Songs You Remember And Like But Never Get Played

[Avid Listener]

Agreed Firepoint. They'll never understand our side to this.

Those who only defend the status quo will never understand. But somewhere out there is a new Alan Freed, a new Porky Chedwick, someone with a new vision of music that's based on sound, not on recording session date, and that person will shake up the entire industry!

 

[oldies76]

. Why listen to 40 year old songs when there is new music that has even better lyrical content and musicianship?

There are some good songs today, no doubt. Heck, I like "Blurred Lines", "Get Lucky", "Happy", "Counting Stars" and others, but please don't say the music today has better musicianship or even better lyrics. The songs of years past has such good instrumentation, strings, horns and the like...you cannot even compare.....at all.

Sure, there were some cheesy tracks from long ago and so were it's lyrics.....but rap music and that teenbop music out the last 14 years or so...again, you cannot compare and it's certainly not better, with all the references, suggestiveness and cussing, far more prevalent today than ever.

You think everyone is just like you, and I'm here to tell you they're not.

False. There are millions of music and classic hits / oldies fans out there. You have failed to find and reach out to them.

 

[TheBigA]

Sure, there were some cheesy tracks from long ago and so were it's lyrics.....but rap music and that teenbop music out the last 14 years or so...again, you cannot compare and it's certainly not better, with all the references, suggestiveness and cussing, far more prevalent today than ever.

You must have comprehension problems. I'm talking about COUNTRY music. Not rap or teeny bop. Adults are listening to country music and watching country TV shows. Just not you.

There are millions of music and classic hits / oldies fans out there.

Yes I know, and they listen to and love OTA radio, as the ratings numbers I posted indicate.

 

[TheBigA]

People in radio don't seem to understand that even as us old fogeys like some of the music recorded recently.

Yes I know, and as I posted in this thread, those people are tuning in to country radio in order to hear new music.

And yes, I know some people in their 20s who like 60s and 70s music. But their interest is limited to the basic library that most OTA stations play.

As for mixing current music with older songs, there are several OTA radio formats that do that pretty well. Maybe not in your town, but I hear it a lot.

Everything you talk about is being done. You think radio folks don't know, but it's our job to know what's going on. We share a lot of information among ourselves. We know what's working and what isn't.

 

[oldies76]

The paradigm that each generation only likes the music that was on their transistor radios when they were in high school is what's wrong. The assumption that you can only attract people of a certain age by playing the music of their teenaged years was true decades ago, but it is no longer true today. TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

All the youth I have talked to in recent years, all have said that they enjoy many songs from long ago and actually prefer some of them over today's music. Even an 18 year old, I spoke to two days ago, said to me that she loved hearing "Volare" by Domenico Modungo (1958).

I had a thread a few years ago about a 9 year old kid requesting "Who Put The Bomp...." on a Denver AM oldies station.

Kids love the oldies too.

I completely agree with you.

 

[oldies76]

You must have comprehension problems.

Thanks, A

 

[oldies76]

Yes I know, and they listen to and love OTA radio, as the ratings numbers I posted indicate.

No, not those listeners. True classic hits fans cringe on what OTA delivers. They prefer more.

 

[TheBigA]

No, not those listeners. True classic hits fans cringe on what OTA delivers. They prefer more.

As I've said repeatedly, we're not programming to "true classic hits fans." We will NEVER ever please you. Pandora and Sirius don't have enough songs in their library to please you. So listen to your iPods. It won't hurt my feelings one bit. I eat very well thanks to the decisions I've made.

 

[davideduardo]

Kids love the oldies too.
.

One or two may like oldies. A few more very young ones may like "bouncy" cute songs from long ago. But the vast majority have absolutely no interest in more than a few old songs.

Heck,when I was 5 or 6, I liked "Marzy Doats" which is several years older than I am. But to a kid, it musta' been cute.

 

[TheBigA]

No, not those listeners. True classic hits fans cringe on what OTA delivers. They prefer more.

As I've said repeatedly, we're not programming to "true classic hits fans." We will NEVER ever please you. Pandora and Sirius don't have enough songs in their library to please you. So listen to your iPods. It won't hurt my feelings one bit. I eat very well thanks to the decisions I've made.

 

[oldies76]

One or two may like oldies.

X

(a famous graphic that has been used since the 70's on Family Fued)

 

[davideduardo]

Those who only defend the status quo will never understand. But somewhere out there is a new Alan Freed, a new Porky Chedwick, someone with a new vision of music that's based on sound, not on recording session date, and that person will shake up the entire industry!

Alan Freed did not play anything that wasn't the latest song the record promoters had laid on him.

He had a teen and pre-teen show on an AM station in the evening in Cleveland. He told the teens what songs they should like and buy. I listened, and got my mom and dad to buy me some of the records, too.

Freed was about the only deep music discovery method available in the early 50's in Cleveland. You couldn't take a 45 rpm player to school, and there was no alternative among Cleveland's 8 radio stations until WERE became a Top 40 in the middle of the decade. Today, teens can share songs in person off their smartphone, hear them on thousands of internet options and even hear curated lists on OTA radio.

Alan Freed was replaced by technology (and the payola laws). He is not going to be reincarnated.

 

[MaineRadioGuy]

Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days
Eddie Rabbit - I Love A Rainy Night
Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking
Double - The Captain Of Her Heart
Michael Martin Murphey - Wildfire
Thin Lizzy - Jail Break
Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou
Swing Out Sister - Breakout
The Hollies - Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress
Moody Blues - Gemini Dream
Gordan Lightfoot - The Wreck Of Edmund Fitzgerald
The Rolling Stones - Angie
Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City
Atlanta Rhythm Section - So Into You
Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me
Rod Stewart - Some Guys Have All The Luck
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
ABC - The Look Of Love
M - Pop Muzik
The Fixx - Saved By Zero
Big Country - In A Big Country
Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Firefall - Just Remember I Love You
David Essex - Rock On
Dr. Hook - Cover Of The Rolling Stone
The Who - Squeeze Box
Robbie Dupree - Steal Away
Steve Forbert - Romeo's Tune
The Babys - Every time I Think Of You
Poco - Heart Of The Night
Al Stewart - Time Passages
Jim Croce - Time In A Bottle
Heart - Dreamboat Annie

 

[oldies76]

Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days
Eddie Rabbit - I Love A Rainy Night
Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking
Double - The Captain Of Her Heart
Michael Martin Murphey - Wildfire
Thin Lizzy - Jail Break
Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou
Swing Out Sister - Breakout
The Hollies - Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress
Moody Blues - Gemini Dream
Gordan Lightfoot - The Wreck Of Edmund Fitzgerald
The Rolling Stones - Angie
Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City
Atlanta Rhythm Section - So Into You
Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me
Rod Stewart - Some Guys Have All The Luck
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
ABC - The Look Of Love
M - Pop Muzik
The Fixx - Saved By Zero
Big Country - In A Big Country
Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Firefall - Just Remember I Love You
David Essex - Rock On
Dr. Hook - Cover Of The Rolling Stone
The Who - Squeeze Box
Robbie Dupree - Steal Away
Steve Forbert - Romeo's Tune
The Babys - Every time I Think Of You
Poco - Heart Of The Night
Al Stewart - Time Passages
Jim Croce - Time In A Bottle
Heart - Dreamboat Annie

EXACTLY! And add about 900 more.

 

[Tibbs4]

Hey, half that list is 80s stuff. That's NOT considered oldies is it? Where has time gone??

Some real gems in this list! I am not sure Jack-FM would even allow such a trainwreck as The Smiths up against Squeeze Box! Honestly, I am not so keen on oldies or classic hits stations playing a lot of the 80s music. It seems like a totally different generation of music. While I love the late 60s and certainly the 70s, I tend to separate the 80s and combine some of 90s into a different radio station conceptually than a classic hits station. No matter what I think, or anyone really...there is no perfect solution.

I will say this - the comment about playing the Top 10 best songs from an artist vs. Just the Top 5 is certainly a logical consideration, depending on the number of true hits, obviously. BUT, the telling part of that comment was calling the songs "SECONDARY" and in the game of radio dominance and superiority, it is hard to win first place with advertisers or audience, using your second string. That's where 90 percent of this great discussion and debate is centered. It's how corporate radio is programmed. It changes a bit if you are a standalone or have a smaller/fringe signal, you know you can't take on the 100kw Goliaths, so you have to play a slightly different hand. Same thing as a big name restaurant chain vs. a neighborhood family-run independent.

 

[Avid Listener]

Music didn't just suddenly change one January 1, 1981 when the 80's began. It didn't suddenly change on January 1, 1971 when the 70's began. The list of hit songs played on December 31, 1980, the last day of the 1970's, was the exact same list of hit songs played the next day. All of the new artists of the 1980's were working on honing their music in the 1970's. Attempting to pigeonhole music based on arbitrary transitions from the year ending in "0" to the year beginning in "1" makes no sense at all.

 

[TheBigA]

Attempting to pigeonhole music based on arbitrary transitions from the year ending in "0" to the year beginning in "1" makes no sense at all.

The only folks who do this as you describe are the decades channels on Sirius. And yes, it makes no sense. That's why they're really the only folks who do it.

 

[davideduardo]

Attempting to pigeonhole music based on arbitrary transitions from the year ending in "0" to the year beginning in "1" makes no sense at all.

And that is why OTA radio stations don't engage in this practice.

 

[davideduardo]

Hey, half that list is 80s stuff. That's NOT considered oldies is it? Where has time gone??

Honestly, I am not so keen on oldies or classic hits stations playing a lot of the 80s music. It seems like a totally different generation of music. While I love the late 60s and certainly the 70s, I tend to separate the 80s and combine some of 90s into a different radio station conceptually than a classic hits station.

That's why the fairly standard definition of oldies is: 60's core, with some compatible 70's and 50's. And "classic hits" is "70's based, moving into the 80's with even a few early 90's material".

"Oldies" is a relatively stagnant definition, while "classic hits" is somewhat dynamic, shedding at the older end as it adds at the upper end.

 

[ok walters]

As I've said repeatedly, we're not programming to "true classic hits fans." We will NEVER ever please you. Pandora and Sirius don't have enough songs in their library to please you. So listen to your iPods. It won't hurt my feelings one bit. I eat very well thanks to the decisions I've made.

Amen, brother. Avid and Oldies are the ones who don't get the message - so as Avid said to me, let's put it in a way you may be able to understand. Not likely, but we will try one more time.

Avid talked about his phantom oldies station that played Disco Duck - he knows how long they have been on but doesn't know the call letters. He also readily admits that Cumulus tried the format many different ways but finally gave up. There is only one reason Cumulus walked away and that is because it didn't work after long periods of time and many tweaks. The decision was all about money and the format you crave didn't and won't deliver.

I love the "I just talked to an 18 year old and he loves the classic hits". Really? Have him name ten classic hits (if he can) and see how many are "deep cuts" and even any of the songs you mentioned - none will be as he only knows the biggest hits with the catchiest tunes. I also love the demand to play covers of songs that don't even get played by the original artist. You are talking like someone programming their own personal music library and not a radio station that needs to appeal to a large audience and actually make a profit. You are a music fan who either doesn't understand the business side of radio or just refuses to understand. I think it is the latter.