Stable and Successful

[Barry]

WAXQ, Classic rock Q104.3 jumped to #2 in the overall ratings, in the most recent PPM’s. They are #6 or better in the major age demos, and have been trending upwards. This in an area that is generally not perceived on this board to be a bastion of rock fans.
Several things about the station stand out. They’ve been classic rock since the mid 1990’s. Many if not most of the on air personalities have been there for a long time.
They have a narrow playlist of songs, that seemingly have been played many thousands of times. Yet the dj’s manage to keep coming up with interesting comments about the songs or the bands. They come across as real fans, not just people who happened to have landed in the format. Carol Miller in particular seems to have lived the lifestyle.
Perhaps this sort of personal connection with the music and the audience is part of what radio still does best.

 

[TheBigA]

They come across as real fans, not just people who happened to have landed in the format. Carol Miller in particular seems to have lived the lifestyle. Perhaps this sort of personal connection with the music and the audience is part of what radio still does best.

It can be, and it helps to have heritage talent who are associated with the music. Once you lose that, all bets are off. For example, John DeBella just announced that he's retiring from WMGK in Philadelphia. John is in a category with Carol. He will be tough to replace. But if you take classic rock music, combine it with talent that is directly associated with that music, and you have an unbeatable combination. It doesn't always happen.

 

[robertbuchmann]

Barry...I think you hit the nail on the head. Talent who have lived the music, but even more importantly, IN the Tri-State Metropolitan area, sharing it throughout the decades on local rock stations WPLJ, WNEW-FM, K-Rock and WBAB. Well said! - Bob Buchmann, SiriusXM Director of Music Programming and former WAXQ Program Director

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Music of the Standards genre lasted over 30 years as an actual, viaable and profitable radio format. Its late 50's youthful replacement (pop/rock and roll) endured about half that long before developing into Solid Gold due to reasons of sonic and social essence.
The tide of Progressive turned decidedly into the mass-appeal AoR by late 1972 and lit up the ratings for about six-seven years before being derailed by post-Nam Disco and having no choice but to change into a type of acronym for AoR that I don't think would pass moderator protocol here. (I have to relate Robert Plant's recent disgust at what his group's music devolved into. The example he picked was Judas Priest.)
Today, AoR and its natural, predictabe spawn 'Classic Rock' still hold an appeal for an audience that is otherwise being denied two minor matters by today's fractured and assembly-line radio pop music : melody and thought. Hance, Classic Rock might be radio's last frontier -- and even IT is drifting away from the very pop music versatility to've put it on the map.
But Bob is right. Those who lived and worked through the changes can be the only ones who know the stuff and what made it so.

 

[TheBigA]

But Bob is right. Those who lived and worked through the changes can be the only ones who know the stuff and what made it so.

The problem is those people are starting to disappear. John DeBella is retiring at age 72. Carol Miller is 73.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ TheBigA

Yup. And along much the same ironic cycle, Howard Stern, whose morning show in most markets destroyed the prevailing 'newer' version of AoR in the early 80's, will be 70 in January.

 

[OldiesMaven]

SXM Classic Rewind plays in the gym I belong to. It appears to be the most "mass appeal" programming to the customers.
30 years ago, it was more likely to be a oldies-laden AC; now Journey, Queen, Foreigner and The Rolling Stones serve as "the standards."