The realities of "oldies" radio

[lalumia]

first off, true oldies fans like 'true' oldies,50s,60s,and 70s;thereafter,nostalgia and perceptions changed as MTV abducted a large chunk of the radio 'youth' audience.Diluting oldies radio with 80s and 90s may have a seemed like a 'logical' progression to the bean counters and company 'brains',but it clearly indicates that they don't understand the generations that grew up with 'show biz';the new breed is all caught up in i pods,burning cds,and playing their X box games all day,you're NEVER gonna get them ANYWAY; but now you blow off a guaranteed audience,in their 40s and 50s, who will still spend money and participate in society for decades to come,and who still buys cds, go to theatres to see films,as compared to those sitting in front of a pc and downloading whatever they want,who have no concerns or desires to support brands,artists, labels, or call letters.

 

[AnchorThis]

i think cbs fm was great in its earlier incarnation, and it's a shame how the station was run with a halfway oldies formate up to the recent implosion. i had not listened for some time since McCoy left and since the format was watered down with 70s and 80s stuff. the christmas music programming was especially disappointing, after enjoying many years of the holiday countdowns and the great oldies christmas music. i do miss the specialty shows like the doo-wop shop, etc. it's really too bad that the legendary jocks weren't allowed to sign off out of respect, but that's what really sucks about the industry these days. i wish there was a market for oldies on the air in nyc, but that's how it goes.

 

[Mouth1390]

> first off, true oldies fans like 'true' oldies,50s,60s,and
> 70s;thereafter,nostalgia and perceptions changed as MTV
> abducted a large chunk of the radio 'youth'
> audience.Diluting oldies radio with 80s and 90s may have a
> seemed like a 'logical' progression to the bean counters and
> company 'brains',but it clearly indicates that they don't
> understand the generations that grew up with 'show biz';the
> new breed is all caught up in i pods,burning cds,and playing
> their X box games all day,you're NEVER gonna get them
> ANYWAY; but now you blow off a guaranteed audience,in their
> 40s and 50s, who will still spend money and participate in
> society for decades to come,and who still buys cds, go to
> theatres to see films,as compared to those sitting in front
> of a pc and downloading whatever they want,who have no
> concerns or desires to support brands,artists, labels, or
> call letters.
>
I think you make some very interesting points here. But the most interesting point is that radio as a medium has been unable to atrract younger listeners in a meaningful way. You mention that kids are happy to sit in front of the computer, download music into their i-pods and play x-box ad nauseum. True. Radio has not reached out to them. . .it has not excited their imagination and I do not accept the technology as the replacement theory. Think about it. Most of us were raised in the age of television and yet we still listened.

So why would a young adult, with an i-pod, listen to a broadcast i-pod that stops every fifteen minutes for five minutes of spots ?