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Elvis Has Been Kicked Out of the Building
The familiar oldies radio format, corporate style, is withering. It's been a broadcast mainstay for more than 30 years, but as CSM reports, there's "a long list of stations from coast to coast that have abandoned '60s and '70s 'feel-good' music over the past six months." In Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., Orlando, Fla., and Austin, Texas, sez the paper, there are no traditional oldies stations at all.
The core oldies audience of aging boomers is no longer desirable from an ad-sales point of view, and many corporate decision-makers at the big radio chains (read: Clear Channel) are younger than the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Motown songs that have long made up the heart of the stations' playlists. Many of these stations are switching to the Jack format, and "compare their zany musical blends -- bouncing from Abba to Motley Crue to Coldplay in a manner of minutes -- to the randomness of the 'shuffle' feature on the ubiquitous iPod music player."
On the other hand, corporate oldies playlists were narrow, repetitive, and lifeless, so in many cities there's not much to mourn. There's still oldies on satellite, of course, and no doubt some independent stations will pick up an oldies feed, so the format will be around one way or the other for a while.
Even so, the corporate abandonment of the format appears to represent a turning point of sorts for music that -- as a radio format, in movie soundtracks, as ad jingles, etc., -- was once used to sell just about everything.
the regulator|6.13.05 @ 4:53PM|#
Well after listening to the college station on Sirius (26?), who needs oldies stations? All the new music sounds like 70s and 80s music, rehashed to be slightly snootier.
|6.13.05 @ 5:06PM|#
On the other hand, corporate oldies playlists were narrow,
repetitive, and lifeless
As opposed to the Jack format, which is...uh...slightly less
narrow, but still repetitive and lifeless. We have a couple in
Seattle, and it's obvious that they didn't go to any sort of
trouble to expand their playlists when they made the switch. It's
just the same old stuff, only there's no DJs anymore. It never
ceses to amaze that with all the music that's out there, radio
stations can still get away with playing the same thousand songs
over and over again. I definately think radio is due for a
correction any time now, just like the rest of the music industry.
Too much time in power with too little attention paid to their
customers and the market. They can't legislate their cartel into
safety forever.
|6.13.05 @ 5:14PM|#
In Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C., Orlando, Fla., and
Austin, Texas, sez the paper, there are no traditional oldies
stations at all.
Well, Austin, TX for one does not have anybody over the age of 35
living there, from what I've experienced. So it makes sense that
there would be no oldies station there.
Yesterday I was listening to the local "Oldies" station, and I
heard George Harrison's "I Got My Mind Set On You". That song was
on Cloud Nine, an album released in 1987. Repeat: 1987. That ain't
no oldie. I was rocking out to that song in the second grade. I am
no moldy oldy. I just shared this to illustrate that, even in
markets that do still have oldies stations, they are no
longer really oldies stations, but generic blends of radio-friendly
pop like every other commercial station.
|6.13.05 @ 5:24PM|#
Damnit! Chicago's oldies station just changed format but I hadn't realized it was an epidemic. Am I the only under-30 who really loves '50s and '60s pop? V. sad.
Warren|6.13.05 @ 5:29PM|#
Sorry smacky, but 87 was over fifteen years ago, thus making anything recorded in that year official Oldies material. The fact that you 'rocked out' to it when it was new, also makes you a certified Oldie. Welcome to the club. Hey, it happens to everyone (if they're lucky).
Jesse Walker|6.13.05 @ 5:30PM|#
As opposed to the Jack format, which is...uh...slightly less
narrow, but still repetitive and lifeless. We have a couple in
Seattle, and it's obvious that they didn't go to any sort of
trouble to expand their playlists when they made the
switch.
Jack stations tend to have larger and more varied playlists than
other commercial outlets -- but not nearly as large or varied as a
half-decent college outfit.
I was initially excited when a station switched to the format here
in Baltimore, but every time I tune in they're playing something
dull.
|6.13.05 @ 5:33PM|#
smacky,
On the local radio station out here in LA, KLOS, I head some early
90s Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana songs in the playlist. I felt
REALLY old after hearing that.
|6.13.05 @ 5:44PM|#
As a public service to you all, I'd like you all to know that
good oldies radio is not dead. In fact, it's available to one and
all of you via the Magickal, Mystical Interweb:
1.) Dig, Baby, Dig!!! Also see
here.
2.) Retro
Radio
3.) Kick Out the Jams
(psych, acid rock, garage punk, prog)
In my opinion, John E. Midnight is one of the most entertaining DJs
I've ever heard. His show, Dig, Baby, Dig, is well worth a
listen.
|6.13.05 @ 5:46PM|#
Dammit! That first link was broken. Let me try again:
www.digbabydig.com
Just go there if you want good oldies.
|6.13.05 @ 6:03PM|#
KFRC, the oldies station out of San Francisco plays awfull techno style re-mixed beatles medlies. Ugh
|6.13.05 @ 6:37PM|#
Public radio in St. Paul has a great new music station that shows just how bad commercial radio stations suck these days.
|6.13.05 @ 6:55PM|#
Good riddance. Oldeez are just horrible...I'm sorry, but, there's just SO much music out there---why would you consciously choose to listen to that krunk?
|6.13.05 @ 7:28PM|#
The python has begun to shit out the pig!
Radio, an analog medium from the early 20th century, was long
clogged with music by 'baby boomers' (from the mid-20th century)
using electric instruments and recording devices of
early-to-mid-20th-century vintage.
Now that we're finally moving into the twenty-FIRST century, could
I please, just once, turn on my car radio without risking exposure
to your cock-sucking, godforsaken, wack-ass-punk-bitch Eric
motherfucking Clapton? Please? Just once?
Or that dated, sepia-toned minstrel show known as "Motown?"
Thank you.
Thank you very much....
|6.13.05 @ 8:29PM|#
I thought oldies were big band stuff from the forties.
My 14 year old daughter asked me about when you know you are
getting old. I told her about the time when I was about 25 and I
realized that the DJ wasn't talking to me and didn't care if I was
listening or not. I don't think she grasped the implications of
what I said, but it will happen to her one day too.
Muggs|6.13.05 @ 9:03PM|#
The "oldies" station around me, WDRC in Hartford, CT, switched
from a 50's, 60's and some 70's format to a 60's, mostly 70's, and
a few unidentified 80's(Kokomo, Billy Joel's Uptown Girl and
Longest Time) songs. I like their stuff, but it's too much the same
stuff over and over again. You can almost tell when they're going
to play a certain song.
I await the Jack format in my area, though I suspect we're too
small a market for it.
|6.13.05 @ 9:49PM|#
Speaking as a broadcaster (and former Oldies DJ) I can tell you
that the Oldies format has been on the ropes for at least ten years
- and I don't believe the aging of the target demographic
is as much of a factor as the fact that the format has lost focus
in the last decade or so. Too many of these stations have strayed
from the core sounds (i.e. the stuff we associate with the golden
years of AM Top 40) that made them so much fun to listen to; when I
tune into an "Oldies" station and hear, say, Tony Orlando's "Tie A
Yellow Ribbon," I know that the programming department (or, more
likely in this day and age, the suits upstairs who, armed with
their "market research," are really calling the shots) haven't a
bleeping clue.
And you can get away, I suppose with a two-hundred song playlist,
but they damn well better be the right two-hundred songs...
|6.13.05 @ 9:50PM|#
Old? I'll give you old. I was a WCBS-FM listener before
they went oldies.
In 1970, WCBS-FM replaced "The Young Sound" with a hybrid Top
40/Album Rock format. DJ's of this era included Bob "Bobaloo"
Lewis, Bill Brown, and Bobby Wayne. In June 1972, WCBS-FM evolved
into an oldies format... - Radio-History.com
.
I was getting into the roots of rock at the time, so I didn't much
mind the change, and the songs seemed brand new to me. Besides,
WPLJ-FM (WABC-FM) and WNEW-FM had the free-form, album cut rock
territory covered.
Someone will no doubt post that they listened to Marconi transmit
the letter S from Cornwall on their crystal set. :)
Kevin
|6.13.05 @ 10:57PM|#
Jack/Mike/Bob/whatever sucks, from what I've heard on the local
Mike station. Yeah, the playlist is expanded, but so what? Any
decent DJ will tell you it's not just the playlist that grabs you,
but the segues--they make or break you. I mean, how can you follow
Aerosmith's "Walk this Way" with, say, "I Ran" by Flock of
Seagulls? Or "Karn Evil 9" by ELP with Salt N' Pepa?? Total
disjoint IMO.
The reason I think Sirius/XM is the next step in aerial evolution
is that the playlist on any given channel isn't wide, but deep.
While Jack widens the playlist to the point where you can run Abba
and Motorhead back to back, satelite will stick with genre, so that
when you want to listen girl-pop from the late 70's you'll hear
Abba and Donna Summer and Olivia N-J; when you want to bang your
head you switch to the metal channel. People want to hear the genre
they like when they like it, not everything ever recorded for their
demographic.
|6.13.05 @ 11:05PM|#
Evan:
It's true. Lots of "oldies" are bad. But then again, so is a lot of
mainstream stuff on the radio today. There is plenty of good music
that oldies stations could play, if they chose to. But like most
new music stations, they don't.
I don't want to limit myself to good music from just one era. Good
music is timeless.
|6.13.05 @ 11:06PM|#
I'm a 45 year old who discovered industrial and techno rave from
wandering around the web. NOT RADIO. Such genres are unknown in my
neck of the woods (Ioway).
So I don't need radio to find new music, and with my Rio, I don't
need radio to establish playlists. The only use radio still has as
a local talk show, and local blogs are overtaking this.
SAYONARA RADIO!!!
|6.14.05 @ 12:14AM|#
One of our local AM talk hosts, whose show follows Limbaugh on a
Clear Channel-owned station, takes a perhaps inordinate pride in
selecting and/or vetoing his bumper music. He's a fortyish kinda
guy who, like me, grew up listening to great personality-jocks on
stations that still played new music. On more than one occasion
he's come out of his break, started to comment on the bumper, then
ranted at his producer/engineer when that miserable peon started to
pot down the track, only to be told to keep playing the tune. Then
he tells you about the band, plays some more of the song, and
abuses the DJs on the "music stations", especially one owned by the
local newspaper monopoly, for never playing anything new. Hearing
someone morph between Limbaugh-ite and a Bizarro version of Cousin
Bruce Morrow is a stitch, except when the song he's pushing
sucks.
Actually, Rush emphasized the "coolness" of his bump tunes, too, at
least until he fried his ears gobbling
pills....uhhh....that virus took most of his hearing.
Once people find out about a new cut they like - whether from a
movie soundtrack, TV commercial, TV soundtrack, video game
soundtrack or a live appearance on a TV show, they can once again
buy the single. That they will do it via iTunes, Rhapsody or
Napster is a bit of a change, I'll grant.
Kevin
(listening to a radio program I would have missed this morning,
except my `puter converted it to an mp3 file for me.)
|6.14.05 @ 12:29AM|#
I'm with Scooter. Jack is a joke, a weak imitation of what radio
could have been. My iPod shuffles along just fine for me, it's a
wide ranging eclectic mix - from early ska & Sinatra to the
latest from the Decemberists. No lame ass DJ patter stepping on
song intros, no blowhard and his morning zoo crew and best of all,
no commercials shouting at me. No cycle stores, no diamond
retailers, no tattoo parlors, car dealers or Axe perfume for men.
None. Somehow I'm getting along just fine without any of
them.
About the only time I bother with radio any more is to catch a lot
less NPR, and if they start in rambling on about Israel and
Palastine, they're gone too. New music I get from friends, blog
recommendations or a bit of college radio now and then.
I personally can't wait for the entire bloated radio / indie
promoter / label cabal to choke on it's own ooze.
Next up, please let it be the local TV news broadcast.
|6.14.05 @ 1:08AM|#
I dunno, do Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane count as oldies? I think there's quite a bit of good music from before the 80s. See the difference between then and now is that then the mainstream music was good, now it's the unpopular stuff that's good, the mainstream that's contrived sorry-ass shit.
|6.14.05 @ 1:26AM|#
What are you guys talking about? There is tons of innovation in radio playlists! Just today, I was listening to the local oldies station on my drive home and I heard DOZENS of commercials i had never heard before, and they were only occasionally interrupted by longer jingles, the featured product of which I could not discern. I think I remember one of them being by some group called the Rolling Rocks or something like that. I guess it was a beer commercial, because they kept singing about "satisfaction" and how they couldn't get any of it. Apparently you can't get Rolling Rock beer in their town. But anyway, without commercial radio how would I find out that Larry King wants me to drink orange juice, or which car dealership is offering 0% financing? This is invaluable information, and you guys should really think twice before insulting commercial radio formats...
|6.14.05 @ 3:02AM|#
O.C., when you are offered a premium from your local
non-commercial broadcaster, do you choose the CD, Best Of
WBEG's On Air Pledge Drives?
Kevin
|6.14.05 @ 4:27AM|#
People here seem to have a pretty dim view of the oldies. 50's
and 60's pop is really some of the best music recorded; it was the
age when what drove a song was melody, what's wrong with a great
melody?
Where I live, in Los Angeles, the oldies station on the FM dial,
101.1, is pretty pedestrian, but there is a new station on the AM
dial at 1260 that is spectacular. (In San Diego you can pick it up
at 540).
The station is a great mix of classic oldies like Buddy Holly and
Elvis, and they also throw in a lot of stuff that I've never heard
before, from surf instrumentals to obscure soul and girl group
pop.
The 50's and 60's were the peak of pop music, and to lose that on
the radio would be tragic, I think.
To anyone in So Cal who likes the oldies, I suggest tuning into to
1260/540. Listen before the format changes, which it may soon. They
likely don't have much of an audience, and they rarely play
ads.
Jeff|6.14.05 @ 8:55AM|#
Did Smacky say he "rocked out" to Harrison's "I've Got My Mind
Set On You?"
And I agree with Scooter. I'm going on six radio-free years and I
am a happy person.
John M. Joy|6.14.05 @ 9:21AM|#
Smacky said:
Yesterday I was listening to the local "Oldies" station, and I heard George Harrison's "I Got My Mind Set On You". That song was on Cloud Nine, an album released in 1987. Repeat: 1987. That ain't no oldie.
My crotchety ol' codger tale:
My high school graduation was May 31, 1987. A couple weeks back, on
the last day of May, I noted that it had been eighteen years since
I graduated. The next day, I had to confront the fact that people
were reaching the age of majority who weren't even born while I was
in high school.
But my first "geez I'm getting old" experience was back while I was
still an undergrad. I was teaching a summer session computer class
at the local grammar school. We were talking about history and
evolution of computing, and the subject of vacuum tubes came up.
Those kids had absolutely no idea what a vacuum tube was. I still
remember the TV repairman coming to the house to fix the big ol'
console set, and bringing in his leather case filled with various
and sundry tubes.
I guess the moral of the story (if there is one) is... if you can
remember vacuum tubes, then whatever music you enjoyed in your
youth is an oldie.
JMJ
P.S. Kevrob: FWIW, the pledge drives of WPKN in Bridgeport can actually be
pretty damn funny.
|6.14.05 @ 9:33AM|#
Jack sounded likea good idea, but it's basically boring. The
problem with it, as I see it, is that they are targeting th 35-54
demo with a wide-but-not-deep playlist but the 35-54 demo
corresponds to the people who switched off top 40 radio for
genre-specific FM stations. What I don't get it just because people
listened to crap like Loverboy in the 80's, those people wised up
and don't want to hear it again just because they did 20 years ago.
Maybe as a novelty cut, but not on regular rotation.
I still think the problem with radio is CD's. Before CD's, LP's had
35 minutes of music and your typical radio music director could go
thru an album quickly and pick out the tracks (with a little promo
help from the label of course) he liked. If the album stiffed, the
band would have another out in 8 months and try again. Now CD's are
70 minutes long and there's at best 35 minutes of decent music on
it so the MD still has to sit thru 35 minutes of crap so they just
forget it and wait for the label to tell them what to play. The
bands aren't forced to leave the bad tracks off, and they don't get
another release for 2 or 3 years. Sure makes for boring music radio
when the people picking the music aren't even interested in it.
|6.14.05 @ 9:44AM|#
Many of these stations are switching to the Jack format, and
"compare their zany musical blends -- bouncing from Abba to Motley
Crue to Coldplay in a manner of minutes -- to the randomness of the
'shuffle' feature on the ubiquitous iPod music player."
I'm sick of people insinuating that the iPod somehow originated or
has been responsible for the 'shuffle' feature.
Fred|6.14.05 @ 10:54AM|#
Frankly, it seems to me this is yet another example of baby boomers whining that they're not as relevant in the real world as they are in their own minds. 60s music is only "obviously superior" to more recent music if you are a child of the 60s. To me, some of it is timeless and a lot of it is crap. I suspect that when my almost six year old develops strong opinions about popular music the scenario will play out again. That's why choice is great. If the oldies format attracts listeners and advertisers, it will survive. If it doesn't, then it should die. Personally, I like the AAA format found on a number of public radio stations, including one here in Louisville. If those don't float your boat, there are other over-the-air choices, two satellite networks, iPods and CDs. But why whine when your preferred format goes away, other than an inflated sense of self?
|6.14.05 @ 11:01AM|#
I'm with Oscar. Really, noobs, why not think about *what* exactly is being shuffled? That might give you a clue. Hint - they were made of vinyl.
|6.14.05 @ 11:07AM|#
cousin brucie got smoked. what's he going to do now?
"I'm sick of people insinuating that the iPod somehow originated or
has been responsible for the 'shuffle' feature."
didja catch that times feature in the circuits section (now
defunct, i hope?) about how the "shuffle" feature was creating
these wacky playlists at parties...sort of like...i dunno...SOMEONE
TOOK A BUNCH OF MUSIC TRACKS AND SHUFFLED THEM!!!!!! HOLY
CRAP!
like, jesus, how stupid is your audience. even if they have never
used a cd in their entire life, surely they've handled a deck of
cards at one point?
|6.14.05 @ 11:25AM|#
Good riddance. Oldeez are just horrible...I'm sorry, but,
there's just SO much music out there---why would you consciously
choose to listen to that krunk?
Evan (and others),
I think you are confusing the crap they pass off on commerical
radio as oldies with all the rest of the good music lumped under
the catch-all phrase "Oldies". Is it krunk just because it was made
pre-1990's? I think not. All three of those college radio shows
play mostly super-obscure music that you will probably frankly
never hear in your lifetime unless you take up rare record
collecting as a hobby. Don't get me wrong, I love new music; but
don't write off "old" music simply because it isn't "new". Haven't
you ever experienced the phenomenon called "rediscovery"? Meaning:
finding that you love a musician's record(s) that were released
years ago but that you are just finally realizing you dig? That
happens to me all the time. Also consider the fact that much if not
most of the music being made today "NEW" music, is really just a
parody or lukewarm rehashing of stuff that's already been done
before. I say that as a person under 30, too, so I'm not biased by
age. It's your deal if you want to write off anything made before
2000 as unlistenable, but I think you're probably making a big
mistake.
-- Your Musical Conscience.
|6.14.05 @ 12:40PM|#
smacky -
When I used to come home from college to the Nawth Shaw of Lawn
Island, I used to listen to `PKN all the time! They were still
affiliated with the U of Bridgeport at the time, and were sometimes
maddening to listen to. On the good side, they would back-announce
the records. On the bad side they would sometimes play 10 tracks in
a row, so placing a title with a tune was often a challenge. Even
more irritating for me, who had dabbled in DJing at my school's
carrier-current AM coffeepot, was that they were incredibly loose
about IDing the station, something that, pre-de-regulation, was
mandatory at least on the half hour - maybe every 15 minutes. I
swear that when I first tuned into them that I had found a
"pirate." But, boy, would they play some good stuff. I remember
that I first heard The Cars' Best Friend's Girl on WPKN,
well before any NYC station was playing the Boston band. Wicked
Cool! I much preferred them to WUSB, which, at the time, didn't have
a proper tower, and could barely be heard off the SUNY-Stony Brook
campus.
I see that `PKN has since cut the apron strings:
WPKN
turns 42 in 2005. We've been 100% listener-supported since 1989 and
a completely independent entity since 1992. We preserve our freedom
to be different by pointedly refusing corporate or commercial
underwriting, government money, and donations that are in any way
restricted.
Now that's independent radio!
dhex:
Don't worry about Cousin Brucie. He's landed on his feet, inking a
deal with Sirius. Alan
Freed's old station (and Bruce's) has the details.
|6.14.05 @ 12:57PM|#
Whoops, JMJ, that `PKN stuff was mostly for your benefit.
Now that I think of it, does anyone know of a directory of
non-governmental, non-commercial
broadcasters. Having access to something like that, along with
corresponding web-streams, would be cool.
Kevin
Muggs|6.14.05 @ 12:59PM|#
I sometimes listen to 'PKN. They're the only station around that
will play Zappa that isn't the 5 or 6 radio friendly Zappa
songs.
Otherwise it's WCBS-880, or the FAN, or NPR. Too much of the same
music over and over on the radio stations in Connecticut.
And no offense, Smacky, but 1987, that is oldies now a days. I
mean, by VH-1's standards, if it happened prior to the millenium,
it's nostalgia. But that's a whole other thread.
|6.14.05 @ 2:36PM|#
good to know the spruce bruce will be up and flying
somewhere.
a phone call, though. that's a shitty way to tell someone "your
three and a half decades of work mean sooooo much to us."
(yes, i know, getting fired by kerry would be worse, but
still...)
Jeff O's Retro Music|6.18.05 @ 8:18PM|#
I live in Philadelphia Pa. and have a station here that has been
playing the same list of oldies for the last 30 years. I'm the
biggest oldies rock and roll fanatic in the world and make my
living as a musician performing 40's and 50's music, but I won't
listen to the oldies station on the radio because I'm sick of
hearing the same old songs. They are still great songs, but anybody
that hears the same songs over and over again for thirty years is
going to become sensitized to them. The problem with the oldies
format is that there aren't any new oldies songs played, new bands
promoted etc... I mean oldies songs that are brand new
compositions. If there were, I have no doubt that the oldies format
would Rock And Roll big time and we wouldn't have to deal with this
so called Jack Radio. There definitely is a big market and fan base
for this new oldies sound and I'm trying my best to contribute to
this needed Renaissance by writing my own New Original 50's Songs
You Never heard!
Rock And Roll Will Never Die!
Jeff O's Retro Music
50's Songs You Never Heard!
New Original Doo Wop, 50's Rock & Rockabilly songs.
http://www.jeffosretromusic.com
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