Too Much 80's on CBS-FM Discussion

[disney fanatic]

When I was listening to "Board Reflections" with Dr. Sniffen, he was making his rant about too much 80's music being played on CBS-FM about a week ago. He was mentioning "Two Tickets to Paradise" by Journey. This was the song that WBPM occasionally plays.

I guess that CBS-FM needs to stop and play some songs that everyone remembers. I guess that 80's music is way off the mark, enough with the New Wave music. What happens if CBS-FM is going to play "I Want Candy" by Bow-Wow-Wow or "Rock the Cashba" by the Clash, this is not exactly a "Music Blimp" type segment that CBS-FM plays during a Hall of Fame segment on "Turntable Tuesday".

What were they thinking? I wish CBS-FM needs to stop playing too much 80's as the Dentist mentions on his show and on the NYRMB. Play some Sam Cooke such as "Twistin' the Night Away" while you can play A-Ha's "Take On Me".

Look at WLTW's "Lite-FM", WPLJ and the others, they some good 80's songs, CBS-FM is not the station that WBPM plays songs that are rock & pop without playing Motown and soul. If you want a station that plays rock & pop of the 60's, 70's and 80's, listen to Q-104 which is a good station or WRXP where the station where the station is poorly programed after they pulled the plug on Smooth Jazz.

I was mentioning about a week and a half ago, WJJZ in Philly dumped Smooth Jazz and went to AC as "Now 97.5".

To get back to the CBS-FM argument, they need to stop playing too much 80's songs like Journey, Clash, Bow-Wow-Wow, REO Speedwagon and a few artists from the 80's which are WBPM related or vice versa. Play the right songs, don't play hard rock cuts that WBPM plays where it doesn't belong on CBS-FM. Come on!

 

[mjb1124]

I don't see any problem with the selection of 80's music they play. If Bon Jovi is as hard as they get, then I think they're playing it pretty safe. Much of what they play, regardless of its age, is catchy and upbeat music that stands the test of time and is safe for playing in the office. The basic sound of the station is still much the same - just updated a bit. It's like comparing Z100 in the 80's to WABC in the 70's. And the upbeat presentation with personalities talking up records still works today.

Also, while there may be a lot of other places to hear 80's music on the dial, most of them mix it with modern sounds. It may be true that not all 80s fans want to hear The Four Seasons or The Supremes, but I'm sure a good percentage of them don't want to hear Nickelback or Fergie either. So CBS-FM is there for the older end of the 80's music fans, or those who simply have little use for today's pop music.

And for the record, I've never heard them play "Rock the Casbah".

 

[neo11]

I also think that the 80's music aired on CBS-FM is appropriate for the format and fits in well with the rest of the music they regularly air.

The argument for so many years has been that CBS-FM needs to evolve to survive. By playing 80's music (which still comprises a minority of their playlist), CBS-FM is doing just that: evolving.

I understand what the dentist is saying but only up to an extent. After all, wasn't he also a proponent of moving the station forward? Now he seems to want to limit the station strictly to the 60s and 70s, claiming that those who enjoy the music CBS-FM plays from those eras will get turned off by the 80s music that is played. Despite showing no evidence to support this assertion, it flies in the face of the logic that "oldies" (or "greatest hits") stations must move forward with the times in order to stay viable in the marketplace.

Indeed, the dentist (I believe it was him) presented data saying that the station is doing poorly in the lower end of the 25-54 demo and is far behind in 18-34. Well, duh. Of course it is. Such a station will naturally lean towards the high end of the 25-54 demo and be low in 18-34, especially in a market with plenty of stations going after the younger demos. Eliminating the 80s music, however, will only skew the station's audience even older, and that will eventually lead once again to the station's demise, when the ad revenues begin to slide and the baby boomers age completely age out of the money demos.

The day will come where even the 60's will have to be virtually eliminated from the playlist, much like 50's music has been. And of course, more 80s will take their place (the "middle ground" that the dentist likes to speak of). Unfortunately that's the tradeoff for keeping the station's demographics from aging into the 60s and 70s.

 

[oldies76]

80's music is now 19 to 28 years old (1989- 1980)..they are classic hits now..mix them in! A few exceptions of course: Early rap, Milli Vanilli, really soft A/C love songs, metal and other hard rock.

Nothing really wrong with New Wave, just a significant advancement of the real 80's sound. Would stick to the high chart postion songs only (1-10).

 

[BACKnUSSR]

80's music is now 19 to 28 years old (1989- 1980)..they are classic hits now..mix them in! A few exceptions of course: Early rap, Milli Vanilli, really soft A/C love songs, metal and other hard rock.

Nothing really wrong with New Wave, just a significant advancement of the real 80's sound. Would stick to the high chart postion songs only (1-10).

I'm just glad that the CBS programming folks don't start a website where they give advice on how to remove impacted molars.

 

[adma]

This is where I do agree with the dentist--to a point. That is, there's a fundamental "incompatability wall" that the oldies timeframe runs into c1980. In fact, when it comes to the dentist's blathering, I'm in a "like, duh, I could have told you this years ago, but you weren't listening" situation.

But I think there's a deeper problem here, one that's endemic to the very nature of oldies radio. Essentially, we're dealing with a format approach--and maybe even more so, a discussion zone--that's reached the limits of its cultural competence.

The better solution, probably, would have been for WCBS to think in terms of raising the quality level rather than rawly lowering the age level or moving forward the chronology level. IOW, "gentrify" the oldies a touch; but accept that its "ideal" time frame remains c1955-80, give or take. The "AM Top 40 era".

Except that...as with the RXP dilemma, maybe it's too late in the game for that. You can't repatriate the "smart" demos when other technologies have taken over their sphere, and when you've allowed yourself to be terminally associated with malformed backwoods bumpkins or sleazy vulgarians.

I mean, if you present an oldies ideal of "play some songs that everyone remembers", or
"catchy and upbeat music that stands the test of time and is safe for playing in the office", may I ask you, on behalf of everyone who's bailed from radio over the past generation: what kind of inbred hicks and simpletons are you?

And I'm not saying that because that's what you are; I'm just whacking you on the head to remind you of the cultural rut you've mired yourself in by ensconsing yourself so deeply into this closed-loop radio-culture universe. It's pathetic--and it's why radio is dying...

 

[mjb1124]

I would hardly say I'm "enclosing myself so deeply in this closed-loop radio universe". First off, I'm not an insider - I'm only in college radio right now. Secondly, the whole reason why I like CBS-FM is because while they are in touch with what works with the masses, they aren't afraid to be a little adventurous. If they were to take the uber-safe, cookie-cutter approach that Sniffen seems to be suggesting, I would tune in a lot less. I enjoy RXP for similar reasons, though there is definitely some music that they shouldn't be playing (i.e. Nickelback, Van Halen, Sheryl Crow).

And really, "malformed backwoods bumpkins"? "Inbred hicks and simpletons"? Come on.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

This is where I do agree with the dentist--to a point. That is, there's a fundamental "incompatability wall" that the oldies timeframe runs into c1980. In fact, when it comes to the dentist's blathering, I'm in a "like, duh, I could have told you this years ago, but you weren't listening" situation.

But I think there's a deeper problem here, one that's endemic to the very nature of oldies radio. Essentially, we're dealing with a format approach--and maybe even more so, a discussion zone--that's reached the limits of its cultural competence.

The better solution, probably, would have been for WCBS to think in terms of raising the quality level rather than rawly lowering the age level or moving forward the chronology level. IOW, "gentrify" the oldies a touch; but accept that its "ideal" time frame remains c1955-80, give or take. The "AM Top 40 era".

Except that...as with the RXP dilemma, maybe it's too late in the game for that. You can't repatriate the "smart" demos when other technologies have taken over their sphere, and when you've allowed yourself to be terminally associated with malformed backwoods bumpkins or sleazy vulgarians.

I mean, if you present an oldies ideal of "play some songs that everyone remembers", or
"catchy and upbeat music that stands the test of time and is safe for playing in the office", may I ask you, on behalf of everyone who's bailed from radio over the past generation: what kind of inbred hicks and simpletons are you?

And I'm not saying that because that's what you are; I'm just whacking you on the head to remind you of the cultural rut you've mired yourself in by ensconsing yourself so deeply into this closed-loop radio-culture universe. It's pathetic--and it's why radio is dying...

Well I think that "incompatibility wall" is more a symptom of song type than decade. For instance songs like "You Are" by Lionel Richie, "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel, "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen, "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes and "Wake Me Up Before You Go" by Wham, work with the pop 60's/70's much better than some songs that were actually released in that era.
As any good programmer would agree, its a song by song call.....not an era as a whole.

 

[Gerryr]

WBPM??????

 

[adma]

Well I think that "incompatibility wall" is more a symptom of song type than decade. For instance songs like "You Are" by Lionel Richie, "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel, "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen, "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes and "Wake Me Up Before You Go" by Wham, work with the pop 60's/70's much better than some songs that were actually released in that era.
As any good programmer would agree, its a song by song call.....not an era as a whole.

However, it's also a matter of what that kind of song selection (as opposed to each tune individually) signifies, i.e. once you turn the 1980 corner, you hit the absolutest punchline of an AC deadsville in the name of "working with the pop 60s/70s". And you're still stuck with an aging audience, only stupider and sappier than ever, to the point where you're better off sticking to the pre-80s timeframe for the sake of maintaining some kind of dignity.

To reiterate: if this is "good programming", then Thomas Kinkade is "great art".

 

[Oldbones]

When I was listening to "Board Reflections" with Dr. Sniffen, he was making his rant about too much 80's music being played on CBS-FM about a week ago. He was mentioning "Two Tickets to Paradise" by Journey. This was the song that WBPM occasionally plays.

I'm not familiar with Journey's version of this song. And Eddie Money's recording of it was a hit in 1978.

 

[Oldbones]

The better solution, probably, would have been for WCBS to think in terms of raising the quality level rather than rawly lowering the age level or moving forward the chronology level. IOW, "gentrify" the oldies a touch; but accept that its "ideal" time frame remains c1955-80, give or take. The "AM Top 40 era".

Except that...as with the RXP dilemma, maybe it's too late in the game for that. You can't repatriate the "smart" demos when other technologies have taken over their sphere, and when you've allowed yourself to be terminally associated with malformed backwoods bumpkins or sleazy vulgarians.

I mean, if you present an oldies ideal of "play some songs that everyone remembers", or
"catchy and upbeat music that stands the test of time and is safe for playing in the office", may I ask you, on behalf of everyone who's bailed from radio over the past generation: what kind of inbred hicks and simpletons are you?

And I'm not saying that because that's what you are; I'm just whacking you on the head to remind you of the cultural rut you've mired yourself in by ensconsing yourself so deeply into this closed-loop radio-culture universe. It's pathetic--and it's why radio is dying...

Maybe I'm just a backwoods bumpkin, inbred hick and a simpleton all rolled into one, but I have no idea what your point is. Are you saying that only stupid people want to hear familiar songs on an oldies station? What do you mean by "gentrifying" the format?

 

[adma]

Are you saying that only stupid people want to hear familiar songs on an oldies station?

You say "familiar songs on an oldies station" like it's a good thing. Interesting.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

However, it's also a matter of what that kind of song selection (as opposed to each tune individually) signifies, i.e. once you turn the 1980 corner, you hit the absolutest punchline of an AC deadsville in the name of "working with the pop 60s/70s". And you're still stuck with an aging audience, only stupider and sappier than ever, to the point where you're better off sticking to the pre-80s timeframe for the sake of maintaining some kind of dignity.

I don't follow your point.....

 

[BACKnUSSR]

Are you saying that only stupid people want to hear familiar songs on an oldies station?

You say "familiar songs on an oldies station" like it's a good thing. Interesting.

Familiar songs on an oldies station is a VERY good thing.

 

[nd2023]

There are many oldies stations around the country playing 50s-70s. Most of them are in small markets.

 

[adma]

Are you saying that only stupid people want to hear familiar songs on an oldies station?

You say "familiar songs on an oldies station" like it's a good thing. Interesting.

Familiar songs on an oldies station is a VERY good thing.

Yeah, just like mass-market "original oils" are a VERY good thing.

 

[590buddy]

Familiar songs on an oldies station is a VERY good thing.

This is why most so called oldies stations play the same 500 worn out songs over and over and....

safe songs??? No Cajones to play some deeper stuff....

After all, Roy Orbison had many other hits than "Pretty woman", but they insist on beating this one song to death..

Speaking of beating things, we are all beating a dead horse here, but why not...I KNOW I'm right....

discussion??

warm590 ;D

 

[adma]

Well, look. This is the same industry that holds up Rush and Hannity as a gold standard of "entertainment". So those who are dismayed by the same hackneyed playlists can just look to the talk realm and say, "ah, that's why". Terminally ugly, terminally tasteless sleazebags for whom anyone with even a Starbucks level of middlebrow sophistication is off-radar.

 

[oldies76]

Familiar songs on an oldies station is a VERY good thing.

This is why most so called oldies stations play the same 500 worn out songs over and over and....

safe songs??? No Cajones to play some deeper stuff....

After all, Roy Orbison had many other hits than "Pretty woman", but they insist on beating this one song to death..

Speaking of beating things, we are all beating a dead horse here, but why not...I KNOW I'm right....

discussion??

warm590 ;D

You are right! WCBS is the answer.