this is why imho wogl stinks since their sign-on

[gunsmoke]

I usually listen to Lou Simon every Saturday on the Sirius Sixties Channel, from 3-6, he does this every Saturday, playing the top 40 hits of a particular year on the date, it is a great show, if you can, give it a listen, its the real story of Hit Music in the USA. Today it was March 5th, 1964, 95% of the music was either British, Surf Rock, Female(white) singers, Folk, Instrumentals and a few Standards, with a small touch of Motown and Soul, this is the real survey not the made up stuff OGL uses. About 5 percent of these tunes were ever played on OGL, instead we heard/hear the steady diet of Motown, Soul and R&B. Some titles today were Penetration by the Pyramids, My Bonnie the Beatles with Tony Sheridan, and so much more, their is a repeat tomorrow night if you want the real deal. I remember many of these hits being played on WIBBAGE, but you would never knew they existed with the OGL lineup. OGL has been rewriting music history since they came on the air, just the way the Geat and the other soul jocks who polluted the airwaves on PGR did for years. When are we going to hear Bandwagon, Breakin' down the walls of Heartache, yet again, which made number 115 for one week on the Billboard survey but if you live in this area you would think it was a top 10 hit. Thank G-d for KLUV, Blackberry, Satellite and the internet for the good stuff we all remember, hopefully, cause OGL never cut it. BUT CAU-FM DID, may G-d rest the soul of the great Diamond Jim who knew how to program oldies.

 

[John1]

When WOGL signed on in 1987 they were a very generic late 50's-early 70's oldies station with more 'national' hits & leftover Hot Hits jocks; WIOQ had the Philadelphia-sound jocks - Bob Pantano, Harvey Holiday, Mike St. John, Tommy McCarthy, etc. It wasn't until WIOQ went off in '89 that WOGL migrated to the sound you've always complained about on these boards. But it doesn't matter anymore - WOGL is really now a 'classic hits' station, a few late 60's, 70's & '80's, when I have heard it I've heard more Billy Joel-type pop than the Motown/Soul emphasis of years ago - the problem for most of us is the repetition. But they do well in the new ratings system & they're never going to return to 'real oldies', the weak attempt of WPEN a couple years ago closed that door. The most 'national' sounding oldies station here ever was '95PEN' 1975-77 with all out of town jocks, but even back tehn it didn't work here. With all the online choices for oldies it doesn't matter anymore, I can listen to 'classic oldies' WMID or WARE or WMTR or hylitradio, plus now the soft oldies stations like WDUV or Easy 93 in Florida.

 

[DToTheJ]

Say what you want about WOGL "rewriting music history", but today, they are the Charlie Sheen of Philadelphia radio... WINNING!

 

[musichead1029]

What WOGL is doing or has done over its 23 year history is nothing unique with respect to oldies stations nationally. They played oldies records that test well in the current day. Comparing a contemporary oldies station to a Top 100 or even a Top 40 station in the 60s is like comparing Classic Rock to the Progressive Rock format (not to mention AOR which came inbetween in the de-evolution timeline of rock radio into the monotonous mush that is disingenuously labeled 'alternative'). Even in the 70s, Top 40s were tailoring their playlists to the market - WABC in New York was heavy on Motown and TSOP at the expense of rock because of the makeup of the market. Oldies stations just take the cream off the top of what tests best. Beyond that there's little to tie 60s Top 40 records played new and the oldies format other than the general time frame. Same applies to the successor Classic Hits format today.

Satellite radio is a perfect venue for more adventurous oldies programming, and back in the mid-'00s, XM did a nice job of playing hits, 'oh wows' and semi-obscurities in the right proportion. It's nice to hear that the watered-down Sirius-grade satellite radio channels step out of the format from time to time. XM's "It" special played most of the charted Top 40 hits from the 1940s through the 2000s chronologically across its decade channels back before the Sirius takedown. It took close to 6 weeks to go all the way through (I have 1968 to 1978 on tape. Makes a great listen). Now that was an oldies show!

 

[Silkie]

When WOGL signed on in 1987 they were a very generic late 50's-early 70's oldies station with more 'national' hits & leftover Hot Hits jocks; WIOQ had the Philadelphia-sound jocks - Bob Pantano, Harvey Holiday, Mike St. John, Tommy McCarthy, etc. It wasn't until WIOQ went off in '89 that WOGL migrated to the sound you've always complained about on these boards. But it doesn't matter anymore - WOGL is really now a 'classic hits' station, a few late 60's, 70's & '80's, when I have heard it I've heard more Billy Joel-type pop than the Motown/Soul emphasis of years ago - the problem for most of us is the repetition. But they do well in the new ratings system & they're never going to return to 'real oldies', the weak attempt of WPEN a couple years ago closed that door. The most 'national' sounding oldies station here ever was '95PEN' 1975-77 with all out of town jocks, but even back tehn it didn't work here. With all the online choices for oldies it doesn't matter anymore, I can listen to 'classic oldies' WMID or WARE or WMTR or hylitradio, plus now the soft oldies stations like WDUV or Easy 93 in Florida.

WMID is a very cool station.

 

[gunsmoke]

I agree with WMID being the best at what they do, even thought its a jukebox setup, the music is fantastic...and I will take the music before boring jocks anyday. When I am in the shore area, or on the net with their great stereo sound, I listen to them quite often. Wish a Philly station would pick up that format. I always wondered if they could buy WHAT and simulcast this way the same music would be on 1340 from the shore to my door in Philly.

 

[DG02816]

A WHAT/WMID simulcast, while an interesting thing, won't happen. Were WHAT to be sold, Marconi would want a pretty penny for it, to try and make up the $5 million Inner City got for them.

WMID is probably focused on the Shore and Atlantic City; a simulcast would need to have at least a sales force of some sort
here in Philly for 'HAT. And, would it make any money at all? I believe 'HAT's transmitter site is leased, and that has to be covered. The signal isn't the best by far, and I bet it doesn't penetrate buildings well. I'd bet a marketing survey would need to be taken to see if such a thing is viable at all.

 

[John1]

I agree a WMID-WHAT simulcast won't happen, but it would be fun if it could. 1340 WMID Real Oldies From the City to the Shore. Since WMID has no live voices, no real shore orientation except the commercials, they could advertise local businesses, especially restaurants, hotels, rentals, fishing cruises, etc. that would be of interest to listeners in the city who often visit the shore. If you heard a spot for a certain restaurant a number of times a day you might be tempted to rty it on your next trip to the shore!

 

[gunsmoke]

Or just change the spotload, WMID usually throws their commercial load in around 10 before the hour, so just change the commercials for AC on WMID and Philly sets on WHAT at 10 before. I believe you can broadcast differently what comes on a particular transmitter. There might be a overlap where the two signals meet but it should not cause a real serious problem. If those religious dudes can purchase that 10w flamethrower on 97.1 from the PSFS tower, where their 103.5 signal comes in loud and clear anything is possible.

 

[mook]

....Today it was March 5th, 1964, 95% of the music was either British, Surf Rock, Female(white) singers, Folk, Instrumentals and a few Standards, with a small touch of Motown and Soul, this is the real survey not the made up stuff OGL uses.

You realize that a radio station playing something from 1964 here in 2011 would be like WOGL in 1987 (when they signed on) playing something from 1940....right? 1940 is to 1987 what 1964 is to 2011. Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'...into the future.

 

[musichead1029]

Ah, but 1964 in 2011 is not the 1940s in 1987. Due to changes in technology (the development of the electric guitar and amplification in general) and shifting musical tastes, the gulf between the big band sound and standards of the 40s, and the 80s, is much deeper than the beginning of the British Invasion in 1964 and 2011. The most significant body of melodic-based Rock and Roll was produced between 1964 and roughly 1982. After that, it was basically retreading (80s pop/new wave was a remake of 60s pop, 90s grunge and 'alternative', based on 70s AOR). Hence, many of the 60s and 70s sources of the past 30 years of music still sound relatively contemporary today.

Add to that the Baby Boom population remaining active and engaged longer than their predecessors, and you've got a body of music that has a longer broadcast media shelf life than what came before.

Granted, I'm a product of my coming-of-age in the 70s, but much of post-British Invasion 1964 pop sounds far more contemporary in 2011 than the 1940s did just fifteen years later.

 

[mook]

Ah, but 1964 in 2011 is not the 1940s in 1987. Due to changes in technology (the development of the electric guitar and amplification in general) and shifting musical tastes, the gulf between the big band sound and standards of the 40s, and the 80s, is much deeper than the beginning of the British Invasion in 1964 and 2011.

Not really...the jazz acts of the 30's and 40's were vastly different than the piano greats of the 20's. There were plenty of people who LOVED Big band in addition to jazz. In fact, just as many were alive and loving it in 1987, and are the same age as the geezers who dig the amazingly different music of 1964 than what's here today. 2011 is to 1964 as 1987 is to 1940. The primitive music of 1964 when compared to the stuff on the radio NOW is just as vastly different as music from 1987 was compared to 1940.

 

[Radio Wreck]

Add to that the Baby Boom population remaining active and engaged longer than their predecessors, and you've got a body of music that has a longer broadcast media shelf life than what came before

I have to disagree. I remember my grandparents who lived until the late 1980's and early 1990's and they were very active at the golf course and attended many social functions with their older friends where the sounds of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman echoed thru the halls.

 

[imhomerjay]

The music may have a longer shelf life (or not, which remains to be seen), but the question is whether it will have said shelf life on broadcast or via other platforms.

 

[ixnay]

Say what you want about WOGL "rewriting music history", but today, they are the Charlie Sheen of Philadelphia radio... WINNING!

Please explain the Charlie Sheen analogy, will you, D?

ixnay

 

[musichead1029]

1964 in 2011 is not the 1940s in 1987

Another reason 1964 in 2011 is not the 1940s in 1987 - the splintering of media audiences means that broadcast media will continue to cling to formats that attract the broadest consensus. While 80s and forward classic pop and rock formats perform unevenly across the country, 60s-70s Classic Hits and Rock formats maintains a consensus audience. U2 (first on the scene over 30 years ago) and Madonna (30 years since her first album) enjoy continued mass appeal, concert tour sellouts and almost guaranteed airplay for new releases while most who followed do not. (One could argue that artists such as Pearl Jam, Green Day, Weezer and Lady Gaga are having good runs on radio, but is their audience as loyal as or the size of their predecessors?)

Music radio started to lose its monopoly in the 80s when musical tastes began to splinter (rhythmic vs melodic pop, hard/classic rock vs new wave/modern rock), the cassette became ubiquitous and then CDs came along, easy to play and superior sounding to radio. Now, radio is just one of many choices, and to many, not one of the better ones. It's hard to create a new superstar under those conditions. Today's Top 40 is more likely custom delivered from a file player than from a consultant's desk.

All of this points to the continued emphasis of music that drew a consensus (relatively large) audience. As the 40s and early 50s are considered the golden age for the American Songbook, so the 60s and 70s could be considered rock's 'golden era'. Much of that music is 30 to 45 years old now, but it continues to get exposure in commercials and movies. Catalog recordings from the era continue to sell, often better than newer product.

Media and population trends suggest that 60s and 70s music will enjoy wider acceptance and a longer ride on broadcast media than the 40s-50s.