I’ve already noticed some pretty big changes in the classic hits format recently. Hearing more Maroon 5, and other artists that I thought I’d never hear on a classic hits station. So for that reason, I think you’re right. I’ve also noticed that I prefer to listen to talk radio in the car more often these days so I guess it’s just the nature of progression. Normally I’d complain, but it’s just the way the market for older music is going, unfortunately.
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Let's watch everyone lose their minds. KRTH is playing...
- Thread starter michael hagerty
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Here's the thing---everyone had their perceptions of oldies and then classic hits warped by what happened to oldies because of Boomers whose tastes had calcified.
When oldies first launched as a format, they were playing records that were 8-18 years old. But when the format tried to go newer than 1972, The oldest Boomers pitched a fit. So the format that was intended originally to deliver 18-49 year old adults was playing 40 year old records.
Classic Hits from 2005 or so on, fixed that----but it's been reliant on finding records that are still too old to be within the personal memories of the majority of the 18-49 audience. It's been really lucky to find as many as it has. But ultimately, classic hits probably needs to be songs that are 5 to 20 years old.
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I think they've seen that playing more recent songs (in moderation) isn't hurting them. Plus a lot of recent music is drawn from older music. A great example of Elton John's recent duet with Dua Lipa that incorporates four of his hits including Rocket Man. It's only two years old, but it's based on classic hits.
A newspaper opinion columnist said his daughter said things are different now than when he was a teenager in the 1950s. He told her he was born in 1967 and she said, "OK, boomer."
Most of what is played is 80s though.
I can't find the post about Madonna and Prince but it will be a wonderful day when these songs can't be found.
So we've proven the teenage daughter of a newspaper columnist is off by three years.
Did you miss the part about "accelerating time window"?
There are various opinions on when the Boomer generation ended, but all are in the 1961 to 1964 range. Most statistics I have seen on population groups uses either 1962 or 1964 as the end.
Your favorite, Wikipedia, says "Baby boomers, sometimes shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964"
1964, of course, sets the limit at when Boomers became 18.
I'm glad you brought that up David...there are indeed many people who are referred to by others as an "engineer" in many industries besides Broadcasting who do not know the difference between a resistor or a capacitor. Back in the day, what you and I would call a "circuit board" (which, of course, contains any number of components i.e., resistors, caps, ICs etc.) is now referred to as a "card". And companies now have repair "techs" who do nothing all day but switch out "cards" (using the process of elimination) to "fix" malfunctioning equipment. No repairs at the component level are attempted. The cards are then simply sent back to the manufacturer, or more likely sent to an electronics recycling facility. Who needs a BSEE these days ?
That is only in certain markets. KCMO fm in KC mostly plays the exact same thing as five years ago except with some very early 90s. I would expect that to continue to be the case and move slowly. Uptown Funk still is an anomally, unless it is the "canary in the coal mine."
We have a saying here in California, tall_guy1: The future happens here first. This is the Los Angeles board.
No, we've proven the teenage daughter uses the term whether it's correct or not.
Right now though the future is one lone classic hits station playing one lone 10s song though.
I'll mark my caldnder!
Chimp, I hear you about Madonna and Prince. They're not my favorites. But they are a quintessentially 80's sound to so many people. Let me give an example. I'm on a trans-Atlantic cruise bound for the Azores Islands, then mainland Europe. ( Internet connection is very tenuous right now).
As you imagine, on a ship that holds 3,000 passengers, most are boomers or Gen. X. And they are begging the bands on board for Madonna and Prince songs. Tons of requests for those artists. I think I've heard "Material Girl" played at least 10 times so far, because the bar bands are obliging. And Prince is so popular that they created an entire production show, a complete stage show with a Prince impersonator and a Prince tribute band. So, on this issue you and I are outliers, because to pop music listeners around the world ( our passengers are about 70% American, 20% British, and 10% from Asia/ Philippines), middle-aged and seniors love those artists.
When the ship's bar bands launch into those songs, I go to my cabin and listen to "Radio Atlantico", a station based in Ponta Delgada, Azores, which plays Portuguese standards or folkloric music. It's a well-programmed station, with great songs. That's because I'm an outlier. But the huge majority of passengers aged 49-90 are in the bar or the stage show whooping it up to Madonna & Prince. They are the essence of 80's pop.
- D.
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Although, stations like that might closely resemble a gold based AC, which might "work" in some markets.
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