Oldies
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Oldies is a generic term commonly used to describe a radio format that usually concentrates on Top 40 music from the '50s, '60s and '70s.
Oldies are typically from R&B, pop and rock music genres. Country, jazz, classical music, and other formats are generally not considered oldies music, although some of those genres have their own oldies format (for instance, classic country). Occasionally the term is used to describe the rare station that includes '40s music as well, although music from before 1955 (coinciding with the "birth of rock'n'roll"), is typically the domain of the adult standards format. However, the term constitutes ambiguity for people who like old dancing music.
This format is sometimes called Golden Oldies, though this term usually refers to music exclusively from the '50s and early '60s (also termed "Real Oldies" or "True Oldies" by some radio stations which specialize in music from this era). Oldies radio typically features artists such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Four Seasons, and Sam Cooke; as well as such musical movements and genres as doo-wop, soul music, Motown, the British Invasion, early girl groups, surf music, and bubblegum pop.
Most oldies stations limit their on-air playlists to no more than 300 songs, on the philosophy that average listeners will stay tuned provided they're familiar with the hits being played. The drawback to this concept is the endless repetition of the station's program library. Oldies has some overlap with the classic rock format, which concentrates on the rock music of the late-'60s and '70s and also plays newer material made in the same style. [1]
All-"Oldies" stations as we know them today did not really come into existence until the early 1970s. In the early days of Top 40 radio, it was very common for Top 40 radio stations to play oldies (often referred to as "Golden" or "Solid Gold" music) mixed in with the current hits of the day. There were also syndicated music format packages such as Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold" format, frequently used on FM stations that needed separate programming from their AM sisters due to the new FCC rules on simulcasting, that functioned as a hybrid of oldies and the adult contemporary and softer rock hits of the day. The popularity of the movie American Graffiti is often credited with helping to spur the 1950s nostalgia movement of the early 1970s, and it was out of this 1950s nostalgia movements that the first successful all-oldies or oldies-based stations, such as WHND/WHNE "Honey Radio" in Detroit, WCBS-FM in New York, and WROR in Boston, sprang up. Some oldies stations, however, did continue to play current product sparingly for several years; WCBS-FM, for example, played current hits under the moniker "Future Gold" as late as the late 1980s, and WLNG on nearby Long Island featured a roughly 50/50 mix of current hits and oldies from the early 1960s until about 1999. WGAR in Cleveland and KRLA in Los Angeles were other examples of Top 40 stations with heavy oldies orientations; KRLA was in fact promoted in the 1970s as the "Elvis-to-Elton" station.
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[edit] The state of the Oldies format today
For many years, the time range of most Oldies [2] formats phased in with selections from the mid-'50s and phased out in the early '70s. Over time, especially since the turn of the century, stations increasingly limited selections from the '50s and culled out most hits in such styles as Country and Easy Listening. Many Oldies stations have dropped all or most music from before 1964 from their playlists, as it is believed that doo-wop and other music from the late '50s and early '60s appeals to demographics undesirable to advertisers, namely listeners over 40. As a result, many oldies stations have filled the holes in their playlists by extending their range into the mid- to late-'70s. Some stations extended into the '80s, and others have evolved into classic hits (see below), classic rock, or gold-based adult contemporary formats (i.e. WHTT-FM in Buffalo, New York).
The changes in selection have created some confusion over the definition of "Oldies", while many stations have adjusted their logos to accommodate their new formats. Stations that continue to use the term "oldies" in their on-air positioning generally do not play music made after 1975. Likewise, stations that do play post-1975 music have generally dropped the word "oldies" from their positioners, using identifiers such as "Super Hits," "Classic Top 40" or "The Greatest Top 40 Hits of All Time" (a la WRIT in Milwaukee and KLUV in Dallas/Fort Worth), or "Classic Gold" (a la CFCO in Chatham, Ontario, or the now-defunct "Classic Gold" oldies-radio network in the United Kingdom). WSRZ-FM in Sarasota, FL dropped their "Oldies 108" advertising nomenclature in favor of "Your Home Town Station" while expanding their playlist up to 1980. They still have their "Cruise In" segment for late '50's[3] and early '60's music. KQQL in Minneapolis/St. Paul and WLDE in Fort Wayne, Indiana, are two other examples of oldies stations which have relegated early and mid-1960s music to weekend specialty shows.
In response to this, some radio stations such as WSAI in Cincinnati and WRLL in Chicago in the early 2000s adopted the "Real Oldies" moniker and a playlist spanning exclusively the mid-50s through the mid-'60s. Most of these "Real Oldies" stations were on the AM dial and featured legendary personalities from the '60s-'70s golden Top 40 era (for example, WLS legend Larry Lujack was part of the WRLL air staff). However, WSAI soon dropped the format, and WRLL (now WVON) dropped it as well in the fall of 2006, because of a combination of low ratings (due largely to the amount of "unfamiliar" music played on such stations and the fact that they broadcast on AM) and unfavorable ad demographics.
Many other stations have also been forced to drop the format because of low ad revenue despite high ratings. On June 3, 2005, New York's WCBS-FM, an oldies-based station for over three decades, abruptly switched to the Jack FM format, resulting in a tremendous outcry from oldies fans in the Big Apple. WJMK in Chicago (WCBS-FM's sister station) switched to Jack FM on the same day. Some point to the demise of WCBS-FM and WJMK as a sign that the oldies format is in danger, for many of the same reasons that the adult standards format is disappearing. However, WJMK had been struggling for many years, and was in much worse shape than most other major-market oldies stations. In addition, unlike New York City (with the possible exception of WMTR-AM in nearby New Jersey), the Chicago market has not technically been without an oldies station since, due to the existence of the aforementioned WRLL and now WZZN.[4]
The oldies format returned to WCBS-FM in July of 2007 in an updated form featuring hits of the late 1960s through the late 1980s (and without the word "Oldies" in the on-air positioning), with songs such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper, "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, and "We Built This City" by Starship in rotation (though it should be pointed out that the original WCBS-FM played current hits mixed in with its oldies as late as the late 1980s). Thus far, the resurrected WCBS-FM has been well received.
[edit] Other Oldies Stations
The oldies format remains one of the most popular formats on radio in markets where it is still active. Some of the most successful major-market oldies stations today include KRTH "K-Earth 101" in Los Angeles, KOLA 99.9 in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, WODS "Oldies 103" in Boston, WOGL in Philadelphia, WMJI "Majic 105.7" in Cleveland, WGRR in Cincinnati, WZZN in Chicago, and KLUV in Dallas. However, to illustrate the continued decline in the format, San Francisco's KFRC dropped the oldies format entirely in 2006 in favor of the Rhythmic AC "MOViN" format which left most of Northern California without an oldies station until the debut of KCCL (K-Hits 92.1) in Sacramento in January, 2007. (It should be pointed out, however, that KFRC had already evolved its format and positioning to classic hits at the time it changed to "Movin".) But KFRC was not gone for long. On May 17, 2007 with Free FM hot talk format failing on 106.9 KIFR CBS relaunced KFRC with a classic hits format on 106.9.
Veteran New York radio programmer Scott Shannon developed a format known as the "True Oldies Channel," distributed via satellite by ABC Radio, which features some of the music featured on "Real Oldies" stations as well as hits of the late '60s and very early '70s, but generally nothing after 1975. The most high-profile "True Oldies Channel" affiliate is probably WZZN-FM in Chicago, which adopted the "True Oldies" approach in the wake of WJMK's change to Jack FM. However, WZZN has slowly been adding more local personalities (including vetran radio personality Dick Biondi), and now only airs 'True Oldies' from 10am-3pm weekdays. WIFO-FM Jesup, GA airs the True Oldies Channel during weekends as a contrast to its normal weekday country programming, and it is well received.
Jones Radio Networks, Waitt Radio Networks and Dial Global (formerly part of Westwood One) also offer 24-hour satellite-distributed oldies formats. ABC Radio actually offers two (three if Timeless is counted): in addition to the "True Oldies Channel," there is the much longer-running and more established "Oldies Radio" format (formerly known as "Pure Gold" during the time in the Satellite Music Network), which focuses mainly on the decade from 1965 to 1975 with some older and newer material.[5]
In North America, Satellite Radio broadcasters XM and Sirius each have more than a dozen oldies radio channels, with XM offering separate stations for each decade from the '40s to the '90s, and Sirius doing the same for the '50s through the '80s. These companies also offer specific genre channels for disco and dance hits, classic rock, classic country, and vintage R&B and soul hits. [6],[7]These pay radio channels boast thousands of songs in their libraries, ensuring far less repetition than traditional broadcast stations. As of early 2007, the total number of satellite radio listeners is still under 15,000,000, but it's expected that this will increase over time. Music Choice similarly offers commercial-free music channels for most oldies or gold music genres similar to satellite radio.
[edit] Classic hits format
A variation on the classic rock theme is classic hits, which provides most of the playlist of classic rock with an addition of contemporaneous R&B and pop hits as well, striking a balance between the mostly '70s-focused classic rock genre and the more broad-based oldies format.
[edit] External links
- Oldies Music — Definitions And History.de:Oldie
nl:Gouwe ouwe ja:オールディーズ sk:Oldies
