"Oldies" radio stations

[Undertow]

I'm guilty of listening to AM/FM radio when I'm driving from point A to B. I usually listen to NPR for the news because I can catch the 8am and 5pm programs when I hop into my car after work.

Unfortunately, when NPR is busy with their fundraising, or when they just can't keep my interest, I used to turn it to our local "Oldies" station KIOA 93.3 FM, to hear a collection of 50's, 60's and a sprinkling of 70's (small sprinkling mind you) rock and pop.

Recently, the station decided to recalibrate to a new audience and has entirely dropped the 50's, only barely clings to the 60's (and only overplayed, entirely-too-popular rock) and mainly sticks with the 70's. I understand where they're coming from: in order to continue being a viable station, they have to shift their eras. Apparently, most people that used to listen to 50's and 60's music aren't important any longer.

So have any of you noticed this shift? Do any of you have local stations that have shifted their "oldies" to the baby boomer generation or later? I mean really, can you call Led Zeppelin's Kashmir an oldie? I mean, gosh, that's off one of their later albums no less. And Pink Floyd - oldies? Really? [huh] :eusa_booh

 

[Yeps]

The D.C. stations have dropped the 'oldies' name, switching to Classic Rock, but they play predominantly seventies rock, with some eighties thrown in. You know that there is something wrong when the rock station which should play new music, and the oldies station, both just play eighties music.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

"Oldies 98" here in Philly started in the 80s playing all 50s and 60s music. It replaced "WCAU FM" which was a pop station that played the Top 40 of the time.

Not long ago, "Oldies98" was playing "Stray Cat Strut.". Lol I think they've come full circle! Personally, I can't wait for it to become a primarily 80s station because that is my fave decade for music.

 

[Geesie]

Yeah, we've all become used to certain radio formats and it bother me when it gets changed up.
Elvis Presley does not belong in the same set as Starland Vocal Band or Black Sabbath.

 

[cptjeff]

Our oldies station in Greensboro dropped oldies completely and converted to Country. It was one of the most listened to (Actually, I think the most listened to) station locally, and there was a big outrage. Within a month, there was a new radio station: 94.1 instead of 93.1.

Raise a fuss, write a letter to the local paper, if you're young rather then a boomer point that out too, it's often advertisers that force those shifts, and many of them don't realize that a lot of my (20's) generation, the target demographic, loves that music too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Thing is, nowadays most of these decisions aren't being made in your town at all -- unless you're very lucky, your local radio station is owned by a corporate chain, and format decisions are being made by executives with little interest in what the local audience has to say. (If your station has the words "Clear Channel Communications" anywhere in its ownership, don't even bother.)

These corporate formats are broadcast by satellite with voice-tracked drop-in DJs creating the illusion that you have local radio. The specific music content of these formats is based more on focus-grouping and broad demographics than on any notion of musical consistency, and most of the people making the decisions actually have little interest in the music as anything more than spacers between the commercials.

If you *do* have real honest local radio still, consider yourself very lucky, and do everything you can to support it -- because it won't be there long if you don't.

The station I worked at twenty years ago had a big-band/standards format, the same music it had played since it went on the air in 1952. That format lasted exactly one day after Clear Channel took over. Bah.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

While I was never a fan of National Public Radio, back in the '80s and '90s it was the two L.A. Area NPR stations -- KCRW in Santa Monica and KPCC in Pasadena -- that used to carry the Ian Whitcomb Show (KCRW and later KPCC) and Don't Wake Me Up, Let Me Dream (KPCC), hosted by Joe Monti.

Both played jazz and dance band recordings from the '20s and '30s, though Ian Whitcomb had a more eclectic mix. Sometimes he would do an entire show on British Music Hall, ragtime, tango, and even early rock n' roll. In addition, Ian used to also perform some of his own compositions, sometime accompanied by his lovely and talented wife Regina. Richard Halpern was a frequent guest on both shows and would do live performances of his repertoire of Tin Pan Alley favorites.

That all changed about 1996 or 97 when KPCC decided to modify its format in order to "reach out to a broader audience" and dropped both Ian Whitcomb and Joe Monti.

 

[cptjeff]

Thing is, nowadays most of these decisions aren't being made in your town at all -- unless you're very lucky, your local radio station is owned by a corporate chain, and format decisions are being made by executives with little interest in what the local audience has to say. (If your station has the words "Clear Channel Communications" anywhere in its ownership, don't even bother.)

These corporate formats are broadcast by satellite with voice-tracked drop-in DJs creating the illusion that you have local radio. The specific music content of these formats is based more on focus-grouping and broad demographics than on any notion of musical consistency, and most of the people making the decisions actually have little interest in the music as anything more than spacers between the commercials.

If you *do* have real honest local radio still, consider yourself very lucky, and do everything you can to support it -- because it won't be there long if you don't.

The station I worked at twenty years ago had a big-band/standards format, the same music it had played since it went on the air in 1952. That format lasted exactly one day after Clear Channel took over. Bah.

That's one of the great things about the situation in Greensboro- the station that changed was owned by entercom, one of those large conglomerates that owns six of the area radio stations.

The one that started up and stole a large portion of their audience was local. I don't know if they're raking it in, but they seem to be surviving alright. Pretty decent selection too. Their daytime DJs are more into motown then I tend to be and overplay the beatles, but I can deal with that.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Here in Philly we have WRDV:

http://www.wrdv.org/

When not listening to my iPod (which is better than ANY radio station) I tune into this.

 

[davestlouis]

The only non-corporate radio we have locally is 88.1 KDHX community radio. Each DJ has a 90 minute or 120 minute slot and they pretty much have free rein to play whatever they see fit. You'll have reggae or ska, followed by a 2 hour slot with folk music from the British Isles, for instance. Their new billboard says something about "Everything from Subversive to Sublime". I have to imagine they stream online too...have a listen.

 

[Undertow]

So I was eating at a local family restaurant a couple weeks ago (when the weather first got nice here in Des Moines) and I decided to sit in the patio section. After dinner, I commented to my waitress, "I noticed you're playing all oldies tonight; I've really missed them since [my local oldies station] stopped playing them. It's really nice to hear this music for a change."

"Yeah," she said, "we have satellite radio and they've been playing this junk all day. I guess it's stuck or something because it's supposed to be pop music, but it's just been this crap."

I said, "What music would you prefer?"

"Oh, I don't know, like, Britany Spears or whatever."

Well, anyway, at least I can get the "oldies" somewhere, sometimes. She was in her late thirties, by the way, and chomping gum.

 

[Chasseur]

Yeah the change from oldies (ie 1950s 60s stuff) to 70-80s rock has happend in almost every city I lived in. I have to say, not to offend lovers of 70s rock, working in a kitchen 6-7 days a week through college where the only two things that got played were either country or "classic rock" I've reached my lifetime limit of "classic rock". If I hear Golden Earing one more time...:rage:

 

[LocktownDog]

Yeah ... that's why I run my MP3 player through my car stereo.

 

[Silver Dollar]

That's also why I play nothing but CD's in my car. My local oldies station is shifting more to the 70's than before. It's not that I live in the past or anything like that, but a lot of the stuff played today is kind of weird to me. Coming From NYC, I'm not into country music which is way different than it was back in the 50's and early 60's. I grew up listening mostly to jazz (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Barney Kessel, Stan Getz etc.) which I can't find on any station here in Louisville. if it's there, it's not on when I can use the radio.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

WKHR. Org 91.5 FM (24 hours, free and no annoying ads)

http://www.wkhr.org/information/history.aspx

What started as 88.3 on the FM dial in 1978 as a vocational broadcast class, WKHR gradually matured into a reminder of the great music that filled the air waves during the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Broadcasting on only 10 Watts of power to a limited audience, the station was managed by students of the local high school, as well as adult volunteers on the weekends.

In 1983, while WKHR struggled at 100 Watts to keep its rock genre thriving, it was through the hard work of many volunteers, dedicated listeners, and generous contributions that the station was revitalized as “WKHR Inc.” by 1989. As a non-profit entity, WKHR was given the ability to compete with for-profit radio stations while keeping your favorite music commercial free.

By May 1995, the FCC granted permission for WKHR to broadcast at 1000 watts on 88.3. WKHR was then heard around Cleveland and much of Northeast Ohio for the first time, by way of an improved antenna system. By September, 88.3 transitioned to the new 91.5 facility with a current power of 750 watts ERP. In 1996, WKHR was broadcasting twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year.

Currently recognized as Cleveland’s favorite Big Band station, WKHR broadcasts to millions of potential listeners in Northeast Ohio and across the world online.

 

[David Conwill]

Focus group radio has come to the whole nation, it seems. Thank goodness for my iPhod and soon-to-be-installed aux jack.

NPR is the only thing worth listening to in the mornings, and while I sometimes enjoy "classic" hits radio, I'm a bigger fan of the sixties-and-earlier stuff that has disappeared from my local airwaves.

-Dave

 

[Paisley]

I was sick of the Stones, the Who and the Beatles 15 years ago. It's not bad music, it's just been played to death. I think a lot of DJs have bigger music collections than some radio stations.

A few years ago, one radio station decided to play every song in its collection, and it took them three and a half days to get through it. That would be nice to hear more often, instead of hearing the same three-hour loop of songs all the time.

There are a few good non-Borg-collective stations in Denver. Jazz 89 KUVO (89.3) has a thing called R&B Jukebox on Saturdays from 7-9 p.m. KEZW plays music from the 30s through the 70s, and contemporary music that fits the genre. You can get both on your computer.

 

[Flivver]

Here in Central New England, all of the "oldies" stations stopped playing 50s music years ago and now concentrate on 60s-70s-80s. In Boston, CBS-owned WODS-FM claims 60s-70s but the 60s stuff is rapidly disappearing. I guess the ratings folks don't care about those over 50 so the change is inevitable.

And among the stations that do still play oldies, their playlist seems to consist of about 100 songs. It gets tiring very fast.

I've had the opportunity to listen to Sattelite radio recently. Their 40s on 4 50s on 5 etc channels do a good job of playing the hits with the obscure but I'm too frugal to pay $12.95 a month for the service.

I've taken to listening to airchecks from the 50s-60s on the internet. Give me Joel Sebastian from 1966 on Chicago's WCFL any day. I used to listen to this station every evening as a kid back in the 60s. Top 40 radio doesn;'t get any better than this, in my opinion.

Listen to the WCFL 1966-71 air composite below to see what I mean:

http://www.radiotimeline.com/am1000wcfl.htm

 

[StetsonHomburg]

I don't know if it has been said yet but Serius Radio has a 30s-50s oldies station... 40's on 4 (There is a 50's on 5 but that is more elvisy rock)

 

[Wally_Hood]

I have to agree with seveal posters that a viable solution is your mp3 player or ipod. I have mine, a Samsung, loaded with my own selections, no commercials, except those found in otr broadcasts, so I am always pleased with what I'm hearing.

Fav podcasts are Cocktail Nation, the Sweet and Hot programs, the occasional interesting find on underheard.org (a collection of college radio station podcasts), Filmspotting.net, The HDTV Guys, and Leo Laporte, The Tech Guy. In heavy rotation are selections from SermonAudio, and any one of the hundreds of otr broadcasts out on the net.

With all these, I rarely listen to radio.

edit: forgot to explain that much of my listening comes in the form of commuting listening...