80s Formats

[skywatchbob]

About 10 years or so ago we saw 80s music stations pop up. Here in Chicago was the 80s channel, and WTMX played an 80s music for an hour each night.
All that is now gone, but there are still some stations that include 80s music in their mix.
Are there still 80s stations out there, or is the format pretty much dead? There are no 80s focused stations in Chicago, but what about elsewhere?

 

[sfradio]

101.5 the point in Tampa,fl , 106.9 the point in Houston,tx and 92.3 the point in Savannah,ga are still 80's stations

 

[radiophiler]

There may be no stations in Chicago that advertise themselves as an 80s station, but WILV plays a good percentage of 80s pop, WDRV plays a good amount of 80s rock, and Jack-FM plays a lot of rock-pop from the 80s.

I think the 80s are the lost decade of radio in many markets. In Philly, our "we play anything" station, BEN-FM, has morphed into more of a Hot AC, de-emphasizing the 80s. If you have an HD radio, you can get B-101's all 80s HD-2. But the Classic Hits station, WOGL, concentrates primarily on the 70s, secondarily on the 60s, and only a bit of 80s music, less than WCBS-FM plays in NYC.

Wouldn't stations with music from the late 70s, 80s and early 90s garner good ratings demographically? People from their mid 30s to upper 40s would have fond memories of that music.

 

[ILOVERADIO2]

The 80's are alive and well in Delaware on WAMS www.wams.fm

 

[ajc_trw]

The 80's are alive and well in Delaware on WAMS www.wams.fm

Agreed!

And with the link the 80's are alive and well from Delaware.

BTW before they were The 80's Channel they were playing an oldies format from satellite. Now they're originating programming for the net. Nice change.

P.S.: They're heard locally on FM 98.3 Dover 105.1 Milford for those who like their radio old school. For older school they're on 1600 AM in Dover.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

www.947thebrew.com

 

[shadough]

Baltimore's Jack FM station pretty much desiginates every weekend as an "All 80s weekend". And they still have a good rotation of 80s tracks during the week.

 

[rageradio]

Houston's Point should be rebranded as "Point-less" It's a joke to the entire decade. That station is going on 10 years this October and don't know how it survived after 3.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I remember when the 80's officially began on January 1, 1981. I don't recall any sort of sudden change in the music or the culture. The 70's seemed to want to hang around, as decades are prone to, until around 1983. Even at that, it was a gradual transition. And, it seemed like the 80's hung around until at least '94.

 

[firepoint525]

Evidently, '80s radio does not play the movie songs from the '60s that became hits again in the '80s. (In some cases, these were bigger hits in the '80s than they had been in the '60s!) Songs like:

"Stand By Me," Ben E. King
"Twist and Shout," Beatles
"Do You Love Me?" Contours

I'm sure that there are others like these that I have forgotten to mention above, or that just weren't as big of a hit in the '80s as they had been in the '60s. I have noticed, however, that '80s formatted AC stations (or AC stations that play '80s music) tend to not only play the above-mentioned titles, but also stuff like "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

 

[ILOVERADIO2]

WAMS 105.1 & 98.1 (The 80's Channel) has Twist and Shout by the Beatles in rotation. www.wams.fm

 

[semoochie]

Didn't the 80s officially begin on January 1, 1980?

 

[Talk_Dude]

Didn't the 80s officially begin on January 1, 1980?

No.

When one counts to ten, isn't it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10?

Was there a year "zero"? (Hint - No, there wasn't.) The first year in the AD series of dates is 1. Granted, the years were numbered retroactively a few centuries later, but the numbering started with 1. So, the first decade was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The first century ended on the last day of the year 100, and the first century began with 101. All decades, centuries, and millenia begin with a year ending with a 1.

 

[firepoint525]

Didn't the 80s officially begin on January 1, 1980?

Yes, it did. The eighties began on January 1, nineteen eighty. That year was called nineteen eighty. It was NOT 1979+1! : I should know. I lived it.

 

[firepoint525]

Didn't the 80s officially begin on January 1, 1980?

No.
When one counts to ten, isn't it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10?
as there a year "zero"? (Hint - No, there wasn't.) The first year in the AD series of dates is 1. Granted, the years were numbered retroactively a few centuries later, but the numbering started with 1. So, the first decade was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,  and 10. The first century ended on the last day of the year 100, and the first century began with 101. All decades, centuries, and millenia begin with a year ending with a 1.

The absence of a "year zero" is irrelevant.  When you were born, you were zero years old.  You were not one year old as soon as you were born.  Consequently, my twenties began when I turned 20, my thirties began when I turned 30, my forties began when I turned 40, and my fifties will begin when I turn 50.  The years were numbered based on when someone thought Christ was born (although they missed it by about five years).  Since they were numbering the days of Christ, there should indeed have been a "year zero."  But they missed his actual birth year (to say nothing of the date) by five years.  Thus making this entire discussion irrelevant.

The (former) '80s station in my market played music from anywhere from 1975 to 1993, so they were in on what I am referring to here.  So, yeah, '80s stations will play music even from other decades.

 

[AM FM listener]

I too have wondered about when a decade officially begins. For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that the Christian calendar began with 1 AD, which came right after 1 BC. There was no Year 0 in between.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini

So, the first day of the first month of the first year of our Lord would have been 1/1/1. Every new decade would begin with 1/1/xxx1, as Talk_Dude says. That probably accounts for why there is no Month 0 nor Day 0 in our calendar either.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I too have wondered about when a decade officially begins. For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that the Christian calendar began with 1 AD, which came right after 1 BC. There was no Year 0 in between.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini

So, the first day of the first month of the first year of our Lord would have been 1/1/1. Every new decade would begin with 1/1/xxx1, as Talk_Dude says. That probably accounts for why there is no Month 0 nor Day 0 in our calendar either.

I notice there's controversy and discussion about whether decades start on the year ending in 1 or 0, but no one picked up on the real meat of my post, which was that the actual breaks in eras of popular music based on the sound of the music almost never lines up with either the 1 year or the 0 year. The music of the 50's really didn't get started until "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954, and 50's music pretty much kept on going unchanged until the Beatles came along to start the 60's in '64.

The '70's didn't really get going as anything different from the '60's until Saturday Night Fever inflicted disco on our ears. Punk Rock came along towards the end of the '70's, and started something of an era, while 70's metal segued into and through the 80's and into the early 90's, then disappeared in a puff of hair spray. Alternative and grunge marked the 90's, but didn't really break out until '92.

Anyone can dispute individual dates, but the basic premise can't be refuted. The beginning and ends of trends and eras in music don't coincide neatly with arbitrary changes in the tens column on calendar dates.

 

[firepoint525]

I notice there's controversy and discussion about whether decades start on the year ending in 1 or 0, but no one picked up on the real meat of my post, which was that the actual breaks in eras of popular music based on the sound of the music almost never lines up with either the 1 year or the 0 year.

Actually "someone" DID pick up on that:

The (former) '80s station in my market played music from anywhere from 1975 to 1993, so they were in on what I am referring to here. So, yeah, '80s stations will play music even from other decades.

The '70's didn't really get going as anything different from the '60's until Saturday Night Fever inflicted disco on our ears. Punk Rock came along towards the end of the '70's, and started something of an era, while 70's metal segued into and through the 80's and into the early 90's, then disappeared in a puff of hair spray. Alternative and grunge marked the 90's, but didn't really break out until '92.[/quote disco started much earlier than that. Saturday Night Fever simply cashed in on the disco craze that was already out there, and had been since 1974 or 1975.

Anyone can dispute individual dates, but the basic premise can't be refuted. The beginning and ends of trends and eras in music don't coincide neatly with arbitrary changes in the tens column on calendar dates.

For me, the '80s began when disco died (probably late 1979, looking back on it now) and new wave took over. And yeah, grunge (unfortunately) took over in 1991 or 1992.

Pop culture changes don't necessarily begin with a new decade, but a new decade will usually usher in some new changes of its own. It is not always readily apparent with the beginning of a new decade, but usually there will (soon) be some events that will mark that change.

 

[Talk_Dude]

For me, the '80s began when disco died (probably late 1979, looking back on it now) and new wave took over. And yeah, grunge (unfortunately) took over in 1991 or 1992.

Pop culture changes don't necessarily begin with a new decade, but a new decade will usually usher in some new changes of its own. It is not always readily apparent with the beginning of a new decade, but usually there will (soon) be some events that will mark that change.

Well, we must have traveled in different circles. I didn't know disco died in '79, because I paid as much attention to disco as I did to polka. They were both kinds of music I was only likely to hear at wedding receptions. I never noticed new wave "taking over". I was still listening to Asia, Foreigner, Queen, Kansas, and then added in Pat Benatar and Bon Jovi. I heard some of Blondie, and Patty Smith. They didn't impress me much.

Given that the different genres of modern music are so independent of each other, any attempt to define a boundary on a time line for when music changed is an exercise in futility.