KevinFodor said:
Regardless of any strange posts, here are the facts about "oldies":
The original format now largely reaches people over 55. Big ticket advertisers will not support that. Argue all that you will (they're the biggest percentage of the population, they have the most money, they knew Elvis as a young boy) it will not change their minds.
Being #1 25-54 does not help, either...if too much of the audience is considered over 45.
It has happened all over the country...not just in Nashville. The advertisers rely on means other than radio to reach that older demo.
This is why oldies morphed into "classic hits". It works. (Especially from a PPM perspective), and the demos are a little better.
Yes, in Tampa, Florida...beautiful music works. Check the percentage of older vs. younger in the population and compare it to Nashville. You can see why it's survived there. And, the format is not the "beautiful music" of old. It's an updated version of it.
Well hello Gentlemen & if hello Ladies are present:
I'm back from silence, it's after midnight on a Friday night & I cannot sleep, so I read these posts and there are so many comments about this format not being on a FM Channel, that the Nashville Radio Board becomes boring to read.
The comments that the young man just made are true. My first thought, it's bad to refer to the this format as "Oldies". Look we are now, coming up on 2010, and the 60's oldies are 40 years old. That doesn't cater to a 30 year old. We should refer to all the music from 1955 to 2005 as "Classic Hits", after all they were all hits!
Consultants are breaking down Oldies/Classic Hits into age groups:
Classic Hits for 25-40
Classic Hits for 40-55
Classic Hits for 55+
We expect ages 25-70 to like the same old classic songs. The world doesn't work that way. I have found that many adults 30-45 don't remember the AM Top 40 stations like WMAK, WLAC, and especially WKDA, that's too far back, way before some of them were born or too young to listen to radio. You guys that are 55-65 cannot expect a 30 year old to remember the music WKDA play as a Top 40 station. It was before their time. All the teens today know is Hanna Montana, and all that bubble gum stuff thay is on the Disney Channel. Most of you are grandparents, and you should already know that.
The answer to all of this is HD Radio. One or two FM's can serve a Classic Hits station for the 25-40 year olds, one Classic Hits station for the 40-55 year olds, and one Classic Hits station for the 55-70 and above. The technology is there, but I don't really understand why corporate is not taking advantage of it.
Speaking of Beautiful Music, there are areas where it does work. In Punta Gorda, Florida (the Ft. Myers Market), the northern retirees come down during the winter time to their Florida Homes. Punta Gorda did have a good Easy Listening/Beautiful Music station, but Clear Channel screwed that up and changed it to country. I think they have a new one in the market on 104.9, and it's called "Seaview 104.9". It caters to the 60+ audience. They came to their senses and realized they had a retiree audience that was active, spent loads of money, and they needed a station to cater to them.
The days of stations like "Oldies 96.3", I think are gone for good, but with HD Radio, we can bring a Classic Hits format for every age group. It's being done on XM, Satellite TV, so why no traditional radio, in HD? In addition, the FCC should force all radio manufactures to put HD on ALL RECEIVERS, so the masses can find what they like. There is no reason why there should be a radio station for each age group in each market in America.
Getting on this (Nashville Board) to complain about this is doing nobody any good. Nobody of importance is listening to anybody here, as a matter of fact, the big guys don't read the discussions boards anyway. Forget about AM, it's in a terrible mess right now, and the FCC is ignoring it, but FM HD can save the day and make everyone happy. We have the technology, but its politics that's in the way, and money hungry corporate giants like the former GM giants!
The only problem I see is that our good ole federal government let Ibiquity rule over HD Radio. A ruling in Congress can knock them out of the way, and allow free HD Radio, with all kinds of Current Top 40 Formats, Classic Hits Formats for all age groups, Spanish Formats, Various Urban Formats, a Beautiful Music Format, Talk Formats, to be received on one band. Instead of getting on this board to complain, grip to your congressmen and senators, who need to be educated about this, have them get with the FCC, and get HD Radio rolling, free for all, and formats for all ages.
I may not be right on my comments here, but this is how I see it, and the only way to give everybody what they want from traditional radio. Sitting back and just complaining about it here does no good. Not many are reading or listening that have the control. My personal gut feeling is that if HD was doing what the FCC set out for it to do, nobody would be here with complaints, but this is not a perfect world.
I'll now go back to silence.