy oldies are better. Current pop on radio Disney is better.

[codyjacksmom]

You're entitled to your own opinions...damn! Just wish I didn't have to read them...I like the jack

[raccoonradio]

I'm 43 and find stations like Oldies 103.3 in Boston too
repetitive, narrow playlist (though this weekend they're
doing a "1000 song weekend", including some cuts they rarely play). They're "Greatest Hits of the 60s and 70s" but if I were them I'd add some 80s. (Actually they do kinda cheat
and play some 80s cuts like Beach Boys "Kokomo" and
Billy Joel's "Tell her About It"...they need more)

[AlaskaErik]

I have encouraged my local station to drop the 70's from their lineup. I consider the 70's to be the musical equivalent of the Dark Ages and the 80's to be the Renaissance.

[PeteB570]

1975?

Since I don't listen to too much music it is funny that sometimes when a song plays it brings up strong memories of where I was when it was a hit.

In the mid 80s I was stuck in a place with limited entertainment and only able to pick up one radio station. I listened to "Slow Boat to China" about four times an hour for a month. I can't remember hearing it since.

[martin_fierro]

That station took on a format that is sweeping the country called ``Jack,'' a supposedly free-form format where listeners might hear unexpected songs from different eras.

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[Dashing Dasher]

SAD, SAD DAY for us Oldies Fans in the City by the Bay!

[oldsalt]

I like the 50's oldies some, I graduated HS in '57. My main interest in music is the 30's-40's Swing Era.

All I can say is thank goodness for Sirius radio....and my own CD collection.

[ßuddaßudd]

Now thats Jacked up! Does KFRC still do the mystery sound anymore?

[nickcarraway]

That means there is no Oldies station in the Bay Area now, right? The closest thing is 101.9 from Sacramento, which has a marginal signal?

[nickcarraway]

One reason this doesn't make as much sense is that there already stations with this format. 95.7 just changed recently and plays 70s, 80s, and sometimes more recent songs.

[Flying Circus]

Sounds like a fine change to me... I never liked the "golden oldie" format. Give me more of that 80s music.

If you want to give me oldies, give me some really oldies: big band, swing, classic jazz, etc. The music from the 20s,30s and 40s was best but I doubt there is any one willing to look for a market in it. The 50s, 60s and 70s are a wasteland IMHO. The 90s and current music is a very mixed bag... but time will probably distill out some good music from this period.

I think I just discerned a generational pattern reflected in my music taste: pre-boomer, good; boomer, bad; post boomer, OK again.