In my area market, there's damn little difference between the "oldies" station and the "classic rock" station; they both spin Queen, the Stones, Led Zep, Seger, the hair bands, and most of the same artists mentioned in the posts here. Little if any softer stuff, and a total sausage party. It seems pretty much a case of one management group trying to aim their station at the other's audience. (Only exception is when the oldies station goes Christmas for December.)
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Classic Rock: Evolve or Die!
- Thread starter semoochie
- Start date
K
K.M. Richards
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Show me, sir, just where I proposed a quota system.
You took my statement about there being fewer songs that qualified for the format and then expanded it to fit your own POV.
The problem is that many consider the Classic Rock format to be old and tired, because it has played (mostly) the same songs for many years. I don't mind hearing these songs repeated, but there will come a point where they will start to wear on my mind. And keep in mind that, because I've been in radio (both on-air and programming) since the mid-1970s, I have a higher tolerance for repeats as a listener, because I remember playing the biggest hits two or three times per airshift, five or six days a week, when they were current and I understand repeat factors.
Even with the addition of newer songs that fit, the bulk of the library is still going to be those diehard songs. And if the audience begins to tire of them, then what? Go deeper? To a degree, that's possible, although here in L.A. KSWD/100.3 ("The Sound") has resorted to tossing in occasional pop hits from the '60s and '70s like "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees. Sometimes it works, other times it's a trainwreck.
The lack of "new" material is one of many problems the format faces. Unfortunately, it is also the biggest one.
I've seen where some classic rock or classic hits stations spin new material from core artists. One example was the recent AC/DC release and the recent Bob Seger release.
WOMC (classic hits) is spinning Detroit Made from the recent Bob Seger album.
WOMC (classic hits) is spinning Detroit Made from the recent Bob Seger album.
Then again, were talking about Bob's home town.
Precisely.
A
Avid Listener
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That's what happens when people cannot tell the difference between a genre of music and a radio format. What the suits call "AAA" or "Americana" would enjoy more success if they were left combined with the rest of the classic rock genre. Classic rock, as a musical genre, would appeal to younger audiences if only it weren't fragmented into little pieces, and programmed as if it were no different from the various current hits or former hits formats, and had the newly recorded songs from the genre removed. And, a little advertising and promotion wouldn't hurt, either.
I fear too much of conventional wisdom becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. Some suit decides that "classic rock" can only be songs from a certain era, instead of songs with a certain sound. So, they exclude all new classic rock songs, effectively cutting off any chance of evolution or capturing younger listeners. As a result of the errant decision about what classic rock is, it only attracts older listeners.
I'm reminded of the two guys who murdered their parents, then begged for mercy because they were orphans.
That's a perfect example of a situation where if each of the two stations would pick a specific niche for itself, and let the other station have the other niche, both would probably end up stronger. And, more people would listen to the radio instead of alternative entertainment sources.
Perhaps the format doesn't have enough new material, but the classic rock genre has no shortage of new material. It's just that no one who only hears new music on the radio would know that.
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When we're talking about radio, it a radio format. By definition.
A
Avid Listener
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But the format would be more successful if it were based on the genre. Format and genre are not two totally different things. They are often very similar. Country is a format. But it's also a genre. Classic Rock was a genre first, and then became a format named after the genre, but as the genre kept evolving, the format didn't. Hence the title and topic of this thread, Classic Rock: Evolve or Die! The genre did evolve, and is therefore alive. Granted, it would be livelier if it had more radio airplay, but even without it, the evolved genre lives. If the format would evolve in sync with the genre, then the format would also live. Otherwise, the format will die.
I am positive of that.
Really? How do you know that?
A
Avid Listener
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Are you saying that I am wrong? How do you know that I'm wrong?
Did I say that? No. I'm simply asking how you can be so positive.
I'm still hoping to hear from industry professionals about the actual topic. Where is this format going? How long before something MUST be done? Will it push forward in time? Will other genres be added to the basic format? Will some genres be taken away from it? Will it just be blown up?
A
Avid Listener
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Are you saying that my posts shouldn't be more positive?
A
Avid Listener
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Personally, I'm not aware of any commercial stations in which the classic rock format has evolved to remain in sync with the classic rock genre. The industry professionals have never been reluctant to acknowledge that while a well-run and well-promoted station with a niche formats might not be dominant overall in the ratings, they can be very profitable operations. It shouldn't take an industry professional to recognize that a station that broadcasts what a significant number of people claim is their favorite genre of music, that station should attract a significant number of listeners.
If you're not aware, then how can you be "positive" (to use your word) it would work? It must be based on a feeling, not actual knowledge.
It's the other way around. Classic rock evolved as the "remains" from the tight "Superstars" format from Lee Abrams and his imitators. That dates back to WQDR in Raleigh in the early 70's when the format was all current and recurrent music. As the format aged, fewer and fewer new songs were acceptable to the listeners, so the dependency on gold became greater and greater.
I've said his before, but when you build something one way, and run it that way for 20 years, you create certain expectations of what that thing is. People expect that when they tune in to a classic rock station, that they'll hear something from a particular era of rock music. If they want to hear another era, there's another station for that. If they want to hear currents by the classic rock artists, that's another station. If they want to hear songs "in the style of classic rock," that's another format. But you don't take something that people have been conditioned to know as ONE thing, and change it into something else. It's too late to do that. Had the format been cycling currents in for the past ten years, and just started dropping the 60s, as Classic Hits stations have been doing, that's different. And we already see how the fans of the older songs are reacting to that evolution. Do you really want to do the exact same thing in yet another format?
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A
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Sorry, but we musicians who were performing classic rock knew what it was long before any suit decided to start a radio format to exploit it. There is a world, some might even say an entire universe, outside of radio.
Pavlov's dog expected to be fed when he heard a bell. Such conditioning and training doesn't mean that ringing a bell is the only way to get a dog to salivate. Dog's were salivating for thousands of years before Pavlov came along. Dog's who never heard Pavlov's bell do not salivate at the sound of a bell. Just because the people you suits have conditioned to react like Pavlov's dogs do so doesn't mean that there aren't other people who can actually think for themselves! Imagine that! The people who like music, and who use the radio to hear music that they like aren't as stupid as you suits think they are. This will surprise you, but people are actually smart enough to accept and sometimes even embrace new things. That's especially true for good new things.
Granted, not every station in every market could break from the tired old paradigm and succeed. But that doesn't mean no station in any market could.
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Actually, no they didn't. None of them knew what they were doing would some day be called "classic." I have interviewed dozens of classic rock musicians, and they're ALL amazed that their records are still getting airplay today. And no one aspires to be a "classic rock musician." He might think he's a rock musician. But to call something "classic" has a certain connotation to it that doesn't come until AFTER it's received a certain amount of acceptance. It would be presumptuous to call something classic before its time. No REAL musician would do that.
A
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I did.
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