The Beatles have always been the ultimate challenge to whether radio can really determine relevance by the age of a song. A decade or so ago, Classic Hits radio programmers decided to move on from the Beatles; one group PD expressed concern to me that those George Martin productions were sounding creaky now. Then the world watched a seven-hour documentary about making a Beatles album.
The Monkees, as it turned out, also did a pretty good job of denting the time-space continuum. Similarly propelled by TV at the outset of their careers, the 1986 return of their series on MTV led to Top 40 KZZP Phoenix and others playing their ‘60s hits, paving the way for the return of the Beatles and Ben E. King to CHR a few months later. “I’m A Believer” got extra currency in 2001 from Shrek and Smash Mouth.
Anybody who’s worked with music research or with Classic Hits radio knows that “Twist and Shout,” “Stand By Me” or “I’m a Believer” all have a “real age” that is effectively 20 years younger than their cohort. At some point, radio decided to move on anyway, usually before those songs stopped doing well in research.
In a guest article, Research Director’s Steve Allan, a veteran Classic Hits PD, worries about radio’s ability to properly pay tribute to artist passings, especially those underrepresented on the air now. Two weeks ago, there were 84 total BDSradio spins for the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer,” three fewer than the Smash Mouth version. This week, following Michael Nesmith’s death, the song received 112 spins. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’d rather radio do a better job honoring living legends to begin with.
When Allan was PD, WGRR Cincinnati was one of the ‘90s Oldies boom’s great success stories by going older than the emerging format’s safe list. Now stations like KOAI (the Wow Factor) Phoenix cheerfully target 55-plus and play the now-contrarian safe list of that era. That station, along with KDRI (the Drive) Tucson, Ariz.; WECK Buffalo, N.Y.; and MeTV FM play the ‘60s and ‘70s for the people who were there, or at least for those who learned those songs from the “Kool-FMs” of the ‘90s.
Over the last year, I’ve started thinking that it’s time for mainstream Classic Hits stations to start playing the ‘60s and early ‘70s again as well — at least the handful of titles that continue to test and maintain a presence in pop culture. It wouldn’t be playing these songs for the audience that grew up with them, but for the younger audience that Classic Hits aspires to.
This belief has been forged from seeing the handful of ‘60s titles that will still test when stations choose to still test them; from cultural events like The Beatles: Get Back that radio did not seem to view as an opportunity; from seeing the purchase that Classic Rock stations have over even 18-24 listeners while still playing the ‘60s; from personal knowledge of a Classic Hits station that recently readded a handful of ‘60s/early ‘70s, among a number of other changes, and saw its 25-54 numbers rebound.
Classic Hits moved away from the ‘60s/early ‘70s because the listeners who grew up with the format were children of the ‘80s. Now, all but the oldest five years of the 35-54 audience are the high school class of 1990 or beyond. The 35-year-olds that Classic Hits stations crave are class of 2004. More than half of our target is seeking out music that is before their time. More of those songs may be from the ‘80s, but the handful of older titles they know are not necessarily less relevant.
Classic Hits and AC stations have gotten a surprising number of ‘90s titles to test, but the industry has still not managed to make a ‘90s-based-radio station work. Classic Hits stations still dominate in some markets; in others, they are not the juggernaut they were a few years ago. In part, that is because we are targeting an increasing number of listeners who did not grow up with the music — ‘60s, ‘70s, or ‘80s. We can’t expect them to have the same enthusiasm or know as many songs. If they have an interest in “Get Back” or “I’m a Believer” or “Respect,” we should not leave the older songs they care about on the table.
Classic Hits stations, especially those with heritage call letters, had to prove their relevance to younger listeners by not being the stations they were in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. At this point, that job is done. As current-based formats struggle with a younger audience that they might never repatriate, older music remains a viable all-ages draw, and the time has come to look differently at how we deliver it.
The article makes sense. For awhile now I have taken note of the 60’s music that is being used in commercials on both national network TV and radio. I have got to believe that research has showed it’s effective….especially because many of these products are not targeting the upper baby-boomers. They are targeting 30 & 40 year olds. The familiarity of the 60’s music is incredible….it has been around so long that people of all generations have become familiar with it. It’s along the same lines as people in the 20-30-40-50 demo making Christmas music stations so huge and accepting the songs/artists from the 40’s & 50’s being a major part of those playlists. I won’t even go into the buzz from the younger demos in watching The Beatles documentary. We have a MeTVfm station in our group and are constantly surprised how many comments we get from the younger demos. Perhaps more diversity on Classic Hits stations will keep the format viable and near the top….who knows?
Here’s the thing. Back when there were All Oldies stations (remember?) some decided to edge toward newer oldies in hopes of slowing the aging of the demo. But ultimately that backfired for many Good Times Great Oldies formats. Turns out, the demo one or two levels younger LOVE those 60’s tunes. And the early 70’s before it turned to mush or disco. Once the stations deleted them the format lost much of its “Good Times” feeling.
Truth: younger-than-target listeners will find real age oldies fresh, fun, catchy, and a relief from the formats targeting 18-34. You just play the right ones and don’t power the rotations to what you’ve learned from hit radio.
Oh, and don’t be misled into a format adjustment when the youngers start showing up.
Spot on! I’ve been saying this for years, but you articulated it well here. Speaking for myself and others of my age cohort (mid-late 50s), we grew up with 60’s and 70’s music – and the overall sound that came with it. Even if we were too young to remember 1967 (for example), we are far from being too young to remember the many groundbreaking hits that were recorded that year. That’s because they were still playing on Top 40 radio in the early 1970’s (Top 40 spiked in quite a bit of gold back then) and they were still at the center of the AOR playlist in 1980. The oldies stations of the 90’s and early 00’s were enjoyable because they had that 60’s-70’s sound. Once they started delving into the 80’s, that sound was compromised. Not because we don’t like the 80’s (heck, that was our era), but because the 80’s music does not go with the legendary 60’s-70’s music.
As for 90’s stuff, it’s disposable. And Gen Xers know that. Which is why big advertisers like Walmart are throwing back to the 60’s. “Tell Mama” by Etta James (1968) is on every TV in America now. And not one radio station. Tells you all you need to know.
“A decade or so ago, Classic Hits radio programmers decided to move on from the Beatles; one group PD expressed concern to me that those George Martin productions were sounding creaky now.”
And that is a big part of the problem in radio. It is when the listeners want to move on from a certain kind of music, not the programmers. The programmers aren’t the target audience.
From your mouth (page?) to God’s ears (eyes?). Programmers make too many assumptions about what people want to hear based solely on physical demo rather than any emotional factor. Good radio makes people feel something, good or bad. I feel nothing when I listen now and know no one who does.
Unfortunately, it all starts with programmers and self-perpetuates into canon as more programmers pick up on what others are doing. “Music research is a waste of money we can’t afford. But that’s ok ’cause I have a “panel” of high-rated stations I watch.” Balderdash! That’s just laziness. Use your brain! Look and listen at what’s going on around you outside of radio. You hear an mid 60’s to mid 70’s chart-topper being used in a commercial or a TV show? Give it a spin and see what happens.
And don’t forget to pay tribute to those who’ve passed. The night John Lennon was killed, and for a couple of days after, you couldn’t get away from his music if you tried. Even stations on which he and the Beatles were, at best, tertiary were playing his music. Will there be as much of an outpouring if McCartney were to pass? Doubtful. It would mess up the rotations and heaven-forbid that happens!
I’ve told the story here before about the small mainstream AC I programmed in the 90’s, and about the special weekend we launched on the Friday Frank Sinatra died, sweeping the bottom of each hour between :25 and :40 with only his music. The phones would not stop ringing, and we gained two new long-term clients who were thrilled. Even the “Friday with Frank” and “Sunday with Sinatra” station wasn’t doing anything outside of those shows, but we did, because Sinatra was part of the genesis of pop music and transcended our format. Listeners didn’t just hear, but felt what we were doing.
Unfortunately, unless a corporate major-market station decides to start going of the format safe list to play some older yet format appropriate music, we will stay in this stagnant, clinical, unemotional broadcast world we live in. Sigh…
I’ve programmed in major markets in two different format categories. What I’ve noticed is the AC-Classic Hits type PD’s are often the worst judges of the culture. They live in a bubble and speak in this radio babble with their fellow PD’s and consultants. For years I’ve disagreed with this idea that to play 60’s music on a classic hit station today is akin to playing Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, an Eddie Cantor. Still these myths persist from people that are entrusted in reflecting their audience. Instead they chat, text and call their little radio buddies and researchers that agree with them. This is the real issue, we have several generations of geek programmers, dead from the neck down, and yet we wonder why radio is fading away. Great piece as usual Sean.