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Songs that no longer fit the format?

Has anyone noticed classic hits stations cutting back on 1980-1982/1983 material yet? The early 70s started fading out 10 years ago save for some big hits, now that those 80s songs are the same age I would expect them to start to be purged out. Only problem is, that puts the station more in to the late 80s and 90s where CHR started to fragment. I don’t think we’ve seen a classic hits station that has added enough 90s yet to where they have to venture outside of what’s “safe.”

1990 was 32 years ago. In 2012, 1980 was 32 years ago and classic hits had moved well in to the 80s, so they should be primarily in the mid 80s-90s at this point but that’s not the case. Seems to me maybe they know there’s going to be a 90s problem. Heck, even my local AC plays 4-5 80s tracks an hour and 2 from the 90s.
 
101tm said:
Has anyone noticed classic hits stations cutting back on 1980-1982/1983 material yet? The early 70s started fading out 10 years ago save for some big hits, now that those 80s songs are the same age I would expect them to start to be purged out.
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Remember, in the later 80's CHRs were playing lots of early 80's and even late 70's songs as gold. Younger listeners were exposed to them, and they are familiar and many research well.
 
“Superstition” by Stevie Wonder (1972!) is another one that likes to pop up on occasion. I know WLS-FM plays it heavily and WIAD in DC (Audacy) does semi regularly also.
 
101tm said:
Has anyone noticed classic hits stations cutting back on 1980-1982/1983 material yet? The early 70s started fading out 10 years ago save for some big hits, now that those 80s songs are the same age I would expect them to start to be purged out. Only problem is, that puts the station more in to the late 80s and 90s where CHR started to fragment. I don’t think we’ve seen a classic hits station that has added enough 90s yet to where they have to venture outside of what’s “safe.”

1990 was 32 years ago. In 2012, 1980 was 32 years ago and classic hits had moved well in to the 80s, so they should be primarily in the mid 80s-90s at this point but that’s not the case. Seems to me maybe they know there’s going to be a 90s problem. Heck, even my local AC plays 4-5 80s tracks an hour and 2 from the 90s.
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As mentioned in several other threads in this forum and others, 1980-82 was a down period for CHR (or Top 40, as it was still called then). Lots of Air Supply and Eddie Rabbitt and even Alabama, many songs that didn't age well and were never part of oldies or classic hits formats. Do you remember ever hearing "Physical" on a classic hits station? How about "Love in the First Degree" or "All Out of Love" or (gag) "I've Never Been to Me"? Disco had crashed and burned and New Wave was just taking baby steps into the mainstream. The door was open for a lot of material that never would have been considered for Top 40 radio five years earlier or five years later to not only get a big push but actually get heavy airplay. Those songs were hits by default, because the songs they were competing against were even worse or were too early to generate mass appeal. There really have never been many early '80s titles in classic hits, and most of them are probably gone already. The survivors will likely be the rare rock-based hits like 1981's "Jessie's Girl."
 
101tm said:
Has anyone noticed classic hits stations cutting back on 1980-1982/1983 material yet?
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It depends on the song. We talked about this on the LA board. There are early 80s songs that are more identified with the 70s because of the artist. Captain & Tenille, Olivia Newton John, and a few others had a couple hits in the early 80s, but they sound like 70s songs. Those get cut. Meanwhile, everyone still plays Sweet Home Alabama.
 
Good points. There wasn’t much from the early 80s..”Jessie’s Girl”, “867-5309”, “She’s a Beauty”, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Blondie, Hall and Oates, “Bette Davis Eyes”, “The Stroke”, “Funkytown”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “I Ran”, ““You Shook Me All Night Long”, etc.
 
101tm said:
One thing that’s notable is the evolution of the classic hits format is a testament to the fact that generally, pop music ages much more poorly than rock. When classic hits stations started moving more out of the 70s in the early-mid 2010s, the 70s soul, disco, and some pop was the first to go, then the more AC stuff followed a few years later. There’s still a tiny bit of disco on classic hits in the top markets (“Le Freak”, “Get Down Tonight”, “I Will Survive”, “Hot Stuff”, “Play That Funky Music”).

I notice that the classic hits stations in some larger markets like Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Seattle, and ESPECIALLY Portland (KLTH still goes back to the 60s!) are still heavy on 70s music vs the larger market stations primarily owned by Audacy. Do these stations overall perform more poorly in the target demo, or does the demo in the market have more of a preference for older music?

Here in SC, 3 of the classic hits stations - WOMG, WIWF, and WSYN - are all still quite friendly to 70s music. Coincidentally or not, all are owned by Cumulus.
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David posted in a thread in the Atlanta board that says the stations in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Boston, Cleveland and Indianapolis had a 25-54 share of at least 6 in the April book (though he didn't reveal their rank in the demo), and KJEB in Seattle was #2 25-54 and tied for 1st 18-49 in the May book, so it seems like some of these stations are doing just fine in the money demos. WLS-FM in Chicago has been an inconsistent 25-54 since last year, but they were a consistent top 5 station 25-54/18-49 in 2018-20 after first going in their current direction. I think their current issues probably have more to do with failure to re adjust the playlist/rest certain songs when needed and having added hardly any songs over the past several years according to this Sean Ross article (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/223989/what-classic-hits-stations-added-this-year/).
101tm said:
“Superstition” by Stevie Wonder (1972!) is another one that likes to pop up on occasion. I know WLS-FM plays it heavily and WIAD in DC (Audacy) does semi regularly also.
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Not a "true" Classic Hits station like WCBS-FM, WIAD, or WLS-FM, but Audacy owned KKHH has started to ocassionally play "Superstition" along with the aforementioned "Your Song" over the past several months, and this despite decreasing the amount of '70s music (including dropping some of the songs in the original post) and increasing the '90s music in that time period.
 
94.5 3WS in Pittsburgh is iHeart, so of course it leans older, but they’re digging in the vault for some of the stuff they play - “Imagine” by John Lennon (that used to be a huge staple on a lot of formats that was played to death years ago), “Yesterday”, “Daydream Believer”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “Danny’s Song”, “Twist and Shout”, “Spirit in the Sky”, “Changes”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “For What It’s Worth”, “Something”, “Sweet Caroline”, etc in addition to the standard 70s tracks the Audacy stations all play, all the while including a pretty decent amount of 90s hits.

Playlist seems a little looser or I don’t think songs are rotated as heavily on iHeart classic hits stations vs. Audacy, but I may be wrong.
 
jt99 said:
David posted in a thread in the Atlanta board that says the stations in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Boston, Cleveland and Indianapolis had a 25-54 share of at least 6 in the April book (though he didn't reveal their rank in the demo), and KJEB in Seattle was #2 25-54 and tied for 1st 18-49 in the May book, so it seems like some of these stations are doing just fine in the money demos. WLS-FM in Chicago has been an inconsistent 25-54 since last year, but they were a consistent top 5 station 25-54/18-49 in 2018-20 after first going in their current direction. I think their current issues probably have more to do with failure to re adjust the playlist/rest certain songs when needed and having added hardly any songs
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Agreed, WLS-FM sounds like somebody put it together and walked away. The playlist is in desperate need of a refresh and adjustment on the rotations of some songs.
 
101tm said:
94.5 3WS in Pittsburgh is iHeart, so of course it leans older, but they’re digging in the vault for some of the stuff they play - “Imagine” by John Lennon (that used to be a huge staple on a lot of formats that was played to death years ago),
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How often do they play those songs? Once or twice a week? That falls into what I said in post #14 regarding Elton John.
 
TheBigA said:
How often do they play those songs? Once or twice a week? That falls into what I said in post #14 regarding Elton John.
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Looks like 3-5x a week would be my guess looking at several days of the playlist. The Beatles and 2 Monkees tracks appear almost daily. Definitely more than once or twice per week, I saw two spins per day on a few.
 
101tm said:
Good points. There wasn’t much from the early 80s..”Jessie’s Girl”, “867-5309”, “She’s a Beauty”, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Blondie, Hall and Oates, “Bette Davis Eyes”, “The Stroke”, “Funkytown”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “I Ran”, ““You Shook Me All Night Long”, etc.
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There was a ton from the early 80s, but yes, lots of these don't get played and many of these were never played even when classic hits stations recently were playing more earlier 80's. These mostly mellow A/C songs and some early new wave were mostly skipped over to begin with. I'll list a selection here from the 80-82 period that were played very well in Southern California on stations like 99.1 Riverside, KFI 640, The Mighty 690 (XTRA), and so forth.

Yes I'm Ready (1980)
Deja Vu (1980)
Special Lady (1980)
I Can't Tell You Why (1980)
I Wanna Be Your Lover (1980)
Lost in Love (1980)
Lady (1980)
Him (1980)
(Just Like) Starting Over (1980)
You're the Only Woman (1980)
More Than I Can Say (1980)
Driving My Life Away (1980)
Magic (1980)
Fire Lake (1980)
More Love (1980)
Hurts So Bad (1980)
All Out of Love (1980)
Steal Away (1980)
Emotional Rescue (1980)
All Over the World (1980)

Queen of Hearts (1981)
Guilty (1980-81)
Believe it or Not (1981)
Don't Stop the Music (1981)
Rapture (1981)
I Love a Rainy Night (1981)
Burning Rubber (1981)
Waiting For a Girl Like You (1981)
Shaddap You Face (1981)
Double Dutch Bus (1981)
A Woman Needs Love (1981)
Hearts (1981)

Ebony & Ivory (1982)
Trouble (81-82)
You Can Do Magic (1982)
Harden My Heart (1982)
Words (1982)
Only the Lonely (1982)
Pac Man Fever (1982 - novelty)
You Should Hear How She Talks About You (1982)
Chariots of Fire (1982)
Only Time Will Tell (1982)

etc...etc....

Call them hits, call them stiffs, call them whatever you want, these are still really good songs!
 
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oldies76 said:
There was a ton from the early 80s, but yes, lots of these don't get played and many of these were never played even when classic hits stations recently were playing more earlier 80's. These mostly mellow A/C songs and some early new wave were mostly skipped over to begin with. I'll list a selection here from the 80-82 period that were played very well in Southern California on stations like 99.1 Riverside, KFI 640, The Mighty 690 (XTRA), and so forth.

Yes I'm Ready (1980)
Deja Vu (1980)
Special Lady (1980)
I Can't Tell You Why (1980)
I Wanna Be Your Lover (1980)
Lost in Love (1980)
Lady (1980)
Him (1980)
(Just Like) Starting Over (1980)
You're the Only Woman (1980)
More Than I Can Say (1980)
Driving My Life Away (1980)
Magic (1980)
Fire Lake (1980)
More Love (1980)
Hurts So Bad (1980)
All Out of Love (1980)
Steal Away (1980)
Emotional Rescue (1980)
All Over the World (1980)

Queen of Hearts (1981)
Guilty (1980-81)
Believe it or Not (1981)
Don't Stop the Music (1981)
Rapture (1981)
I Love a Rainy Night (1981)
Burning Rubber (1981)
Waiting For a Girl Like You (1981)
Shaddap You Face (1981)
Double Dutch Bus (1981)
A Woman Needs Love (1981)
Hearts (1981)

Ebony & Ivory (1982)
Trouble (81-82)
You Can Do Magic (1982)
Harden My Heart (1982)
Words (1982)
Only the Lonely (1982)
Pac Man Fever (1982 - novelty)
You Should Hear How She Talks About You (1982)
Chariots of Fire (1982)
Only Time Will Tell (1982)

etc...etc....

Call them hits, call them stiffs, call them whatever you want, these are still really good songs!
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Who in the world would want to hear Pac-Man Fever in 2022?
 
CTListener said:
Who in the world would want to hear Pac-Man Fever in 2022?
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I was gonna' say that.:cry:

That is a magnificent listing of songs that had their big moments, and which test as absolute stiffs today.
 
oldies76 said:
There was a ton from the early 80s, but yes, lots of these don't get played and many of these were never played even when classic hits stations recently were playing more earlier 80's. These mostly mellow A/C songs and some early new wave were mostly skipped over to begin with. I'll list a selection here from the 80-82 period that were played very well in Southern California on stations like 99.1 Riverside, KFI 640, The Mighty 690 (XTRA), and so forth.
I Can't Tell You Why (1980)
All Out of Love (1980)
Waiting For a Girl Like You (1981)
Harden My Heart (1982)
Only the Lonely (1982)
Only Time Will Tell (1982)
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Between classic hits, AC, and adult hits, I have heard all of these semi regularly on some stations. A lot of AC’s still play “All Out of Love” in light rotation.

The Blend, the AC station on SiriusXM, plays almost all of what you listed - even “Chariots of Fire”!
 
CTListener said:
Who in the world would want to hear Pac-Man Fever in 2022?
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Well, maybe with those who are purchasing those 1Up arcade style consoles that are being sold these days. But yeah, novelties don't test too well years after their initial release. "Elvira" was another.
 
oldies76 said:
Well, maybe with those who are purchasing those 1Up arcade style consoles that are being sold these days. But yeah, novelties don't test too well years after their initial release. "Elvira" was another.
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"Elvira" works just fine on classic country, as does another song you mentioned, "I Love a Rainy Night." But those stations target longtime country fans. For whatever reason, those hits that crossed over to pop don't have the same appeal today to the people who only heard them on Top 40 or AC back in the day.
 
DavidEduardo said:
That is a magnificent listing of songs that had their big moments, and which test as absolute stiffs today.
Click to expand...
oldies76 said:
Call them hits, call them stiffs, call them whatever you want, these are still really good songs!
Click to expand...

101tm said:
Between classic hits, AC, and adult hits, I have heard all of these semi regularly on some stations.
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I know we're talking about Classic Hits here, but some of these songs can be heard elsewhere on the dial. My local Classic Rock station still plays "Emotional Rescue" by The Rolling Stones. I think they play "Only Time Will Tell" by Asia as well.

And while the songs below may have stiffed out on Classic Hits radio, I believe they are receiving a warmer reception on Classic Soul stations:

"Special Lady" by Ray, Goodman and Brown
"Don't Stop the Music" by Yarbrough and Peoples
"I Wanna Be Your Lover" by Prince
"Burn Rubber" by The Gap Band
 
Classic hits was never warm to “I Wanna Be Your Lover” for whatever reason. It must not be that popular. Definitely one of Prince’s best songs IMO.
 
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