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Rewound Radio Oldies without the 80's

"Oldies without the 80's."

Hmmm, someone appears to be a little bent about CBS-FM playing the likes of Tone Loc... ::)
 
I read on the other board in a posting about this new station a mention from another Internet music station from WABC alum Howard Hoffman. Which station is that?
 
Hey Erwin,

You see that third link in my signature underneath this post... you know, the "great" one? It's that one. Click that one. ;)

Happy listening!
 
DToTheJ said:
"Oldies without the 80's."

Hmmm, someone appears to be a little bent about CBS-FM playing the likes of Tone Loc... ::)
Click to expand...

Honestly, "oldies without the 80s" has made sense all along--the bigger fallacy being the notion that oldies absolutely had to "evolve" into the 80s. Look: oldies at its best is something neatly circumscribed within the AM Top 40 era. When it comes to post-1980, though, you get demos which are simply not accustomed to consuming or even demanding "their" music packaged in an oldies-type fashion--the result being that WCBS is still pretty "seniorish" in its audience makeup. The post-1980 fare it plays may appear a ploy for younger audiences; but in practice, it's more a ploy to make the same old geezers feel less geezerish.

The problem with oldies isn't "old music"; it's that, in mass-appeal form, it's perceived primarily as a safe zone for reactive musical teabaggers who are frightened of the present. Otherwise, given the musical fare at hand, 1955-1980 is a perfectly fine, timeless time-frame bracket. If anything required "evolving", it wasn't the chronology, but the programming intelligence level--which may take it beyond a level that the Stepford Dentist is prepared to handle; but, so be it.

And when it comes to post-1980, I'd think that a Tone Loc nostalgist would be more desirable than a Wilson Phillips nostalgist. But then, I'm not an ad buyer preying upon a marketplace of morbidly obese 40-year-old crazy ladies. (No reference to Carnie Wilson intended.)
 
adma said:
Honestly, "oldies without the 80s" has made sense all along--the bigger fallacy being the notion that oldies absolutely had to "evolve" into the 80s.
Click to expand...

adma said:
The problem with oldies isn't "old music"; it's that, in mass-appeal form, it's perceived primarily as a safe zone for reactive musical teabaggers who are frightened of the present. Otherwise, given the musical fare at hand, 1955-1980 is a perfectly fine, timeless time-frame bracket.
Click to expand...

If I were programming to make fans of my audience (and I am, exclusive of commercial concerns, which is a luxury I can afford for now) I'd program music of - and informed by - an era. For instance, I run a station that's nominally alternative, but is focused on the period from 1982-1992. I play songs that preced hat era, though, and I play (many) newer songs than those from that period, but the older songs are the ones that informed that period, and the newer ones are informed by that period. I skip a lot of what's currently called "alternative", because it doesn't fit (and I'd also argue that it's not actually alternative, but that's another argument for another time.)

Thus, if I were playing the 1955-1963 era in pop, I'd play perhaps a few songs that predated the era but "fit", and I'd play some of the many songs that the era served as a touchstone for.

But there isn't any way I could justify Tone-Loc that way. Tone-Loc's style's timeline starts in that era and has few antecedents among the hits that precede it. I'd sure play Tone-Loc if I wanted to *focus* on the 80's, though.
 
I'd say that right now, CBS-FM (and the modern-day "greatest hits" format in general) is primarily focused on the 70's (not the 60's as the Dentist seems to think). That decade comprises the largest percentage of their playlist, they have an all-70's specialty show, they use resung WABC jingles from the 70's, and their Classic Countdown always features a countdown from the 70's (with the other slot alternating between 60's and 80's). It seems that most of the 60's and 80's songs they play are ones that might appeal to an audience that grew up in the 70's, as well as ones that generally stood the test of time.

Keeping all that in mind, I'd say the one rap song that might fit is "Rapper's Delight" (which they have also played). I identify that more with the disco era than with any rap hits from the mid-80's through today. But Tone Loc is definitely stretching it more than a little. So far thankfully they've only played him during specialty features (Two Hit Wonders and Artists A-Z). Other than that, they're doing a good job of catering to their core audience, and are generally a very entertaining station to listen to.
 
WCBS plays a lot of cheesy stuff!

KOOL/Phoenix & KRTH/Los Angeles are alot better!

Better sounding overall & much better music!
 
hubcity said:
adma said:
Honestly, "oldies without the 80s" has made sense all along--the bigger fallacy being the notion that oldies absolutely had to "evolve" into the 80s.
Click to expand...

adma said:
The problem with oldies isn't "old music"; it's that, in mass-appeal form, it's perceived primarily as a safe zone for reactive musical teabaggers who are frightened of the present. Otherwise, given the musical fare at hand, 1955-1980 is a perfectly fine, timeless time-frame bracket.
Click to expand...

If I were programming to make fans of my audience (and I am, exclusive of commercial concerns, which is a luxury I can afford for now) I'd program music of - and informed by - an era. For instance, I run a station that's nominally alternative, but is focused on the period from 1982-1992. I play songs that preced hat era, though, and I play (many) newer songs than those from that period, but the older songs are the ones that informed that period, and the newer ones are informed by that period. I skip a lot of what's currently called "alternative", because it doesn't fit (and I'd also argue that it's not actually alternative, but that's another argument for another time.)

Thus, if I were playing the 1955-1963 era in pop, I'd play perhaps a few songs that predated the era but "fit", and I'd play some of the many songs that the era served as a touchstone for.

But there isn't any way I could justify Tone-Loc that way. Tone-Loc's style's timeline starts in that era and has few antecedents among the hits that precede it. I'd sure play Tone-Loc if I wanted to *focus* on the 80's, though.
Click to expand...

Or of course, if you're looking to a "rhythmic" lean, as opposed to the "alternative" lean you're presently claiming. (Curious how that didn't dawn on you.)

It might also be an argument for such a time-specific focus; because, to be honest, that's my oldies ideal--to be perfectly circumscribed within the highs and the lows of its time period without having to resort to beyond-the-timeline crutches. Like, I'd rather have an 60s/70s-focussed oldies station that plays (to take an earlier equivalent to your Tone Loc citation) Daddy Dewdrop's "Chick-A-Boom" to one that plays "Kokomo" or "The Motown Song"--maybe because in my books, retro/ironic/camp appeal is preferrable to "musical teabagger" appeal...
 
Honestly, "oldies without the 80s" has made sense all along--the bigger fallacy being the notion that oldies absolutely had to "evolve" into the 80s. Look: oldies at its best is something neatly circumscribed within the AM Top 40 era. When it comes to post-1980, though, you get demos which are simply not accustomed to consuming or even demanding "their" music packaged in an oldies-type fashion--the result being that WCBS is still pretty "seniorish" in its audience makeup. The post-1980 fare it plays may appear a ploy for younger audiences; but in practice, it's more a ploy to make the same old geezers feel less geezerish.

The problem with oldies isn't "old music"; it's that, in mass-appeal form, it's perceived primarily as a safe zone for reactive musical teabaggers who are frightened of the present. Otherwise, given the musical fare at hand, 1955-1980 is a perfectly fine, timeless time-frame bracket. If anything required "evolving", it wasn't the chronology, but the programming intelligence level--which may take it beyond a level that the Stepford Dentist is prepared to handle; but, so be it.

And when it comes to post-1980, I'd think that a Tone Loc nostalgist would be more desirable than a Wilson Phillips nostalgist. But then, I'm not an ad buyer preying upon a marketplace of morbidly obese 40-year-old crazy ladies. (No reference to Carnie Wilson intended.)
Click to expand...

You deserve kudos for the quote of "Stepford Dentist".
 
adma said:
Or of course, if you're looking to a "rhythmic" lean, as opposed to the "alternative" lean you're presently claiming. (Curious how that didn't dawn on you.)

It might also be an argument for such a time-specific focus; because, to be honest, that's my oldies ideal--to be perfectly circumscribed within the highs and the lows of its time period without having to resort to beyond-the-timeline crutches. Like, I'd rather have an 60s/70s-focussed oldies station that plays (to take an earlier equivalent to your Tone Loc citation) Daddy Dewdrop's "Chick-A-Boom" to one that plays "Kokomo" or "The Motown Song"--maybe because in my books, retro/ironic/camp appeal is preferrable to "musical teabagger" appeal...
Click to expand...

Sorry - I can see how that got confused. I was saying that if I were programming an "80's" station, as opposed to the "80's-centric alternative" station that I *am* programming. Yeah, an 80's station that plays Tone-Loc would definitely be leaning rhythmic. (Actually, I think there's room in the world for an 80's-centric Rhythmic format. It just wouldn't be me programming it - I haven't got the knowledge.)
 
hubcity said:
Sorry - I can see how that got confused. I was saying that if I were programming an "80's" station, as opposed to the "80's-centric alternative" station that I *am* programming. Yeah, an 80's station that plays Tone-Loc would definitely be leaning rhythmic. (Actually, I think there's room in the world for an 80's-centric Rhythmic format. It just wouldn't be me programming it - I haven't got the knowledge.)
Click to expand...

Except that as a Billboard #1, Tone Loc didn't just have "rhythmic" appeal; so for better or worse, he would qualify for a general-purpose 80s station--wouldn't he? (I guess that's where the trainwrecks of Jack-type radio as a post-80s oldies proxy come in.)

The problem here, I suppose, is that when it comes to tackling the 80s, you're dealing with all sorts of cultural-segmentation factors; so if you're programming a general-purpose "80s" station that factors out the likes of Tone Loc, it has to be a lot more inherently AC-leaning than its 50s/60s/70s counterparts--which, I suppose, would please MTV-phobics like the Stepford Dentist...
 
adma said:
hubcity said:
Sorry - I can see how that got confused. I was saying that if I were programming an "80's" station, as opposed to the "80's-centric alternative" station that I *am* programming. Yeah, an 80's station that plays Tone-Loc would definitely be leaning rhythmic. (Actually, I think there's room in the world for an 80's-centric Rhythmic format. It just wouldn't be me programming it - I haven't got the knowledge.)
Click to expand...

Except that as a Billboard #1, Tone Loc didn't just have "rhythmic" appeal; so for better or worse, he would qualify for a general-purpose 80s station--wouldn't he? (I guess that's where the trainwrecks of Jack-type radio as a post-80s oldies proxy come in.)

The problem here, I suppose, is that when it comes to tackling the 80s, you're dealing with all sorts of cultural-segmentation factors; so if you're programming a general-purpose "80s" station that factors out the likes of Tone Loc, it has to be a lot more inherently AC-leaning than its 50s/60s/70s counterparts--which, I suppose, would please MTV-phobics like the Stepford Dentist...
Click to expand...

Sure - I'm tackling one segment on my own (the Modern-Rock/College-Rock/Alternative side of it.) In fact, because of the segmentation factors you mention, I'm not sure how easy it would be to construct a station that defined itself simply as "the Eighties" in such a way that any mass audience would want to listen to it.
 
hubcity said:
Sure - I'm tackling one segment on my own (the Modern-Rock/College-Rock/Alternative side of it.) In fact, because of the segmentation factors you mention, I'm not sure how easy it would be to construct a station that defined itself simply as "the Eighties" in such a way that any mass audience would want to listen to it.
Click to expand...

Compounded by the fact that what did pass itself off as squarely "mass audience" at the time has, by and large, not aged well--think of how anything from "We Built This City" to Wilson Phillips now inspire punchlines and cringes beyond even 70s "Have A Nice Day" fare.

If one thinks of oldies as a mainstrean-Top-40-nostalgia-based format--unfortunately (and ironically), nostalgists for the golden age of Top-8-at-8 features and John Garabedian's "Open House Party" are probably further out on the tinpot fringe than those longing for something more specifically rock/modern/hip-hop/dance/country-based.
 
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