Gist of article = "oldies" stations need to skew younger (more recent tunes) to reach an audience attractive to buyers; but also makes the point that the older audience is left in the cold for THEIR music while they still have a lot of discretionary $$ and are NOT "set in their ways" as agencies claim. The example is great...that an iPhone was NOWHERE in anyone's twinkling eye when groups like the Platters and Satins are playing, yet older audiences may still buy one for themselves...their kids...or grandkids.
Rick Sklar (ABC Group PD) used to add anything about 5-7 years old into the oldies library and then slightly roll the older stuff back (keeping highly visible 50's around, such as "Jailhouse Rock"). I loved that strategy as it meant the station would constantly skew about the same age ... while the audience got used to the newer oldies! Exactly what my idea of a good oldies station would do ... I never really understood why we had to live by the rule that "the format" was Beatles through Vietnam and that was it. Now thanks to that short-sightedness, people who are fans of that era will be losing their stations rather than taking the route to evolve and keep some of those tunes in play.
KIXI was a great example of a station that "got it". They played many things that stepped on their sister, WARM .. but it still played the standards. Kept the older audience on board while attracting some younger folks too. When they went back to MOYL/bird it went back to the straight-on standards playlist and that strategy fell by the wayside.
Great read...thanks, Rich!
