I was listening to Cousin Brucie's show on XM/Sirius tonight. Within a half hour he took phone calls from a 10 year old, 12 year old, and a 22 year old. All of them made requests. What do these radio excutives know?
Bruce
Bruce
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Even Kids listen to Oldies - What do the radio executives know
- Thread starter BruceS8852
- Start date
T
theradiokid
Guest
I’m 23-years-old, and I love 50’s and 60’s oldies. We even have a terrestrial station here where I live in upstate New York that plays 50’s and 60’s oldies (WFBL.) I love this music because it is just so innocent. Plus, unlike todays music, you don’t get sick of it. As a 23-year-old, do I listen to some forms of modern music? Sure. But when I’m in the mood to listen to something “Fun Fun Fun,” I listen to oldies.
Even though we have a terrestrial station, I mostly listen to some online radio stations that play oldies. The thing I hate about those, however, is that they tend to play obscure, old songs that radio back then passed over. There’s nothing wrong with that. It gives you exposure to different music. But sometimes, I just wanna hear songs I know. I wish there was an online station that plays just the HITS of the 50’s and 60’s. Anyone got any ideas?
In my opinion, the corporate cheapskates won’t play this music because the majority of the listeners they want (25-54) won’t listen to what we know as oldies. So instead, radio starts this crap format of 60’s and 70’s lite classic rock, calls it classic hits, er, uh, “Oldies/Classic Hits,” and without batting an eye, turns it’s back on this great music. End of story.
--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].
Even though we have a terrestrial station, I mostly listen to some online radio stations that play oldies. The thing I hate about those, however, is that they tend to play obscure, old songs that radio back then passed over. There’s nothing wrong with that. It gives you exposure to different music. But sometimes, I just wanna hear songs I know. I wish there was an online station that plays just the HITS of the 50’s and 60’s. Anyone got any ideas?
In my opinion, the corporate cheapskates won’t play this music because the majority of the listeners they want (25-54) won’t listen to what we know as oldies. So instead, radio starts this crap format of 60’s and 70’s lite classic rock, calls it classic hits, er, uh, “Oldies/Classic Hits,” and without batting an eye, turns it’s back on this great music. End of story.
--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].
I like oldies but to me that is 50s and 60s together. Don't get me wrong I like 70s but just 60s and 70s together without 50s is boring. And one thing I hate is when people are classifying 70s and 80s as oldies.
I have heard wfbl a little bit from where I am about 2 and a half hours away. It seems good. Very rarely can I get it on my portable and then its on at night. Where I am they have legends 102.7 The span is too big. But some of those kids like those 70s also.
I have heard wfbl a little bit from where I am about 2 and a half hours away. It seems good. Very rarely can I get it on my portable and then its on at night. Where I am they have legends 102.7 The span is too big. But some of those kids like those 70s also.
theradiokid said:
Kid....
You just nailed it. There was a quote by Paul Revere....of "Paul Revere & The Raiders"....a number of years back in the Chicago Tribune. The gist of it was he felt that contemporary rock music had gotten too complicated and was taking itself too seriously. To paraphrase, Revere (his real name) said...."What you're supposed to do with rock & roll is just turn it up, crack open a cold beer, relax and have some fun".
Unfortunately, his view...and yours...are in the minority for your demographic. Anyone who has read my posts in various threads here knows I'm personally a huge oldies fan. But I don't whine about them being tough to find on terrestial radio. What's online (and on my Ipod) is better... and sounds loads better than the way this stuff to sound on a cheap a.m. radio back in the day.
As a businessman, I'll just be charitable and say that the notion of a 50s/60s based oldies format is no longer commercially viable in most....if not all...circumstances. For those who still honestly think this format can be a big financial success on terrestial radio, I respectfully suggest you do as I did. Get over it!
Finally, to answer your question about finding a more mainstream mix of 50s/60s, try satellite radio (while its still around) or check out some of the CBS "classic oldies" streams. KRTH-HD ("KRTH classics") is as good a place as any to start. WDJO goes deeper and is overall a far superior product, but some of their playlist might be a little obscure for your taste. Same goes for my personal faves, Radio Bop and Richbro Radio.
Rock on!
gr8oldies said:
SOME kids like that sort of music, others don't. What I've noticed is that some kids do gravitate to some of the music we would call "album rock" or even oldies. The kids that hang around with my son love to raid my music library for Doors, Steppenwolf, and other late sixties to early eighties tunes.
The interesting thing I find is that they are not coached into what tracks they they should listen to, but seem to gravitate to most of the songs that we aired on radio "back then". And on some occasions they have fired up my automation system to listen to some tunes. The key, I feel, is noticing the effort they place on seeking the content. Therefore, I would argue that there is some relevancy to younger people seeking oldies content.
Clearly, when CC blew up the Oldies station here in our community, there were a lot of boomers who lost a valuable service, but I know of teens and college age people that listened to that station as well. Sometimes I think we put too much faith into what ratings companies and consultants say and not pay attention to our own products and services.
Tom Watson's article "Bill Drake: a Legend, a Genius, a true Gentleman" does point out a sign of our times, and that our business is getting stale and unattractive. Like Los Angeles, many markets are littered with bland sounding, poorly programmed radio.
I had lunch last week with an old friend who works at one of these stations, and he had to admit that their revenues are down some 27%, and it's a challenge to find someone that listens to his station. As he pointed out, when advertisers don't feel people listen, the sell is ten times harder. But his hands are tied as out of town interests pull the strings on operation. He compared his plight to owning a popular restaurant in town that is purchased by someone from out of town that says "what works in market 1-10 should work in market 200+".
One has to wonder if the kids are not telling us something. Perhaps like those who lost their life's savings trusting Wall Street investors, we're trusting people who don't have the wisdom nor the understanding of our market. Kids should not be ignored. The one thing I have found about kids is that they gravitate towards things for different reasons. You and I may like or dislike something because we can perceive to make profit or get something out of it. Kids tend to be attracted to something because they like it, or it makes them feel good. Perhaps we should pay more attention?
H
hornet61
Guest
Please, before anyones jumps in there and asks who is paying the bills, this is in reference to the many(probably over 10,000) Oldies stations on the Internet (minimum commercialism, sure some have commercials), that exist and are thriving with out much sponser-ship. This fact will kill many commercial Radio Oldies stations, once the technoloy allows us to listen to internet in our cars. Yeah, yeah I know the demographics etc. This a new ball game and all these overstated "Commercial Radio Advertisers" blah blah will also go away thank goodness , I'm so sick of hearing it.
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hornet61
Guest
ignorance is bliss......and you call yourself Great OLDIES. And you perpetuate this garbage, six listeners, don't knock what you know nothing about about.
gr8oldies said:
hornet61 said:
Ok, lets address a few things related to all this:
First, the perpetual myth about kids loving oldies somehow seems to persist. Now that PPMs are here, it's now proven beyond any doubt shadows that there are virtually no meaningful 12-18 numbers for oldies stations. This subject has been addressed previously in this category. I strongly suggest to anyone interested to take the time to go through the thread's archives.
If one still insists that the format is popular with kids, then please riddle me this: Why aren't advertisers aimed at the youthful demographics advertising on said stations? ???
Whenever this topic comes up, there are many posts in both directions, but I have yet to see one from a PD or GM saying that kids just love their oldies format.
hornet61 said:
Whoever pays the bills is exactly who advertisers wish to reach. That's not hard to figure out, is it?
I don't know what webcasting's numbers are, but it's a little hard for me to conceive that there might be over 10,000 oldies outlets in cyberspace. The last numbers I had for the total number of terrestrial radio stations in the U.S., including construction permits, were over 12,500. The terrestrials are competing regionally. The most competitive market, in terms of the number of available signals, is Los Angeles. The average L.A.-area station has over 80 stations to compete against. If you factor in stations in nearby Orange County, and it's proximity to San Diego County and Baja, then the number of competing signals grow to over 100. Radio-wise, it's truly a jungle in Southern California.
The difference with the web is that if we take the 10,000 number for argument's sake, instead of competing against 60, 80, or even 100 other signals, they're competing against each other! So if you're one of those 10,000 oldies webcasts, you've got at least 9,999 competitors. Good luck!
The law of nature, biologically and otherwise, is that when there are too many of something, they start dying out.
I don't see how, as the above poster stated, a webcast can survive, let alone thrive, without much sponsorship. If "Commercial Radio Advertisers", as he puts it go away, then what will they do to pay the bills, which will invariably come?
This is not to say that there is no future in webcasting. On the contrary, it's present state is reminiscent of the early days of FM radio, when station licenses would exchange hands in card games (JK, but you get the idea), crazy formats would be experimented with, including one that started in San Francisco that we all came to know as AOR (Album Oriented Rock), and ground floor opportunities were everywhere. Look at FM now. In some circles in L.A., KKGO owner Saul Levine, who bought the station for, well, a song way back when, is nicknamed Saul "I Turned Down $200 Million" Levine.
The ground floor is right there as far as webcasting is concerned. It's future can be very bright. When the device for car listening comes out, there's no telling what could happen. But, will it benefit the small operator in the long run? Will what ultimately happened in FM, corporate domination, happen with webcasting? Clear Channel has already had at least one webcast, the continuation of All-Metal KNAC, in the L.A. area. Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic had a series of channels going. The San Diego Union-Tribune has several rock channels going on it's Sign On San Diego site. These people can easily attract major advertisers or write it off on the company tax forms. What will happen with small operators? These, and many other questions need to be addressed.
Sorry to go on for so long, but I felt that all of this needed to be addressed.
You missed my point. Kids have access to a lot of disposable income. Hannah Montana made $31 million on one movie in a 3 day period! You can't dismiss the tween market.RicoGregg said:
http://www.portfolio.com/culture-li.../2008/02/07/Hannah-Montanas-Earning-Potential
Yes they are, because the parents want family-friendly entertainment in their lives. I believe that is the reason so many Christian stations are also on the air now. Parents don't have to worry about the content with these two formats. The kids don't pay the bills for the service, but the parents pay the bills to have the service around in part for the kids.RicoGregg said:
Play nice Ricky-- you're not the only one in the sandbox!
KyDXIn said:
You play the "Christian" card, then try to insult me, and call me by an incorrect name. Very lame, childish, and hypocritical on your part.
The reason that Christian stations seem to have popped up like front lawn mushroom fungus is because they usually deal in brokered programming. With the money coming in from paying program providers, who needs to worry about ratings? They certainly don't in major markets.
By the way, Mr. Consultant, what does Christian Radio have to do with Oldies programming, which is the topic of this thread? ???
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