Most of the AOR stations from the 1980's through the 90's either evolved into Active Rock (KRZR-103.7) or Classic Rock (KLOS-95.5). Then there is KRXQ-98.5 that is only labeled as "Rock" and seems closer to the AOR stations of yesteryears where they play a combination of Classic Rock & New Rock. Today, I prefer listening to KRXQ over my more local Active Rock station (KMRQ-96.7) or Classic Rock station (KHKK-104.1). A better variety of music.
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The Evolution Of AOR
- Thread starter Madmansam
- Start date
Madmansam said:Most of the AOR stations from the 1980's through the 90's either evolved into Active Rock (KRZR-103.7) or Classic Rock (KLOS-95.5). Then there is KRXQ-98.5 that is only labeled as "Rock" and seems closer to the AOR stations of yesteryears where they play a combination of Classic Rock & New Rock. Today, I prefer listening to KRXQ over my more local Active Rock station (KMRQ-96.7) or Classic Rock station (KHKK-104.1). A better variety of music.
The best variety of music I ever heard was a well selected bunch of songs with no concerns or worries about some "format" that some suit who probably doesn't even like music has slapped some cockamamie label on. "Classic" rock, "Active" rock, "Fershlunger" rock, it's all just bogus blather. If anyone doesn't want to see rock and roll music on the radio continue its headlong slide down the toilet, start a station that doesn't pay any attention to the stupid format names and labels used to replace good thinking and a strong knowledge of the audience with "by the book" BS. Start a station that just plays good music.
Of course, that ain't ever gonna happen.
semoochie said:Go to Yes.com and check the playlist for KUFO Portland. This morning, they played "Born to be Wild"!
That's a good song. What's your point?
I was wrong about there never being a station that simply plays good music. There's a new ownership on a station in the tiny town of Waynesburg, PA doing just that.
The station's head honcho, Bob Stevens, said this in the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter:
"People are bored with hearing the time-tested 300 to 400 songs that research well," Stevens said. "We are an AOR (album-oriented rock) station; our specialty is album cuts. I'll go three or four songs deep on an album, more if it's warranted. And Stevens emphasizes that he picks every song that makes it to the air. "My choices are based on gut instinct," he says, adding, "but it's gut instinct that research should confirm."
This station is also a throw-back to an earlier time in another way. There are no disc jockeys.
"There's a complexity there," Stevens explains. "Sure, people will wonder what they just heard, but most people like the fact that it all flows without interruption. It's appealing to those who say, 'Shut up and play some music.'" The format also has a successful history. In the '70s, especially, hit AM stations had sister FM stations that were primarily automated. For the time being, Stevens wants to maintain the continuous music stream, interrupted only by weather forecasts and one commercial break.
I wish I lived within range of that station.
The station's head honcho, Bob Stevens, said this in the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter:
"People are bored with hearing the time-tested 300 to 400 songs that research well," Stevens said. "We are an AOR (album-oriented rock) station; our specialty is album cuts. I'll go three or four songs deep on an album, more if it's warranted. And Stevens emphasizes that he picks every song that makes it to the air. "My choices are based on gut instinct," he says, adding, "but it's gut instinct that research should confirm."
This station is also a throw-back to an earlier time in another way. There are no disc jockeys.
"There's a complexity there," Stevens explains. "Sure, people will wonder what they just heard, but most people like the fact that it all flows without interruption. It's appealing to those who say, 'Shut up and play some music.'" The format also has a successful history. In the '70s, especially, hit AM stations had sister FM stations that were primarily automated. For the time being, Stevens wants to maintain the continuous music stream, interrupted only by weather forecasts and one commercial break.
I wish I lived within range of that station.
K
kenrayc
Guest
KRXQ 98.5
I've heard KRXQ on their stream and see your point they do have a good AOR type of format, Clear Channel is central hubbing KRZR 103.7 and KMRQ 96.7 and using Hard Drive at night, same with other CC stations (KALZ and KSOF), thats CC new trend no original local programming,Ryan Seacreast and John Tesh anybody, at least Lotus 105.1 KKBZ Fresno is trying to be different with a 70s, 80s,and 90s Rock format and is local, same with their Classic Hits station KHIT 107.1(60s 70s and some 80s). The FOX 95.7 KJFX in Fresno is still stuck on the same 300 songs like Citadel's KHKK 104.1.
Madmansam said:Most of the AOR stations from the 1980's through the 90's either evolved into Active Rock (KRZR-103.7) or Classic Rock (KLOS-95.5). Then there is KRXQ-98.5 that is only labeled as "Rock" and seems closer to the AOR stations of yesteryears where they play a combination of Classic Rock & New Rock. Today, I prefer listening to KRXQ over my more local Active Rock station (KMRQ-96.7) or Classic Rock station (KHKK-104.1). A better variety of music.
I've heard KRXQ on their stream and see your point they do have a good AOR type of format, Clear Channel is central hubbing KRZR 103.7 and KMRQ 96.7 and using Hard Drive at night, same with other CC stations (KALZ and KSOF), thats CC new trend no original local programming,Ryan Seacreast and John Tesh anybody, at least Lotus 105.1 KKBZ Fresno is trying to be different with a 70s, 80s,and 90s Rock format and is local, same with their Classic Hits station KHIT 107.1(60s 70s and some 80s). The FOX 95.7 KJFX in Fresno is still stuck on the same 300 songs like Citadel's KHKK 104.1.
semoochie said:"Go to Yes.com and check the playlist for KUFO Portland. This morning, they played "Born to be Wild"!
That's a good song. What's your point?" Let's just say it isn't a good fit for the majority of their music, which is Active Rock.
How or why would "Born to be Wild" not fit with these songs that they recently played?
Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
Van Halen - Hot For Teacher
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
Aerosmith - Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero
Maybe you should pay less attention to what some suit who wouldn't recognize a good song if he heard if comes up with in terms of pigeonholing records and pay more attention to actually listening to the songs.
The tattered remnants of WHFS DC ,now on HD and the net, has been doing Free Form Weekends and the result is enough great songs that I don't mind,or turn the dial,when a song I don't like gets played. HFS was Free Form in its early days and had quite a following until bought by CBS/Infinity and forced thru a cookie cutter so suits could more easily control it.
semoochie said:I'm just guessing that most 20 year olds don't want to hear their music mixed with something that's 43 years old.
Then you are guessing wrong. The old "generation gap" thing has been dying for decades. Kids don't, for the most part, assume ownership of the music created during their teen years. There are so many radio stations on the air playing so much music from all over the calendar that the year something was recorded no longer has the same importance that it did in the 1960's or 70's.
The concept of each new generation having its own music came along when electric guitar rock replaced Glenn Miller style big band music. That was a big, big difference. Even the difference between mono singles on 45 rpm records and multi-tracked stereo records on 33 rpm albums marked a big change in the music itself. But the transitions through tapes, cassettes, CD's, and MP3 players hasn't influenced the sound of the music all that much.
If you guess that "most 20 year olds" don't want to hear songs they like that were recorded years before they were born next to songs recorded last week, then my guess is that you don't know much about 20 year old people or about rock music.
All those songs are so burnt out, except for maybe Shout At the Devil.Talk_Dude said:semoochie said:"Go to Yes.com and check the playlist for KUFO Portland. This morning, they played "Born to be Wild"!
That's a good song. What's your point?" Let's just say it isn't a good fit for the majority of their music, which is Active Rock.
How or why would "Born to be Wild" not fit with these songs that they recently played?
Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
Van Halen - Hot For Teacher
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
Aerosmith - Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero
Maybe you should pay less attention to what some suit who wouldn't recognize a good song if he heard if comes up with in terms of pigeonholing records and pay more attention to actually listening to the songs.
I would consider some of them "good" songs, but don't you think it's time to flip the record.
I like lobster, but if I ate it 5 times a week for 30 years, you know what...tonight I'll settle for a hot dog, and it will taste better than the lobster.
Regarding what a 20 year old listens to is a difficult question....some are really into Classic Rock, others like Hip-Hop, some like Rap, some are into it all. To say there is no generation gap, I think you are mistaken...I personally don't see many 40+ year olds listening to Jay-Z, Lady Ga Ga, or Slipknot. I also think that as 20 year old's get older, they also begin to appreciate other genre's, myself included. My parents liked Big Band music...but growing up there was a rebellion to this, just as Rap is a rebellion to Classic Rock, as is/ was Punk. As a 20 year old, you are more influenced by your peers as to what is "good"...as you age, you make those decisions up to your own tastes, be it jazz, classical, folk, blues, whatever. Pop music of it's day either endures time or not, and most depends on if there was real substance to it, instead of being the flavor of the day...and that happens to music of all generations.
mcamp said:All those songs are so burnt out, except for maybe Shout At the Devil.Talk_Dude said:semoochie said:"Go to Yes.com and check the playlist for KUFO Portland. This morning, they played "Born to be Wild"!
That's a good song. What's your point?" Let's just say it isn't a good fit for the majority of their music, which is Active Rock.
How or why would "Born to be Wild" not fit with these songs that they recently played?
Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
Van Halen - Hot For Teacher
Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil
Aerosmith - Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
Foreigner - Juke Box Hero
Maybe you should pay less attention to what some suit who wouldn't recognize a good song if he heard if comes up with in terms of pigeonholing records and pay more attention to actually listening to the songs.
I would consider some of them "good" songs, but don't you think it's time to flip the record.
I like lobster, but if I ate it 5 times a week for 30 years, you know what...tonight I'll settle for a hot dog, and it will taste better than the lobster.
Regarding what a 20 year old listens to is a difficult question....some are really into Classic Rock, others like Hip-Hop, some like Rap, some are into it all. To say there is no generation gap, I think you are mistaken...I personally don't see many 40+ year olds listening to Jay-Z, Lady Ga Ga, or Slipknot. I also think that as 20 year old's get older, they also begin to appreciate other genre's, myself included. My parents liked Big Band music...but growing up there was a rebellion to this, just as Rap is a rebellion to Classic Rock, as is/ was Punk. As a 20 year old, you are more influenced by your peers as to what is "good"...as you age, you make those decisions up to your own tastes, be it jazz, classical, folk, blues, whatever. Pop music of it's day either endures time or not, and most depends on if there was real substance to it, instead of being the flavor of the day...and that happens to music of all generations.
The issue wasn't whether or not those songs were burnt out or not, the issue was whether or not the song "Born to be Wild" was compatible with them.
Of course those songs have been played to death. That's what the suits in radio do. They take a teeny, tiny little bit of the great classic rock songs out there and burn them out, then whine that no one wants to hear "classic rock" any more.
Read this thread for more about the issue of teeny, tiny little playlists.
As for attempting to determine what 20-somethings like being difficult, it's not difficult, it's impossible. I suppose that there are still some 20-somethings who haven't outgrown being teenagers and who pay attention to peer pressure to shape their musical tastes. But that generation gap rebellion thing was an across-the-board universal phenomenon when the Baby Boomer generation was growing up in the 60's. It's now an isolated thing, occasionally encountered, but not all that often. For every 20-something who doesn't like classic rock because he's rebelling against what Daddy liked, there are others who discovered classic rock on their own, and came to the conclusion that they liked it regardless of when it was recorded.
Any radio industry suit who thinks he can find the magic formula to attract all of the members of any age group the way they used to be able to do it back in the 70's is living in a fool's world. Those days are gone, and they're never coming back. The paradigm for dividing audiences into market segments has changed. It's not based on the year a person was born any more, it's based on lifestyle choices. Those suits who learn how to maneuver in the new world of the 21st century will succeed. The suits whose minds are still stuck in the 20th century are doomed to failure.
W
WEFWradio
Guest
Talk_Dude said:Any radio industry suit who thinks he can find the magic formula to attract all of the members of any age group the way they used to be able to do it back in the 70's is living in a fool's world. Those days are gone, and they're never coming back. The paradigm for dividing audiences into market segments has changed. It's not based on the year a person was born any more, it's based on lifestyle choices. Those suits who learn how to maneuver in the new world of the 21st century will succeed. The suits whose minds are still stuck in the 20th century are doomed to failure.
Of course music was evolving/changing much faster in those days than it is today. The difference between Elvis and Led Zeppelin was much greater than from Led Zep to (insert current rock band here). Still, if you're programming a classic rock station you'd be making a big mistake if you geared it toward 25 year olds. While some may like the music, your core audience will still be those who grew up with it. Likewise with pretty much any other format/genre. I'm pushing 60 and I still like a lot of current CHR music, but that doesn't mean I'm into the lifestyle. The rules haven't changed THAT much.
WEFWradio said:Talk_Dude said:Any radio industry suit who thinks he can find the magic formula to attract all of the members of any age group the way they used to be able to do it back in the 70's is living in a fool's world. Those days are gone, and they're never coming back. The paradigm for dividing audiences into market segments has changed. It's not based on the year a person was born any more, it's based on lifestyle choices. Those suits who learn how to maneuver in the new world of the 21st century will succeed. The suits whose minds are still stuck in the 20th century are doomed to failure.
Of course music was evolving/changing much faster in those days than it is today. The difference between Elvis and Led Zeppelin was much greater than from Led Zep to (insert current rock band here). Still, if you're programming a classic rock station you'd be making a big mistake if you geared it toward 25 year olds. While some may like the music, your core audience will still be those who grew up with it. Likewise with pretty much any other format/genre. I'm pushing 60 and I still like a lot of current CHR music, but that doesn't mean I'm into the lifestyle. The rules haven't changed THAT much.
You're missing my point. The idea is to forget about targetting a station towards a particular age group by picking the songs based on the year that they are recorded or released. That's a lame old paradigm from yesteryear. The rules have indeed changed THAT much. Increasingly, people are finding they like music that sounds good to them, and they don't give a damn when it was recorded. That's a cosmic change.
semoochie said:If that's true then what happened to my Oldies station that was top 10 18-34, just before they evolved to Classic Hits?
Their audience got older. It happens. Everyone has a birthday every year, whether they want one or not. Everyone who was 34 years old ten years ago is now 44 years old.
I mean, Duh! That shouldn't need to be explained.
No doubt (not the band)....as for "oldies", their programming has changed drastically. Growing up, oldies meant Elvis, Chuck Berry, The Platters, etc...the "oldies" station in Boston now plays The Eagles, Journey, The Police, etc...mixed in with 60's R&B, an occassional 50's song, but most of their playlist is music of the 70's....but station like these are not even considered "oldies" anymore, they call them classic hits, not to be confused with classic rock.semoochie said:Your last comment sounds more like my argument than yours!
Then there are the DJ less stations like Mike FM that play "everything"...not really everything...I have never heard Frank Zappa, King Crimson, or Velvet Underground, but you will hear Donna Summer, then Led Zeppelin, and then Johnny Cash. In the end, you are most likely to hear a bunch of crap, and one hit wonders (Billy Don't Be a Hero, The Night Chicago Died, etc...). Stations like these are hit based playlists...playing hits from various genres, be it rock, soul, rap, hip hop, etc...
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