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CC to axe REAL real oldies in Chicago

F

fred flintstone

Guest
Radio Daily News:
Insiders say it could be only a matter of weeks before Clear Channel bosses pull the plug on the format at Clear Channel Radio's "Real Oldies" WRLL-AM (1690) and a talent lineup that includes such personalities as Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, Scotty Brink, Tom Murphy and Ron Smith ...
Click to expand...
FULL ARTICLE - Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/feder/cst-fin-feder21.html

Great playlist. Classic jocks. Ok signal but fortunately in the expanded band. Competition was Scott Shannon's canned-syndicated-vanilla-one size fits all oldies format on FM. Clear Channel has some other AM real oldies stations with the same playlist. If they are dropped, too, there is no reason for Real Oldies fans not to go to satellite radio.
 
Chicago

It was great while it lasted but AM really is no place for a mass-appeal music format. We've been spoiled for years hearing it in FM stereo and few (including in Chicago, even before ABC put Shannon's station on) were listening, anyway.

But it's been a GREAT sounding product, for sure.
 
Re: Chicago

[It was great while it lasted but AM really is no place for a mass-appeal music format. We've been spoiled for years hearing it in FM stereo and few (including in Chicago, even before ABC put Shannon's station on) were listening, anyway.]


I never thought of WRLL as "mass-appeal". From the beginning, WRLL's PD said that he designed the station's playlist using Chicago's Top 40 charts in the '50s and early '60s. Most of that music was recorded in mono and sounds just fine on AM. That's where it was heard the first time around. And THAT'S the audience WRLL was after.
 
real oldies in Chicago

but my point is that's not much of an audience. This is 2006. People are not at all interested in hearing mono, scratchy-quality 45s on the radio. The nostalgic kick in Oldies is the music and the lyrics and the memories they evoke, not that they heard them on the AM band.
 
It is more about coverage than audio. If you can cover the full rated market you have a chance. WRLL does not cover the full market. It needs to out perform in the areas it does cover just to look like it is average in the Arbitron. People moving to the burbs hurt AM more than anything. In the 70's people were moving out of the city. FM was there to cover them, all but the big 50KW AM's were left to die. Another problem with WRLL was the music, was it standards or 50's rock? They never made up thier mind. They had great a great air staff that could have pulled in people on the personality but let them do very little. It sounded very automated, VT does not need to sound that way but theirs did.
 
Bye Bye Uncle Lar...again!(sigh)

Granted WRLL's signal faded in and out a lot especially here in Ohio where it faded in an out with a Baltimore(I think)station..but it was fun to listen to in spite of the occasional Sinatra standards thrown in. Loved the jingles and espcially Little Walter's Time Machine on Sunday evenings for its high energy..the way Top 40 radio used to be. As for the CC top brass may I say this...radio does not survive by arbitrons alone...the following built up always loses the most in the name of demographics which also led to the demise of traditional MOR/Adult Standards stations years ago(ala WGN,WJR,WLW and all the rest)who sold out to talk formats. As for AM as a whole it cut its own throat twenty years ago when the AM radio hierarchy and the FCC chose two standards for AM stereo instead of one...hence no compatibility and was shunned by home stereo receiver manufacturers....but oh, the glory days of Top 40 on AM radio...rock and roll started here! First generation rock(much to the baby boomers dismay) is being put out to pasture....no history....no real rock. We'll hold on as fans as long as we can before Johnny B. Goode finally goes six feet under. Give my best to Larry Lujack in Chicago and especially to Dan Allen in Cincinnati(who created the "Real Oldies" format.)
 
Re: real oldies in Chicago

[This is 2006. People are not at all interested in hearing mono, scratchy-quality 45s on the radio. The nostalgic kick in Oldies is the music and the lyrics and the memories they evoke, not that they heard them on the AM band.]


This IS 2006. And is case you haven't noticed, there's no need for radio (AM OR FM) to play "scratchy 45s" anymore. The music industry created a new vehicle for its music over 20 years ago. It's called the compact disc. Almost every song that made the Top 40 (or at least the Top 20) since 1955 is available on CD, digitally re-mastered from the original tapes. WRLL's playlist was 80% pre-1964. And since most pre-1964 music was recorded in mono, you would hear it in mono on FM also.
 
[Another problem with WRLL was the music, was it standards or 50's rock? They never made up thier mind.]


As I mentioned in a post above, WRLL's playlist is Chicago Top 40 radio from the '50s thru early '60s. Frank Sinatra and Perry Como were on the Top 40 charts right along with Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis. I love the station, but I guess that people who grew up listening to contrived Oldies formats don't understand Top 40 radio. Maybe that's part of WRLL's problem.
 
Re: real oldies in Chicago

TheFonz said:
This IS 2006. And is case you haven't noticed, there's no need for radio (AM OR FM) to play "scratchy 45s" anymore. The music industry created a new vehicle for its music over 20 years ago. It's called the compact disc. Almost every song that made the Top 40 (or at least the Top 20) since 1955 is available on CD, digitally re-mastered from the original tapes. WRLL's playlist was 80% pre-1964. And since most pre-1964 music was recorded in mono, you would hear it in mono on FM also.
Click to expand...

I was responding to your statement about "that's where they heard it (AM) the first time around, that's the audience WRLL was after". That's not a target audience--there is no romance or nobility or nostalgic surge (except for a few radio junkies) in hearing 50 year old songs on AM again. That is not some big rush for 99.9% of Oldies radio users.
 
Re: real oldies in Chicago

[That is not some big rush for 99.9% of Oldies radio users.]


Well, judging by the state of terrestrial Oldies radio today, that 99.9% had better take anything they can get!
 
Why must we trake "anything?"

My i-pod has 10,000 songs, including 2000 "beautiful music" songs and 6000 1945-85 era sngs. WHO NEEDS RADIO?
 
Yes, Perry Como was on the charts along with Little Richard, and the kids all knew that they were playing Perry Como for their parents.
 
Wonder what they are billing? That would be my concern, cause ratings can't always be the factor. They will never be even in the top 20, so changing it isn't going to make much difference! I mean, what improvement did 1530 see in Cin. after they switched? Not a lot!!!
 
[Wonder what they are billing? That would be my concern, cause ratings can't always be the factor. They will never be even in the top 20, so changing it isn't going to make much difference! I mean, what improvement did 1530 see in Cin. after they switched? Not a lot!!!]


This is a great point. I'm not in the radio business, but it would seem to me that radio shoud be more concerned with paying the bills and less concerned with the ratings. With all of the other options out there, fewer young listeners are tuning in. And with current listeners eventually "aging out of the demo", who will be left to listen? Any given market can only support a certain amount of Talk stations.
 
[Yes, Perry Como was on the charts along with Little Richard, and the kids all knew that they were playing Perry Como for their parents.]


They were playing Perry Como because, at the time, "Kewpie Doll" (1958 #6) was selling as many records as "Good Golly Miss Molly" (1958 #10). That's what Top 40 radio was all about. I can't say for sure who the principal audience for "Kewpie Doll" was. But since Perry was trying to capitalize on the rock & roll trend, I'm guessing that it was the kids who bought the record.
 
TheFonz said:
They were playing Perry Como because, at the time, "Kewpie Doll" (1958 #6) was selling as many records as "Good Golly Miss Molly" (1958 #10). That's what Top 40 radio was all about. I can't say for sure who the principal audience for "Kewpie Doll" was. But since Perry was trying to capitalize on the rock & roll trend, I'm guessing that it was the kids who bought the record.
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You've gotta be kidding! They were/are playing that awful song? No wonder they have no numbers. Just because somebody bought a record (assuming it was the teens who bought it in the first place) almost 50 years ago doesn't mean they still want to hear it today. Lotsa kids bought "Billy Don't Be A Hero" too...I betcha none of them want to hear it today!
 
[You've gotta be kidding! They were/are playing that awful song? No wonder they have no numbers. Just because somebody bought a record (assuming it was the teens who bought it in the first place) almost 50 years ago doesn't mean they still want to hear it today. Lotsa kids bought "Billy Don't Be A Hero" too...I betcha none of them want to hear it today!]


I can't say for sure that WRLL has played "Kewpie Doll". But someone asked why they mixed "standards" (a radio term) with rock & roll. I explained that is was all Top 40 in the '50s & early '60s, and WRLL's PD designed the station around Chicago's Top 40 charts. You say that was a mistake, but Oldies stations around the country are dropping like flies. So I give WRLL one big heap of credit for trying something different. And they were still on the air (for almost 3 years) as of this post. Maybe radio should think less about "the numbers" and more about SURVIVAL.
 
TheFonz said:
So I give WRLL one big heap of credit for trying something different.
Click to expand...

Me too. When I visit Chicago, I always tune them in. It really sounds very much like top 40 radio did in the late 1950s and early 60's. But I guess I'm the right age group to know that.
 
[When I visit Chicago, I always tune them in. It really sounds very much like top 40 radio did in the late 1950s and early 60's.]


Good to hear that, Chuck. And keep in mind that they stream on the internet at www.realoldies1690.com
 
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