Oldies Are a Thing of Past at Top Station

[brentspeak]

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer
Published June 4, 2005

NEW YORK - It's the day the music died. WCBS-FM, the top oldies station in the nation for more than three decades, stunned its legion of listeners by abruptly switching formats this weekend.


Goodbye, Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys.
Hello, Duran Duran and Jet.

"I'm sure this move angered and bewildered its listeners," said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. "A lot of people punched in WCBS-FM, heard Pink's `Get The Party Started,' and said `Something's wrong with my radio.'"

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050604/ap_on_en_mu/no_more_oldies_1

(The decision to change formats was made by WCBS' and Chicago's WJMK-FM parent company, Infinity Broadcasting. Another example of how media mega-mergers have destroyed American culture).

[Ravenseye]

1. Reminds me of a station in Dallas

at least in their new format. My sister and I were visiting Dallas and listened to a station in the car and they basically said...

"playing the hits of the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties!"

we just laughed. "playing all music made since the korean war!"

My question about WCBS though is that they ranked 8th...how profitable were they? Why did they expect to make more money this way? Just curious.

[brentspeak]

3. They actually had a huge listening audience

I'd say at least 1/3 of all offices in the NY metropolitan area were tuned into WCBS-FM oldies during the workday. But Infinity Broadcasting wants to target the "iPod generation" -- who are probably just going to stick to their iPods!

[SoCalDem]

5. Oldies are the "safest" music to play in public spaces

Most people have heard these tunes, and they are acceptable to most people. When a station plays a specific genre of music, they are just limiting their acceptance..and their listeners.

My kids are all 24-30 years younger than me, and they like the same music I listened to as a kid.. of course they also like THEIR music, but I don't. Why not play the music that most like, instead of the few? There ARE stations that play specifics..but do ALL have to choose?

[Eloriel]

2. The oldies station I used to listen to in Atlanta

was suddenly a Spanish station the next time I listened. :shrug:

[reprobate]

8. Same thing happened here in Orlando.

[tenshi816]

11. Are you old enough to remember when WPCH,

the station that I always thought of as the "dentist music station" when I was really, really young (because everything they played sounded like the background music my dentist used to play in his office, or what also used to be referred to as "elevator music") suddenly changed overnight to 96ROCK?

This was back in the 1970s, and if you were around then and remember the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" on TV, it used to be said that the format of that show was based on what happened in Atlanta with WPCH and its sudden musical genre switch (from "easy listening" to "hard rock"). I don't know if that's true or not but I do know that in the case of WPCH/96ROCK, it happened overnight.

[bluestateguy]

4. That's corporate radio for you

Listeners usually get very little warning about a change in genre. We had an 80's station here, which one weekend suddenly became (yet another) Spanish station.

[mcscajun]

6. My ears got 'hi-JACK-ed' yesterday.

I tuned in just before the change, totally ignorant of what was about to happen. It was like watching a train wreck. :grr:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3384728

[Warpy]

7. They're just changing to newer oldies

since the Buddy Holly fans are long out of their peak spending years and now it's time for the Ronnies* to enter theirs.

It's business, folks, and advertisers go where the big bucks are.


*refers to that cohort who entered the workforce during the 80s and don't remember when the country was fair to working people.

[reprobate]

9. Buddie Holly fans have far more surplus funds to spend.

It's just harder to sell us because we developed rational thinking.

I said it before: Corporations are killing the economy and us as individuals.

If you want your eyes opened, google 'A-1 Milano gene' and see how Pfizer will let millions die rather than put their investment at risk. All corporate management should have a bounty on them.

[geomon666]

10. Reminds me of Zeta FM here in Miami

93.9 ZETA had been playing rock and roll for 30 years. Than one day it just...stopped. One day they're playing RATM and NIN, the next they're playing spanish hip hop.

[merwin]

12. Infinity broadcasting is the one pushing Air America right now.