Oldies stations tweaking their playlists?

[berlin201]

I have noticed recently that several oldies stations are starting to include 80s hits in their playlists: Majic 94.1 in the Triad--- and its Cleveland namesake WMJI--- have mixed in 80s hits with their 60s and 70s playlists, and recently I heard a Survivor song on Y-102.9. Is this a trend the current oldies stations are adopting in an effort to prevent from going down like predecessors such as Magic 96.1 in Charlotte and Oldies 100.7 in Raleigh? I can understand Majic 94.1 and Y-102.9 having 80s songs in their libraries--- both were 80s-hits stations before switching to oldies--- but I find it curious that WMJI--- an oldies station since 1990--- still has 80s tunes around; their current slogan refers to "Fun Music from the 60s and 70s."

 

[XTalker]

It is one way of responding the problem of the aging demographic.

Consider current music stations (country, CHR, urban, etc.) all rely on a stable demo - let's say 18-34 (teens are freebies) and allow the audience to age through it. Once someone leaves the demo, the don't care because there are new listeners coming in through the younger end. The stations continue to play current music and the older demos move on.

The problem for oldies is that unless the playlist is redefined regularly, rather the the audience growing through the format, the format grows older with the audience.

Remember "Beautiful Music". Those stations that played mostly instrumental music had a license to print money in the 70s. By the mid-80s, however, their demos had grown too old for advertisers. What started our as a 35-54 demo became 45-54, and 54-64, and 64+. And each year, the core grew older and older.

Stations who's music is founded in the 50s and 60s have experienced the same problem. Then you hear them focus on the mid-60s, and then added some 70s. music. Well, now the person who was in the core of oldies formatted stations 20 years ago is now in the over 60 crowd and while that group is more active than the 60+ crowd of 20 years ago, they are still not a popular target for advertisers.

Don't be surprized to hear some early 90s product on an "oldies" station in the next couple of years. The format must evolve or go the way of the BM stations of the 70s and 80s.