Classic Hits most popular format of Summer 2015 ... more 80s titles in the mix

This morning, Nielsen proclaimed Classic Hits to be the most popular format for Summer 2015, up 10%.

It includes lists of the top 20 most-played songs in the format this past summer and three years ago. 80s are more than half the list in 2015 ... that decade was not represented on the list in 2012.

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insigh...the-crown-for-radio-format-of-the-summer.html

There is one mall where I buy more clothes than I buy anywhere else. I haven't asked lately who provides their music. The last time I did I was told 3M, which was taken over by DMX around 2000. It has been at least that long. Most of the songs seem to be from the 80s but it's a nice treat if I happen to be walking from one store to another and hear something from the 70s. But overall, I could do without the 80s material and I refuse to walk in this mall for exercise. The stores are even worse, though.

It's a strange mix of music as far as I'm concerned but I guess that's the future of the format. On broadcast radio, I would like to see more stations moving toward the 60s as other stations continue to add 80s.

vchimpanzee said:

On broadcast radio, I would like to see more stations moving toward the 60s as other stations continue to add 80s.

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Not going to happen, for reasons that have been explained to you too many times already.

Probably will be the same as what happened to the 40s, 50s, 60s, beautiful music, etc. It will go bye-bye. On the whole, I think the 80s body of music will hold up better than the 70s, overall. But give it another 15 years and the 80s will fade as well. Not that I have to like it, though.

K.M. Richards said:

Not going to happen, for reasons that have been explained to you too many times already.

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A small station near where I live did it (and seems to be doing well), and in the next market over a large AM did it, but only time will tell whether this strategy will work.

landtuna said:

The average year represented in 2015 CH was 1980. Still within my personal time capsule of the Greatest Music. It will be interesting to see what happens when a few more years have transpired and we get into the "total crap" years.

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Well, as evidenced by my signature, I have a particular bias that the '80s were the last decade where pop music still had a sound which would stand the proverbial test of time. That's not to say -- as I was accused of by a commenter on AllAccess -- that I suddenly invented the calendar.

However, there seems to be a misconception that the Classic Hits format has always meant ~30 year old songs, give or take. That was not the case for much of the first part of this decade, noting in the Nielsen report that this sudden shift has only taken place since 2012. And if you presume a 30-year span that means the average year of 1980 is already starting to take in the early '90s within the format. So we are approaching the "total crap" period fairly quickly, and it is indeed going to be very difficult to select the right songs in those more recent years.

Look at it this way: Classic Hits is supposed to be a more universal format than it is a genre-based one. So if you're going to play an early hip-hop song, it has to be one that was not turning away listeners from conventional CHR stations as a current in the '90s. I already see a problem with this within the '80s, because a lot of New Wave/Post-Punk/Modern Rock did not initially play well on CHRs but have had a resurgence in popularity since. I would never have predicted that "I Melt With You" by Modern English would ever have longevity as a gold track, but it got as many as 135 plays a week at KRTH at the peak of this summer (that's an average of almost 20 plays per day, certainly the same as a power current would have when it was on the charts in 1984). But try to schedule "Panic" or "How Soon Is Now?" by the Smiths and unless you're in a market which had a strong Alternative station in that decade, it's a no-go (and sometimes not even then ... even though KROQ played both of those to death as currents, you won't find either song in their library ... in fact, no Smiths or Morrissey at all).

The '90s was the decade in which radio formats got more specialized. That makes it even more difficult, going forward, to find songs with universal appeal for the Classic Hits format.

I've said enough.

vchimpanzee said:

A small station near where I live did it (and seems to be doing well), and in the next market over a large AM did it, but only time will tell whether this strategy will work.

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The problem with phrases like "seems to be doing well" is that you pretty much need to see the billing numbers to define that. If a station adopts a format that can't attract enough advertising to turn a profit, it's not "doing well" at all.

I'll stand by my statement. There is not going to be a resurgence of traditional Oldies formats so long as stations that adopt same are dependent entirely on locally-owned businesses for ad buys. And to repeat myself, the position of the advertising agencies has already been explained to death around here.

Sooner or later you are going to run out of stations that program the way you want them to. Be prepared for that, because it will happen eventually. As the post below yours said:

joebtsflk1 said:

Probably will be the same as what happened to the 40s, 50s, 60s, beautiful music, etc. It will go bye-bye.

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K.M. Richards said:

The problem with phrases like "seems to be doing well" is that you pretty much need to see the billing numbers to define that. If a station adopts a format that can't attract enough advertising to turn a profit, it's not "doing well" at all.

I'll stand by my statement. There is not going to be a resurgence of traditional Oldies formats so long as stations that adopt same are dependent entirely on locally-owned businesses for ad buys. And to repeat myself, the position of the advertising agencies has already been explained to death around here.

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In the case of the local station, in a small town, they keep telling us the businesses where people are listening, and even requesting songs. And local businesses are definitely advertising on this station and the Rush/Hannity affiliate (not sure why no Beck).

First thing in the morning both stations have local news together, including a recording of what some local official said the previous night if there was a school board or country commissioners' meeting.

Now as for the larger market station, no one was listening anyway, so why not try this? The man who runs the company that owns the stations likes this music. It was described as sounding like standards rather than oldies.

I listened to a noncommercial station on the way to the beach. Sometimes it's nice and soft. Most of the songs are really old. There are times when they run what sound like commercials, but of course they are not. "We Built This City", though, was very much out of place compared to other songs they were doing.

vchimpanzee said:

In the case of the local station, in a small town, they keep telling us the businesses where people are listening, and even requesting songs. And local businesses are definitely advertising on this station and the Rush/Hannity affiliate (not sure why no Beck).

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Good. I hope the business keep their support, because as has been said many times, that's the only way these formats will survive at all. Being in a small (and presumably unrated) market helps a lot too.

Now as for the larger market station, no one was listening anyway, so why not try this? The man who runs the company that owns the stations likes this music. It was described as sounding like standards rather than oldies.

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Well, if he has the bucks to keep it running regardless of revenue, then he certainly can. It's his license.

Here in Los Angeles, we had a commercial Classical station on FM until February, 2007 ... long after the format had disappeared in many markets other than non-commercial public stations. The reason is that when KFAC/92.3 (now KRRL) was sold and dropped the format in 1989, the owner of KKGO/105.1 flipped from Jazz the following January.* He could afford to do it because he owns the station personally (in fact, he put it on the air originally in 1959 as KBCA and has resisted every offer to sell in the 55 years since) and has no debt to service. Perhaps a similar situation exists for the owner you reference above.

* - He changed the call letters to KMZT ("K-Mozart") ten years later, and when he flipped to Country in 2007 moved the call letters and Classical format to his co-owned AM on 1260 (with a simulcast on KKGO-HD2), where it has remained for the past eight years. I know the owner myself -- his name is Saul Levine -- and he has no intention of ever dropping the format, especially after investing in some equipment upgrades which make KKGO/1260 the cleanest-sounding AM I've heard in years. His adult children are active in the stations' operation and will take over ownership whenever he either retires or passes away. Not that I expect either to happen anytime soon, mind you.

Our local classic hits station in Columbus, WODC (93.3), went from being "Oldies 93.3" to "Central Ohio's Classic Hits" maybe a year-and-a-half ago, probably less. But within that time they have been classic hits, they have dramatically rotated their playlist forward into the 90s. When I hear "Semi-Charmed Life" as an alleged classic hit, sorry, that's a joke. That song is from 1997 and if it belongs anywhere, it belongs on an alternative station.
I can buy 80s as classic hits, even though I personally think 80s should be its own format and called such.
I'm fine with being ripped on for that opinion.

Okay, that takes care of "sooner". "Later" will happen eventually.

In the meantime, enjoy it while you have it!

landtuna said:

The 70's were perhaps the greatest decade of popular music (minus Disco) and with the most innovation. We haven't seen that type of music since the early 80's.

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And yet it is the 80s which many in the industry think will stand the long-term test of time and remain viable as part of the Classic Hits format long past what would mathematically be their peak.

My theory is that the (over)use of that decade's music in movies, television, commercials, etc., has created an artificial "memory" in listeners who would normally have as the upper end of their "favorites" those that were hits during their senior year of high school or freshman year of college. Time will either prove it right or shoot it down in flames.

To me, it depends on the measuring rod one calls "Oldie-ahem, Classic Hits" (and the all too requisite research.)

It may sound strange to hear "Semi-Charmed Life" on a Classic Hits station, but bear in mind that song is nearly 20 years old and it's not exactly the edgiest thing on alternative radio today (or that it ever has been. It sounds awfully mainstream. Even back when it was a current hit.) There's also Hootie & The Blowfish, Matchbox Twenty, The Goo Goo Dolls, Semisonic, Sheryl Crow - basically, the AC playlist of 1999 could be the template for Classic Hits in the coming years if the songs they're currently testing prove solid.

But that's not to say there won't be surprises. The latter half of the '90s saw the return of CHR from the brink and the most accessible pop of that decade. The ugly earlier half is the problem. Aside from Hootie, Madonna and not a whole lot of others, there wasn't very much in the way of mainstream pop. Most of that had been regulated to Adult Contemporary while grunge and hip-hop battled it out with younger listeners. It might be hard to find some compromise now when there wasn't much room for it back then.

But then again, maybe time makes the heart grow fonder. If disco could have a revival every Saturday night in the '90s on AC and Oldies stations, who knows what's in store in the future?

They're treading lightly with the '90s now, but eventually there will be no escaping it. The '90s "Gen-X" stations of a few years ago probably were just cutting it a bit soon when we were still recovering from that insane decade (and there was a LOT to recover from. "Mambo #5", "Nookie" anyone?)

vchimpanzee said:

On broadcast radio, I would like to see more stations moving toward the 60s as other stations continue to add 80s.

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There was a change to what I believe is this type of oldies format near where I live. It's not in a big market. The businesses have been supporting the station and there is plenty of local news and sports and community information.

Now it is true that the station has been standards for nine years and a mix of standards and oldies for four years before that. One person who posted on this site doubted the station would last, but the one example of a song that was too off-the-wall is an exception, and this isn't a classic hits station from what I can tell. Certainly not with the Beach Boys and even Andy Williams and The Carpenters still on the morning show. And who knows? I wasn't interested in listening but The Carpenters could very well still be in the format.

vchimpanzee said:

There was a change to what I believe is this type of oldies format near where I live. It's not in a big market. The businesses have been supporting the station and there is plenty of local news and sports and community information.

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As long as the local businesses continue to buy advertising in sufficient amount, such a station can survive in a small market. There is plenty of precedence for that and I hope the community appreciates them by shopping at them.

It's all about the revenue. In the larger markets, it simply isn't possible the vast majority of the time to program a format which will not get ad agency support, and those markets tend not to generate a lot of local commercial buys to offset the lack of national/regional agency buys.

If you want an example of how a smaller market can sometimes support a format without the agencies but serve a large audience which is way out of the sales demos: KWXY in Palm Springs, which runs a Beautiful Music format on an AM signal after its FM was flipped to a younger format. It recently added a translator on FM and has a loyal (albeit all seniors) audience.

Hope the all-local sales business plan works for them.

I haven't been listing the songs they play but I might as well do it now. My clock radio continues to come on for Mike Huckabee simply because I haven't figured out how to make it not do that, and among the songs I've heard in the past 20 minutes are "It's So Easy", "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Baker Street" (the long version with the guitar solo), "Sugar Shack" and "I Will Survive". There was another song I didn't recognize.

This seems very conservative compared to so-called "classic hits" formats.