Should anyone under 55 or 60 be programming a Classic Rock station?

[radiobum]

How can someone born around the time that this music came out or wasn't listening to the music because they were too young REALLY know the music? I know they would say well I researched it and like a lot of it BUT...I suspect to a lot of them Traffic and Styx, for instance, are more or less 'the same' quality-wise.

I once heard "Sister Golden Hair' while in my car at 9:30 on a Friday night and later learned of the 'young' age of the P.D.

 

[N1WVQ]

I'm 33 & grew up listening to classic rock. Just because someone is born a certain year doesn't mean the music doesn't touch them. Hits of the '90s had no appeal to me so I'd be a bad P.D. for a '90s' gold station but I feel I could handle C.R.. Sounds like that P.D. is over their head.

 

[landtuna]

I agree with N1. I know several people much younger than I who listen almost exclusively to Oldies and appreciate them as much as I did growing up. I may be the "imprinted" listener but I think anyone of any age can develop a liking to any sort of music and it isn't necessary to have grown up with it. Obviously, a young person will not have the same music-oriented associations with the Oldies that someone my age will have but that doesn't mean they can't put together a playlist successfully.

Interestingly, both myself and my middle son have developed an independent liking of Big Band which was never played in the house while he lived here. Obviously neither one of us were alive when it was popular (at least in the original big band era). Sometimes things just grow on you for whatever reason.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Yes, judging at least from the experiences I share with my own offspring, today's younger listeners do appreciate the music I enjoyed in the '60s and early '70s. I find this to be a statement on quality; their generation's performers simply haven't produced the creative musical sounds stars of my generation did. And they admit it!

 

[radiobum]

Loosely related, I heard a Smooth version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" the other day and the young d.j. said 'that was done originally by a group CALLED Procol Harum".....as if they were an obscure group.

I once was a d.j. briefly for a big band/ jazz station..at age 24. I was hip enough to appreciate Charlie Christian and Art Tatum but as far as knowing what to play...

My point wasn't that a younger person couldn't appreciate the music of the classic rock era but that programming it is another matter.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I once heard "Sister Golden Hair' while in my car at 9:30 on a Friday night and later learned of the 'young' age of the P.D.

On a rock station? I hear that along with Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Perry Como.

The DJ has to explain Guess Who is a group and that he's not being Abbott and Costello.

 

[landtuna]

Loosely related, I heard a Smooth version of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" the other day and the young d.j. said 'that was done originally by a group CALLED Procol Harum".....as if they were an obscure group.

But they were an obscure group - sort of. They had only two major charting hits in the style of progressive rock which itself was sort of obscure (apologies to The Moody Blues).

I once was a d.j. briefly for a big band/ jazz station..at age 24. I was hip enough to appreciate Charlie Christian and Art Tatum but as far as knowing what to play...

You play what feels good and what moves you. If you "appreciate" the music then you will know. It's only a problem if you are trying to play what someone else "appreciates".

My point wasn't that a younger person couldn't appreciate the music of the classic rock era but that programming it is another matter.

I suspect most "young" PD's will stick to the hits as defined by the charts of the era and the format of the station but plenty of them also go off and explore the not-so-popular classics too. If you have a knack for the music programming isn't rocket science - unless, of course, you are trying to please someone whose opinions are different than yours. ;D

 

[Neanderpaul]

I think you might think radio is still in the credibility game.

It's not. Not because the music people don't want it to be that way. The business model has changed. And with all due respect, it's the older generation that has the biggest issue with that concept.

The age of the programmer doesn't matter.

Knowing your target audience is the game. That being said, are you talking PPM, or Diary world?

Two different schools of thought.

Please elaborate.

 

[michael hagerty]

Doesn't matter whether the PD is 18 or 80 as long as he can deliver the target audience...which is increasingly younger than some of the music.

Fail to do that, the station becomes a museum and then goes away entirely.

 

[boombox]

I grew up in the 70's and used to work at a company that programmed formats for stations. If I ever asked programmers why certain songs never made it to the classic rock format -- especially songs I recalled being played on rock radio during the 1970's, songs which never appeared on our classic rock format -- they'd say "that song didn't research well".

It seems the only age that matters is the age of the research the programmer is using to program the station.

 

[michael hagerty]

I grew up in the 70's and used to work at a company that programmed formats for stations. If I ever asked programmers why certain songs never made it to the classic rock format -- especially songs I recalled being played on rock radio during the 1970's, songs which never appeared on our classic rock format -- they'd say "that song didn't research well".

It seems the only age that matters is the age of the research the programmer is using to program the station.

Which, given the competitive realities, the money at stake and the method by which listening is measured, is exactly the way it needs to be.

 

[KFodor]

For just the same reason oldies stations rarely...or never...play "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Ha!", there are numerous album tracks played by radio in the 70's that have never stood the test of time. That, not the age of the song, is the reason for making the decision to play, or not play a song today...and research is the way you determine it.

As for the age of today's programmers, I think it depends on whether or not the programmer can relate to the format, the music and the lifestyle of those who listen. If you can do that, you can, within reason, program almost any format.