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Why Not An Xtra MOR Channel and Doo Wop Channel

J

John1

With all the Xtra Channels available, wondering if a MOR (Middle of the Road) style channel would work. Yes, upper demo, but so are the Sinatra, 40s, 50s, 60s channels. In the 1960s and 70’s this was the leading adult radio format in many markets, mostly on AM, playing a mix of modern ‘easy listening’, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tijuana Brass, Ray Coniff with softer pop, Carpenters, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Roberta Flack, Carole King, etc. Many are on other channels, but this mix was very popular back in the day, no more specialized now than Yacht Country, Music for Cats, Christmas music to sleep to, etc.
Also, why not an Xtra Channel all 1950s-1960’s Street Corner Doo Wop, early R&B and A cappella oldies? 50s channel plays these songs in between 50s standards, pop, rock and roll but it has become a style all its own for many as with the popular Cool Bobby B. (Bob Backman) show.
 
John1 said:
With all the Xtra Channels available, wondering if a MOR (Middle of the Road) style channel would work. Yes, upper demo, but so are the Sinatra, 40s, 50s, 60s channels. In the 1960s and 70’s this was the leading adult radio format in many markets, mostly on AM, playing a mix of modern ‘easy listening’, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tijuana Brass, Ray Coniff with softer pop, Carpenters, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Roberta Flack, Carole King, etc. Many are on other channels, but this mix was very popular back in the day, no more specialized now than Yacht Country, Music for Cats, Christmas music to sleep to, etc.
Also, why not an Xtra Channel all 1950s-1960’s Street Corner Doo Wop, early R&B and A cappella oldies? 50s channel plays these songs in between 50s standards, pop, rock and roll but it has become a style all its own for many as with the popular Cool Bobby B. (Bob Backman) show.
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There is currently a channel called 'Love' on SiriusXM that plays what you're describing. Here's a recent thread about it...

 
radiofan2023 said:
No one is going to spend money on a Sirius subscription just to listen to an MOR channel or an all Doo Wop station. They can listen to all that stuff for free on YouTube or stream it another way.
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Beyond that, the demographics that would appreciate that programming are the least likely to be paying for satellite radio. It's called "limited income".
 
K.M. Richards said:
Beyond that, the demographics that would appreciate that programming are the least likely to be paying for satellite radio. It's called "limited income".
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And with most satellite use still in the car, fewer and fewer people well over 80 are driving that much today.
 
radiofan2023 said:
No one is going to spend money on a Sirius subscription just to listen to an MOR channel or an all Doo Wop station. They can listen to all that stuff for free on YouTube or stream it another way.
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Ì understand that, but how many of the Xtra channels would anyone subscribe just to listen to? music for plants, music for dogs, rainfall, Elevator, supermarket, pizza shop, roller rink, Yacht Country, only hip Sinatra songs, on and on. Meant to be specialized versions of music people subscribe for already, which these would be.
 
John1 said:
Ì understand that, but how many of the Xtra channels would anyone subscribe just to listen to? music for plants, music for dogs, rainfall, Elevator, supermarket, pizza shop, roller rink, Yacht Country, only hip Sinatra songs, on and on. Meant to be specialized versions of music people subscribe for already, which these would be.
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I enjoy several Xtra channels: Prime Country Deep Tracks, The Bridge Deep Tracks, Symphony Hall Just Music, '60s and '70s Soul Hits, and a couple of others. No DJ blather, only a few channel IDs per hour, just a lot of music I like, and more of it than I get on the channels available in the car. I certainly wouldn't pay just to hear them, but I'm happy to have them available to me at home as part of my SXM subscription.
 
what they outta do is move all the talk off the sattelite and put the internet only good channels on the sattelite , like the Bbq rock station or the Freestyle station( the cool niche channels )
seriously how many people like the sports channels?
And the other stupid thing sirius does is Artist only channels , cant ya just get that from youtube?!
Metallica channel is a waste of my subscriptions.
They play metallica on every rock channel they have!
 
John1 said:
With all the Xtra Channels available, wondering if a MOR (Middle of the Road) style channel would work. Yes, upper demo, but so are the Sinatra, 40s, 50s, 60s channels. In the 1960s and 70’s this was the leading adult radio format in many markets, mostly on AM, playing a mix of modern ‘easy listening’, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tijuana Brass, Ray Coniff with softer pop, Carpenters, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Roberta Flack, Carole King, etc. Many are on other channels, but this mix was very popular back in the day, no more specialized now than Yacht Country, Music for Cats, Christmas music to sleep to, etc.
Also, why not an Xtra Channel all 1950s-1960’s Street Corner Doo Wop, early R&B and A cappella oldies? 50s channel plays these songs in between 50s standards, pop, rock and roll but it has become a style all its own for many as with the popular Cool Bobby B. (Bob Backman) show.
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Music-oriented 1960s MOR AMs played a lot of instrumentals - dance bands, orchestras, combos like Herb Alpert, and featured instrumental soloists like Pete Fountain and Ray Anthony, Acker Bilk, George Shearing etc. 30% - 35% to, on some outlets, up to 50% of selections were instrumental. Because most excluded Rock until later in the decade they got a little wild with mainstream Jazz artists. I am writing about say 1960 to 1966. When record companies were regularly still recording and releasing such fare.

Most people tuned in to hear not only the music but the personality of the host of DJ as they would have in the 1950s. What happened, in general, was that as the music their stations played became more and more youth-oriented most of the MOR hosts less and less related to the music and became only personalities. Which I thought was too bad. But some of them maintained audiences for 30 or more years.

Many of us enjoyed generalist AM radio before the days of 60s Adult MOR. In the 1950s we could hear the hits as well as whatever music the DJs thought we might enjoy as well as special recorded music programs featuring Dance Bands, Beautiful Mood Music, Ethnic (I lived in an area where Polish-American music was big) and even country music. On a single station. That was when stations were trying to please different local tastes rather than adopting a single "format". Later we had to switch from one station to another and another etc. to get that kind of variety.
 
Dick's History said:
Most people tuned in to hear not only the music but the personality of the host of DJ as they would have in the 1950s. What happened, in general, was that as the music their stations played became more and more youth-oriented most of the MOR hosts less and less related to the music and became only personalities. Which I thought was too bad. But some of them maintained audiences for 30 or more years.
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One such station that moved forward musically, and their personalities adjusted extremely well to it, was the legendary "Station of the Stars", KMPC/710 in Los Angeles. The best of the bunch in adjusting was Gary Owens, whose sense of humor could fit any music on the playlist.

One example I will never forget was: "710 KMPC, and Abba answering the musical question 'Dancing Queen'."

I think his absurd take on everything was what kept him in demand pretty much all the way until right before his passing. He was another friend that I was proud to know and we talked often, especially when I would call him on his birthday (unforgettable for me, as I was born May 9, 1956 and he was April 10, 1934). All it took was for him to realize one of his radio friends was on the other end of the phone and his natural amusing personality just came right out.

I miss him.
 
K.M. Richards said:
I think his absurd take on everything was what kept him in demand pretty much all the way until right before his passing.
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Around the year 2000 he was still on Music of Your Life, which at the time was similar to America's Best Music. The music was somewhat more uptempo and maybe older leaning and there was a lot of talk, but the attraction was well-known DJs such as Wink Martindale and Peter Marshall.
 


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