I have to look at Saul going all-Sinatra on HD when several attempts at pure standards---good ones, beautifully programmed ones---failed, even on HD, as being like Don Quixote with an FCC license. But at least it will be clear what he's trying to do musically.
I was at a gathering of automotive journalists in Half Moon Bay early this week. They have a low-power FM at 100.9 with an AM at 1710. They call themselves KHMB (Half Moon Bay) in all but the legal ID. The actual call letters are KHMV (KHMB belongs to a station in Hamburg, Arkansas).
On Tuesday, around 9:40 a.m., I was treated to Tony Bennett's "Just In Time" (1956) cold-segued into the album version of "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship. So, not just the musical and generational clash, but some lyrical whiplash as we went from:
For love came just in time, you found me just in time
And changed my lonely life that lucky day
to:
I had a taste of the real world (just a drop of it)
When I went down on you, girl, oh
When I programmed adult contemporary in the 70s and very early 80s, I was aggressive musically, And I played "Miracles" (yes, the album version). But not with Tony Bennett. In fact, I was one of the guys who wasn't playing Tony Bennett, period. We were the first and second wave of post-standards ACs.
I love standards and well-programmed standards stations. But the audience I was aiming for and getting 45 years ago by playing "Miracles" and the other big AC hits of that time from artists like Wings, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac was roughly 40 years old.
Those people are 85 now.
I can't even imagine what the demos will be like for KKGO-HD3, other than Saul turns 95 this year and we know he'll be listening.