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Why can't Oldies 103 and others always be like this?

A

ArtSpooner

Guest
I've been listening to Oldies 103 all day and it's been great. They are only playing songs that reached number one on the charts. It can't cost any more to do this, can it? Why don't they do it all the time. They all seem to play pretty much the same list of songs every day.

My FM presets are all oldies stations and I can't seem to go to the store and back without hearing "Margaritaville" or "American Pie" on at least one of them. I used to like those songs, but I've heard them and a few others so many times that I automatically switch stations on the first note.

I've never understood why they limit themselves to a few songs when there are thousands available at no apparent cost. Does anybody know why they do this?
 
They're probably playing some songs that hit #1 but are hardly ever heard anymore despite being good.
It is great to hear more variety--and they DO have a show that'll play "music you NEVER thought you'd
hear again" with Barry's Lost 45s! But I know what you mean, why not play a wider variety than what they do now. It all comes down to consultants and surveys that say people want to hear the same songs over and
over. My hunch is they have 2 or 3 lists of a rotation and go back and forth but WITHIN that rotation there's
no variances other than shows like Lost 45s, etc. Safe radio, bring on the consultants.

It was odd btw to hear them play Rock the Casbah by the Clash last night--but it was part of
Tom Kent's syndie party show for New Yr's Eve. Don't think that's on their rotation or maybe it will be?
Moving more and more into the 80s...?
 
Now this reminds, remember back in 1996 or before when it was rumored that Boston could get a second Oldies station? Dean Johnson reporting on it basically said one station would be tight with playing only one song by the Beach Boys, whereas the other station would play all their songs instead.

What did we get within that year? The resurgence of WROR
 
I've been listening to Oldies 103 all day and it's been great. They are only playing songs that reached number one on the charts. It can't cost any more to do this, can it? Why don't they do it all the time. They all seem to play pretty much the same list of songs every day.
Click to expand...

I've never understood why they limit themselves to a few songs when there are thousands available at no apparent cost. Does anybody know why they do this?
Click to expand...

Maybe it's me, but I don't understand your complaint. On one hand, you ask why can't they just play number hits all the time. Then, you question why they limit themselves to a few songs. What are you trying to say? If they only play number one hits of the 60's and 70's, they would be repeating songs within a couple of days. (In fact, they repeat songs that often without limiting themselves strictly to number ones).
To me, a better question would be, "Why do Oldies stations ignore so many songs that made the top ten?" You don't need research and consultants if you're only going to play "number ones." How about getting the experts to figure out a way to include artists that some programmers may not consider "cool" enough to play and mix them in with the obvious monster hits? I'm pretty sure that Barry Scott would tell you that Helen Reddy, Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, etc. were just as big a part of 70's airplay as Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and others. And, although we've pulled another year farther away from the 60's, I'm sure there's still some overlooked/under-played material from that decade that still could be relevant on an oldies station today.
 
Tony Orlando & Dawn, Cher, Helen Reddy all had Three #1 records in the 70s...John Denver, The Carpenters had more!

Luckily, "The Lost 45s" exists for those artists, the hundreds of one hit wonders and the 'stiffs' by mainstream artists. With a playlist of over 10,000 titles, 600 interviews, tens of thousands of actualitites and TV clips, it just doesn't get old.

Brian Wilson, Lindsey Buckingham, Bette Midler and Barry Manilow are among the big new interviews coming up this March.

Barry Scott
www.lost45.com
 
WDRC-FM Hartford has been playing a lot of those Manilow/Reddy/Carpenters hits all week, as part of its "Big D, A to Z" special, billed as the entire DRC-FM music library in alphabetical order. It started Monday at 7:30 a.m. with the 1910 Fruitgum Co.'s "1, 2, 3, Red Light" and continues through sometime next Monday. Playing right now is Eric Burdon & the Animals' "San Franciscan Nights."

Of course, many of the titles we've been hearing over the past few days will go right back into cold storage as soon as this library blowout (and it's not the entire library, either; I've noticed significant omissions of songs I've heard several times on the station) ends, emerging only for weekend specials or Saturday night requests. But at least for a week, the hitmakers of the '70s that corporate radio consultants and focus groups run away screaming from are back on the radio!
 
Barry Scott said:
Tony Orlando & Dawn, Cher, Helen Reddy all had Three #1 records in the 70s...John Denver, The Carpenters had more!

Luckily, "The Lost 45s" exists for those artists, the hundreds of one hit wonders and the 'stiffs' by mainstream artists. With a playlist of over 10,000 titles, 600 interviews, tens of thousands of actualitites and TV clips, it just doesn't get old.

Brian Wilson, Lindsey Buckingham, Bette Midler and Barry Manilow are among the big new interviews coming up this March.

Barry Scott

www.lost45.com
Click to expand...

I really don't listen to radio that much at night. I do listen to your show during the summer, until about 9:00. I e-mailed WODS and asked that they replay your show on Saturday mornings, but I guess nobody thought that was a good idea.

If the play lists are based on consultants, surveys, and focus groups, I just don't understand who would prefer to hear the same songs every day when there are so many to choose from. If they played the top 100 of each year of the 60s and 70s, that alone would be 2000 songs. That still would leave a lot of material for a show like yours and I wouldn't hear "Margaritaville" every day. It's obvious that they have the songs and it doesn't cost any more to play them. What's the basis for this school of thought?
 
Anyone happen to catch Casey Kasem's special countdown this weekend?
It was the Top Forty artists of the 70's. Number one on the countdown?
The Carpenters!
 
That's why a station has a specialty show: to play those tuned that don't 'test' well enough to be a part of the regular format. Unfortunately, those shows are becoming a dying species and all that will be left are 'researched' to death records.
 
Barry Scott said:
That's why a station has a specialty show: to play those tuned that don't 'test' well enough to be a part of the regular format. Unfortunately, those shows are becoming a dying species and all that will be left are 'researched' to death records.
Click to expand...

My question is what is the "test"? Who decides and what is the basis of their "research" and subsequent decision? Most songs of that era only lasted about three minutes. Could playing one song screw up their ratings? Is there some determining factor that says play Margaritaville, but not Rock the Boat, by the Hughes Corp.?
 
Isn't a test where they get a group of people in a room by demographic, play snippits of songs and then ask whether they are familiar with the song and if they would more likely tune into the station, the same, or less likely, etc. or something like that?
 
btw I think that group spelled it Hues Corp.--a spoof on the name of Howard Hughes' company and
"hues" as in shades of colors (I believe it was a multi-racial group)
 
ArtSpooner said:
Barry Scott said:
That's why a station has a specialty show: to play those tuned that don't 'test' well enough to be a part of the regular format. Unfortunately, those shows are becoming a dying species and all that will be left are 'researched' to death records.
Click to expand...

My question is what is the "test"? Who decides and what is the basis of their "research" and subsequent decision? Most songs of that era only lasted about three minutes. Could playing one song screw up their ratings? Is there some determining factor that says play Margaritaville, but not Rock the Boat, by the Hughes Corp.?
Click to expand...

There are oldies stations that AREN'T playing "Rock the Boat"?
 
Barry Scott said:
I do play their Top 20 follow-up, "Rockin' Soul"...That's right, Top 20!

Barry Scott
www.lost45.com
Click to expand...


That was a "soundalike" follow-up, where an artist or band tries to repeat the success of a major hit with a follow-up song that sounds almost just like it. "Rockin' Soul" sounds very similar to "Rock The Boat".

There's an idea for a show feature - hits and their "soundalike" follow-ups.
 
Not a bad idea! Motown certainly did it all the time...

It's the same old song...
 
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