Speaking Of Oldies....

[Thomas Heathwood]

I've been doing "oldies" continuously since 1983 when Pat Whitley offered me a daily drivetime show on 1060 WTTP.
We played old-time radio from the 1930's, 40's and 50's. and included a fair amount of music from the era.
In 1989 WTTP disappeared and we went to a satellite network called  Yesterday USA" for 15 years still doing the same 
OTR format.  Since then we have done Heritage Radio Theatre briefly on Peter Kenney's "Boston Pete's network"
and for several years and currently on The Olde Tyme Radio Network in streaming audio folks can hear on demand.
We have a large audience around the world now. and get lots of requests from old and young to play particular OTR shows like Jack Benny, Lux Theatre, The Shadow, etc...  The Network features four "DJ's" presenting nice quality
replays of OTR. We all think there is a place for old-time radio and music on the Web,  and have continued to make
the revivals of nostalgic stuff available 7 days a week whenever you want it at" New shows start each Sunday and remain available for one week around the clock.
www.VinatgeRadioPlace.com/broadcast<http://www.vinatgeradioplace.com/broadcast>
Similar formats have been tried an AM, FM and independent educational stations with varying results. The best forum
for old radio/music/sports/drama/comedy,  etc... seems to be on the free standing streaming audio web stations
like ours.  It is amazing how much nostalgia there actually is available. The bigger operations like ours are expensive to run, and are mostly subsidized by operator advertising.  
I truly don't feel that vintage broadcasting formats will return successfully to AM radio, although there are still a number of stations around the country programming OTR with a record of good listenership for years.
There is so much "stuff" available on the Web, it seems to me that just about anyone's taste for radio the way it was
can be easily satisfied.
Tom Heathwood    Heritage Radio Theatre