Someone mentioned "dorks who hang out on a radio board" like us, who obsess over obscure stations, illegal nighttime power, translator minutiae, call letters and other stuff the Average Joe is generally ignorant of. There are many more of "them" than there are of "us."
Could the same be true of people who can tell whether the recording of a 41-year-old song they hear on the radio is original or not? Discussion here of dying format elements like '60s/'70s oldies seems to attract a large number of, for lack of a better term, oldies dorks -- amateur musicologists who double as radio dorks. Those people can instantly tell the 1978 "Fool" from the re-recorded "Fool." But how many of KOAI's non-radio dork listeners will notice anything amiss, or complain loudly even if they do realize that the original isn't being played? I'd wager that the number would amaze and disappoint many of our regular posters.
Another thing to remember: To the average listener, John Sebastian isn't famous -- well, not the radio programmer; a decent percentage might associate the name with "Welcome Back" or the Lovin' Spoonful. So our outrage that a "veteran radio programmer" would be so slipshod in acquiring music for his format brainchild is shared by exactly zero people who don't frequent radio boards or work in radio.
Bottom line: Don't look for the re-recorded songs in the library to go anywhere. There's nothing in it for the station or the format's guiding light. KOAI won't lose significant listenership if some of the songs it plays aren't the originals, and making an effort to play only the originals will gain the station no new listeners, just win back the handful of radio/oldies dorks who jumped ship after the first few bars of latter-day Chris Rea.
