Oldies "work" in PA. Why not Atlanta?

[bnaivar]

http://www.mercyhurst.edu/mu-news/news/campus-life/2013/radio-station

 

[RBRadioWaves]

I'm with you on this boat, sort of.

Atlanta's just a different, bigger, and younger (I'm assuming) market. I think, if done well, we could have a successful classic hits station. But, it has not been enacted well. We had 106.7 until Cumulus took it over and messed around with it.

 

[atlantaboy]

Compare the average age in Erie PA vs. the average age in the Atlanta metro

 

[JVR]

CLASSIC HITS (not oldies, which is 50s-70s) was "working" here on 106.7 before Cumulus bought it. Cumulus, when they bought it, saw an opportunity for all-news and launched it. A 2.9 was the final official share of WYAY before it flipped. BUT (and this is huge)- Classic Hits sucks for billing here in Atlanta. It just sucks. Ad buyers don't was people older than 54 year olds. That's just a fact, and you can't deny it, even if you disagree with it. Therefore, no intelligent and rational company will be launching an older-pop station what plays any type of 60s music. And the 70s are dying fast, too.

 

[atlantaboy]

Music form the 1960s is now close to 50 years old - that would be the equivalent of a station back in the 80s playing music from the 1930s

 

[michael hagerty]

Besides the differences in population, ethnicity and demographics between Erie, PA and Atlanta, there is nothing other than some Facebook "likes" that says the station in Erie is working. They are a non-commercial college-owned station. There is zero here to suggest that what they do could be successful commercially in a large, competitive market.

 

[jabba17]

Music form the 1960s is now close to 50 years old - that would be the equivalent of a station back in the 80s playing music from the 1930s

WJYF 104.1 Joy-FM did, back in the 80s. Which eventually flipped to a simulcast of Y106.

 

[landtuna]

Music form the 1960s is now close to 50 years old - that would be the equivalent of a station back in the 80s playing music from the 1930s

That statement has no meaning.

The music of the 60's (in addition to some from the late 50's, the 70's besides Disco and some from the early 80's) is unique in the history of music. The popularity, innovation, technology and presentation far exceeded that of any other period in recorded history. That music had an effect on the social fabric of most of the world unprecedented in history. There are many reasons this generation of music will live for a considerable time and why there is no comparison to music from earlier or later generations.

 

[atlantaboy]

Music form the 1960s is now close to 50 years old - that would be the equivalent of a station back in the 80s playing music from the 1930s

That statement has no meaning.

The music of the 60's (in addition to some from the late 50's, the 70's besides Disco and some from the early 80's) is unique in the history of music. The popularity, innovation, technology and presentation far exceeded that of any other period in recorded history.

With all due respect, that's a pretty biased statement - especially the part about skipping Disco

 

[landtuna]

With all due respect, that's a pretty biased statement - especially the part about skipping Disco

All opinion is biased of course but that doesn't make it untrue.

Disco is excepted because it served primarily as dance/club music and had a very limited lifespan.

 

[carolinaradio]

The majority of successful "oldies" (classic hits) stations today only play a handful of 60s music. Nobody is going to play much 60s music anymore.

 

[landtuna]

The majority of successful "oldies" (classic hits) stations today only play a handful of 60s music. Nobody is going to play much 60s music anymore.

People keep saying this but no one, to my knowledge, has backed it up with facts. I can think of about half a dozen Oldies stations playing 60's and 70's and being financially successful. One that was mentioned just last week (Hippie Radio) plays almost exclusively 60's.

 

[jabba17]

Music form the 1960s is now close to 50 years old - that would be the equivalent of a station back in the 80s playing music from the 1930s

There are many reasons this generation of music will live for a considerable time and why there is no comparison to music from earlier or later generations.

The ongoing narcissism and media worship of baby boomers?

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind that the particular radio station in the article in the OP is a non-commercial college radio station. That means it's not subject to the whims of advertisers. They expect listeners to pay for the station. How many Atlantans would pay an annual membership fee for an oldies radio station? Honestly.

 

[landtuna]

There are many reasons this generation of music will live for a considerable time and why there is no comparison to music from earlier or later generations.

The ongoing narcissism and media worship of baby boomers?
[/quote]

I note the smiley faces but as to your comment.....boomers have been topics of discussion for a long time now and rightfully so. Their numbers are huge and the decisions they made (and make in the future) will affect the USA far beyond that of any other generation until they are gone.

That said, this discussion wasn't about the Boomers but rather the music they grew up with. Rock 'n Roll came along in the mid-50's when the youngest Boomers were but ten years old - they had very little, if any, influence at that time. By 1960, when the last of the Boomers was born, they were having an influence but by then RnR was well on its way. Then came the British Invasion, Folk Rock, Psycho Rock and all the other forms. The last Boomers aged out of their teen years in the early 80's, coincidentally just as the "greatest generation of music" (my label) died.

I am a pre-Boomer. My wife is a late Boomer. Sometime after we first met (and while listening to my Oldies library) she told me she wished she had been born 10 years earlier. She said the music and the teen culture of the 50's was a lot more interesting and exciting than the 70's.

I didn't know what she meant then. I do now.

 

[michael hagerty]

The majority of successful "oldies" (classic hits) stations today only play a handful of 60s music. Nobody is going to play much 60s music anymore.

People keep saying this but no one, to my knowledge, has backed it up with facts. I can think of about half a dozen Oldies stations playing 60's and 70's and being financially successful. One that was mentioned just last week (Hippie Radio) plays almost exclusively 60's.

Hippie Radio is financially successful? Got figures to back that up?

Meantime, the most successful Classic Hits stations in the country are, as CarolinaRadio said, playing only a handful of 60s tracks.

WCBS-FM, New York plays between 1 and 3 per hour.

KRTH, Los Angeles seems to do 4 come hell or high water.

I can't find a playlist on the WLS-FM, Chicago website.

KOSF in San Francisco appears to do 1 or 2 and will go an hour without a 60s song.

KLUV in Dallas plays 2 an hour.

WOGL in Philadelphia plays 3 per hour.

WOMC, Detroit plays between 1 and 4.

WMXJ, Miami plays 2 or 3.

KJR-FM, Seatlle appears to play 2.

And KOOL in Phoenix appears to be down to 2 per hour.

By definition, when you're playing 12 to 15 songs per hour, between 1 and 4 is a handful. And it's an ever-shrinking handful. These are stations that were 50% 60s music 6 or 7 years ago and 75% or more 60s music 10 years ago.

 

[PirateJohnny]

The majority of successful "oldies" (classic hits) stations today only play a handful of 60s music. Nobody is going to play much 60s music anymore.

People keep saying this but no one, to my knowledge, has backed it up with facts. I can think of about half a dozen Oldies stations playing 60's and 70's and being financially successful. One that was mentioned just last week (Hippie Radio) plays almost exclusively 60's.

Not the "Hippie" in Nashville, TN. I hear more 70s than 60s.

 

[landtuna]

Hippie Radio is financially successful? Got figures to back that up?

That sentence should have been a new paragraph. My intent was to show that there is one station I know of playing almost exclusively 60's songs. It had nothing to do with the financial statement.

By definition, when you're playing 12 to 15 songs per hour, between 1 and 4 is a handful. And it's an ever-shrinking handful. These are stations that were 50% 60s music 6 or 7 years ago and 75% or more 60s music 10 years ago.

Yes, we all know that the music of the 60's is gradually fading away. But isn't fading away everywhere. That was my point.

The next ten years will be interesting as Boomers continue to see their classic hits erode away. What happens when the dial reaches 1990, 1995, 2000? All those ears, coveted by advertisers or not, will be gone because they won't listen to crap either. Those of us on the leading edge have already left.

 

[michael hagerty]

By definition, when you're playing 12 to 15 songs per hour, between 1 and 4 is a handful. And it's an ever-shrinking handful. These are stations that were 50% 60s music 6 or 7 years ago and 75% or more 60s music 10 years ago.

Yes, we all know that the music of the 60's is gradually fading away. But isn't fading away everywhere. That was my point.

"Everywhere" is a big place. In the Top 15 markets that have Classic Hits stations, it's absolutely fading away. And one-tenth of the nation's population lives in the top two metro areas, New York and Los Angeles. Add those other 13 and you have a considerable percentage (somewhere north of 20%). If someone in Bismarck, N.D. is still playing 10 60s tracks per hour, that doesn't mean a significant number of people are hearing it.

The next ten years will be interesting as Boomers continue to see their classic hits erode away. What happens when the dial reaches 1990, 1995, 2000? All those ears, coveted by advertisers or not, will be gone because they won't listen to crap either.

And they'll be replaced by grown adults who don't agree with you that their oldies are crap.

 

[davideduardo]

The majority of successful "oldies" (classic hits) stations today only play a handful of 60s music. Nobody is going to play much 60s music anymore.

People keep saying this but no one, to my knowledge, has backed it up with facts. I can think of about half a dozen Oldies stations playing 60's and 70's and being financially successful. One that was mentioned just last week (Hippie Radio) plays almost exclusively 60's.

Hippie Radio in Nashville:

2012. Billings $175,000 or about $15 k a month..

25-54 share last 3 months, #21.

Billing rank: 29th.