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80s 90s Now - Great Concept

D

dawg4life

I'm not trying to slam 97.1 or their playlist, I just want to throw out an idea.

Jammin' Hits from the 80s 90s Now

I could go through my library and come up with a killer playlist but what do you guys think about the concept?

I for one (M 33) could handle listening to a station playing a great mix of music that jams.
 
These are just a few artists to throw out there

80's - Prince, The Time, LL Cool J , Run DMC, Cameo, Salt n Pepa, etc.

90's - Snoop Dog, Dr Dre, 2pac, Jay Z, Bobby Brown, Bel Biv Devoe, Boyz 2 Men, House of Pain, Cypress Hill, Digital Underground, Montel Jordan, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, Notorious BIG, Puff Daddy, etc.

Now - 50 Cent, Eminem, through todays hits... You get the picture.

This is just a list I compiled in my head real quick. Feel free to add on to this list.
 
I wouldn't exactly know how to define the demographic but I'm a white male, 33 years old, $35,000 - $45,000 income and not that this matters but a die hard Cleveland Browns fan (dawg4life)
 
Sounds like a rhythmic CHR without all the 'slow jams'. Similar to the Movin' format, but shifted up a decade. I'd listen, and I'm in a similar demographic.
 
xiradiodotcom said:
Sounds like a rhythmic CHR without all the 'slow jams'. Similar to the Movin' format, but shifted up a decade. I'd listen, and I'm in a similar demographic.
Click to expand...

You're pretty much dead on. There's also 3 decades of one hit wonders. You throw all that into a mix and watch your ratings skyrocket. I grew up in Columbus and all of these artists have been played on the radio in this city at one point in time or another.
 
Not quite Jammin Hits, but if you like some high energy dance music, try "All Mixed Up" Saturday nights on WCBE. My guess is that a lot of people don't even know about it, but it has been around for quite a while and they really do a very professional sounding job with it.
 
So then...with the exception of Chicken Dance haters...it seems this is a favorable concept.

Before becoming that thing that it is now, WXMG was Jammin' Oldies.

Did the Radio One powers bail too early on the format?
 
So, unlike 97.1, the 80's and especially 90's would actually be more the focus instead of just spice? They seem to be 70% current/recurrent despite the positioner.
 
Chuck Douglas said:
So then...with the exception of Chicken Dance haters...it seems this is a favorable concept.

Before becoming that thing that it is now, WXMG was Jammin' Oldies.

Did the Radio One powers bail too early on the format?
Click to expand...

I preferred the Jammin Oldies, even if it was getting a bit toasty.  That really doen't sound too much like what Dawg is suggesting here anyway, e.g. it was more 70's oriented, without hip-hop.  Until Radio One took over pureplay Jammin Hits WMOJ Cincy and moved it more toward the Urban AC that they had already switched to with Columbus' Majic, WMOJ was continuing to perform quite well. So maybe the same would have been true here.  But it's hard to argue with the sucess they've had with flip to Urban AC, especially here.
 
Another banal radio format. Good thing I have XM radio. Bad thing I have to pay for radio now since there is only a few radio stations C-BUS. List

FM
WCRS LPFM
WCBE
WOSU
CD 101
WOBN 101.5 LPFM
AM
WVKO AM
WOSU AM
 
Chuck Douglas said:
So then...with the exception of Chicken Dance haters...it seems this is a favorable concept.

Before becoming that thing that it is now, WXMG was Jammin' Oldies.

Did the Radio One powers bail too early on the format?
Click to expand...

Different monster. That was Jammin' Oldies this would be Jammin' Hits
 
Nu_Roo_2 said:
So, unlike 97.1, the 80's and especially 90's would actually be more the focus instead of just spice? They seem to be 70% current/recurrent despite the positioner.
Click to expand...

I believe so Nu Roo. For me the 80's would be more of the spice with the focus on 90's through today. Of course it can be tweaked however the market reacts.
 
OK, but define your audience first.

I assume you're talking an Urban audience here...not a mainstream.

Most of the music you're talking about here from the 80's and early 90's come from a period that people like noted CHR programmer Guy Zapoleon would call "extremes" for CHR. It was the beginning of a down cycle for CHR that really flattened out around 91-92 and didn't really recover until 94-95 when groups like The Backstreet Boys (yikes!) brought CHR back around. The vast majority of music big on the charts during a down cycle almost never tests with a mainstream audience later down the road.

Songs by groups like Bel Biv DeVoe and House of Pain and the like, are songs you can play on a "feature" program on a Friday or Saturday night, but generally, don't test well enough to play on a daily basis.

Remember...I did a format that was supposed to be late 70's/80's/early 90's. We couldn't get the dance music from the late 80's/early 90's to test at all. And, a lot of programmers would tell you...90's music, in general, tests like crap. In most cases, there's fewer than about 100 titles that test period.

Now that could change...maybe...by a few titles over time. But, "Jammin Hits" sounds a lot to me like the original mix of "Movin" (with novelty songs added to it)...which has pretty much proven to be a disaster. Perhaps you could niche it to an Urban audience, but I don't think it would work mainstream. It sounds very "iffy" to me right now. You would want to test the particular songs with a cluster analysis to see if the music is viable. Don't know what a cluster analysis is? A little advice: learn it and do it before you try to program a station.

And, to whoever the poster was: I got a big laugh out of your "wedding crasher" analogy...but it is valid. You can play those songs at a wedding reception, or at the right bar before a group of drunks and they'll party big time. But, there's a big difference between the audience at a bar or wedding reception and a radio audience.

Check out Zapoleon's website sometime. He chronicles the "doldrums" and "extremes" eras in music...the cycles have happened from 1955 to today. And there is a very definite and inarguable tie-in between the "extreme" or "doldrums" periods and what songs have stood the test of time in various formats.

And by the way, CHR has been in a "down cycle" for a number of years...so don't automatically assume that Jay-Z and like will necessarily have staying power, either. I could be wrong, but so far, the cycles haven't lied.
 
Thank you for your thought out explanation. I do have two questions for you.

1. Would the format work as an Urban with a splash of 90's and 80's mixed in?

2. Who are these people who get tested and how are they picked?

I'm intrigued.
 
I don't know about Jammin' Oldies or Jammin' Hits, but "Yesterday's Top Secrets" will include much music from the jammin' Jam, a band whose song "Start" many of you heard (and are still hearing) during Cadillac commercials on television. Radio may be leery of going with a music that works with the public, but national advertisers aren't.
 
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