Eh....his words, not mine.
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Let's watch everyone lose their minds. KRTH is playing...
- Thread starter michael hagerty
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One of the first 80s songs I remember hearing on several 60s/70s “oldies” stations in the mid-2000s was “Love Shack” from 1989. It was just 15 years old at the time, but it “fit” alongside the rest of the oldies from the later 60s through late 70s. In many ways “Uptown Funk” is the new “Love Shack.” For the 90s, many stations started out with tracks like “Waterfalls” by TLC or even very early Britney. It just depends on how it fits the texture and the target of the station.
I don’t think we’re going to hear “Kill Bill” or “Golden Hour” on classic hits ANY time soon, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear “Hold Me Closer” or “Cold Heart.”
Keep in mind, historically speaking, the classic hits, classic rock, and AC formats are playing older music than ever. Even in the 2000s you weren’t hearing 50 year old songs on any of those formats. In 2023 we’re still hearing “Piano Man” and “Crocodile Rock” on many of those stations in those formats (even WLTW occasionally spins “Your Song” from 1970!). The 1970s or 1980s music doesn’t necessarily have a death date. It will be included to various degrees as long as the songs test with the target. Perhaps we move from a gold format that once covered two decades to one that covers 5. Likes and dislikes aren’t decided by the age of the song. At least not for my generation and I just turned 31. A lot of us like our parents music, and vice versa. Thanks to TikTok, now a ton of teens know who Edison Lighthouse is or have at least heard one of their songs. People aren’t wrinkling their noses and going “that’s old” or “that’s new.” The music tests and demo performances will ultimately determine what happens. Just my 2 cents!
I don’t think we’re going to hear “Kill Bill” or “Golden Hour” on classic hits ANY time soon, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear “Hold Me Closer” or “Cold Heart.”
Keep in mind, historically speaking, the classic hits, classic rock, and AC formats are playing older music than ever. Even in the 2000s you weren’t hearing 50 year old songs on any of those formats. In 2023 we’re still hearing “Piano Man” and “Crocodile Rock” on many of those stations in those formats (even WLTW occasionally spins “Your Song” from 1970!). The 1970s or 1980s music doesn’t necessarily have a death date. It will be included to various degrees as long as the songs test with the target. Perhaps we move from a gold format that once covered two decades to one that covers 5. Likes and dislikes aren’t decided by the age of the song. At least not for my generation and I just turned 31. A lot of us like our parents music, and vice versa. Thanks to TikTok, now a ton of teens know who Edison Lighthouse is or have at least heard one of their songs. People aren’t wrinkling their noses and going “that’s old” or “that’s new.” The music tests and demo performances will ultimately determine what happens. Just my 2 cents!
Nothing wrong with young people learning about old songs. I did that and I continue to thanks to online radio.
I'm in the early Boomer cohort, and I like music from the mid-50's forward, depending on the song. I also like Sinatra and a few others from the MOR/Great American Songbook era. But it's very dependent on the particular song and artist. There was an evolution in recording techniques and sound quality that kicked into overdrive in the mid-to-late 60's, fueled by the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and a few others who pushed the boundaries of the state-of-the-art with miking, multitracking, overdubbing, etc. Many songs that predate that era, even though they're great *songs*, sound dated as *recordings*, and as time marches forward that chasm only grows bigger.
This is 100% correct. By the 70s, with rock increasingly produced primarily for FM radio, some albums sound just as good now, or better than a lot of newer ones. There were a lot of pop and R&B acts that were a bit later to catch on in the 70s, but by the mid-late 70s production had improved a thousand times over throughout just a decade or even less. I firmly believe this plays in to the endurance we saw start with 60s music from around 64-69, then 70s, then 80s. Each decade’s popularity holds up more than its predecessor it seems. Radio was moving away from pre-64 tracks when they were just 30-35 years old. Today, for some classic hits stations (especially those owned by Cumulus and iHeart), 30-35 years old in 2023 is at the “newer” end of their playlist.
Nothing wrong with “Blue Moon” from 1961, but just 2 years later “Louie Louie” came out. If those two compared don’t show the rapid change and improvement in recording, I don’t know what does. By 1964, it was a completely different ballgame. I know young people who love Sinatra and the like. To be as old as many of them are, those tracks can sound pretty dang good.
Quick, name two Edison Lighthouse songs!
A more appropriate question would be, Name two hit songs sung by Tony Burrows, lead singer of Edison Lighthouse.Quick, name two Edison Lighthouse songs!
To add, as far as classic hits goes, Audacy is experimenting and pushing the boundaries of the format much more than their Cumulus or iHeart counterparts. I'm listening to iHeart's WWSW/Pittsburgh and they just played "Respect" and "Cecelia" and earlier "Down On The Corner" - songs that are 50-55 years old. No Audacy classic hits station would touch those, or half of the 70s songs being played. Just an example, but each company seems to have their own approach. It's also notable that WWSW has pushed very little in to the 90s. Same can go for KJR-FM/KJEB/whatever it is now in Seattle.
KLTH in Portland, OR is very heavy on the older end and, the last I saw last year, still did quite well in key demos.
Cumulus has been very slow to advance stations like WLS/Chicago and WJJK/Indianapolis out of the 70s/80s as well.
So it really depends on the operator and market when it comes to how the format is approached. I can't explain the market variances, since I don't know, but apparently there are different forces at play in LA, Phoenix, D.C., and Philadelphia to prompt Audacy to shift almost all of their classic hits stations more forward than there are for iHeart/Cumulus in Portland, Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, and Cleveland. I can't think of any Audacy classic hits station that could be classified as "older" leaning, really.
KLTH in Portland, OR is very heavy on the older end and, the last I saw last year, still did quite well in key demos.
Cumulus has been very slow to advance stations like WLS/Chicago and WJJK/Indianapolis out of the 70s/80s as well.
So it really depends on the operator and market when it comes to how the format is approached. I can't explain the market variances, since I don't know, but apparently there are different forces at play in LA, Phoenix, D.C., and Philadelphia to prompt Audacy to shift almost all of their classic hits stations more forward than there are for iHeart/Cumulus in Portland, Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, and Cleveland. I can't think of any Audacy classic hits station that could be classified as "older" leaning, really.
KKOV changed several years ago. I know I was able to listen online with an Internet speed that was almost as bad as dial-up, before I issued an ultimatum to the phone company in 2017. I had already heard people complain about the sound quality, but hey, I got my music back.
"My Baby Loves Lovin' " by White Plains is the first one that comes to mind.
Let's Go to San Francisco (The Flower Pot Men)
Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) (Edison Lighthouse)
United We Stand (Brotherhood of Man)
Gimme Dat Ding (The Pipkins)
Beach Baby (The First Class)
Links take you to the Wikipedia entries
"Older" songs that are usually not played that often on the radio may be finding a hold on stations in northern states. Lots of the younger people I know are fleeing the states that are considered the "rust belt" for better economic opportunities in southern or some southeastern and western states as well as warmer weather. That leaves a lot of us old geezers hanging around these "northern" states. Of course, there are outliers like Florida which some people can afford to retire to.
North, South, East, West: those older songs generally appeal to people over 60 or more. There is very little agency business coming for those demos, and not much local business, either.
I just don't see the format taking a much newer (as in 5 year old hits) approach anytime soon. It could lightly touch on some newer hits perhaps which fit, but stuff like Doja Cat is crazy.
I had no idea those groups were related!
It's an interesting point you make, and to be honest I don't dig into the iHeart classic hits stations as much as I do Audacy. You're correct about WLS, and I notice they just made a big jump in the 18-49 demo, which proves your point.
I’ve been watching the “just under 18” audience at numerous recent high school band events. Between the various band performances, there’s typically a mix of decades-spanning pop music playing as filler. The kids in the stands are up and dancing to the 80s tunes alongside the current and recurrent hits 😉. Also a few even older than that get them singing and moving.
Some are easily pegged as having second, third or fourth lives from movies, TV or the web (or the seemingly ubiquitous “Sweet Caroline” sing along). But some just seem like songs they know and like. Give them a few years to age into the demo, and it seems reasonable to surmise those will still test well. Maybe the mix changes, sure. But it seems doubtful the next cohort to reach adulthood is eschewing those songs.
Maybe it makes some difference these are already predisposed to a wider range of music, from marching bands, jazz bands and the like. Maybe. But our local school included a mix of 80s to the present songs on their last show. The one that consistently got the biggest applause during performances? Open Arms.
The trends may eventually follow history, but not at the same pace.
How much of the audience was made up of the parents of the students?
The thing I wonder about, especially after watching the NCAA Final Four, is who picks the music these bands play at games? The one song I hear quite often is Rock & Roll Part 2 by Gary Glitter. That song is 50 years old! But there are a lot more.
Certainly can’t speak to colleges. But at the high school level, the band director is composing a theme and looking for music that fits the tone or story in terms of audio texture. The last show here veered from Journey to The Wknd and in between.
In the stands as a pep band? Sweet Caroline. How many years they’ve been playing that is anyone’s guess, but parents who were in the band now have kids who are in it, and Caroline lives on.
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