How soon is too soon for newer songs on oldies stations?

[the golden boy]

I made a similar topic about this on the Mississippi board, but the oldies station here in Jackson (WQJQ-Q105.1) have been playing songs deep into the 90s from Aerosmith and Santana, as well recent remakes from this decade from Michael McDonald ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough") and Uncle Kracker ("Drift Away"). Sure, oldies music has to evolve over time to include more recent music, but are the 90s and 2000s too soon?

 

[OldiesCat]

newer songs on oldies stations?

I made a similar topic about this on the Mississippi board, but the oldies station here in Jackson (WQJQ-Q105.1) have been playing songs deep into the 90s from Aerosmith and Santana, as well recent remakes from this decade from Michael McDonald ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough") and Uncle Kracker ("Drift Away"). Sure, oldies music has to evolve over time to include more recent music, but are the 90s and 2000s too soon?

They're doing what WOLL in West Palm Beach has been doing for several years and, in fact, most now consider WOLL an oldies-based AC station.

 

[AZJoe]

Re: newer songs on oldies stations?

I made a similar topic about this on the Mississippi board, but the oldies station here in Jackson (WQJQ-Q105.1) have been playing songs deep into the 90s from Aerosmith and Santana, as well recent remakes from this decade from Michael McDonald ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough") and Uncle Kracker ("Drift Away"). Sure, oldies music has to evolve over time to include more recent music, but are the 90s and 2000s too soon?

They're doing what WOLL in West Palm Beach has been doing for several years and, in fact, most now consider WOLL an oldies-based AC station.

Sounds good to me, who says you cant like both old and newer music on one station?Since when did the quality of music have to do with its age?

 

[amfmsw]

Last weekend, I discovered a box of air-checks of WCBS-FM 101.1 from 1989. I was working at a CBS Radio affiliate at the time. They would feed WCBS-FM down the line instead of a 400Hz tone to let the board operators know signal was there between News and features. I would roll tape and listen later.

Mark Summers was the jock. Sunday Morning with live talent, local news at the top of each hour. Even back then, with the imaging of "the Golden 101", they were playing Whitney Houston "How Would I Know", Kool & The Gang "Cherish", and Madonna "True Blue". Two currents/contemporaries/recurrents per hour. And they were very heavy on the Tommy Edwards, Duprees, Little Anthony style at the same time. THEY WERE ALSO #1!

 

[fang39]

Last weekend, I discovered a box of air-checks of WCBS-FM 101.1 from 1989. I was working at a CBS Radio affiliate at the time. They would feed WCBS-FM down the line instead of a 400Hz tone to let the board operators know signal was there between News and features. I would roll tape and listen later.

Mark Summers was the jock. Sunday Morning with live talent, local news at the top of each hour. Even back then, with the imaging of "the Golden 101", they were playing Whitney Houston "How Would I Know", Kool & The Gang "Cherish", and Madonna "True Blue". Two currents/contemporaries/recurrents per hour. And they were very heavy on the Tommy Edwards, Duprees, Little Anthony style at the same time. THEY WERE ALSO #1!

Ah yes, the good old days! I loved the way Joe McCoy programmed the station back then. They used to do a "Then & Now" Countdown show, too. And I'm sure the CBS-FM request lines were lit up with listeners griping about the new tunes being mixed in with the old. Unfortunately, as the years passed, the playlist was substantially downsized and they were left with about 400 well tested songs that they burnt to a crisp. Towards the end of their run, I could almost swear they were on a loop as I would hear the same songs--played in the same order--at the same time on successive days!

 

[JbeJay]

... air-checks of WCBS-FM 101.1 from 1989. ... with the imaging of "the Golden 101", they were playing Whitney Houston "How Would I Know", Kool & The Gang "Cherish", and Madonna "True Blue". Two currents/contemporaries/recurrents per hour. And they were very heavy on the Tommy Edwards, Duprees, Little Anthony style at the same time. THEY WERE ALSO #1!

WCBS-FM started including one or two currents or recurrents per hour during the first year they went into the format, but one needs to understand the context of that. WABC, the primary top-forty in the market at the time, played a lot of oldies, including from more than a couple of years before, as part of their approach to holding onto adult listeners. So the early CBS-FM audience was easily comfortable with hearing a new hit and a hit from fifteen years earlier on the same station.

That is much less common today in all markets and is non-existent in most markets. (That doesn't mean that it cannot be done. But it will be something that the audience isn't used to.)

As for WCBS-FM being #1, presumably you don't think the station was #1 overall in the NYC market at that moment, though it did have several periods of great success during its three decades in the format.

Jay

 

[fang39]

... air-checks of WCBS-FM 101.1 from 1989. ... with the imaging of "the Golden 101", they were playing Whitney Houston "How Would I Know", Kool & The Gang "Cherish", and Madonna "True Blue". Two currents/contemporaries/recurrents per hour. And they were very heavy on the Tommy Edwards, Duprees, Little Anthony style at the same time. THEY WERE ALSO #1!

WCBS-FM started including one or two currents or recurrents per hour during the first year they went into the format, but one needs to understand the context of that. WABC, the primary top-forty in the market at the time, played a lot of oldies, including from more than a couple of years before, as part of their approach to holding onto adult listeners. So the early CBS-FM audience was easily comfortable with hearing a new hit and a hit from fifteen years earlier on the same station.

That is much less common today in all markets and is non-existent in most markets. (That doesn't mean that it cannot be done. But it will be something that the audience isn't used to.)

As for WCBS-FM being #1, presumably you don't think the station was #1 overall in the NYC market at that moment, though it did have several periods of great success during its three decades in the format.

Jay

That may have been true when CBS-FM first signed on in early 1973, but the aircheck being referenced to was from 1989--some 16 years later! WABC had already been a Talk station for 7 years! And yes, CBS-FM WAS #1 in 1989! As Casey Stengel used to say "You could look it up!"

 

[JbeJay]

That may have been true when CBS-FM first signed on in early 1973 ...

Yes, what part of my specific reference to "the early CBS-FM audience" did you not understand?

(By the way, it wasn't "early 1973".)

 

[fang39]

(By the way, it wasn't "early 1973".)

Pardon me, it was 1972...I remember first listening to it in '73.

 

[fang39]

That may have been true when CBS-FM first signed on in early 1973 ...

Yes, what part of my specific reference to "the early CBS-FM audience" did you not understand?

The part where we were talking about 1989....when there was no other station in the market playing oldies and CBS-FM was still mixing in currents/recurrents with the greatest hits of all-time!

 

[JbeJay]

Yes, what part of my specific reference to "the early CBS-FM audience" did you not understand?

The part where we were talking about 1989....when there was no other station in the market playing oldies and CBS-FM was still mixing in currents/recurrents with the greatest hits of all-time!

My point -- to repeat it very clearly -- was that the station started playing "future gold" almost as long ago as when it went into the format. This wasn't something new in 1989. Its audience was used to it because the station had done it to varying degrees over much of the previous decade and a half. And its audience accepted it from the start because of the way things were done elsewhere before the CBS-FM format change.

And, to remind you further, the context of this portion of the discussion was one listener in another market who was questioning the mixing of older oldies and somewhat more recent music on the same "oldies" station. That sort of thing may stick out like a sore thumb in some markets, but in NYC the way things had been done for many years allowed it to work for many listeners.

Does it make sense now? (It has nothing to do with what format WABC was in as of 1989.)

Jay

 

[fang39]

Yes, what part of my specific reference to "the early CBS-FM audience" did you not understand?

The part where we were talking about 1989....when there was no other station in the market playing oldies and CBS-FM was still mixing in currents/recurrents with the greatest hits of all-time!

My point -- to repeat it very clearly -- was that the station started playing "future gold" almost as long ago as when it went into the format. This wasn't something new in 1989. Its audience was used to it because the station had done it to varying degrees over much of the previous decade and a half. And its audience accepted it from the start because of the way things were done elsewhere before the CBS-FM format change.

And, to remind you further, the context of this portion of the discussion was one listener in another market who was questioning the mixing of older oldies and somewhat more recent music on the same "oldies" station. That sort of thing may stick out like a sore thumb in some markets, but in NYC the way things had been done for many years allowed it to work for many listeners.

Does it make sense now? (It has nothing to do with what format WABC was in as of 1989.)

Jay

Yes, but your original inference was that it was originally done in 1972 to combat WABC. The fact that it was still being done in 1989, when WABC was no longer playing music and no other station played "oldies," proved that the listeners accepted it and enjoyed it. Fast forward a couple of years after that when they stopped doing it, the playlist became tighter and their numbers began to drop.

 

[JbeJay]

Yes, but your original inference was that it was originally done in 1972 to combat WABC.

Not in the least! You seem to be imagining things which were not written.

I had described the fact that WABC played a lot of non-current music even though it was a current-hit radio station. That provided the context for WCBS-FM when it started playing "future gold" only a few months after its format change. The listeners which CBS-FM shared with ABC -- and the sharing pattern was extensive at that point -- were already used to hearing old and new, not just one or the other.

In contrast with this, the person who started this topic was questioning the wisdom of a station playing vastly different eras of music. Evidently in that market -- or at least for that listener -- that is not commonly done.

Does that make it more clear? Or would you like to walk through it one more time? (Preferably without your misquoting me.)

Jay

 

[amfmsw]

By the way, it referenced itself several times as "Celebrating 16 years as New York's Oldies Satation". That would be 1973. And maybe if today's Oldies outlets played the cream of today, there wouldn't be this problem with demo "time lock".

Where's Dave Eduardo? c'mon champ...chime in.

 

[fang39]

Yes, but your original inference was that it was originally done in 1972 to combat WABC.

Not in the least! You seem to be imagining things which were not written.

I had described the fact that WABC played a lot of non-current music even though it was a current-hit radio station. That provided the context for WCBS-FM when it started playing "future gold" only a few months after its format change. The listeners which CBS-FM shared with ABC -- and the sharing pattern was extensive at that point -- were already used to hearing old and new, not just one or the other.

In contrast with this, the person who started this topic was questioning the wisdom of a station playing vastly different eras of music. Evidently in that market -- or at least for that listener -- that is not commonly done.

Does that make it more clear? Or would you like to walk through it one more time? (Preferably without your misquoting me.)

Jay

Jay, I understood the "context" you referred to was WABC's mixing in Oldies with currents to hold on to older listeners and how CBS-FM employed a similar strategy in their earlier years. My point, and that of the person who first brought it up, was that in 1989, they were still doing this, with great success. I never claimed that it was "new."

What I can do without is your condescending replies to someone who is merely expressing an opinion. After all, that's what this website is supposed to be about, right? We've got enough people here claiming to be direct descendants of Marconi, without adding your name to the mix, thank you.

 

[fang39]

By the way, it referenced itself several times as "Celebrating 16 years as New York's Oldies Satation". That would be 1973.

Sorry dude, but it was '72. Check out the links: http://www.wcbsfm.org/ & http://www.wcbsfm.com/pages/83414.php

I attended their 15th anniversary concert in the summer of '87 at Radio City Music Hall...what a great show! Fred Paris & The Five Satins, Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge and Dion! What a night!

 

[JbeJay]

What I can do without is your condescending replies to someone who is merely expressing an opinion.

I am condescending with people who do not read and comprehend. Opinions are fine, Fang. Distorting what someone else wrote is not.

'Nuff said.

 

[fang39]

What I can do without is your condescending replies to someone who is merely expressing an opinion.

I am condescending with people who do not read and comprehend. Opinions are fine, Fang. Distorting what someone else wrote is not.

'Nuff said.

Intention is by the writer, Interpetation is by the reader. Get over yourself, dude!

 

[OldiesCat]

Re: newer songs on oldies stations?

I made a similar topic about this on the Mississippi board, but the oldies station here in Jackson (WQJQ-Q105.1) have been playing songs deep into the 90s from Aerosmith and Santana, as well recent remakes from this decade from Michael McDonald ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough") and Uncle Kracker ("Drift Away"). Sure, oldies music has to evolve over time to include more recent music, but are the 90s and 2000s too soon?

They're doing what WOLL in West Palm Beach has been doing for several years and, in fact, most now consider WOLL an oldies-based AC station.

Sounds good to me, who says you cant like both old and newer music on one station?Since when did the quality of music have to do with its age?

I don't disagree with your last statement. However, most of the "I LUV OLDIES" club on this board will tell you it's blasphemous.