Re: LTAR

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

At 05:02 AM 5/6/97 +0000, you wrote:
>I'd like to comment on a couple of things I heard yesterday on LTAR.
>There was a discussion about what was going to happen to "Music of Your
>Life" stations as the older people die off and the Baby Boomers get older.
>Someone said they'd probably start playing things like Simon and
>Garfunkle, etc.
>
>Give a listen.  That's just what they're already doing!  You can hear some
>of the slower and more mellow Everly Brothers records, Elvis, etc., and
>occasionally a Big Band record.
>
Alas, sad but true. The people who program these adult standards formats
absolutely don't get it. The inclusion of that schlock from the 50s and 60s
is the ruination of the format and, I claim, the reason why it is likely to
decline in popularity.

Tell me that you had to be around when Bach or Beethoven were alive to enjoy
classical music! Poppycock. I love the music of the 20s and 30s. Even though
I was alive for half of the 30s decade, I scarcely became aware of the
popular music until 1938 or 1939. To enjoy classic American popular music,
you do not have to have been around at the time it was popular. The really
good music of the genre is every bit as classical as the music we refer to
as classical.

My wife died of leukemia in 1988. I suppose, therefore, that awful bobby
Goldsboro record, Honey, should have special meaning to me, right? Well, I
happened to be listening to WXKS (AM), when I was driving to work yesterday
and they played Honey. I could not help but think how incrediby lachrymose
and maudlin it is. It is the quintessential 60s piece of crap that gets
played on adult standards stations in the name of attracting the
leading-edge boomer audience. My take on that is, if I were advertising, I
would not want to appeal to anyone with taste so bad as to enjoy that song
or the many, many other similar songs played on adult-standards stations
(particularly those that pick up the "bird droppings"). A week or so ago, I
was horrified and outraged to hear WQEW playing an hour of Don Cornell. My
reaction: It Isn't Fair for WQEW to play _anything_ by Cornell:-}

>Finally, may I suggest, Bob, that when you have that radio memorabilia
>givaway in a couple of weeks, you provide some simple name tags for us
>all?  This sounds like a wonderful way that we can all meet one another.
>
Good idea! Could be the long talked of radio buff's get together that we
heard about for so long on LTAR, and which we finally gave up on.

- -------------------------------
Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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