It is not that oldies wouldn't have listeners but that the money is not there. In major markets at least, it is feast or famine. The market coverage signals are in a dog fight to monetize the investment with the quickest and most steady cash flow. The fringe fight to play with the big boys. The lesser stations and most all of the AM stations are the famine stations. Unless you've been in the GM position it might be hard to realize listeners do not always equal income. It has more to do with the right people listening. In major markets there is no middle class. More or less, it is mansion or enough money to spend the night in a seedy motel.
The big stations won't opt for oldies because in almost all instances the ad agency that doles out the dollars opt for the client's preferred younger demographics. Where oldies in the current day form are successful, they are on stations that were playing those songs when they were hits in most cases, thus, heritage stations.
The little guy cannot rely on anything but the mom and pop business and typically cannot establish enough of an audience for the single location business to see adequate results for their small investments. The little guy hasn't the cash reserve to invest what may be the first two years of red ink to reach breakeven and even once profits begin, cannot pay back the initial start up costs. These stations have few options. About the best bet for a format is if an area has a real sense of community and you can center on that area with a nice adult contemporary format and local information but even that is a big gamble (thinking Katy, Tomball in the Houston metro).
About the only option for oldies is a high school or college station and even then the typical oldies listener is not going to become a donor. At least not enough to carry the costs of the operation.
I've heard complaints about Southern Gospel stations running too many preaching and teaching programs but the truth is, much like oldies, the number of businesses that want to buy and what they can spend monthly means the ministry buying a 15 or 30 minute block is the only way you survive. KJIC is an exception but with such a slim budget it might not work if it was a start-up...they've done this for decades anyway, and their Underwriting rates are only around $10 per unit. Per Guide Star, their 2013 Form 990 shows about $21,000 a month in donors and Underwriting. Some argue you could be a computer in a closet but you don't account for all the other costs. Land comes to mind. The tower requires acreage and that is priced by the foot with little flexibility in moving to a low cost area because of interference/coverage areas. Office space, utilities, taxes and such really add up. A station needing under $30,000 a month is rare in a major market. And if you need $30,000, make that about $50,000 when you add on the salespeople to sell those $10 spots.
Those of us old enough recall the MOR stations that played Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and such. By 1972 in Dallas you heard songs like Riders On The Storm by the Doors and Knocking on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan included in an effort to skew younger so they could grab ad dollars. You can bet the older demos were kicking and screaming like the oldies fans are about 80s hits being added and 60s being minimized. As an early comer to radio, I have vivid memories of 1960s radio, even before 20-20 news and 'more music' radio. I wish there was a station but I know why there isn't and I accept this. If I knew how to change an industry and it's thinking, I'd try to do it and I likely wouldn't be posting this. Then again, I would feel the need to do so.
