Re: Don't call 'em "oldies"?

[Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com>]

--- Dan.Strassberg@att.net wrote:
> If you call the recordings/songs "oldies," then the
> people who like that music 
> must be old. And we all know that once you become
> old (that is, over 54), you 
> never buy anything again

Well, what WODS is playing ranges from Beatles
('64) to disco (late 70s). I'm guessing from their
music mix that they're trying to appeal to people from
maybe 35-50. 

I'm 41 and they are indeed playing the "music I grew
up with". Although I wouldn't mind it if they could
toss some 50s or early 60s tunes in, and also I wish
they'd play some more obscure stuff during the week
(they DO play some of that on "Lost 45s" Sunday
nights; though Barry tends to stick to "lost" hits of
the 70s. Wish he'd do more 60s tunes "you never
thought you'd hear on the radio again".

I do like the hits of the 60s and 70s but many of them
are overplayed. So I wish there were more variety. 

As we've said before, the 50s tunes disappeared
from stations like WODS after they realized that if
you were a kid or teenager during the 50s, you are
now well over 50, if not over 60, and they don't want
the older audience. (Though Bob Bittner has pointed
out on LTAR that many older folks DO have money to
spend-- they'll pay for a car in full rather than
finance it...something the credit card and finance
companies dread! But there is an image that if you're
over 50, 55, or 60, you're simply not spending what
middle aged folks spend. So bye bye Little Richard,
MOST Elvis tunes, Fats Domino, Connie Francis,
the Coasters...

And so in line with that, stations do seem to be
shedding the name OLDIES. The songs are indeed
old-- they came out anywhere from 39 years ago
to 25 years ago. Maybe the word "oldies" conjures
up images of sock hops, James Dean, and cars with
big fins. When a station offers songs that only
came out after "She Loves You", maybe they want to
kind of avoid that image.