I have a sinking feeling this is leading to the end of the syndicated Westwood One format itself.
Unfortunately, I do too. And it upsets me since it was always kind of a unique format. I'm 56 years old now, but back in the 80s I worked for KDON-AM and FM in Salinas. While I ultimately became a jock on the FM one of my first jobs there in my teens was working the AM automation system, which the first time around as a standards station ran the Toby Arnold "Unforgettable" standards format which was all done on reels and cart carousels. That was more traditional "standards." A few years and a few formats later, KDON-AM came back to standards, using Stardust, which was live via satellite. This ultimately became "Timeless," which shut down in 2010 I think. I did like Stardust better, because it mixed Soft AC songs that I actually knew (because my mother loved that music) with the more popular standards that made for a nice mix, along with very relaxed personalities (I remember Eddie Hubbard, Joe Lacina because we had to change the ID carts to match the schedule on the wall.)
Today, when I drive up to see my Dad (Mom lives with my sister in Clovis now after an accident last year) in Carmel, when I drive on US 101 I always seek out K-Jewel (AM 1400 and a translator at 106.5 in San Luis Obispo) when I get near Paso Robles and listen as far as I can down to Santa Barbara before I lose the signal (it's only 1,000 watts). They are also an affiliate of ABM but they don't stream. I have picked them up through all of the muck at night from San Diego, but it's barely listenable with all of the other stations on 1400. They don't play so many standards these days, although I think some still sneak in when they need to play filler music. Most of it is Soft AC from the late 60s through the 80s with the core being 70s and perhaps early 80s. I know that the audience is aging out and passing on, so I can see the end of this format too. To my knowledge there are only two national formats that play this type of music: America's Best Music and an old standby that still continues today, Music of Your Life. MOYL plays more standards, but when I've listened to it, it seems to be more unknown and jazz tracks, along with new versions of the standards. I think they do still have personalities though. ABM dropped personalities a number of years ago, and I feel that's a shame. Someone on this board put up some old links and there are some YouTube videos that feature the personality format and it was nice and relaxed, like having a friend along for the drive. They don't do that anymore. Just tunes and liners. I don't even think they do jingles anymore.
There are a handful of standalone stations that program their own standards format, but I really liked the ABM format because I always felt it was a good mix of songs that played well together, even today with less actual standards. But if Westwood One or Cumulus have been eliminating formats, I do see this one coming to an end soon. It's too bad. It kind of connected me to my grandparents' generation. In fact, I remember my grandmother visiting us in Monterey in the 80s and when I played KDON-AM for her, she really loved the format. But she's been gone for 28 years now. My last living grandparent has been gone for almost 16 years now. This format was for them. I don't see too many people listening to it today. Does Arthur Liu's Multicultural stations still use MOYL in overnights? We may be saying RIP to this format soon enough since many of its audience are RIP.
