Which is the bigger "tune out" factor?

[Oldbones]

I am in my late 60's, fairly wealthy and my radio preferences are Oldies only ('55 thru early 80's). My private collection consists of much more than Oldies but these are not common on radio stations so I don't even both searching. What is NOT in my private collection is Classical. If I want something to put me to sleep I will switch on some New Age or Soft Rock/Easy Listening.

I don't know of anyone close to my age (or otherwise) whose preference is Classical. There are some Country fans, some CCM and the usual AC varieties but no Classical. There are a ton of Oldies fans though. Go to any classic car show and what do you see and hear - Oldies and cars of the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's and hot rods and Modifieds from all years. And what are the ages of the car people? Yup, gray hairs. And the value of their cars? Yup, substantial (in most cases). The only place you might find Classical music is at the Monterey Concours d' Elegance.

I'm not much younger than you, and while I wouldn't describe myself as "wealthy", I did retire comfortably at 62. Most of my radio listening is either Hot AC or country with a little all-news thrown in. Almost never oldies, certainly not from my high school years or before. Give me 80s music over 50s/60s any day of the week. The only classical music fan I know is my wife.

As far as classic car shows go, I attend quite a few (a neighbor of mine has 2 that he shows, and he'll often ask me to drive one). I hear a lot more classic rock these days, but that makes sense. A lot of the cars at shows today are mid-60s thru 70s vintage, and owned by boomers.

 

[michael hagerty]

My point here is that not all Classic Hits fans are listening to songs from their high school years.

I'm one of those. The vast majority of my MP3 music is post-graduation.

I was in high school 1969-1973. My PMA should be 1972-1978. But I was a radio fan from age 8, started listening to Top 40 daily at 11, became a disc jockey at 15 and by 16 (and for the next 10 years) was a programmer and listening to literally every record that got shipped to Top 40 or AC radio.

So I'm not typical.

Like Landtuna, most of my favorites are from after high school, and I'm much more a fan of the hit music from '82-'88 than I am of the hits from '72-'78.

But...we're not typical. Right now, there's good money to be made playing 40 year old records (give or take 10 years) to 45 year old people (give or take ten years).

 

[Darth_vader]

"4: talk shows when you don't like the topic."

Like "Off the Hook" or "Off the Wall" when Emmanuel starts rattling on about "maker's fairs", "hacker spaces", so-called "social" networking or gun control. GUARANTEED instant tune-out (or rather, file-change, since I always listen to it on FTP delay.)

 

[CTListener]

My point here is that not all Classic Hits fans are listening to songs from their high school years.

I'm one of those. The vast majority of my MP3 music is post-graduation.

I was in high school 1969-1973. My PMA should be 1972-1978. But I was a radio fan from age 8, started listening to Top 40 daily at 11,

Up to this point in your narrative, you are ... ME! I actually began fiddling with the old multiband radio at my grandparents' house at 8 and got a tabletop AM/SW radio of my own at 10. I watched all the British Invasion bands on Ed Sullivan and listened to top 40 radio occasionally, but it wasn't until 1966 -- at 11 -- that the top 40 bug bit. Buty my musical "sweet spot" is mid/late '60s, although I like a lot of music from the '70s and '80s as well. And since I've always been able to write far better than I talk, so I wound up with a print career, secretly envying those sure-tongued enough to work in radio.

 

[PirateJohnny]

My point here is that not all Classic Hits fans are listening to songs from their high school years.

I'm one of those. The vast majority of my MP3 music is post-graduation.

Actually I was implying the other direction.