As the Earth Turns.

[oldies76]

KRTH is moving in the right direction---aiming a skosh higher than the center of the target, and winning.

Well, to their "current target", they very well might be. Personally, I believe they've purged too many 70's away and stuck with the 80's and some 90's. Heck, "This Love" by Maroon 5 (2004) aired this morning. My point being, is that many long-time loyal listeners have been left out by their fast move to introduce newer music and to get rid of the older stuff too quickly. Yeah, they're winning, but imagine if you keep both targets at the same time. In other words, keeping lots of 70's, at the same time introducing the newer stuff gradually. I've resigned myself on keeping the 1960's music on KRTH, but it seems that the 70's have disappeared at a much, much faster rate in recent years, than the 60's ever did over several decades. And I believe that's accurate.

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind the thing that's changed recently is their ownership. Clearly Entercom has different priorities than CBS. This is the same company that launched a soft rock 70s station in Seattle. So they aren't afraid of appealing to the older side of the sales demo. Their CEO has done a few interviews talking about refocusing some of the former CBS stations.

 

[davideduardo]

David:

I know MOR wasn't your thing (either as a listener or a programmer), so I'd like to chime in with a gentle correction:

MOR stations of the 1950s, 60s and 70s (the WNEWs, KMPCs, KFIs, KGILs and KSFOs of the world) played very little non-current music...usually one, maybe two songs per hour. Twenty years of collecting airchecks has borne that out. Of course, when you're only playing six records an hour, two is a third of your content. But 66 percent current and 33 percent gold is a fairly low gold balance by today's standards. There was remarkably little living in the past on these stations, which were aimed at adults in their 30s and 40s at that time.

The schizm in that format came in the early 70s as Sinatra retired (briefly), many of the mainstays of that generation lost their recording contracts due to poor sales and the ones that survived (Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis) largely abandoned recording original music and filled albums with cover songs of Top 40 hits that stations could just as easily play the original of. Why not just play the Bee Gees "How Do You Mend A Broken Heart" instead of Andy's cover? Increasingly, the stations simply played the hits and the oldies of the rock and roll era (KMPC played "Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper in 1973), and became first-generation Adult Contemporary (as opposed to the 80s "Continuous Soft Hits" AC).

AC played all but the hardest of the Top 40 (another example from 1973---KMPC played Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead"), and as the 70s wore on, alienated the upper part of the demo that had been with the stations since the MOR days. The first beneficiaries were the FM beautiful music stations, and then Al Ham cleaned up much of the remainder with "Music of Your Life". In a way, that was a foreshadowing of what we've seen since with oldies, classic hits and classic rock---an audience that spent most of its life listening to current music aging to 50 or so and embracing an all-gold format.

Michael,

I am looking at the old-line MOR stations and not the ones that would eventually be called "AC" which, when they began appearing were often called Chicken Rock because of exactly what you stated regarding currents without the hard stuff. I'm looking at the point up to the earliest 70's, while what you describe matured from that point on.

An example I lived in the early 70's was the WAPI vs. WERC adult battle in Birmingham. WERC was current, with lots of recent gold and hit rotations that were close to those of the Top 40 competitor. WAPI, more traditionally, had the crooners, occasional big band songs or more recent "modernized" remakes, and a more limited group of currents, none of which overlapped WSGN, the Top 40 station.

WAPI had "Hello, neighbor" local announcers who talked a lot and (at least to me) said nothing. But they were warm and friendly and the did the transitions to news and weather and other features well. WERC was the flagship station for the Crimson Tide (Roll, y'all!), a morning guy who also did the Alabama play by play and a big newsroom. But, prior to becoming WERC it had been WBRC, an old-line MOR Taft station (WKRC, WGR, WTVN, etc.) which played music perhaps even older than WAPI. WERC won. Almost instantly.

Taft, like Westinghouse and several other owners of traditional MOR stations, sort of wobbled around trying to be definitely adult but not old fuddy-duddy. I remember WKYC (or whatever the calls were in 1969) editing the "other half" of "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In". I was friends with their sales manager then, and he gave a distinct demographic / advertiser spin to that incidents and mentioned that they wanted to be very careful so as not to be compared to NormBob's wild WIXY. That sensitivity was, in part, due to a failure to launch Top 40 period about a decade before when they were trying to go up against WERE and WHK.

The Birmingham radio war was repeated all over the country in some form. WJW and WGAR are two pretty good larger market examples, with WGAR going towards a gold based AC and WJW staying in the tradition of Big Wilson in mornings, complete with his piano in the studio and bits and pieces of Stardust and other standards. As I was programming that format, I watched what was happening elsewhere and I'd say that the death of most traditional MOR presentations ended in the early 70's and truly in a roughly 5 year window.

Sure, there were MOR-ish stations like WGN and WIND battling it out, but they were gradually changing the music while they held on to the Wally Phillips and Howard Miller image of "Adult radio with no kid's stuff". (Interestingly, when I did diary reviews for WIND in the late 90's, we'd see "Howard Miller WIND" written in. I believe Howard departed to WGN in about 1968.)

I think it's important to note that there was a transition by at least one station in every market to a more contemporary music list by a station that had been the home of Doris Day and the Rat Pack. In many cases I looked at back then, the transition was often delayed because management and sales were worried about the "loyal listeners" and the reaction of clients who, themselves, listened.

 

[michael hagerty]

Michael,

I am looking at the old-line MOR stations and not the ones that would eventually be called "AC" which, when they began appearing were often called Chicken Rock because of exactly what you stated regarding currents without the hard stuff. I'm looking at the point up to the earliest 70's, while what you describe matured from that point on.

An example I lived in the early 70's was the WAPI vs. WERC adult battle in Birmingham. WERC was current, with lots of recent gold and hit rotations that were close to those of the Top 40 competitor. WAPI, more traditionally, had the crooners, occasional big band songs or more recent "modernized" remakes, and a more limited group of currents, none of which overlapped WSGN, the Top 40 station.

WAPI had "Hello, neighbor" local announcers who talked a lot and (at least to me) said nothing. But they were warm and friendly and the did the transitions to news and weather and other features well. WERC was the flagship station for the Crimson Tide (Roll, y'all!), a morning guy who also did the Alabama play by play and a big newsroom. But, prior to becoming WERC it had been WBRC, an old-line MOR Taft station (WKRC, WGR, WTVN, etc.) which played music perhaps even older than WAPI. WERC won. Almost instantly.

Taft, like Westinghouse and several other owners of traditional MOR stations, sort of wobbled around trying to be definitely adult but not old fuddy-duddy. I remember WKYC (or whatever the calls were in 1969) editing the "other half" of "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In". I was friends with their sales manager then, and he gave a distinct demographic / advertiser spin to that incidents and mentioned that they wanted to be very careful so as not to be compared to NormBob's wild WIXY. That sensitivity was, in part, due to a failure to launch Top 40 period about a decade before when they were trying to go up against WERE and WHK.

The Birmingham radio war was repeated all over the country in some form. WJW and WGAR are two pretty good larger market examples, with WGAR going towards a gold based AC and WJW staying in the tradition of Big Wilson in mornings, complete with his piano in the studio and bits and pieces of Stardust and other standards. As I was programming that format, I watched what was happening elsewhere and I'd say that the death of most traditional MOR presentations ended in the early 70's and truly in a roughly 5 year window.

Sure, there were MOR-ish stations like WGN and WIND battling it out, but they were gradually changing the music while they held on to the Wally Phillips and Howard Miller image of "Adult radio with no kid's stuff". (Interestingly, when I did diary reviews for WIND in the late 90's, we'd see "Howard Miller WIND" written in. I believe Howard departed to WGN in about 1968.)

I think it's important to note that there was a transition by at least one station in every market to a more contemporary music list by a station that had been the home of Doris Day and the Rat Pack. In many cases I looked at back then, the transition was often delayed because management and sales were worried about the "loyal listeners" and the reaction of clients who, themselves, listened.

David:

In an effort to explain how the dinosaurs went away, I think I buried my own point.

I'm sure MOR in a place like Birmingham was a bit different from my experience, which is West Coast. I'll stick to Los Angeles, since that's the board we're on.

The MOR leader was KMPC. But if you go back to 1953 (the earliest aircheck I've been able to find of KMPC under Gene Autry's ownership), the oldest record Dick Whittinghill plays in a half-hour is his sign-off theme "Walkin'" by Nat King Cole (not to be confused with "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"). And that was all of two years old. The pattern continues all through KMPC's MOR years (they became AC in 1973)...two non-current records per hour, and none terribly old---ten years, tops.

Now, the current material wasn't necessarily stuff from the Hot 100, though some of it was (Johnny Grant plays Frankie Avalon's "Bobby Sox to Stockings" as a current on a 1959 aircheck)..often it was tracks off a current album by an "adult" artist. But there was never a big nostalgia theme.

Some of that may have been driven by the fact that they were in Hollywood (though KSFO and KNBR, San Francisco had pretty much the same current-to-gold balance and didn't go back very far) and the record companies and artists themselves were pushing their current product.

KFI was stodgier than KMPC...a chunk of that driven by the fact that they were the NBC affiliate for many years and chose (until about '62) to carry most of the network's daily offerings. Even beyond that, KFI had Chuck Cecil, whose act was all about nostalgia. His afternoon show was heavy on Swing-era stuff, and when KFI eventually dumped the network offerings and established a music policy (much like KMPC's---possibly a bit softer, but again, current-driven), Cecil had his own format and called the show "The Swingin' Years", which, in different time periods as KFI tried not to get crushed by KMPC, aired until 1973 on KFI (Cecil was told to play the AC playlist by then, and didn't last long---but got 40 more years out of "The Swingin' Years" in syndication).

 

[michael hagerty]

Well, to their "current target", they very well might be. Personally, I believe they've purged too many 70's away and stuck with the 80's and some 90's. Heck, "This Love" by Maroon 5 (2004) aired this morning. My point being, is that many long-time loyal listeners have been left out by their fast move to introduce newer music and to get rid of the older stuff too quickly. Yeah, they're winning, but imagine if you keep both targets at the same time. In other words, keeping lots of 70's, at the same time introducing the newer stuff gradually. I've resigned myself on keeping the 1960's music on KRTH, but it seems that the 70's have disappeared at a much, much faster rate in recent years, than the 60's ever did over several decades. And I believe that's accurate.

Keeping both targets at the same time rarely works, Oldies. You don't get both sets of listeners. The older ones tune out when they hear Maroon 5, the younger ones wonder why a station that plays so much of their music is also playing so much of their mother's. KRTH has picked a very lucrative target. The target moves. Time marches on.

 

[davideduardo]

Well, to their "current target", they very well might be. Personally, I believe they've purged too many 70's away and stuck with the 80's and some 90's. Heck, "This Love" by Maroon 5 (2004) aired this morning. My point being, is that many long-time loyal listeners have been left out by their fast move to introduce newer music and to get rid of the older stuff too quickly. Yeah, they're winning, but imagine if you keep both targets at the same time. In other words, keeping lots of 70's, at the same time introducing the newer stuff gradually. I've resigned myself on keeping the 1960's music on KRTH, but it seems that the 70's have disappeared at a much, much faster rate in recent years, than the 60's ever did over several decades. And I believe that's accurate.

In a market as fragmented as LA, you can't keep either audience, as Michael has told you, because you will only satisfy each segment part of the time and you will piss them off every other song...

KRTH does not care if the 50+ or 55+ never listen. Ad agencies don't look at anything except their target demographic when planning buys. If they are targeting some group within the broad 18 to 54 range, they will look at the ranker on the specific demo and that's all.

And LA, given its fairly young median age, is often following the TV custom of using 18-49 as the benchmark demo. So it is likely that KRTH researches mostly 35-49 or even a tight 35-44 core. They could care a flying truck about losing older listeners; they are motivated by not acquiring the "grandpa's station" image. They are not trying to build an Oldsmobile.

 

[briancraig]

Memphis was similar to Birmingham when it came to our two adult stations. WREC, the CBS affiliate, played more Sinatra like music with lots of album cuts. While the NBC affiliate WMC evolved to a very current singles based playlist, basically the songs on the Billboard easy listening chart. By 1973, WMC went country and later WREC started playing more contemporary music but really got killed by easy listening WEZI until later going with the Music of Your Life.

Instead of using the term MOR in the 1960s, Billboard when describing adult stations used the terms pop standard, standard and conservative.

Am I right that conservative would have been more beautiful music like? Standard would’ve been the old line big band and crooner sound? And pop standard would’ve have been the music on the Billboard easy listening singles charts?

 

[gr8oldies]

Speaking of Westinghouse, my first regularly-listened-to radio station was Westinghouse's WOWO, which was full-service (news/weather/traffic/sports/farm...lots of farm) and similarly to the other stations, added music and converted "staff announcers" to DJs once long-form network programming went away. I've got no idea how WOWO sounded musically before around 1963, but I remember hearing Bob Sievers spinning the Beach Boys ("Barbara Ann" stands out for some reason), the Angels ("My Boyfriend's Back), The Drifters, and seemingly most of the hitmakers from that era at the breakfast table when I was 7 or so. I heard my first Beatles songs on WOWO. I barely knew about other radio stations until I moved to Ohio in 1967, and discovered CKLW just in time for the flip to The Big 8.

In 1968, WOWO went noticeably went more MOR, and lost their number one crown to upstart top 40 WLYV. WOWO got back to the hits. They actually playerd Spanky and Our Gang's "Give A Damn". While all the service elements were there, they added younger sounding jocks for nights. There were times in the 70s they rocked harder than the top 40 stations.

I heard true MOR stations like WJR and WLW, which might play the Andy Williams version of "Love is Blue". That was quite a difference.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Why do you think alt 98.7 is beating KROQ in ratings and billing? They play the same tunes? Unless the mornin show they started in 2014 has a lot to do with it. I miss the punk rock show alt use to air on weekend nights.

 

[joebtsflk1]

In 1968, WOWO went noticeably went more MOR, and lost their number one crown to upstart top 40 WLYV. WOWO got back to the hits. They actually playerd Spanky and Our Gang's "Give A Damn". While all the service elements were there, they added younger sounding jocks for nights. There were times in the 70s they rocked harder than the top 40 stations.

.

In Iowa, it seemed you just couldn't say "damn" on the radio in 1968. I've never heard of Spanky and Our Gang's song "Give A Damn" until your post here.

 

[gr8oldies]

In case you haven't already looked it up, here it is: https://youtu.be/57eqhOqy18c
The backstory is in the group's Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanky_and_Our_Gang

In Iowa, it seemed you just couldn't say "damn" on the radio in 1968. I've never heard of Spanky and Our Gang's song "Give A Damn" until your post here.

 

[CTListener]

In Iowa, it seemed you just couldn't say "damn" on the radio in 1968. I've never heard of Spanky and Our Gang's song "Give A Damn" until your post here.

Boston radio was more permissive. WRKO played "Give a Damn," as well as Judy Collins' 1969 "Someday Soon," which had the line "He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me."

 

[John Gallagher]

I think KRTH still has some tweaking. Glancing at the playlist a few moments ago, they are still playing "Live And Let Die" and, earlier in the hour, "Hold The Line" next to "Hey Ya" from Outkast. The McCartney song to me sounds out of place and dated for what they are striving for. Toto tests well everywhere yet sounds also sounds dated. The Toto song is from 1978 and McCartney from 1973.

 

[Bryan Simmons]

Here in Albuquerque the classic hits station recently dropped the 60's for the most part. They now bill themselves as a station that plays 70's and 80's and did pretty well in the book. My question is, what will KRTH actually be with these changes to their library? Classic Hits?

 

[GeoffR]

... KRTH, that is.

The last check of KRTH BDS data shows no songs remaining in the on-air library from the 1960s.

The oldest song is "Maybe I'm Amazed" by McCartney, from 1970. And from there, the library jumps to 1972 (3 titles), 1973 (2 titles), 1974 (4 titles), 1975 (4 titles), 1976 (7 titles) 1977 (9 titles), and 1978 (9 titles). It isn't until 1979 that there are ten or more titles from any given year ... and even then, just barely, with 11.

Even 1980 only has 12, before going to 20 or more per year beginning in 1981. KRTH has also dumped a lot of post-1990 titles, so the era map is really firmly in the 80's.

KRTH's 5.3 in 25-54 is the highest target demo share during the last 13 books. It also makes them #2 in that demo, behind only KBIG.

Those are pretty small amounts of titles per year. What would the total numbers of titles be that KRTH is rotating at this time?

 

[davideduardo]

Those are pretty small amounts of titles per year. What would the total numbers of titles be that KRTH is rotating at this time?

The number of different titles played at least once in the course of a week is about 350.

The weekly number of spins per song ranges from 1 time to 30 times. A third of the songs rotate 7 times or more a week.

 

[TeaPartyDude]

Rolling Stones "Lets spend the night together" v. "Let's spend sometime together"

 

[CTListener]

Rolling Stones "Lets spend the night together" v. "Let's spend sometime together"

I thought that was a one-shot thing for their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Did they actually cut a "safe" radio version of the song for prudish stations to play?

 

[landtuna]

What was the backlash, if any, for the last line of "Gone With The Wind"? For those who may not remember the line was "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

 

[JPT]

I thought that was a one-shot thing for their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Did they actually cut a "safe" radio version of the song for prudish stations to play?

That was for Ed Sullivan only...there was no "safe" version recorded.