Cbs--fm

[andreajesus]

The regular playlist, not including specialty shows, is around 800 songs. That is on the high side for stations in the Classic Hits format.

and five years later....i think it's more like 300 or 400 songs - mostly 80's/90's - which is one reason I STOPPED listening to it...

#Golden101

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

That's all well and good, but it doesn't seem to be a widespread phenomenon.

 

[CTListener]

That's all well and good, but it doesn't seem to be a widespread phenomenon.

Yep, listeners who were in their teens and 20s in the '80s and '90s are now largely in their 40s and 50s, with some in their late 30s. That's the demographic range that oldies and classic hits stations have always targeted, so the '80s/'90s focus is nothing to be surprised by. As for tight playlists, they work. Oldies geeks constitute a minuscule percentage of the total population. So do people who listen to one station for hours on end every day and do so with such intensity that they can remember just what they heard from one day (or week or month) to the next. All of which is why deep oldies of the '50s through '70s -- or even deep classic hits of the '80s and '90s -- is a non-starter as a format on anything but a hobby operation or a pirate. In fact, it's such a nonstarter that even SiriusXM won't consider it as a format, despite having umpteen channels devoted to umpteen splinters of rock.

 

[TheBigA]

All of which is why deep oldies of the '50s through '70s -- or even deep classic hits of the '80s and '90s -- is a non-starter as a format on anything but a hobby operation or a pirate.

Or a non-commercial station that doesn't depend on advertisers for its income. Unfortunately a lot of those stations in the NY area focus on other fringe formats, such as alternative rock or adult alternative. But there's no reason why WKCR or one of the other college-owned stations couldn't devote a portion of their day to oldies. Perhaps some alumni groups should consider approaching these colleges.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Boy, I'm glad now -- as a listener and an ex-DJ -- to have moved out of that NYC/Long Island rat-race 20+ years ago.

We live in a county that is not part of a rated market. So, voila! -- agency buys and ratings numbers mean next to nothing to radio stations here. The revenue is all local and regional sales, with the 'regional' emphasis indigenous only to the biggest FM signals. The upswing is that we have a half-dozen stations in the car to cater to our indulgences.
Average household age is 64.
Whatever we don't get on the noist 'radio' anymore, we get from the internet stations.

Bottom line : We are all closer now to the music of the 2050's than we were to that of the 1950's. We're even closer now to the 2060's progressive than we had been to the heavy 1960's. The Golden 101 will not be back. Neither will the heavy & progressive WNEW-FM or WLIR, or 77 WABC or WKBW.

(There has to be some blame to bear on the music companies for this restlessness. But that's a different topic)

 

[davideduardo]

and five years later....i think it's more like 300 or 400 songs - mostly 80's/90's - which is one reason I STOPPED listening to it...

#Golden101

In the past 4 weeks, 832 different songs have been played, with about 90% of spins in 1976 to 1989 range, with the statistical center at 1984. Less than 10% of the titles and even a lesser percentage of the spins were 90's songs.

 

[andreajesus]

Yep, listeners who were in their teens and 20s in the '80s and '90s are now largely in their 40s and 50s, with some in their late 30s. That's the demographic range that oldies and classic hits stations have always targeted, so the '80s/'90s focus is nothing to be surprised by. As for tight playlists, they work. Oldies geeks constitute a minuscule percentage of the total population. So do people who listen to one station for hours on end every day and do so with such intensity that they can remember just what they heard from one day (or week or month) to the next. All of which is why deep oldies of the '50s through '70s -- or even deep classic hits of the '80s and '90s -- is a non-starter as a format on anything but a hobby operation or a pirate. In fact, it's such a nonstarter that even SiriusXM won't consider it as a format, despite having umpteen channels devoted to umpteen splinters of rock.

wasn't always that way - there was a time when CBSFM's playlist was MUCH DEEPER in the 50's and 60's....which at first almost turned into a downfall - til former PD Joe McCoy tightened (and loosened, in some cases) things up...then the ratings started happening....

 

[andreajesus]

In the past 4 weeks, 832 different songs have been played, with about 90% of spins in 1976 to 1989 range, with the statistical center at 1984. Less than 10% of the titles and even a lesser percentage of the spins were 90's songs.

need I say more?

 

[luperm]

Right. All you need to say is that there is little or no ability to monetize the geezer demographic. Programmers respond accordingly. RIP Golden 101...

WFDU is running oldies blocks. Have you listened? Have you supported them financially? I suspect the answer to question #2 is no...so, if you’re not willing to support the format, why would an advertiser?

 

[MTNProductions]

I totally agree with you. We've been over this discussion for a long time, it will continue to do so. I've listened to CBS-FM is not too bad. Scott Shannon and Ross Britton are my favorites, and I've listened to it since 2016, and I heard the news that Entercom are pulling the plugs from TuneIn as after August 1st, including this station. That means I'm going to miss Scott Shannon in mornings, and Ross Britton on Sundays. Those were great.

And speaking of CBS-FM aren't playing oldies anymore, there were other stations that you can get your 50's and 60's fix. There's WGNY-FM "Fox Oldies" in the Hudson Valley and Bob O sound terrific when he is on Saturday mornings, I love him so much, and that's the only show I listened to. And I do recalled since Memorial Day, WGNY-FM was playing "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin, Andy I hate the song a lot. I gave it a thumbs down, because I'm not a fan of this one. But I hear Jimi Hendrix songs like "All Along the Watchtower" and others that doesn't fit the format. These classic rock song song doesn't belong on a oldies station, it belongs on a classic rock station like WAXQ's "Q104.3", but most often, they play some deeper songs including a remake of Ruth Brown's classic from the 50's called "Lucky Lips" by Cliff Richard & the Shadows, and it was from the movie "Summer Holiday" back in 1963, but "Lucky Lips" never charted in the US, not on WABC, not on WINS and not on WMCA during the Top 40 days in NYC. It was a huge hit in the U.K., but not until 13 years later when "Devil Woman" was his first top 10 hit in the US by 1976.

In addition, there's WROW's "Magic 590/100.5", they're playing the same oldies than WGNY-FM did, but they're adding a few MOR standards that you don't hear them on NYC radio anymore like WNEW-AM, WQEW, and WJUX's former "Jukebox Radio", and also mixed with 70's and mostly 80's hits that you can hear on any classic hits station during its rotation. "Magic 590" is still a hybrid of oldies and classic hits that blends together, and doesn't play Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix or any other rock artists on the station.

WLNG plays oldies as well if you go to Sag Harbor and listen to it, and the only show I listened to is Brian Bannon doing afternoons which is good.

And also on Saturday nights, they have Wolfman Jack on doing his "Best Of" shows on WGNY-FM, and I still love it, because he was great than Dan Ingram and Don Imus did, but unfortunately, Dan Ingram passed away back on June 23rd, and he did weekends on WCBS-FM from 1991 until 2003, but I used to listened to Dan on weekends and it was a lot of fun.

And sadly, another oldies station has lost back last spring was WABY. I used to listened to WABY and it was great! It has oldies, MOR standards and even some forgotten classics that you can find it on NYC radio anymore. It was an excellent presentation, and Bob Green sounds excellent when he was on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. He was becoming the next Dan Ingram. Too bad, the station flipped to AAA back in late March as "The X" and it lasted for two months until the station went dark by May when Empire pulled the plug on WABY along with the two stations that Empire owned including WPTR, because one of the programming staff has left.

If you want to get your oldies fix, I recommend the following links. That includes streaming if you want to listen to it, go check these out.

http://wgny.tunegenie.com
http://www.albanymagic.com
http://www.wlng.com