RE: WODS jingles, songs-in-a-row

[SteveOrdinetz <steveord@wavewizard.com>]

Chuck Igo wrote:

>    When Oldies formats first hit the air back in the late 80's (format as we
>know it currently: 54-74), and i went to work for the one in Portland in 89,
>the concept was to play nothing "newer" than 15 years old.  i inquired as to
>whether that meant the station/format would add another batch of tunes with
>the passing of each year.  "yeah," they said.  hahahahaha.
>     i personally have no problem with allowing a format to change and evolve
>to better serve a broad range of years while keeping the intent of the
>format true.  should oldies stations be playing songs from 1987?  yeah,
>there were four or five of 'em that were memorable. ;-)  and before you
>scoff at a playlist that might encompass 30 years...  there are A/C stations
>that play Motown and Oldies from the early 60's all the way up to today's
>music.  that's an almost 40 year spread.  and the ratings seem to hold up
>fairly well.  (yes, that would be WMJX)


I agree with you in principle, though I'm not sure it would work in 
practice.  With the possible exception of WCBS-FM, I can't think of any 
oldies station that's met with much success with that broad a focus 
(vintage wise).  WMJX has always positioned itself as an AC (albeit very 
gold-based), not an oldies station.  Most people have certain expectations 
of oldies radio--certainly hearing Madonna or Journey would clash with 
those expectations even if the listeners like the individual songs.  I know 
several people who vehemently oppose an oldies station even playing 70s 
music (with the exception of a few tunes from '70/'71 like "Tighter, 
Tighter" or "Joy To The World").

I'm not sure I'd want to be programming an oldies station today and have to 
balance increasingly divergent eras.  Alas, 80s gold as a format has thus 
far been a non-starter, and the only 70s-centric approach that has worked 
is classic rock.  Your point about only 4 or 5 memorable tunes from 1987 is 
well taken from an oldies station standpoint--while there are people who 
were coming of age in the mid 80s and consider songs of that era to be 
"their" music, these are not the same people who are tuning in to oldies 
radio as a rule...hearing Cyndi Lauper back to back with Lesley Gore just 
ain't gonna cut it.