Who is to blame for the death of the Oldies format?

[Charles]

It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies stations are dropping like flies. Why?

When WODL (Oldies 106.9) came on the air in Birmingham in '92, they were successful because they were playing stuff that no one else in town was playing...and a wide variety of it as well. I'm sure that that was the case on other oldies stations as well. At least on WODL, slowly but surely, the playlist began to tighten up. You might hear the ten biggest hits of the Temptations, Four Tops, Righteous Brothers, etc., orginally. Then it became the five biggest hits. Then it got to the point where you only heard "My Girl", "It's The Same Old Song" (how appropriate!) and "Unchained Melody" to the point that you couldn't take it any more.

Sadly, corporate ownership is killing broadcast radio. Thank goodness I get Sirius through Dish Network...and I just got XM in my car. At least there's some variety through satellite radio!

 

[DavidEduardo]

> It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies
> stations are dropping like flies. Why?

People age at the rate of one year per annum. At some point, the teen form 1960 is 65 years old and out of the sales demos. And any format that appeals to that age group has severe sales problems.

 

[clichemoth]

> > It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies
> > stations are dropping like flies. Why?
>
> People age at the rate of one year per annum.
>

You know, that might just be the ultimate media salesperson quote.

 

[OldAkronite]

> You know, that might just be the ultimate media salesperson
> quote.

To quote, or rather probably misquote, a "WKRP" episode:

Les Nessman, worried: "Look at my news numbers! My share of men 65-and-over is falling!"
Dr. Johnny Fever: "Your audience is DYING, Les..."

And though that's not quite what we're seeing with the oldies format on high-profile FM stations, it's on the way. Stations that haven't successfully nudged themselves into 70's music, with all the pitfalls that move entails, are going to go out of the format, and "JACK" and its clones are now an easy route to do so.

Will we see more AM oldies stations now? No, not the "Real Oldies" 50's-early 60's variety, but more like the current FM oldies stations that are beating a path out of the format, perhaps?

-OA

 

[DavidEduardo]

> > > It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies
>
> > > stations are dropping like flies. Why?
> >
> > People age at the rate of one year per annum.
> >
>
> You know, that might just be the ultimate media salesperson
> quote.

Unfortunately, most of the 50's and do-wop oldies proponants here do not get the fact that people have birthdays, grow older and, eventually,a re out of the demos radio stations can afford to serve.

I'm trusting that you got the sacrasm/cynicism as intended.
>

 

[954]

> > It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies
> > stations are dropping like flies. Why?
>
> People age at the rate of one year per annum. At some point,
> the teen form 1960 is 65 years old and out of the sales
> demos. And any format that appeals to that age group has
> severe sales problems.

Here in south Fla., where WJNA once resembled Music of Your Life, they run lots of spots for insurance, drugstores, cemeteries, plastic surgeons, patent medicines, financial consultants, lawyers, and early bird specials. These businesses support the format.

But they blow it by mixing Sinatra, doo-wop, Elvis, and big band (before my time but my favorites) with Elton John , Eagles, and modern pop (change the station time). That's spreading it a bit too thin for my tastes.

Lately they've started IDing as "the music of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and ..." Gimme a break.

If racheting the definition of oldies according to the calendar made sense, how come the definition of classical music still includes Beethoven? (Someday they might define Andrew Lloyd Weber as classical. Hopefully 1000 years after I'm gone.)

73s from 954<P ID="signature">______________
JUNE Edition OF South Florida Radio News
http://www.univox.com/radio/2005june.html

The Baddad of Saddam Hussein (plus bonus election Y2K track) http://www.univox.com/radio/saddamz.html</P>

 

[clichemoth]

> > > > It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that
> oldies
> >
> > > > stations are dropping like flies. Why?
> > >
> > > People age at the rate of one year per annum.
> > >
> >
> > You know, that might just be the ultimate media
> salesperson
> > quote.
>
> Unfortunately, most of the 50's and do-wop oldies proponants
> here do not get the fact that people have birthdays, grow
> older and, eventually,a re out of the demos radio stations
> can afford to serve.
>
> I'm trusting that you got the sacrasm/cynicism as intended.

Yes, but that is still something I could hear someone in marketing (of anything, not just radio) say completely straight. After all, if it wasn't for this little-known trend, we wouldn't have birthday promotions.



>
> >
>

 

[DJKraze]

(Only responding to the original question in the subject and not anything in any of the posts)

Two words...

Father Time

(think about it, it's not just a snappy remark, the audience grows older and dies off, the same way the elevator music format has nearly vanished)

 

[OldiesCat]

death of the Oldies format?

There's a two-fold dynamic going on here.

First, the demo is aging and until (if ever) advertisers make 35-64 their prime "baby boom" demo, music from the 50s and first half of the 60s becomes a liability.

Secondly, I really believe radio HAS indeed made Oldies a back-burner format.
They've seen the writing on the wall and, instead of making the right moves to extend the life of the format, they've largely turned their backs until Oldies stations started to SOUND like they didn't matter, like they were just going through the motions instead of being Programmed and marketed with great care and thought. When your CHR and AC or Country becomes your cash-cow, you put less into the format you think will be gone in a few years.

Of course, I view that as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you run your (whatever format) station like it's an also-ran, you'll get also-ran results.

I do believe that Oldies stations evolving out of 50s and into 70s was necessary
(considering the continued importance of performing well in the 25-54 cell), but many made this evolution without really and thouroughly researching the music,
the NEW (in their 40s) audience, nor did they market these changes. It's a recipe for disaster- you blow off your existing P-1s and don't replace them with new partisans fast enough.

And, now we're seeing the results. Oldies will make a comeback but not with the big-hitter groups. It'll reside mostly with the mid-to-smaller size groups, often on OK but not great signals and, if done correctly, will be competitive.
Not Top 5 25-54 (that was 10 years ago) but competitive and somewhat profitable.


P.S.- Frankly, I wouldn't use WODL as some glowing example of how oldies could be done. They were NEVER a very good sounding or performing radio station

Your reference to "ten biggest hits of"- dude, those groups don't really have
ten biggest hits- Righteous Bros had 3 and a half that truly count, Temps and Tops and handful. LISTENERS have long forgotten the Temps song that peaked at #13 in 1969 and other than a feature spin once a year, their best-testing songs are easily sufficient.



> It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that oldies
> stations are dropping like flies. Why?
>
> When WODL (Oldies 106.9) came on the air in Birmingham in
> '92, they were successful because they were playing stuff
> that no one else in town was playing...and a wide variety of
> it as well. I'm sure that that was the case on other oldies
> stations as well. At least on WODL, slowly but surely, the
> playlist began to tighten up. You might hear the ten
> biggest hits of the Temptations, Four Tops, Righteous
> Brothers, etc., orginally. Then it became the five biggest
> hits. Then it got to the point where you only heard "My
> Girl", "It's The Same Old Song" (how appropriate!) and
> "Unchained Melody" to the point that you couldn't take it
> any more.
>
> Sadly, corporate ownership is killing broadcast radio.
> Thank goodness I get Sirius through Dish Network...and I
> just got XM in my car. At least there's some variety
> through satellite radio!
>

 

[radionut987]

> > You know, that might just be the ultimate media
> salesperson
> > quote.
>
> To quote, or rather probably misquote, a "WKRP" episode:
>
> Les Nessman, worried: "Look at my news numbers! My share of
> men 65-and-over is falling!"
> Dr. Johnny Fever: "Your audience is DYING, Les..."
>
> And though that's not quite what we're seeing with the
> oldies format on high-profile FM stations, it's on the way.
> Stations that haven't successfully nudged themselves into
> 70's music, with all the pitfalls that move entails, are
> going to go out of the format, and "JACK" and its clones are
> now an easy route to do so.
>
> Will we see more AM oldies stations now? No, not the "Real
> Oldies" 50's-early 60's variety, but more like the current
> FM oldies stations that are beating a path out of the
> format, perhaps?
>
> -OA
>
There was a similar scenario that occurred last month in Macon, Ga., where an FM station that played oldies is now all-sports with ESPN Radio. On the other hand, the oldies is now on an AM signal that only runs 1,000 watts from sunup to sundown.

 

[benwolf]

Oldies is still a viable format! Infinity doesn't seem to know that we produce a niche product, and there's definitely room in the biggest market for an oldies station. If they weren't making enough money, that's a management, marketing and sales problem, NOT a reason to change formats. Oldies stations that change format after these 2 are playing "follow the leader" without really knowing what they're doing.

In the case of New York and Chicago, place the blame on 2 failing morning shows...Mickey Dolenz and the blander-than-bland Paul Perry.

> > > > > It's been well-documented here and elsewhere that
> > oldies
> > >
> > > > > stations are dropping like flies. Why?
> > > >
> > > > People age at the rate of one year per annum.
> > > >
> > >
> > > You know, that might just be the ultimate media
> > salesperson
> > > quote.
> >
> > Unfortunately, most of the 50's and do-wop oldies
> proponants
> > here do not get the fact that people have birthdays, grow
> > older and, eventually,a re out of the demos radio stations
>
> > can afford to serve.
> >
> > I'm trusting that you got the sacrasm/cynicism as
> intended.
>
> Yes, but that is still something I could hear someone in
> marketing (of anything, not just radio) say completely
> straight. After all, if it wasn't for this little-known
> trend, we wouldn't have birthday promotions.
>
>
>
> >
> > >
> >
>

 

[DougD]

Limited playlists drives listeners off... Re: Who is to blame for the death of the Oldies format?

> Will we see more AM oldies stations now? No, not the "Real
> Oldies" 50's-early 60's variety, but more like the current
> FM oldies stations that are beating a path out of the
> format, perhaps?
>
> -OA
>
I certainly hope not. My gosh, hearing the same old tired, worn-out phrases, won't win a girl's heart (song quote MAMAS AND PAPAS) songs from the late 60s and 70s played on FM would be enough to drive one to tune the dial off completely.

Sunshine Superman sounds like a retread on AM; as does most Neil Diamond and the other junk played to death.

The trouble with FM oldies is that it's overplayed a select set and trashed half its decade. Oldies, by its nature, is more special and has/ can have a much wider playlist than any other current-based format, yet the potential is so utterly wasted!

Sure, add in some seventies but also don't forget the heritage part of the decade.