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WOGL: Did the '90s ever even happen?

Speaking from someone who transitioned from a 25 year radio career into full-time wedding and event entertainment, my clients (25-35) want the 90's and newer. Gone are the days I played Build Me Up Buttercup and Mony Mony at weddings. The earliest floor filler I have now is September from EWF. Even ladies in their 50s and 60's love Bruno Mars and songs like Uptown Funk.
 
oldies76 said:
Classic hits stations should remain 60's, 70's and 80's, period. No need for 90's tunes at all. While the 90's are 25 years ago, they sound to "modern" to be considered music that would fit a classic hits format. KRTH made the mistake of venturing into that territory. There are way too many genres in the 90's to make it a viable choice for classic hits stations. And on top of that, stations are making the moves to "newer" classics too fast. Years ago, it took oldies stations many years (even a decade or two) to move beyond the 50's, 60's and 70's. What's the rush today?? There are still plenty of 70's and 80's left to play!
Click to expand...

Granted, this is one person's opinion (and I'm not "picking on" that one person) but I really want to offer another perspective. By definition of the format itself, Classic Hits stations can't "remain '60s, '70s, and '80s, period." At some point, the '60s will have to be deleted and '90s will have to be added. Otherwise, the Classic Hits station turns into a Nostalgia station...and you see how many of those are alive and kickin' butt.

I would venture that '90s music feels modern because we were around for it...and my how the time does fly! But in 1990, Classic Hits stations were playing stuff from the '70s and probably stretching as far back as the late '50s! I'm sure that to listeners who were then the age we are now, the disco sounded quite modern! But station owners back then couldn't have played only stuff from the '50s and '60s any more than they could stick with only '70s and '80s, "period" nowadays.

There are indeed plenty of '70s and '80s songs to play. And a lot of them are toast bordering on charcoal. There's really no way around it: At some point, the '90s have to be added. Here's the thing though: Just like CHR exploded into a million different directions during the '90s, Classic Hits stations are going to have to follow suit now. And to an extent, we've seen that happen because, indeed, you cannot play Biggie and Nirvana on the same station. That's why we're increasingly seeing things like '90s Alt stations and Throwback Jams stations (it's also why Jammin' Gold was a thing for a while). Straight-up Classic Hits stations will add '90s but it will be the safest, purest pop stuff from the '90s. It's gonna happen. It has to.
 
Miguelito said:
Granted, this is one person's opinion (and I'm not "picking on" that one person) but I really want to offer another perspective. By definition of the format itself, Classic Hits stations can't "remain '60s, '70s, and '80s, period." At some point, the '60s will have to be deleted and '90s will have to be added. Otherwise, the Classic Hits station turns into a Nostalgia station...and you see how many of those are alive and kickin' butt.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that radio stations are not music services. They are advertising vehicles, and the music they play is meant to attract an audience for advertisers. If the advertisers want women in their 40s, the station plays the music they like. The problem with 60s and 70s music is it basically attracts people over 65, and there aren't a lot of advertisers for that audience.

If people want 60s and 70s, they can pay for it. Sirius has several channels doing it. There are online stations. There are a few HD stations (that's probably the best option).
 
TheBigA said:
Keep in mind that radio stations are not music services. They are advertising vehicles, and the music they play is meant to attract an audience for advertisers. If the advertisers want women in their 40s, the station plays the music they like. The problem with 60s and 70s music is it basically attracts people over 65, and there aren't a lot of advertisers for that audience.

If people want 60s and 70s, they can pay for it. Sirius has several channels doing it. There are online stations. There are a few HD stations (that's probably the best option).
Click to expand...

Exactly!!! No one running an FM radio station (a.k.a., "a business")--especially in a large market--is going to let their Classic Hits station devolve into Nostalgia. It would get some listeners, of course, but the demos would be a disaster.
 
Oldies stations stuck with 1955-1972 much longer than they should have and that caused the format to come close to extinction. Some of us in the boomer generation seem to think thatr our music should be on the radio until the last boomer is in the ground, and that's not going to happen.
 
TheBigA said:
The 80s are the new 60s. That's where this thread began.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that decade really does seem to have the same level of ubiquity that the '60s did two decades ago. By comparison, the '70s were a decade that programmers struggled with back then, though they eventually found a mix that works. The reasons do seem to be similar as both decades were a sort of hodgepodge of fringe genres, lacking the volume of mass appeal music heard from the '60s and '80s (particularly around 1964-68 and 1982-86). Also, with the '90s in particular, the early-to-middle part of the decade seemed to be a sort of reaction *against* the '80s, hence limiting compatibility between the two decades.
 
eriedj said:
Speaking from someone who transitioned from a 25 year radio career into full-time wedding and event entertainment, my clients (25-35) want the 90's and newer. Gone are the days I played Build Me Up Buttercup and Mony Mony at weddings. The earliest floor filler I have now is September from EWF. Even ladies in their 50s and 60's love Bruno Mars and songs like Uptown Funk.
Click to expand...

seems to be a common thread among "Classic Hits" stations (and former radio peeps like yourself) these days - just change the call letters and the state - but it's the same old song and dance......

#WayOver50
 
Miguelito said:
Granted, this is one person's opinion (and I'm not "picking on" that one person) but I really want to offer another perspective. By definition of the format itself, Classic Hits stations can't "remain '60s, '70s, and '80s, period." At some point, the '60s will have to be deleted and '90s will have to be added. Otherwise, the Classic Hits station turns into a Nostalgia station...and you see how many of those are alive and kickin' butt.

I would venture that '90s music feels modern because we were around for it...and my how the time does fly! But in 1990, Classic Hits stations were playing stuff from the '70s and probably stretching as far back as the late '50s! I'm sure that to listeners who were then the age we are now, the disco sounded quite modern! But station owners back then couldn't have played only stuff from the '50s and '60s any more than they could stick with only '70s and '80s, "period" nowadays.

There are indeed plenty of '70s and '80s songs to play. And a lot of them are toast bordering on charcoal. There's really no way around it: At some point, the '90s have to be added. Here's the thing though: Just like CHR exploded into a million different directions during the '90s, Classic Hits stations are going to have to follow suit now. And to an extent, we've seen that happen because, indeed, you cannot play Biggie and Nirvana on the same station. That's why we're increasingly seeing things like '90s Alt stations and Throwback Jams stations (it's also why Jammin' Gold was a thing for a while). Straight-up Classic Hits stations will add '90s but it will be the safest, purest pop stuff from the '90s. It's gonna happen. It has to.
Click to expand...

And in some states (like my beautiful NY, where I am from), it is already happening - I've heard the CH station in NY play "Smooth" by Santana - FROM 1999! Lawd have mercy! - #WayOver50
 
TheBigA said:
Keep in mind that radio stations are not music services. They are advertising vehicles, and the music they play is meant to attract an audience for advertisers. If the advertisers want women in their 40s, the station plays the music they like. The problem with 60s and 70s music is it basically attracts people over 65, and there aren't a lot of advertisers for that audience.

If people want 60s and 70s, they can pay for it. Sirius has several channels doing it. There are online stations. There are a few HD stations (that's probably the best option).
Click to expand...

and the problem is that this has been happening for AT LEAST ten years - i remember hearing even years ago - stations are going to have to start skewing younger in their music because the old peeps (like me) are aging out of the market - some even passing away...sadly, even I admit it's more of a nostalgia thing for those of us who are pining for the days of "Oldies 98" and in NY, the once great "Golden 101".... :(
 
gr8oldies said:
Oldies stations stuck with 1955-1972 much longer than they should have and that caused the format to come close to extinction. Some of us in the boomer generation seem to think thatr our music should be on the radio until the last boomer is in the ground, and that's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

and BOTH Philly and NYC are the perfect examples of that happening - I'm amazed that Harvey Holiday is STILL doin his streetcorner thing on 'OGL even with all the changes THEY'VE gone through - and in NYC, it basically lasted up until 2002 - and has continued to go downhill from there - even after the BIG event of 2007.....
 
Interestingly(?), WTDY has put a lot of the '80s tunes back in. Maybe 1 per hour. And a lot of them are also playing on WOGL (Straight Up/Paula Abdul, Your Love/The Outfield). Personally, I think this is a good idea. The stations sound nothing like each other and it's OK that they share a few '80s tracks.
 
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