Fading out (oldies radio)

[question everything]

Fading out

As advertisers put more effort into targeting young consumers, oldies radio stations are vanishing

By Frank Green
STAFF WRITER

September 17, 2005

Dion is persona non grata on San Diego County's radio airwaves.

So are Chuck Berry, the Shirelles and the Four Seasons.

The traditional oldies radio format – featuring music from the golden age of rock 'n' roll, circa 1955 to 1970 – is fading fast as station owners try to lure younger audiences clamoring for more Kanye West and little, or no, Bo Diddley.

"There's the perception in radio that the older audience is less desirable" to advertisers, said Brida Connolly, associate managing editor at the trade publication Radio & Records.

(snip)

The trend of moldy oldies slowly dying on the dial can also be seen nationwide, where flagship oldies outlets like WCBS-FM 101.1 in New York City have gone the way of vinyl. In San Francisco, Infinity Broadcasting recently switched oldies standby KFRC-FM 99.7's format to one featuring rock recorded after 1975 in an effort to win listeners between 38 and 49. Of the 10,767 stations operating in the United States, 759 play oldies – down from 816 a year ago, according to Inside Radio's M Street format data.

(snip)

There is also the perception that older people are less likely to be swayed by advertising to sample new brands. Moreover, oldies stations "have had a hard time explaining their format to 25-year-old advertising executives," Ross said. The focus on the young isn't only affecting radio formats, but also television programming, movies and magazines, where the world seems populated only by people in their teens and 20s, said Ross and other analysts.

(snip)


Frank Green: [phone]; [e-mail]


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050917/news_1b17oldies.html

[DanCa]

1. The recently pulled our oldies station in chicago

I do miss alot of old songs myself like willie horton sink the bismarc big john leader of the pack, walk dont run, the drifters, del shannon, fabian, the shangrila's jan and dean, the coasters, jerry and the pace makers, paul reveree and the raiders. Good Stuff sure to be missed.

[Rich Hunt]

12. yeah, W-J-M-K

That station was an institution. It did get more formulaic as time went on, but I find it hard to believe it was that unpopular, since I heard my neighbors playing it all the time.

Even I listened to it in the car, and hell, I'm not 50.

:)

The cable has some oldies stations that have more depth, though. Of course not everyone can afford that.

There is also the perception that older people are less likely to be swayed by advertising to sample new brands.

Well, how dare they!

It certainly appears to me that the ad industry is deciding on its own 'what the
people want'. They can't say that the over 50s aren't consumers, since people
are living longer. They used to use that argument as a way of saying "majority
rules" and "it's just not popular anymore". Well that doesn't hold water anymore,
so now they're just saying, "they're not buying new brands."

Moreover, oldies stations "have had a hard time explaining their format to 25-year-old advertising executives," Ross said.

This younger generation is so poorly educated. Honestly, I had no problems understanding such things when I was 25.

Why shouldn't grandma and grandpa have a station to listen to?

[DanCa]

26. It's official Elvis has left the building.

I agree the only problem they had was the songs got to repetive after awhile.

[jmowreader]

25. I hope you mean Johnny Horton

Willie Horton was Michael Dukakis' running mate in the 1988 election.

Johnny Horton was a country & rockabilly star who was killed in a car crash in 1960. He did a cover of Battle of New Orleans which was the number one song of the year of its release, and it's still a good song.

Fun trivia: Johnny's widow was also Hank Williams' widow.

[DanCa]

27. Thank you too much politics - nt.

[tritsofme]

31. 97.1 the Drive

Is a great classic rock station in Chicago.

[madrchsod]

2. thank you jesus!

i am so sick of listening to oldies stations- fm radio sucks..

[msongs]

3. why did you choose to listen to them? nt

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Simple Demographics

Radio is sold by several key age groups. 18-34 and 25-54 are the biggies and the ones the top stations and chains want to reach. The "conventional wisdom" are these are the people with the most disposible/impulse income for the wholesalers, retailers and corporate who advertise. The more of these listeners you have, the more you can charge in ad rates.

The "typical" oldies fan now is starting to fade off the ratings charts and thus aren't counted anymore. This is like what happened to Big Bands and Standards music. Despite these people having more money to spend, they're not the audience the major advertising agencies want to reach.

Radio has been suffering from the Bunnypants economy. It's gone from making money hand over fist during the dot.com boom days to having to bottom feed behind television, cable, print and now online. The large chains like Viacom and Cheap Channel have cheapened the product and thus cheapened its overall worth. This is just another quick move to stop the bleeding from getting worse.

Thank goodness for Internet radio and the new generation of wireless digital systems that are coming.

[question everything]

22. Every time that I listed to Air American I really want to visit the

advertisers, so that they will know that it pays to advertise there. I've even heard Al Franken directing people to a web page and to click on a certain link. But... I don't purchase "stuff." I buy something when I need it. How unpatriotic of me, when 2/3 of our economy depends on us purchasing "stuff" whether we need it or not.

[KharmaTrain]

23. Here's An Even Better Way To Support AAR...

If you're listening on a local station, take note of the advertisers and take a ride down to the store or get on the phone...tell them you heard their commercial on the station and just thank them for doing so.

From one whose worked inside radio in a previous lifeform, i can attest how big it is for a local advertiser to get some response from their commercial and that, in turn, can mean another ad buy on the station that ensures the format stays going.

Most AAR stations are on "rimshot" signals...small stations that have limited range, hours and can't draw the ratings the big guys do. They need local advertising support more than anything...and as these stations do well more stations in other markets will look at bringing on this format as well.

Also, I can't push hard enough for getting as many AAR affiliates to develop their own daily shows with their own local hosts. We need the Progressive voice to have a local one.

Cheers...

[question everything]

29. Thank you. That's a great idea (nt)

[misanthrope]

6. Well, between...

...satellite radio, internet radio and even channels you can get through your television service, the future of radio looks as if the type of pigeonholing in the article will become the norm. Those of us with tastes outside the biggest market groups (mainstream pop and country) already have to turn away from traditional radio to find our music. I don't expect that problem to alleviate in the near future.

When you throw in the effect of iPods, it really changes the way we look at and use radio.

Personally, considering the crap I've endured on standard radio in decades past, I'm glad for the increase in options via new technology. Even now, surfing the dial in our town is like a taking a tour of Clear Channel and Cumulus corporate programming. Without the non-traditional "radio" sources, I would have little to no options for listening pleasure outside my own collection.

[Contrary1]

7. Check this site out...

They have all kinds of music, something for just about everybody.

It's free, unless you opt for the ad-free VIP membership, which runs
less than $4.00 a month. There aren't all that many commercials
though, so I am happy with the free version.

Makes for good listening while online.

http://www.live365.com/index.live

[LTR]

11. Even better

www.shoutcast.com

All stations play through Winamp, and are completely free. If you can't find a station playing your favorite musical preference, then you're weird.

[Contrary1]

20. I'm weird anyway.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. :yourock:

[Maple]

8. Good. Kill the stuff

It sucked back in the day. It sucks worse now.

[Hardrada]

9. Try looking for classical FM

I do. We have several good university stations around here who will play Mahler all the day long.

[Maple]

10. Thank you, no

[bmbmd]

13. There's no need in bringin' em back

cause they're never really gone!

[Hardrada]

30. De Gustibus non disputandum est.

[nvliberal]

24. Spare me.

The older forms of music are virtually the only music worth listening to from a popular music standpoint.

Why do you think there's an audience for 50s and 60s music, why people still talk about it?

iPods are very overrated, and a lot of us think they are nothing but ripoffs where you have to pay through the nose to get any decent song and it's not even TANGIBLE, like CDs, cassettes, and LPs.

I'll keep radio and CDs and all the rest, thank you.

[soup]

14. Call me a relic, call me what you will

Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ’n’ roll

[dbt]

15. CorpoRadio Strikes Again.

It's increasingly difficult to find anyone in upper management at the local level who's ever spent a minute on the air. It stays about the same as you progress up the Food Chain.

This is aggravated by the increasingly bizarre pressures and practices imposed on sales departments in the larger broadcast groups. Each station in the chain must, year by year, produce more money; goals are always set higher. There are more meetings, thus less time spent in contact with clients.

The Oldies formats are fading, IMO, because they do not provide the "quick close" that the big corporations must have make their monthly nut.

MEANWHILE IN CLARENDON, TEXAS, you can listen to locally-owned KEFH for one of the best Oldies formats I have ever heard (in 36 years in the business). The DJs are apparently there to read liner cards and nothing more. (Note: this is neither a bad thing nor a slam at the KEFH staff!)

The MUSIC is WONDERFUL, apparently not the 250-song "well tested" playlist that you can hear on cookie-cutter stations all across the country. Hell, I heard Lennon's "Power To The People" on Labor Day! (Your average "consultant" would shit down both legs over such a move.)

ONE MORE THING ABOUT KEFH: I didn't hear a single "national" commercial in two hours. The ads, and there were plenty of them, were all for LOCAL business and I'll bet they were produced in-house at KEFH.

Perhaps the real story is that giant corporations simply do not know how to handle an Oldies format. When (not if) Country begins to fragment, they will not know how to handle that, either.

Remember New Orleans

[LTR]

19. Liner cards are killing radio

And they have been for years.

I like a vocal presence when I listen to the radio, and as a former radio person, I like a little personality. Not just some guy telling me the time and temp and telling me about their fabulous new contest. Now that doesn't mean I want to hear a jock go off on a ten minute speech, but jocks should have a little more fun on the air, and really find a way of communicating with their listeners.

[liberalpress]

16. Don't get me started about today's radio...

.. the best station in town is coming out of the ceiling at my local Kroger!

[toddaa]

17. Radio sucks. Period.

I'm a jazz fan, so I feel your pain. Just try flipping through the channel looking for the latest from David S. Ware or Tim Berne.

"There is also the perception that older people are less likely to be swayed by advertising to sample new brands."

When Clear Channel buys out all the radio stations in your town and switches the format to talk radio, all sports, or top 40 payola, it's because they know that the majority of people listening to this shit will also run to Old Navy for another pair of cargo pants or to Best Buy for another electronic doodad with a digital camera in it.

[KoKo]

28. Hook the 20 somethings on Credit Cards...that's what it's all about.

DEBT!

[LTR]

18. This is pretty sad

I used to work in radio, and it's hard to fathom that this format, albeit much maligned by listeners in the past, is slowly fading into the sunset.

One would wonder if oldies radio is really oldies anymore. Most oldies stations nowadays are concentrating heavily on 70's music. And some are even branching into the 80's. Could it get to the point that you won't even be able to hear The Beatles on the radio anymore? You'll be hard pressed to find Elvis anywhere anymore.

What happened in New York (WCBS) and Chicago (WJMK) is that the two stations flipped to a trendy format-of-the-month known as 'Jack'. It's a format that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Basically, a huge playlist of various genres of hits from roughly the early 70's through today, with no DJ interruptions. They relate it to a crazy 'IPOD on shuffle'. But it really has no personality or heart. And it's baffling too, since both stations were doing well in the ratings, and I'm sure they were both pulling in decent revenue (sponsors were utilizing their strong lineup of legendary DJs for remote broadcasts and for plugging their products). Perhaps the industry as a whole is making a pre-emptive strike as they see hard times ahead for oldies formats. No stations in Chicago or New York have come forward to pick up the deserted format.

There may be some hope in the future, in the guise of HD radio. Stations are starting to upgrade now, and the technology will be arriving soon. With HD, radio stations will have the capability of carrying secondary channels. And the oldies formats of WJMK and WCBS will be on those secondary channels. It will also allow smooth jazz stations to broadcast secondary channels of traditional jazz, or country stations to carry a channel of classic country tunes, as examples. It will be interesting to see how all of this pans out in the next few years. Personally, I'd like to see technology that would allow internet streaming audio in cars, but we all know the radio industry would crap their pants over something like this.

Technology will decide in the next few years what happens with radio formats in general. The younger people who advertisers are going after hard are the same ones that are buying IPODS in huge numbers, turning their backs on terrestrial radio and their bland playlists. How will radio react to this? Only time will tell.

[Hidden Stillness]

21. This was one of the First Steps

I used to listen to a local oldies station that had been on the air since 1956, rock and roll, soul, etc., that eventually became "oldies" as time went on--'50s and '60s music; the best. About 10+ years ago, the advertisers suddenly stopped advertising on it--all national ones were gone, and the more expensive items like cars no longer advertised--until it became a crisis. There were left only things like local appliance repair shops, etc., and this was a very popular station with very big "drive time" audience and a few other time slots with very good ratings. There were many audience complaints about the way the station first had to cut back broadcast hours, then expand its playlist to include the '70s (still good), then eventually share its wavelength with another format and call letters, on a split schedule. The next step was the DJs "begging" people to support the advertisers they still had, and even fundraising from fans to "Keep It On the Air," and petitions to the station. It didn't work, with this sudden and strange "boycott" arranged by what had been typical advertisers, and the radio station went off the air--with a big, reliable audience. It was not that it was not popular or that the audience wasn't supporting advertisers. This was the last of the popular culture, before corporate control, and so--like Phil Donahue, the most popular program on MSNBC--it was gone. This is an industry so "wise" about the audience, that all of its corporate control of the music industry has killed rock and roll (and baseball, etc.) itself.

Now, the only (public, apart from my own recordings) place I hear real oldies is not even a radio station at all; radio is dead, it had the life sucked out of it. I listen to a group of channels on my cable TV, (on the setup that is like one step higher than "Basic"), called "Music Choice," the "Golden Oldies" one, which is actually really good. You get right back into it--until they decide, any old time they want to, to kill that, too.