Posted on 10/31/2003 11:52:53 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - One of the surest ways to feel older is to listen to the radio and hear songs from your childhood - or, even worse, your adulthood - described as "oldies." If over the years it seems those songs have gotten newer while you've gotten older, it's not your imagination. Oldies radio stations that once featured songs from the 1950s and '60s now play songs from the '70s. "Radio is an ever-changing thing, especially an oldies station," said Jeff Gold, a 44-year-old DJ whose build and voice personify his station's call letters, WBIG. "As the years go by, newer songs become oldies. That's just the nature of the beast," said Gold, known as "Goldy" to his listeners in the Washington area. So roll over Chuck Berry and make way for Fleetwood Mac. Your music hasn't lost its appeal to listeners. But advertisers? That's another story. Advertisers covet the 25-to-54 age group. The first baby boomers - the generation born right after World War II and the primary audience for oldies music - are pushing 60. "This is Marketing 101," said Dick Bartley, who hosts two nationally syndicated oldies programs, "Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits" and "American Gold." "The oldies format is doing what every business has to do - follow your demographic." So as radio stations seek to attract advertisers, it's increasingly difficult for fans of 1950s and early '60s rock to find those tunes on the dial. A study by Coleman, a North Carolina media research firm, found the vast majority of oldies stations in the 50 largest markets are playing more modern music than they did three years ago. "The only reason that our oldies stations have moved into the late '60s and '70s is the advertisers are telling us we have to do it in order for them to place business on our radio stations," said Marty Thompson, operations manager at KQOL in Las Vegas and director of oldies programming for Clear Channel, the nation's largest chain with 1,200 stations, including WBIG. The oldies format began in the early 1970s, as then-less-popular FM stations tried to distinguish themselves from the Top 40 AM giants, according to E. Alvin Davis, a Cincinnati-based radio consultant who specializes in oldies stations. Among the earliest: WCAU-FM (now WOGL-FM) in Philadelphia and WCBS-FM in New York City. By the '80s, almost every major city had a full-time oldies station. In recent years, the industry definition of oldies changed to include all of the '70s. "As with the format when it originally came about, the whole genesis was to play music that was older," said Tim Maranville, program director at KOOL in Phoenix and vice president for oldies programming at Infinity Broadcasting, which owns 120 stations. "These songs are growing into our format. As an oldies person, the '70s don't bother me because there was some wonderful music in the '70s." But the newer music has turned off some longtime listeners. Indeed, a new study by Coleman found oldies fans abandoning stations in direct proportion to the amount of '70s music on the air. That includes people like Joe Barnard, 61, of Fairfax Station, Va., who said he now listens to compact discs or cassette tapes because he can't hear '50s songs on the radio. "I have nothing against '70s music," he said. "It's just not the music I'm interested in hearing. My real interest in music began in the '50s. I still want to hear '50s music." Jenny McCaw, 54, of Alexandria, Va., agreed. "The Eagles are a good group, but they're not '50s and they're not old enough to be oldies," she said. Alan Lee hosts a Sunday evening '50s program on Baltimore oldies station WQSR and owns record stores in Silver Spring, Md., and Baltimore that specialize in oldies music. He said there still is a market for traditional oldies because, "For whatever reason, people tend to be fond of music that was popular when they were teenagers." One byproduct of the trend toward newer oldies is the return of '50s and '60s music to AM radio, which played those songs when they were new. At least seven AM stations around the country, from Buffalo, N.Y., to Portland, Ore., are trying this format. Cincinnati's "real oldies" station uses the same call letters - WSAI - and some of the DJs from its days as a Top 40 station four decades earlier. "We don't pretend that these AM oldies stations are going to beat the FM oldies station," program director Dan Allen said. "Our goal is simply to provide a solid audience. Since this music was on AM originally, we decided to give this a try."
circa 1969 -"Tonight on the Spriritus Cheese hour, the new album from Cream, Disrealis Gears".
Had a classic rock station in Midland that played the same 12 songs over and over and over.....Classic rock isn't a small genre. It's hard to screw it up that bad. But they did....my favorite genre--I wound up listening to the "alternative rock" station. At least they'd play songs that I never heard before....
What oldie stations in many markets have done is simply strip out all the currents and re-currents and play everything else. Others have picked a couple of decades each, so in any of the fairly large markets, you'll have one station playing 50's/60's, another doing just the 70's, one doing the 80's/90's, and mebbe one doing Disco - which has a lot bigger following that the snobs tink. Disco may have a mindless connotation, but it was FUN.
You go to any of the top 20 markets and you'll find several oldies stations, each catering to a different era. Or decade.
Michael
That does not apply to me.
Not soon enough!
It's inevitable.
"for me there is only Beethoven." ~ Brahms. 
I got in a biiiig hairy argument with mhking about this. Rap people get real sensitive when you point out that the genre is truly evil.
Some days you just can't tell people the truth.
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It makes sense seeing as how most of the songs before 1970 were recorded in mono anyway.
The Oldies belong to our (my) generation and there's no hijacking 'em. They're exclusively OUR songs, for OUR memories, and for the enjoyment of all generations.
If you can't remember the tragic plane crash that took the life's of Buddy Holly, Richie Valen and the Big-Bopper in Febuary of '59, or if you didn't run home from school to watch American Bandstand from Philly, then you're not a "oldie but goodie" original member in good standing. IMO, only.
Those Oldies But Goodies
Little Caesar and The Romans
(Words and Music by Paul Politti and Nick Curinga)
Those oldies but goodies reminds me of you The songs of the past bring back memories of you I always remember the first night we met The songs they were playing I never will forget
I always will treasure them so close to my heart They always will haunt me although we're apart Each time that I hear them a tear's bound to fall For I love those memories that I, I-I recall
Those oldies but goodies reminds me of you The songs of the past bring back memories of you Forever they will haunt me but what can I do?
Those oldies but goodies reminds me of <3 piano notes> you (Oldies but goodies reminds me of you)
SPOKEN:
"Yes, dear, they are playin' our songs. And they will always remain our songs. And each time you hear them, I hope you, too, will cherish the wonderful memories that our love once knew. For these songs are just a symbol of the love that I had for you."
Those oldies but goodies reminds me of you The songs of the past bring back memories of you Forever they will haunt me but what can I do?
Those oldies but goodies reminds me of <3 piano notes> you (Oldies but goodies reminds me of you)
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