A new format -- "Neo-Oldies"

[Talk_Dude]

OK, everyone is familiar with "oldies" stations that appeal to nostalgia freaks by attempting to replicate the entire gestalt of 1960's AM radio, down to the playlist, DJ styles, jingles, and all the rest of the package from yesteryear.

Now that people are getting older, I think it's time for a new format that does the same sort of nostalgic re-creation of the 80's that the oldies format does for the 60's. Use the same crappy jingles and imagine and over-the-top DJ's to play hair band songs from the 80's and 90's. It'll give the 30- and 40-something to use to torture their own kids in the car, they way they were tortured by their parents playing 50's, 60's, and 70's oldies when they were kids.

 

[Prais]

Interesting.

I'm an old fart (61), so I may be biased, but.......

I'm not sure the music of the 80's has the APPEAL of the "Happy Days" generation music. Just because it's the next generation down, would it stand up to the constant plays that say, "Brown Eyed Girl" gets on oldies stations, or the UNIVERAL appeal of Glenn Miller (from your great grandpa's generation?)

Also, much less use of radio for this generation, right?

These are the top 25 songs of the 80's;
25. Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go
- Soft Cell #1 4 12 26
24. Waiting For A Girl Like You - Foreigner #1 4 19 25
23. We Are The World - USA for Africa #1 5 8 12
22. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson #1 5 10 19
21. I Love Rock 'N Roll - Joan Jett
& The Blackhearts #1 5 11 14
20. Upside Down - Diana Ross #1 5 11 17
19. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler #1 5 11 18
18. Look Away - Chicago #1 5 12 16
17. Sara - Fleetwood Mac #1 5 12 21
16. Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band #1 5 14 22
15. Take My Breath Away - Berlin #1 6 9 15
14. Don't Know Much - Linda Ronstadt
featuring Aaron Neville #1 6 11 20
13. Time (Clock Of The Heart) - Culture Club #1 6 12 14
12. I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Hall & Oates #1 6 15 19
11. That's What Friends Are For - Dionne Warwick and Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight
& Stevie Wonder) #1 7 12 17
10. Human - Human League #1 7 14 17
9. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley #1 7 14 21
8. On My Own - Patti LaBelle
with Michael McDonald #1 8 11 16
7. What's Love Got To Do With It - Tina Turner #1 8 13 1
6. Every Breath You Take - Police #1 8 15 21
5. The Rose - Bette Midler #1 9 14 23
4. Maneater - Hall & Oates #1 9 18 20
3. Theme from Endless Love - Lionel Richie
& Diana Ross #1 10 13 18
2. Kiss On My List - Hall & Oates #1 11 15 19

1.. I Can't Tell You Why - Eagles #1 13 27 36

Discuss.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Interesting.

I'm an old fart (61), so I may be biased, but.......

I'm not sure the music of the 80's has the APPEAL of the "Happy Days" generation music. Just because it's the next generation down, would it stand up to the constant plays that say, "Brown Eyed Girl" gets on oldies stations, or the UNIVERAL appeal of Glenn Miller (from your great grandpa's generation?)

I'm not so much concerned about what songs to pick. Some geek with a computer database will punch in the test data and the computer will spit out a playlist. I'm more about replicating the whole rest of the package, with cheesy jingles, obnoxious DJ's, and all the other crap that made 80's CHR the mess it was. Personally, I never liked that stuff, but the majority of people did. As HL Mencknen once said about underestimating the American public's taste never making anyone go broke, I think the great unwashed would revel in the nostalgia.

I mean, even as we speak, the various Jack, Bob, Ralph, Fred, and Dilbert formats are playing the music. I'm talking about putting the rest of the retro package around the music.

 

[OldNumber7]

Interesting.

I'm an old fart (61), so I may be biased, but.......

I'm not sure the music of the 80's has the APPEAL of the "Happy Days" generation music. Just because it's the next generation down, would it stand up to the constant plays that say, "Brown Eyed Girl" gets on oldies stations, or the UNIVERAL appeal of Glenn Miller (from your great grandpa's generation?)

Also, much less use of radio for this generation, right?

These are the top 25 songs of the 80's;


Discuss.

The concept itself might make sense, but most of these songs aren't the right songs. Just as 60's formatted stations didn't play Dean Martin, a good 80s station wouldn't be playing Diana Ross or Lionel Richie. The concentration has to be on the songs that got a lot of traction on MTV and re-emergent CHR radio, especially starting in '83 and after. Duran Duran, Men at Work, Michael Jackson, Genesis/Phil Collins, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper -- the upbeat fun hits that sounded great on the radio at full blast. NOT the AC crossovers that sounded good in the office. The stuff the teens liked, not the stuff their older sister liked. Teens in the mid-80s are now around 40 (give or take) -- not a bad demo to win.

 

[Prais]

ok. I'd NEVER listen (so what!) .

Don't you think that you need SOME crossovers mixed in, ever so gently, to make it "a bit older" appeal for "hip Boomers" - a BIG group of people.

Much like what the Jff Rollins/Chick Watkins/Ed Brand format (current escaping me) does to make that format YOUNGER.

 

[imhomerjay]

It's possible the target demo isn't as in love with the presentation of the past as the previous generation was with the radio of its youth that it feels compelled to relive that era.

No doubt, there's a nice chunk of the audience that finds it fun to relive the songs, but does anyone really think taking a Jack/Mike/Tom/Dick/Harry format and slapping tons of jingles and whatnot will suddenly elevate them to greater success (without ticking off those whose tastes in presentation have changed)?

 

[Talk_Dude]

ok. I'd NEVER listen (so what!) .

Don't you think that you need SOME crossovers mixed in, ever so gently, to make it "a bit older" appeal for "hip Boomers" - a BIG group of people.

Much like what the Jff Rollins/Chick Watkins/Ed Brand format (current escaping me) does to make that format YOUNGER.

People don't sit through a bunch of songs they don't like to hear a few that they do. Crossovers won't bring in the people who don't really like the core songs, but they'll inspire the core listeners to change the station whenever some off-the-wall turkey of a song comes along.

It's possible the target demo isn't as in love with the presentation of the past as the previous generation was with the radio of its youth that it feels compelled to relive that era.

No doubt, there's a nice chunk of the audience that finds it fun to relive the songs, but does anyone really think taking a Jack/Mike/Tom/Dick/Harry format and slapping tons of jingles and whatnot will suddenly elevate them to greater success (without ticking off those whose tastes in presentation have changed)?

I don't think that it's possible to make any sort of blanket statement about the target demo regarding presentation. I think that attempting to figure out the one single thing that will appeal to everyone of a certain age is a recipe for failure.

If a market has a Jack/Mike/Tom/Dick/Harry format station in place already, some folks will like that lame presentation and some won't. So, any station that comes along with the same music but with a different presentation will attract the other listeners.

Sure, some people won't like it and some will. Duh! That's how the universe works. But attempting to be all things to all people doesn't work all that well. I suspect that a station that recreates the total radio experience of the 80's will attract listeners away from satellite and iPods. It will provide entertainment (and there's a lost word from most radio professionals' vocabularies!) over and above just the music.

Should a successful Jack/Mike/Tom/Dick/Harry format station switch to Neo-oldies? Hell no! If they're successful, keep on doing what's working. But, if you have a station that isn't working and you need to try something new, I think a neo-oldies approach might pull enough listeners away from the Jack/Mike/Tom/Dick/Harry format station and from XM/Sirius/iPod to be a profitable niche.

 

[Prais]

.

 

[imhomerjay]

No question you can't get all of any target demo. The question was whether there's a big enough subset who would still want that cheeky (cheesy?) presentation. Not a blanket statement, but an open question about whether nostalgia will pull in enough folks to make the investment worth it as you slide down the age continuum.

Pulling people back from satellite radio, perhaps. It's easy to sell free. But iPods? Not so sure. That genie is out of the bottle, and all the shouting jingles and people saying "here's another 30 year old tune by Poison" as if they're doing a parody of already-goofy game show announcers...eh, it would take some research to see if there's a real taste for that.

How are the "rewind" branded stations doing their presentation (or is there any commonality to them)? They tend to focus on some of the same demo, so it would be interesting to understand what approach they're taking and what the research tells them about how the audience wants to hear that retro music in today's world.

 

[klutch00]

I'd call a format like this "Retro".

 

[Talk_Dude]

No question you can't get all of any target demo. The question was whether there's a big enough subset who would still want that cheeky (cheesy?) presentation. Not a blanket statement, but an open question about whether nostalgia will pull in enough folks to make the investment worth it as you slide down the age continuum.

My guess is that it would work in some towns and not work in others. It would take someone local to figure out if it would work in his town or not.

I'd call a format like this "Retro".

I think "retro" is an accurate term, but then "retro" is an accurate description for anything pulled back from the past, including things so retro that they are "nowtro". Oldies, Classic Rock (or anything with the word "classic" in front of it), the Jack/Bob/Ralph stations, they're all a form of "retro". I dubbed the format "Neo-Oldies" to describe one very specific type of nostalgia.

 

[radiophiler]

Bonneville has stations branded "Rewind" in Chicago and Cincinnati that are playing music from the late 70s through the 80s. Also a little bit of early 90s, but not much.
I haven't listened to either of these stations, but they do have live jocks unlike Jack/Bob/etc. The music, from what I can see on yes.com, is similar to what OldNumber7 mentioned earlier in this string.
I read somewhere the Cincinnati station is doing well 25-54 -- top 5.
Oddly enough, Rewind is what Sirius/XM uses to describe its classic rock channel that plays tracks from the late 70s and 80s.
A few other FM stations have also adopted the Rewind branding.
Rewind kinda works as a reference to cassette tapes. It's the last generation before CDs took over.

 

[sdh483]

Oh please. Do we really need another fully packaged "remember when" station? The one thing that appealed to me about the adult hits format of Jack FM is that most play a wide variety of 80s music and then some without adding annoying DJs or jingles. Do you really want to hear all of those corny jokes again? I like Jack's mentality of shut up and play some music. I can't stand stations with breaks filled with "remember rubix cubes, Atari and MTV?"

 

[Talk_Dude]

Oh please. Do we really need another fully packaged "remember when" station? The one thing that appealed to me about the adult hits format of Jack FM is that most play a wide variety of 80s music and then some without adding annoying DJs or jingles. Do you really want to hear all of those corny jokes again? I like Jack's mentality of shut up and play some music. I can't stand stations with breaks filled with "remember rubix cubes, Atari and MTV?"

A "remember when" station is only really enjoyable to people who were happy during the time being remembered. Personally, I don't want to hear the corny jokes again, but then the Jack, Bob, Dave, Fred, and Oscar stations I've heard that "shut up and play some music" usually play crappy music, so I listen to my iPod when I want to hear music. I also am talking about something very different from the "remember rubix cubes, Atari and MTV?" schtick. I'm talking about a faithful recreation of the era, not a retro look back at it. You are describing a station that, in 2010, reminds you that it's not the 80's any more. I'm talking about a station that when you listen to it, makes it feel like you've traveled back to the 80's.

But the fact that you or I wouldn't personally enjoy a particular format doesn't mean it won't be able to attract a loyal audience. There are people who actually choose to listen to people like Britaney Spears or Justin Bieberlake (or whatever his name is). Some people even choose to listen to rap and hip-hop, which totally baffles me. But I'm not talking about a format to appeal to me, I'm talking about a format that, to the best of my knowledge, isn't available out there.

I've also noticed that whenever anyone is really intensely against memories of any prior era, there's a good chance it's because he wasn't happy during that era. I was in a really bad marriage for much of the 70's, which is one reason why I think that the 70's really sucked. I got divorced in the early 80's, and started a happy life of freedom. Guess what? I like remembering the 80's. To me, they were good times. I thought that radio sucked then, but for me, the rest of the decade was pretty good.

 

[kenrayc]

A station that can play the Psychedelic Firs, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Duran Duran, Dio, Metallica, The Cure, Ultravox, Journey, Men Without Hats, Bon Jovi, Robert Palmer, The Scorpions, The Clash, Roxy Music, Warrant, The Waterboys, Ratt, A Flock of Seagulls, The Dream Academy, The Cars, The Cure, U2, Motley Crue, Blondie, Men At Work, Dokken, Whitesnake, Depeche Mode, OMD, The Pet Shop Boys, G N' R, Ozzy, and Porno For Pyros and many more would work for me.
NOT THE STANDARD BURNED OUT CLASSIC ROCK FORMAT, I LIKE VARIETY.

 

[Prais]

YUK! My taste is MUCH different. Psychedelic Firs is certainl NOT Sinatra! To each is own.

 

[Talk_Dude]

A station that can play the Psychedelic Firs, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Duran Duran, Dio, Metallica, The Cure, Ultravox, Journey, Men Without Hats, Bon Jovi, Robert Palmer, The Scorpions, The Clash, Roxy Music, Warrant, The Waterboys, Ratt, A Flock of Seagulls, The Dream Academy, The Cars, The Cure, U2, Motley Crue, Blondie, Men At Work, Dokken, Whitesnake, Depeche Mode, OMD, The Pet Shop Boys, G N' R, Ozzy, and Porno For Pyros and many more would work for me.
NOT THE STANDARD BURNED OUT CLASSIC ROCK FORMAT, I LIKE VARIETY.

If you like variety, then you have a better chance of hearing what you like than anyone else does. If you want variety, all you have to do is keep hitting the station selector buttons. Program in six different stations playing six different formats, and just bounce among them all day. You'll have all the variety you can stand.

 

[kenrayc]

A station that can play the Psychedelic Firs, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Duran Duran, Dio, Metallica, The Cure, Ultravox, Journey, Men Without Hats, Bon Jovi, Robert Palmer, The Scorpions, The Clash, Roxy Music, Warrant, The Waterboys, Ratt, A Flock of Seagulls, The Dream Academy, The Cars, The Cure, U2, Motley Crue, Blondie, Men At Work, Dokken, Whitesnake, Depeche Mode, OMD, The Pet Shop Boys, G N' R, Ozzy, and Porno For Pyros and many more would work for me.
NOT THE STANDARD BURNED OUT CLASSIC ROCK FORMAT, I LIKE VARIETY.

If you like variety, then you have a better chance of hearing what you like than anyone else does. If you want variety, all you have to do is keep hitting the station selector buttons. Program in six different stations playing six different formats, and just bounce among them all day. You'll have all the variety you can stand.

I guess variety was the wrong word, I meant a mix of Hard Rock, Heavy (Hair) Metal, New Wave (Alternative), and main stream uptempo rock of the late 70 to the early 90s, without the Kenny and Dolly, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, and Whitney Houston.

 

[Talk_Dude]

A station that can play the Psychedelic Firs, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Duran Duran, Dio, Metallica, The Cure, Ultravox, Journey, Men Without Hats, Bon Jovi, Robert Palmer, The Scorpions, The Clash, Roxy Music, Warrant, The Waterboys, Ratt, A Flock of Seagulls, The Dream Academy, The Cars, The Cure, U2, Motley Crue, Blondie, Men At Work, Dokken, Whitesnake, Depeche Mode, OMD, The Pet Shop Boys, G N' R, Ozzy, and Porno For Pyros and many more would work for me.
NOT THE STANDARD BURNED OUT CLASSIC ROCK FORMAT, I LIKE VARIETY.

If you like variety, then you have a better chance of hearing what you like than anyone else does. If you want variety, all you have to do is keep hitting the station selector buttons. Program in six different stations playing six different formats, and just bounce among them all day. You'll have all the variety you can stand.

I guess variety was the wrong word, I meant a mix of Hard Rock, Heavy (Hair) Metal, New Wave (Alternative), and main stream uptempo rock of the late 70 to the early 90s, without the Kenny and Dolly, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, and Whitney Houston.

What I said still holds true. Pick a few stations, and if anyone of them plays soft rock (aka chick rock), hit a button for a different station. I'll bounce between a classic hits, a true oldies, a "Dave", and one or two others whose nickname I can't recall. I don't like what most of them play, but whenever any of them plays a stinker, I switch stations. If it gets too out of hand, I pop in a CD or connect my MP3 player to AUX.

Of course, that wouldn't do much for any of their TSL's if I was being measured.

 

[Tom Wells]

And you'd still never hear any Ramones or Cramps unless lucky enough to in an area with a colege station.
(Maybe not even then) :-[