Over the last year or so, WDRC-FM has moved its Oldies format to a more Classic Hits sound. Other Oldies stations have made similar moves, although to my ears, as WDRC-FM deletes older songs, it seems to be replacing them with mostly Rock acts.
To keep the station targeted at the 25-54 demographic, I can understand the need to drop many of the 60s songs the station had been playing. By why are they getting replaced almost exclusively by Rock hits, excluding many Rhythmic and Pop artists who had big hits in the 70s and 80s?
Here's what I heard as I was driving with WDRC-FM on my car radio this past Sunday afternoon:
Squeeze--Tempted
Steppenwolf--Born to Be Wild
Kansas--Dust in The Wind
Pat Benatar--Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Bill Withers--Use Me
Rod Stewart--Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Blondie--One Way or Another
Sam The Sham--Wooley Bully
Bob Segar--Against The Wind
Earth Wind & Fire--September
Out of 10 songs, 7 are by artists who were commonly heard on Rock stations while we were growing up. There are only two women, only two African-American acts. Except for a few songs, this playlist could be on WHCN or WAQY. Didn't women and black people have more than just 20% of the songs on Top 40 stations as we grew up?
How did "Tempted" get on an Oldies/Classic Hits station? According to Wikipedia, Tempted peaked at #49 on Billboard. I like Squeeze but I believe Hourglass was their only really significant hit and you hardly hear that song anymore.
Should I ask where the women are on WDRC-FM? Didn't Madonna, Carole King, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, Carpenters, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John, Carly Simon and other women have tons of hits in the 70s and 80s? The only two women I heard on Sunday afternoon were both rockers... Pat Benatar and Blondie.
So as we get older, we're more into harder-edged rock songs than when we were young? When we're teenagers, we want to hear Barry Manilow and Kenny Rogers on our Top 40 stations but now that we're in our 40s and 50s, we want to eliminate them from our Oldies/Classic Hits stations? Don't you get MORE mellow as you age?
And we also don't want to hear much rhythmic music anymore? As we get older, we want to hear more white artists than when we were younger? Many of DRC-FM's listeners are minorities, themselves. Today Connecticut is less white than it was in the 70s and 80s. Yet the station that plays 70s and 80s hits is MORE white than Top 40 stations were 20 and 30 years ago? Does that make any sense?
I don't understand WDRC-FM's logic in choosing its current playlist.
To keep the station targeted at the 25-54 demographic, I can understand the need to drop many of the 60s songs the station had been playing. By why are they getting replaced almost exclusively by Rock hits, excluding many Rhythmic and Pop artists who had big hits in the 70s and 80s?
Here's what I heard as I was driving with WDRC-FM on my car radio this past Sunday afternoon:
Squeeze--Tempted
Steppenwolf--Born to Be Wild
Kansas--Dust in The Wind
Pat Benatar--Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Bill Withers--Use Me
Rod Stewart--Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Blondie--One Way or Another
Sam The Sham--Wooley Bully
Bob Segar--Against The Wind
Earth Wind & Fire--September
Out of 10 songs, 7 are by artists who were commonly heard on Rock stations while we were growing up. There are only two women, only two African-American acts. Except for a few songs, this playlist could be on WHCN or WAQY. Didn't women and black people have more than just 20% of the songs on Top 40 stations as we grew up?
How did "Tempted" get on an Oldies/Classic Hits station? According to Wikipedia, Tempted peaked at #49 on Billboard. I like Squeeze but I believe Hourglass was their only really significant hit and you hardly hear that song anymore.
Should I ask where the women are on WDRC-FM? Didn't Madonna, Carole King, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, Carpenters, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John, Carly Simon and other women have tons of hits in the 70s and 80s? The only two women I heard on Sunday afternoon were both rockers... Pat Benatar and Blondie.
So as we get older, we're more into harder-edged rock songs than when we were young? When we're teenagers, we want to hear Barry Manilow and Kenny Rogers on our Top 40 stations but now that we're in our 40s and 50s, we want to eliminate them from our Oldies/Classic Hits stations? Don't you get MORE mellow as you age?
And we also don't want to hear much rhythmic music anymore? As we get older, we want to hear more white artists than when we were younger? Many of DRC-FM's listeners are minorities, themselves. Today Connecticut is less white than it was in the 70s and 80s. Yet the station that plays 70s and 80s hits is MORE white than Top 40 stations were 20 and 30 years ago? Does that make any sense?
I don't understand WDRC-FM's logic in choosing its current playlist.
