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58 years of Beautiful Music comes to an end

DavidEduardo said:
My playlist is an amalgamation of eras and genres. It ranges from current stuff like TINI and Morat to some 80's ranging from Pet Shop Boys and Men At Work to Alfredo Gutierrez and Los Corraleros de Majagual to Willy Colón and Raffi Levit to Los Bukis and Temerarios to Garth Brooks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and FGL. There's some Lady Gaga and, gasp, even Brown Eyed Girl and Donna (one of my few 50's songs) and even several of the movements from Holst's "The Planets".

Because of having lived in so many places, from Birmingham, AL to Buenos Aires, AR, I have an eclectic taste that is sort of a sampling of my favorites from all my experiences.

I am too far from Mexicali to get any of the FMs, and I am not particularly enamored of current regional Mexican. I'm more of a Pedro Infante partisan than a fan of current stuff. I find YouTube to be adequate for the songs that I do not have on now-ancient MP3 playlists.

Vicente came on the scene in the in the later 60's, really, and was big all the way into the 2000's. My favorite, "La Ley del Monte", came out in 1976. But Vicente is a ranchera (part of Regional Mexican that includes grupera, ranchera, norteña, banda and the like) artist.

Standards from México would be the ones like Los Panchos, Marco Antonio Muñíz and Agustín Lara... mostly boleros.

The pop / Top 40 artists in Mexico in the 60's were like Los Hooligans, Rocking Devils, Teen Tops, Enrique Guzmán, Alberto Vázquez,, César Costa, Angélica María, Los Apson, and lots more.

Most of those were very late 60's, and were definitely pop... sort of like Bobby Vinton and Paul Anka and Niel Sedaka in US music. Sandro, Leonardo Favio, Palito Ortega, Los TNT and the like were 60's era beginning artists from the "Nueva Ola" or "New Wave". They were core artists to my Top 40 station in Ecuador and I contracted most of them for shows there.
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Excellent list, David. Thank you ! I appreciate your taking the time to reply. :) -- D.
 
A little off-topic, but this is something I don't understand? It has to do with obsolete genres like Beautiful Music/ Easy Listening that are no longer available due to lack of material and listener interest ( except on Comcast Music Choice channels). Standards are in this category. In the U.S., we think of standards as being the domain of artists of the past -- Sinatra, Andy Williams, Peggy Lee, etc. -- people who are mostly deceased.
Yet in Mexico, regional Mexican standards and Latin American standards are still popular, the music is selling, and it is written and performed by young people. Here's an example of (what sounds to me like a song of the standards genre), done by Grupo Firme, a young, well-known band based in Tijuana.


Here's another example of Latino standards. This is a cumbia (traditional dance music) group, La Santa Cecilia, based in Los Angeles. They performed at Dodger Stadium before a baseball game, in honor of Latino Heritage Night. This sounds to me like a traditional standards song that is kind of timeless and could be enjoyed by all generations. They were nominated for a Grammy a few years ago, so they are popular and well-known.


On Spanish language stations, this music can be referred to as "Regional Mexican", but it sounds very much like traditional standards that could have been recorded anytime from the 1950's to present day. In my opinion, the U.S. doesn't have many current artists that still sing standards ( Lady Gaga/ Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, or Diana Krall excepted), but right next door in Mexico, the standards sound - to my ear- is still selling songs and attracting listeners. Just my opinion. -- Daryl
 
cc333 said:
What about setting some sort of station using this format as a secondary HD channel to some moderately successful FM station playing a current format? Then many of the operating costs would be covered, and all that would be needed is to somehow get a large enough library to make it interesting (there's copious amounts of older material from the mid 70s and prior, so this shoudn't be impossible).

Is even that practical? I don't know.
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This is exactly what Saul Levine has been doing in Los Angeles for several years. His "Unforgettables" standards format runs on KKGO HD-3.
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
On Spanish language stations, this music can be referred to as "Regional Mexican", but it sounds very much like traditional standards that could have been recorded anytime from the 1950's to present day. In my opinion, the U.S. doesn't have many current artists that still sing standards ( Lady Gaga/ Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, or Diana Krall excepted), but right next door in Mexico, the standards sound - to my ear- is still selling songs and attracting listeners. Just my opinion. -- Daryl
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You are mixing genres.

Cumbia, an import from Colombia, is traditional music that dates back to origins in folk music from colonial times. It grew into contemporary styles, and became the big thing for clubs and fairs from Argentina to Mexico over the years.

Does that history sound a bit like the story of country in the US? It should, because both have origins with the rural working class of their parts of the world.

Just as country from the 50's does not sound like current releases, the flavor, feeling and much of the lyrical base is there. Same with the songs you present, which are modern versions, adapted to current tastes, of a traditional music form.

Cumbia is not Mexican, but has sort of been adopted by some stations that play regional Mexican as a flavor element because it is well liked among the listeners of banda and norteña... in fact, there is a sub-genre called "cumbia norteña" which is a derivative of the original Colombian styles but uniquely Mexican.

Similarly, norteña music dates back to the songs of the Mexican revolution over 100 years ago, but the styles have keep up with the times and are just as current to today's audience as they were 50 or 60 years ago or more. And, further, the most prevalent Regional Mexican style, banda, goes back to its origins in the German administered mines of Sinaloa state over 100 years ago... thus the tuba. There were well-selling banda orchestras in the 50's and 60's, but they sound very different today... even though one of the bandas from that era continues to record, but in today's style.

And, just like the biggest country artists, those regional Mexican stars can have careers that last many decades. The artists are folk heroes and they don't get any less popular as they age.
 
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Bottom line, radio’s demise has been predicted for decades. Yet, it survives. All formats are still in play, but obviously 60-plus will age out. I am in that group but can still enjoy much younger targeted music. Older people can still enjoy contemporary music, especially if they grew up in the rock era.
 
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With the exception of Classic Rock and Classic Hits, both of which have found songs 40-50 years old younger audiences respond to, 30 years is pretty much as far back as you can go and have a commercially viable format. Any format (apart from Classic Rock and Classic Hits) that would rely on music older than that is a non-starter in terms of demographics and salability.
 
Kelly A said:
But those ads are typically on TV, where seniors are. Not radio.
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Our local all news, whose audience skews older, has regular ads for the local Blue Cross Medicare plans, especially around open enrollment. And many ads for home contractors, window replacement companies, local car dealers, investment products, home alarm systems, etc. So they are able to sell a volume of ads knowing the much or most of audience is older.
 
michael hagerty said:
With the exception of Classic Rock and Classic Hits, both of which have found songs 40-50 years old younger audiences respond to, 30 years is pretty much as far back as you can go and have a commercially viable format. Any format (apart from Classic Rock and Classic Hits) that would rely on music older than that is a non-starter in terms of demographics and salability.
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So the audiences for "Name That Tune", "Beat Shazam" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics" are outliers?

Although they seem to like everything.
 
seatownmedia said:
Ok, but some can appreciate new music and worship classic tunes at the same time. I am in my 60’s but love all the classics too, while opening my mind to new music. And frankly a lot of it is pretty damn good!
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I'm opening my mind to classics from the 60s and 70s. That's as far as I go. Having nothing better than oldies in the car helps.

Other than country and new recordings of old songs, there's not much after 1980 that appeals to me.
 
I appreciate your opinion, but I enjoyed many 80’s hits. It wasn’t bad!

Here are some 80’s gems:

“This Time” Bryan Adams
“Love In An Elevator” Aerosmith
“Take on me” A-Ha
“Obsession” Animotion
“Goody two shoes” Adam Ant
“Heat of the Moment” Asia

And those are just the A’s. Too lazy to go through entire alphabet.
 
@vchimpanzee I agree, mostly.

I hate modern country (save for a few long time artists, such as Willie Nelson), and my main interests lie in the 70s and before, but I have been warming up to the 80s lately.

In particular, The Bangles, REO Speedwagon, Huey Lewis & The News, and a few others are good. Perhaps a bit bubblegum, but I don't care; I kinda like bubblegum.

But I'm firmly in the 18-45 demo, and yet I like Beautiful Music (aka Easy Listening, aka Muzak, aka elevator music), so I guess that makes me a little weird.

c
 
Daryl Lynn L.A. said:
A little off-topic, but this is something I don't understand? It has to do with obsolete genres like Beautiful Music/ Easy Listening that are no longer available due to lack of material and listener interest ( except on Comcast Music Choice channels). Standards are in this category. In the U.S., we think of standards as being the domain of artists of the past -- Sinatra, Andy Williams, Peggy Lee, etc. -- people who are mostly deceased.
Yet in Mexico, regional Mexican standards and Latin American standards are still popular, the music is selling, and it is written and performed by young people. Here's an example of (what sounds to me like a song of the standards genre), done by Grupo Firme, a young, well-known band based in Tijuana.


Here's another example of Latino standards. This is a cumbia (traditional dance music) group, La Santa Cecilia, based in Los Angeles. They performed at Dodger Stadium before a baseball game, in honor of Latino Heritage Night. This sounds to me like a traditional standards song that is kind of timeless and could be enjoyed by all generations. They were nominated for a Grammy a few years ago, so they are popular and well-known.


On Spanish language stations, this music can be referred to as "Regional Mexican", but it sounds very much like traditional standards that could have been recorded anytime from the 1950's to present day. In my opinion, the U.S. doesn't have many current artists that still sing standards ( Lady Gaga/ Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, or Diana Krall excepted), but right next door in Mexico, the standards sound - to my ear- is still selling songs and attracting listeners. Just my opinion. -- Daryl
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Reminds me of stations like St. Louis' Red 104.1 or New Orleans' Martini 106.1 that tried to make the standards format exciting to younger listeners by mixing "new standards" artists like Krall, Buble, Norah Jones, Rod Stewart, Harry Connick Jr., etc., whose albums were selling in huge quantities, with the Rat Pack, and simultaneously jettisoning the "unhip" Anne Murray/Dionne Warwick/Bread et al. MOR oldies component of the format. It didn't work, though vestiges of that approach remain in places like Music of Your Life or Palm Springs' 107.3 Mod FM.
By the way, I'm another one of those "outliers" - I'm 42. It's been my experience that a lot of the "outliers" may have acquired their appreciation for standards through music education or through participating in activities such as school musicals. That's been the case for me certainly. In my case, it was also listening to beautiful music stations as a kid to relax at night, and becoming quite fond of a lot of the music. I have never, though, entertained the notion that would be enough listeners like me for that music to make a comeback on commercial radio. I just enjoy it where I can find it and be thankful for what I have.
 
DavidEduardo said:
I actually owned and programmed a Beautiful Music program service in the 70's 80's that was on the air in several markets of about 10 million and many more in the million-plus range. By 1986 or so, the format was dying and by 1980 1990 it was dead.

Years corrected... brain spasm!

Most such stations got their programmed music on tape from program services. Nearly none did it themselves. This was because most of us had to record custom tracks of current hit songs in instrumental versions to remain viable, and that was expensive.

But by the late 80's, most listeners were over 55 years old and were not attractive to advertisers. And there was a general trend away from instrumental music in all genres, too.

The format has been truly dead for three decades... at least.
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Gosh David, I'm going to have to let the folks at KAHM, FM 102.1 in Prescott, AZ know that the format they still play
is "dead, " as you call it. Somehow, they manage to make enough money to remain viable and profitable to this day.
They serve a niche that would otherwise be unserved or underserved and their LOYAL listeners make sure that their
ADVERTISERS KNOW THEIR MONEY IS VERY WELL SPENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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