Got a chance to take over a station in central Florida and any tips on convincing sponsors that music on am is viable??? Format will be classics of the 50/60's with a strong lean towards Boss or crusin'.
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starting a classic 50-60's format...any ideas
- Thread starter missammusic
- Start date
missammusic said:
As a listener, I believe AM could be viable if it was programmed with music that was originally recorded in mono. That means you would probably want to program the 1950s thru about 1965. I would certainly want to listen to FM for anything that could be heard in stereo. Don't be afraid to program some early '50s pre-rock Pop.............there's some good stuff in there. If you are in Central Florida you would probably attract a lot of retirees. And that's about the only group with money in their pockets these days. Mention THAT to advertisers.
TheFonz said:
Uh Oh Do I smell a David Eduardo response coming up??
D
DoubleC
Guest
Well I have been living your life for the past several years here in Albuquerque. KRKE 1600 AM is up against a 100kw Classic Hits Station we are a 10KW AM that goes to Low power at sunset so from November thru March just about half the year we are only on Full power from 7am-5PM..There is some Back ground for you on what I face....you can see online that we have almost hit a 2 share 12+ and for the Last year we are in the top 10 45+ a couple times as high as tied for #5.
Listen To us online at www.realoldies1600.com to get a feel for what we are doing.
The Name of the Game is how to get advertisers...you will have to go the Local direct route as 28 year old Sally Time Buyer will Not Look at you..........Get results and then word of mouth will get ya in the door.
In Central Florida where My Folks Retired to is a great place for a "Real oldies Station" Need a Personality to VT for ya Call me.....want to talk Oldies Call Me......I have asked Many an oldies Listener does AM turn you off and a lot of them say NO I grew up on AM...we push our online Listening and have seen steady growth...When I have Folks in Austailia,Germany OH and the Hurricane Center In FLA tune in online..I know I am doing something right.....hope this Helps
Listen To us online at www.realoldies1600.com to get a feel for what we are doing.
The Name of the Game is how to get advertisers...you will have to go the Local direct route as 28 year old Sally Time Buyer will Not Look at you..........Get results and then word of mouth will get ya in the door.
In Central Florida where My Folks Retired to is a great place for a "Real oldies Station" Need a Personality to VT for ya Call me.....want to talk Oldies Call Me......I have asked Many an oldies Listener does AM turn you off and a lot of them say NO I grew up on AM...we push our online Listening and have seen steady growth...When I have Folks in Austailia,Germany OH and the Hurricane Center In FLA tune in online..I know I am doing something right.....hope this Helps
Thanks for the tips. I will check out your format. The good thing going for me is having been in the biz for almost 40 yrs and know alot of the jocks from the "boss" era who are raring to get their pipes back on the air. I feel the same way, we grew up on am and in fact research has shown that you can listen to am longer since there is no high end to wear out your ears.
CC brags not - I'm in his market and 1600 rocks if you want oldies. 8)missammusic said:
Good Ideas. If I may elaborate on what to do with what I'd call a "Graffiti-Gold" - like format; not only include pre-1964 pop songs, but also throw in some surf-rock, a little Carolina 'Beach' music, doo-wop, R&B classics and maybe some rockabilly. I'd also throw in some early rock 'n' roll and R&B pre-1955.TheFonz said:
For promotions, I'd suggest sponsoring (or co-sponsoring) antique car shows and dances. I really like the idea of holding outdoor dances on a riverfront deck or pavilion.
Whoops hit post too earlyLibertyNT said:
Where I was going with that was I have Specialty shows that run throughout the week. all still oldies based, to livin' up the station a little bit. In my opinion its not just about the music, its also about the presentation and hosts. An Oldies station needs personality.
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hornet61
Guest
LibertyNT said:
Lloyd Price....
And that's exactly my point. Thank goodness I know enuff of the jocks that were around during that era that would be happy to get back on the air and play the music...not just 400 songs and rotate the heck out of them, and do it all with a smile on your face and not afraid that mr corp pd is gonna call ya on the hot line cause he didnt like it or that you are funnier than his show. I know enough of us have had that happen.
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johnsummers
Guest
Having worked on the air in Orlando for eight years, I think a 50's/60's 'oldies' station would get listeners, but getting advertisers could be an uphill battle. It would probably have to be sold locally and voicetracked, to save money, (I even hate to say that) by people who know the music. Be tight and bright, with personality, no pukers and avoid 'cliched' radioisms of the past. Everyone's out of work, so you should have your pick from a lot of seasoned pros. Music should probably be close to what oldies stations played about 10 or 15 years ago. There is no need to play stiffs, people! Remember NO ONE is playing the Buckinghams and the Cool Jerk anymore....play the hits! No need to 'show off your oldies knowledge to a mass audience who just wants to hear "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Blue Moon". I'd like to believe it could work, though.
I couldn't agree more. Covering the entire 50's decade and the early 60's would be the way to go.TheFonz said:
To expand on my last post, look at the past copies/pdf files of XM Satellite Radio's IT playlist of the 50's and the 60's up to the British Invasion to get ideas on expansive playlists. Online stations to check out that follow (to some extent) the type of format that you are looking for would be Radio Bop (although some of the songs Harold plays should be moved to the Radio Bop 60's online station). Three other online stations to get ideas for playlists would be Hy Lit Radio (which covers much of the second half of the 50's-with a great deal of doo wop, the entire 60's, up to the early 70's, Alan's Golden Oldies (whose station owner Alan Price has every song that has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 survey, and Chuck Benjamin's Tunedex Memories station.klutch00 said:
Basically, my point is don't be afraid to think outside the box. That means even play the obscurities.
I just stumbled on this thread...haven't been here in quite some time after being thrashed constantly by some. But I can tell you with 35 years of radio experience, the 'obscurities' are death, certain death for a station. Why would you play a song no one knows or has limited appeal when you could be playing one that everyone loves or remembers? I've been there. I've seen it fail. I've seen it kill sales, lose jobs and force format changes. When in doubt, leave it out. No one ever turned off your station for an off-the-wall b-side song you didn't play.
As a format in this day and age, I would soften it with 70's AC pop, like The Carpenters, Neil Sedaka's latter hits, Elton John, and late 60's artisits like Spanky and Our Gang, Fifth Dimension (the entire library of their hits) Mamas & Papas. You don't want to sound like a stodgy old fart. You want to sound upbeat and happy and freash, playing the hits the "oldies stations' have abandoned. Check Facebooks' William Dann's "Seldom Heard Hits of the 60's and 70's" page. We all post stream of conciousness songs we just forgot about...hell, that page alone could make a format! Mix that with the Del Vikings and The Skyliners sounds, stir in some Cameo-Parkway...now you're cookin'. Just my thoughts....
As a format in this day and age, I would soften it with 70's AC pop, like The Carpenters, Neil Sedaka's latter hits, Elton John, and late 60's artisits like Spanky and Our Gang, Fifth Dimension (the entire library of their hits) Mamas & Papas. You don't want to sound like a stodgy old fart. You want to sound upbeat and happy and freash, playing the hits the "oldies stations' have abandoned. Check Facebooks' William Dann's "Seldom Heard Hits of the 60's and 70's" page. We all post stream of conciousness songs we just forgot about...hell, that page alone could make a format! Mix that with the Del Vikings and The Skyliners sounds, stir in some Cameo-Parkway...now you're cookin'. Just my thoughts....
I would be careful about mixing the soft-pop with more up-beat records. I think that you could group the Carpenters, Bread, Neil Sedaka and James Taylor with groups like the Platters, Drifters, Michael Buble, Harry Connick, the Force MDs, Manhattans; thereby creating a MOR format for today. My concern is that if you throw in too many diverse genres, you might turn a number of people off.amfmsw said:
I remember WYST-AM Baltimore, a graffiti-gold like station from about 1988-1990 would play all the hits from 1955 to 1963, and I mean ALL. While I think that this was interesting, I felt the playlist was too diverse. Granted, I wasn't part of the target audience, but there were other stations which tried a similar-era format - WFBR in 1988-9 and WITH in 1996-7 - whom I felt better executed this idea.
Forget the 70's stuff, classic hits stations have them covered. Do the 50's & 60's. E-x-p-a-n-d the playlist. Don't just stop at 1,000 songs. Play music from the era that made on the top 40 between 11-20 instead of just the top ten hits that have been played into the ground. I would grow the list to 2500 songs. I'd eliminate the overplayed (hits) like Do Wah Diddy, Wipeout, Wild Thing and etc. Expand the Elvis cuts to She's Not You, Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello, Viva Las Vegas, Such A Night, Ain't That Lovin You Baby, rather than just playing Jail House Rock, Hound Dog and etc. Make your oldies station stand out. Have a count down survey on Saturday Mornings with a different month, date and year every Saturday. You could feature actual stations lists from the rock-n'-roll era or meld a list of your own to feature the top 30 or top 40 of that week. You could also have old commercials featured in the countdown that were out at the time...
H
hornet61
Guest
Dittokenb said:
No matter what music you play on AM, you'll need to get your hands on an FM translator and stream on-line. Otherwise, you'll be throwing good money after bad. I would caution against throwing out the "over-played" titles. Try to grab the playlists of successful Oldies station during the Oldies heyday (the 90's) and use them as a template. Best of luck to you!
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