Quote:
Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA
My bad, I forgot to address this.
It's a math thing.
Playing stuff from the 60s attracts a demographic that advertisers rarely want. Therefore the stations rarely wants it either.
I'm lazy, so I'll let Wiki provide a more concise explantion than I'd manage
*the example here is from Oldies format specifically but applies just as well
And specifically, this comes from a RadioInsight (an industry publication) piece about the death of 60s music on radio
In short, stations really don't want people who wants 60s music to be listening to their station, it makes them appear to appeal largely to an aged demographic that appeals to very few radio advertisers. It's tough enough to make a buck as a traditional radio station these days, no sense making it harder by appearing to have an audience that's near death.
I forget your exact age, but hopefully you're old enough to remember what were called Nostalgia format stations populating the AM side of the radio dial. They played 30s/40s music mostly. They peaked probably in the 80s, maybe 90s. Well that was 30-40 years ago. 60s (and some 70s) music IS the "nostalgia" format of today.
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That makes sense. I guess my question is, where do you draw the line, and how has that line changed (or not changed) over the years?
For the record, I was born in 1977, and because I think a lot of this is regional, I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the late 80s, there were certainly classic rock stations then, and you'd hear plenty of late 60s stuff there (Steppenwolf, Buffalo Springfield, etc). Meanwhile, Elvis was in a position the Beatles seem to be in now -- you knew he was a big deal, but you'd never hear him on the radio. Now, here we are 35 years later, and the needle has moved...five years? I looked at the most recent songs on WXRT here in Chicago. They've played Misty Mountain Hop (1971), Killer Queen (1974), Wild Horses (1971), mixed in among more modern stuff. I guess I don't get why the 70s don't get thrown in with the 60s in what you just said -- these songs are all over 50 years old.