Feedback requested

[michael hagerty]

Hey I am programming a Classics Hit station in a smaller market.....the A/C station we had here is now doing CHR. Out FM dial here is CHR COUNTRY NEW CLASSIC ROCK CHR CLASSIC HITS(my station), ACTIVE ROCK, "BOB FM" (but not a very well focused bob-fm), another classic hits station that calls itself "MOJO," and they have absolutely no clue what they are doing musically---recently going from Richard Harris and MacArthur Park into the Who "Who Are You?"

So--with the lack of an A/C station I have been mixing some other artists/music not usually heard on classic hits, and that's where I'd like a little feedback. I've got nothing but compliments on how the station is sounding and really getting "rave" reviews from listeners and our cluster's staff. Even our engineer loves it---YIKES!!!

The music I'm talking about is Steve Winwood, Gloria Estefan, more Chicago, and a very limited amount of stuff from the 90's and 00's---like "Smooth"/Santana "Believe"/Cher Only Wanna Be With You/Hootie Go West/King of Wishful Thinking, Game Of Love/Santana some Lionel Richie--the uptempo ones mainly a few by Taylor Dayne, and a handful of others for flavoring. NO ONE else is playing these total mass-appeal hits.....So what's the verdict---good to be playing these, OR are these a big NO NO. We've also added some Huey Lewis, Genesis, and other artists that weren't being played.

So---gimme some feedback.....Radio Info readers....Muchas Gracias!

I just realized that despite several posts, I never addressed this one. Sorry! First, congratulations! Secondly, I think the newer AC-influenced cuts are probably a good move. Taylor Dayne's the only one I'm not sure of. The rest are established artists familiar to classic hits listeners (Taylor's established, but I'm not sure about how broad her appeal is).

It's funny that we worry about going "too new" when we're talking about records that are 20 years old. When oldies stations like KRTH in Los Angeles launched 40 years ago, they played music that was between 9 and 17 years old...and appealed to people in their 30s...the very folks you want in huge numbers for a good showing in 18-49 or 25-54. The format's biggest mistake until recently was thinking that they could somehow appeal to 37 year olds by playing 50 year old records.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Thomps2525]

Yes indeedy, when KRTH (the former KHJ-FM) went to an oldies format in 1972, they played songs from 1954-63. The "newest" oldies were only nine years old. With very few exceptions---Shout, La Bamba, You Send Me---KRTH now focuses on 1964 to 1984, with a few later hits such as Smooth and I Could Fall In Love. Can you imagine the KRTH of 2012 playing "oldies" from 2003? Yikes!

 

[michael hagerty]

Yes indeedy, when KRTH (the former KHJ-FM) went to an oldies format in 1972, they played songs from 1954-63. The "newest" oldies were only nine years old. With very few exceptions---Shout, La Bamba, You Send Me---KRTH now focuses on 1964 to 1984, with a few later hits such as Smooth and I Could Fall In Love. Can you imagine the KRTH of 2012 playing "oldies" from 2003? Yikes!

Thing is, if they wanted to attract people in their early to mid thirties as they did in the beginning, then that's exactly what they should be playing...."oldies" from 1994-2003.

 

[oldies76]

Thing is, if they wanted to attract people in their early to mid thirties as they did in the beginning, then that's exactly what they should be playing...."oldies" from 1994-2003.

The only problem with that, to the listener, "recent oldies" such as 1994-2003 hits, is that they (musically) still sound new, or modern as compared to say the 60's and 70's, or even the 80's.

1954-1972 music has many different characteristics musically...But some of the late 90's & early 2000's music, sounds not much different from today's big hits.

Can you imagine hearing "Get Jiggy With It" (1998) or "Butterfly" (2001) or "Hey Ya" (2003) on KRTH 101? But heck, now that it's nearly 2013, anything's possible, right?

 

[CTListener]

Thing is, if they wanted to attract people in their early to mid thirties as they did in the beginning, then that's exactly what they should be playing...."oldies" from 1994-2003.

The only problem with that, to the listener, "recent oldies" such as 1994-2003 hits, is that they (musically) still sound new, or modern as compared to say the 60's and 70's, or even the 80's.

1954-1972 music has many different characteristics musically...But some of the late 90's & early 2000's music, sounds not much different from today's big hits.

Can you imagine hearing "Get Jiggy With It" (1998) or "Butterfly" (2001) or "Hey Ya" (2003) on KRTH 101? But heck, now that it's nearly 2013, anything's possible, right?

The elephant in the room is hip-hop. It's a real problem for classic hits stations seeing the advertiser-coveted bottom end of their 34-55 audience drop away -- they really can't add too much from 1990 on -- and that includes anything with a rap element or those chant-type pseudo-songs that apparently were created just to sell a ringtone --without chasing away the core listeners nearly completely. Maybe some of the lite-rock/AC staples like "Runaway Train" or "Ironic" or "Babylon," but there's only so much of that music out there that doesn't sound hopelessly dated. I mean, Hootie & the Blowfish was a huge radio act for a few years, but hardly anyone touches them now. And we still have no idea if an audience that now largely prefers mid-70s to mid-80s music wants to hear anything from the '90s or '00s. There's just too large a stylistic gulf to get across.

 

[oldies76]

but there's only so much of that music out there that doesn't sound hopelessly dated. I mean, Hootie & the Blowfish was a huge radio act for a few years, but hardly anyone touches them now.

And then you risk repetition issues, since there's not much too choose from anyways, because of all the hip hop songs taking hold.

 

[CTListener]

but there's only so much of that music out there that doesn't sound hopelessly dated. I mean, Hootie & the Blowfish was a huge radio act for a few years, but hardly anyone touches them now.

And then you risk repetition issues, since there's not much too choose from anyways, because of all the hip hop songs taking hold.

Right. You have to wonder whether there are enough listeners who transitioned smoothly into enjoying Men at Work and Phil Collins into enjoying the hip-hop-influenced music that dominated the charts through much of the '90s and '00s -- even songs like "Semi-Charmed Life" might be too much of a turnoff for someone who really dug stuff like "Karma Chameleon" and "True."

 

[michael hagerty]

Thing is, if they wanted to attract people in their early to mid thirties as they did in the beginning, then that's exactly what they should be playing...."oldies" from 1994-2003.

The only problem with that, to the listener, "recent oldies" such as 1994-2003 hits, is that they (musically) still sound new, or modern as compared to say the 60's and 70's, or even the 80's.

1954-1972 music has many different characteristics musically...But some of the late 90's & early 2000's music, sounds not much different from today's big hits.

Can you imagine hearing "Get Jiggy With It" (1998) or "Butterfly" (2001) or "Hey Ya" (2003) on KRTH 101? But heck, now that it's nearly 2013, anything's possible, right?

It's not about the sonic characteristics, it's about reliving memories...and since most CHRs and Hot ACs don't go back more than 7 or 8 years (max) with their music, that's an available niche for listeners in their early 30s.

I do agree with subsequent posters about the hip-hop problem. It probably isn't a big deal for listeners 35 and younger (who essentially grew up with it), but you won't have the spread up to 49 that you would normally have.

 

[PirateJohnny]

...Can't we have one person out there with enough money to just buck the system, as it were, and play something different like I described? Hmmm, if I won the Powerball Lottery, that would probably be one of my pet projects. Buy a station, and to he!! with ratings, I'm going to play music I like to hear! (apparently I'm not alone, I see many others on this board feel the same way I do about this). I grew up in the late 60's - early 70's and I would be playing everything from bubblegum (Archies, TO&Dawn, Partridge Family, etc) to rock (Deep Purple, Steppenwolf, Bloodrock, Zep, Yes, Grand Funk, etc) and everything in between. I love it all! With a heavy emphasis on that time period (1967 - 1974). For it was, IMHO, the golden age of rock.

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Sounds like you're describing Nashville, TN's Hippie Radio.

http://www.hippieradio945.com/