Oldies
Encyclopedia
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format
that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day.
In the 1980s and 1990s, "oldies" meant the 15 years from the birth of rock n roll
to the beginning of the singer-songwriter
era of the early 1970s, or about 1955 to 1972, although this varied and some stations chose 1950-1969.
In the early 2000s, 1970s music was increasingly included, and early 1980s music is beginning to also be called "oldies", though the term "classic hits" is used to distinguish the "new" oldies (the Generation X
oldies) from the "old" oldies (the Baby Boomer
oldies).
, 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
), and a number of songs "crossed over" from country to Top 40. Occasionally the term is used to describe the rare station that includes 1940s 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 (after another album series of the same name, which was sold through bulk TV commercials), though this term usually refers to music exclusively from the 1950s and 1960s. Oldies radio typically features artists such as Elvis Presley
, Chuck Berry
, The Beatles
, The Beach Boys
, The Supremes
, The Four Seasons, and Sam Cooke
; as well as such musical movements and genres as doo-wop
, rockabilly
, rock and roll
, Motown, British Invasion
, early girl group
s, surf music
, teen idol
singers, and bubblegum pop
.
Most traditional oldies stations limit their on-air playlists to no more than 300 songs, on the philosophy that average listeners will stay tuned provided they are 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 as the older songs.
in Phoenix, Arizona
became one of the first radio stations to play oldies music, at that time focusing on the 1950s and early 1960s. KOOL is still playing oldies today.
In the 1960s very few Top 40 Radio stations played anything older than a few years old. In the late 1960s a few FM stations adopted Top 40 formats that leaned towards adults who did not want to hear the same 30 songs over and over again but also did not want to hear easy listening music featured on MOR radio stations. They mixed in oldies with their current product and played new music only several times per hour. These radio stations were often referred to as "Golden" or "Solid Gold" stations. Some AM radio stations also began to employ this format. 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 movement that some of these stations, such as WHND
/WHNE
"Honey Radio" in Detroit, WCBS-FM
in New York, WQSR
Baltimore
, and WROR in Boston, sprang up and were classified as Oldies stations and not Adult Top 40 stations. These stations, however, did play current product sparingly (one or two per hour) throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s; 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 1110 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.
Most of these "Solid Gold" stations began to either evolve into other formats or abruptly drop the format altogether from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Most AM solid Gold stations simply flipped to other formats. Some FM stations evolved into Adult Contemporary stations such as WROR Boston, WFYR Chicago, for example. Other FM stations simply moved into other formats like Rock, Top 40, Urban, or Country. In the early 1980s many Adult Contemporary stations began mixing in more oldies into regular rotation. Many of these stations had oldies shows on Saturday nights.
Hartford, WODS
Boston, WOGL
Philadelphia, KLUV Dallas, 970AM WWSW Pittsburgh, WJMK Chicago
, 1050AM CHUM
Toronto
, and many others sprang up. Some had as few as 300 songs while sations like WODS and WOGL had as many as 1500 songs in regular rotation. By 1989, most large and medium markets had at least one Oldies station. By 1990, most were on FM.
This period also saw the rise of syndicated radio shows specifically aimed at an oldies format. They included "Soundtrack Of the 60s" with Murray the K
, "Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember", "Live From the 60s with the Real Don Steele
", "Cruisin America With Cousin Brucie
", and "American Gold with Dick Bartley
". Most of these shows were 3 hours in length and featured much of the same music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that was in rotation at affiliate stations. All but a few of these shows had ended their run by the mid-1990s, though Bartley's show remains on air and Clark's remains in reruns.
From 1986 to 1990 several solid gold stations evolved into full-time oldies stations by eliminating current and recent product, gradually eliminating 1980s songs, and even limited 1970s songs severely. KRTH and WQSR both did this in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. WCBS-FM, however continued playing current product in regular rotation until 1988. After that, they continued playing it once an hour between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. until 2001. WCBS-FM also played several 1990s songs per shift during these overnight hours. They continued also to play between one 1980s song every couple hours to as many as two per hour day and night. WCBS-FM also played between three and five songs per hour from the 1970s. They indeed played more 1970s music than any other notable oldies station. At the same time, WCBS-FM featured slightly more pre 1964 songs than the average station playing as many as five of those per hour.
Oldies stations continued to be late 1960s based throughout the 1990s. WCBS-FM was an exception. Most AM oldies stations also disappeared by the early 1990s except in markets where there was no FM oldies outlet. The format fared well with no end in sight.
Since the turn of the century, stations have begun to limit selections from the 1950s and early 1960s. At the same time these stations began playing songs from as late as 1979 and even a few 1980s songs. WCBS-FM New York slightly cut back on the pre-1964 oldies and slightly increased the 1970s and 1980s songs early in 2001. They also eliminated the overnight currents and recurrents at the same time along with some specialty shows.
In 2002, many oldies stations began dropping pre-1964 music from their playlists, since the earlier music tended to appeal to an older demographic that advertisers found undesirable—hence, the addition of music from the 1970s and early 1980s. WCBS-FM canceled their "Doo Wop Shop" program and began playing only one pre-1964 oldie per hour; by 2003, there were fewer than 50 songs from the 1950s and early 1960s in the regular rotation. Many other oldies stations eliminated their early rock-era catalog altogether, and rare exceptions included mainstay songs such as "Louie Louie
" by The Kingsmen
and "Stand by Me
" by Ben E. King
.
From 2003 to 2006, many FM oldies stations—including KRTH, WOGL and KLUV—evolved into classic hits
(see below), classic rock
, or gold-based adult contemporary formats (e.g. WHTT
-FM in Buffalo, New York). Others simply dumped the format altogether.
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 1979 (with some exceptions) and still may play one pre-1964 oldie an hour. Still, that is not always true. But most 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 Hits of All Time" (a la WRIT
in Milwaukee, KLUV in Dallas/Fort Worth, WRBQ
(Q-105) in Tampa) or "Classic Gold" (a la the former format of CFCO in Chatham, Ontario, which has since switched to country music
, or the now-defunct "Classic Gold
" oldies-radio network in the United Kingdom
). Many say "Greatest Hits of the 60s and 70s". WSRZ-FM
in Sarasota, Florida 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 1950s and early 1960s 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 2003 Clear Channel's WSAI-AM launched the first "Real Oldies" branded station. It was created by Programmer Dan Allen and featured mostly the songs from the beginning of rock through the Summer of Love, 1967. It was a recreation of the WSAI that dominated Cincinnati ratings in the 1960s and early 1970s and returned original WSAI DJs to the air, such as Dusty Rhodes, Jack Stahl, Ted McAllister and Casey Piotrowski. Unlike the 300 songs normally played, the Real Oldies format featured a very wide playlist and spawned clones all around the country. Soon, other radio stations such as WWKB
in Buffalo
, WCOL-AM in Columbus
, and WRLL
in Chicago
adopted the "Real Oldies" moniker. 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).
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 1960s and very early 1970s, but generally nothing after 1975. The most high-profile "True Oldies Channel" affiliate is probably WLS-FM in Chicago, which adopted the "True Oldies" approach in the wake of WJMK's change to Jack FM
. However, WLS-FM has slowly been adding more local personalities (including veteran radio personalities Greg Brown and Dick Biondi
), and now only airs 'True Oldies' from 10am-3pm weekdays, overnights, and weekends. 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. True Oldies has also evolved to include more 1970s music and less pre-1964 product, and at times plays 1980s material.
Many stations have since dropped the oldies 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
and a huge decline in revenue followed. 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
and smooth jazz
formats are 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 WLS-FM.
Yet another reason for the discontinuance of oldies stations in recent years is the attraction of a more lucrative format as an attempt to lure younger listeners. In 2001, Baltimore's WQSR
(105.7 FM) and WXYV
(102.7 FM) swapped frequencies, with WXYV being flipped from CHR/Top-40 to hip-hop at the same time, and WQSR retaining its oldies format. These two stations have since changed formats again, with 105.7 going to talk and eventually to sports radio, and 102.7 being a Jack FM station. In 2004, WWMG ("Magic 96.1") in Charlotte, North Carolina
, switched to a Rhythmic CHR format and was renamed "96.1 The Beat". A new oldies station, nicknamed "Oldies 106.1" and carrying the WOLS
callsign, was created to serve the Charlotte area, but has since been flipped to Spanish-language programming.
The oldies format returned to WCBS-FM
on July 12, 2007 in an updated form featuring music from 1964 to 1989 (and without the word "Oldies", but rather "Greatest Hits" 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 and the three songs mentioned here during most of their years). Also included on the returning format as well are a sprinkling of pre-1965 hits and a selected number of classic oldies from the pre-1964 period. Thus far, the resurrected WCBS-FM
has been well received. Still, WCBS-FM is positioned as "Classic Hits
" rather than Oldies.
"105.7 the Walrus" in Tijuana-San Diego, KOLA
99.9 in Riverside-San Bernardino, 103.3 WODS
in Boston, 98.1 WOGL
in Philadelphia, WMJI
"Majic 105.7" in Cleveland, and KLUV in Dallas. WLS-FM in Chicago, however is similar to the way oldies stations sounded several years back. They still play one or two pre-1964 songs an hour during the day and as many as 4 an hour at night. However, to illustrate the continued decline in the format, San Francisco's KFRC
moved toward Classic Hits in 2005 and dropped this 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. (However, 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
relaunched KFRC with a rock leaning classic hits format on 106.9. But KFRC was not back for long either. On October 27, 2008, 106.9 KFRC FM became an all news 740 KCBS AM simulcast. KFRC now only airs on 106.9 FM HD-2 and online at KFRC.com. But KFRC came back again. On January 1, 2009, KFRC returned on the radio at 1550 AM, as true oldies.
KZQZ, which airs in St. Louis, Missouri and began playing oldies in March 2008, has held onto the traditional oldies format, playing a wide variety of top 40 Billboard hits from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.
On August 27, 2009, Grand Rapids, Michigan station WGVU-AM became the first public radio station to feature an all-oldies format. The format has since been imitated by other public radio stations; for example, WCNY-FM
in Syracuse, New York has begun broadcasting a personality-based oldies format on its HD Radio
digital subchannel
.
Jones Radio Networks
, Waitt Radio Networks
and Dial Global
(formerly part of Westwood One
) also offered 24-hour satellite-distributed oldies formats; the first two companies have been taken over by Dial Global's owner and the formats' futures are uncertain. ABC Radio actually offers two (and had three if Timeless
was 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.
In North America, satellite radio
broadcasters XM and Sirius launched in 2001 and 2002, respectively, with 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 offered specific genre channels for disco
and dance
hits, garage rock
, classic rock
, classic country
, and vintage R&B
and soul
hits. These pay radio channels boasted thousands of songs in their libraries, ensuring far less repetition than traditional broadcast stations. (In November 2008, following a merger of Sirius and XM, the two services shifted to a unified group of "decades" channels, with the playlists for most cut back to reflect a more conventional style of oldies programming.) Music Choice
similarly offers an interruption-free oldies station (which covers the '50s and '60s, primarily from the rock and roll era) as well as decades channels for the '70s through the '90s. A number of Internet radio
stations also carry the format.
In the summer of 2010, KYAA
(1200 AM) was launched in the Santa Cruz, CA area as a tribute to KYA of the '60s, playing the oldies of the '50s, '60s, and early '70s. The original KYA (1260 AM) was in San Francisco, CA.
, which provides most of the playlist of oldies with some 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.
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day.
In the 1980s and 1990s, "oldies" meant the 15 years from the birth of rock n roll
Rock N Roll
-Personnel:*Ryan Adams - Bass, Composer, Costume Design, Guitar, Keyboards, Multi Instruments, Vocals, Vocals *Billie Joe Armstrong - Vocals *Melissa Auf der Maur - Vocals...
to the beginning of the singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
era of the early 1970s, or about 1955 to 1972, although this varied and some stations chose 1950-1969.
In the early 2000s, 1970s music was increasingly included, and early 1980s music is beginning to also be called "oldies", though the term "classic hits" is used to distinguish the "new" oldies (the Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
oldies) from the "old" oldies (the Baby Boomer
Baby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
oldies).
Description
Oldies tunes are typically from R&BRhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
genres. Country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, and other formats are generally not considered oldies music, although some of those genres have their own oldies format (for instance, classic country
Classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...
), and a number of songs "crossed over" from country to Top 40. Occasionally the term is used to describe the rare station that includes 1940s music as well, although music from before 1955 (coinciding with the "birth of rock'n'roll") is typically the domain of the adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
format. However, the term constitutes ambiguity for people who like old dancing music.
This format is sometimes called Golden Oldies (after another album series of the same name, which was sold through bulk TV commercials), though this term usually refers to music exclusively from the 1950s and 1960s. Oldies radio typically features artists such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, The Four Seasons, and Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
; as well as such musical movements and genres as doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, Motown, British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, early girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
s, surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
, teen idol
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...
singers, and bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
.
Most traditional oldies stations limit their on-air playlists to no more than 300 songs, on the philosophy that average listeners will stay tuned provided they are 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
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
format, which concentrates on the rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
of the late-'60s and '70s and also plays newer material made in the same style as the older songs.
1970s
Oldies stations as they are known today did not come into existence until the early 1970s. In the 1970s, KOOL-FMKOOL-FM
KOOL-FM is a commercial Classic Hits music radio station in Phoenix, Arizona, broadcasting on 94.5 FM. The station is owned by CBS Radio. The station features the hits of the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and is one of the top performing stations in Phoenix...
in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
became one of the first radio stations to play oldies music, at that time focusing on the 1950s and early 1960s. KOOL is still playing oldies today.
In the 1960s very few Top 40 Radio stations played anything older than a few years old. In the late 1960s a few FM stations adopted Top 40 formats that leaned towards adults who did not want to hear the same 30 songs over and over again but also did not want to hear easy listening music featured on MOR radio stations. They mixed in oldies with their current product and played new music only several times per hour. These radio stations were often referred to as "Golden" or "Solid Gold" stations. Some AM radio stations also began to employ this format. There were also syndicated music format packages such as Drake-Chenault
Drake-Chenault
Drake-Chenault Enterprises was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake , and his business partner, Lester Eugene 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
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
is often credited with helping to spur the 1950s nostalgia movement of the early 1970s, and it was out of this 1950s nostalgia movement that some of these stations, such as WHND
WRDT
WRDT, known on the air as "The Word AM 560, Detroit's Christian Talk", is a radio station licensed to Monroe, Michigan, serving the Detroit metropolitan area. The station broadcasts in HD Radio with 500 Watts daytime power from a transmitter located in South Monroe, MI, and 14 Watts nighttime...
/WHNE
WCSX
WCSX is a Detroit-based FM radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. WCSX's transmitter is located in suburban Oakland County in Royal Oak Township near the intersection of 8 Mile Rd. and Wyoming Avenue. WCSX transmits its signal from an antenna 951 feet in height with an effective radiated...
"Honey Radio" in Detroit, WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
in New York, WQSR
WQSR
WQSR is a radio station broadcasting on 102.7 FM. The station is licensed to Baltimore and serves that market. Its transmitter is located in Pikesville, next to the Pikesville Reservoir. It is under ownership of Clear Channel Communications. The station offers an adult rock hits format known as...
Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, and WROR in Boston, sprang up and were classified as Oldies stations and not Adult Top 40 stations. These stations, however, did play current product sparingly (one or two per hour) throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s; WCBS-FM, for example, played current hits under the moniker "Future Gold" as late as the late 1980s, and WLNG
WLNG
WLNG is a radio station in Sag Harbor, New York that has earned a reputation as a throwback to an earlier era with its frequent use of jingles, reverb, frequent remote broadcasts at store openings, carnivals and sundry events, and personality disc jockeys...
on nearby Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
featured a roughly 50/50 mix of current hits and oldies from the early 1960s until about 1999. WGAR
WHKW
WHKW is an AM radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, operating on 1220 kHz. The station is owned by Salem Communications and carries religious programming from the company's radio network. The bulk of WHKW's programming is simulcast on WHKZ in Warren, Ohio.The 1220 frequency in Cleveland was the...
in Cleveland and KRLA 1110 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
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
-to-Elton
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
" station.
Most of these "Solid Gold" stations began to either evolve into other formats or abruptly drop the format altogether from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Most AM solid Gold stations simply flipped to other formats. Some FM stations evolved into Adult Contemporary stations such as WROR Boston, WFYR Chicago, for example. Other FM stations simply moved into other formats like Rock, Top 40, Urban, or Country. In the early 1980s many Adult Contemporary stations began mixing in more oldies into regular rotation. Many of these stations had oldies shows on Saturday nights.
1980s and 1990s
Gradually, beginning in 1982, both AM and FM stations began flipping to a full-time oldies format playing "All Oldies All The Time". These stations played strictly music from 1955 to 1973 focusing on the 1964 to 1969 era. By the mid to late 1980s stations like WDRC-FMWDRC-FM
WDRC-FM, known as 102.9 DRC FM, is a radio station based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, which primarily serves the Hartford market. DRC-FM broadcasts an oldies format, at a frequency of 102.9 MHz...
Hartford, WODS
WODS
- External links :****...
Boston, WOGL
WOGL
WOGL is an FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.The station plays mostly post 1964 pop leaning Oldies positioned Classic Hits music, including Motown, soul and rock and roll spanning roughly 1964–1985. An occasional pre-1964 song is played. WOGL is owned by CBS Radio...
Philadelphia, KLUV Dallas, 970AM WWSW Pittsburgh, WJMK Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, 1050AM CHUM
CHUM
CHUM may refer to:* The former CHUM Radio division now known as Bell Media Radio* CHUM , a Toronto AM station* CHUM-FM, a Toronto FM station...
Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and many others sprang up. Some had as few as 300 songs while sations like WODS and WOGL had as many as 1500 songs in regular rotation. By 1989, most large and medium markets had at least one Oldies station. By 1990, most were on FM.
This period also saw the rise of syndicated radio shows specifically aimed at an oldies format. They included "Soundtrack Of the 60s" with Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
, "Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember", "Live From the 60s with the Real Don Steele
Don Steele
Don Steele, born Donald Steele Revert , was one of the most popular disc jockeys in the United States, from the middle of the 1960s until his retirement in May 1997...
", "Cruisin America With Cousin Brucie
Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow is an American radio personality known to many listeners as Cousin Brucie.-Radio work:...
", and "American Gold with Dick Bartley
Dick Bartley
Dick Bartley, a popular American radio disc jockey since 21 June 1969, hosts several popular syndicated radio shows of the oldies/classic hits genre, including the current Classic Countdown since 1991 and the Saturday night call-in request show Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits since 1982...
". Most of these shows were 3 hours in length and featured much of the same music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that was in rotation at affiliate stations. All but a few of these shows had ended their run by the mid-1990s, though Bartley's show remains on air and Clark's remains in reruns.
From 1986 to 1990 several solid gold stations evolved into full-time oldies stations by eliminating current and recent product, gradually eliminating 1980s songs, and even limited 1970s songs severely. KRTH and WQSR both did this in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. WCBS-FM, however continued playing current product in regular rotation until 1988. After that, they continued playing it once an hour between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. until 2001. WCBS-FM also played several 1990s songs per shift during these overnight hours. They continued also to play between one 1980s song every couple hours to as many as two per hour day and night. WCBS-FM also played between three and five songs per hour from the 1970s. They indeed played more 1970s music than any other notable oldies station. At the same time, WCBS-FM featured slightly more pre 1964 songs than the average station playing as many as five of those per hour.
Oldies stations continued to be late 1960s based throughout the 1990s. WCBS-FM was an exception. Most AM oldies stations also disappeared by the early 1990s except in markets where there was no FM oldies outlet. The format fared well with no end in sight.
Decline of oldies formats
In 2000, oldies stations began to notice their demographics were getting older and harder to sell. Still, at that time few stations dumped the format altogether. A few went for a flavor-of-the-month format called "Jammin' Oldies". But most continued to hang on to the format initially.Since the turn of the century, stations have begun to limit selections from the 1950s and early 1960s. At the same time these stations began playing songs from as late as 1979 and even a few 1980s songs. WCBS-FM New York slightly cut back on the pre-1964 oldies and slightly increased the 1970s and 1980s songs early in 2001. They also eliminated the overnight currents and recurrents at the same time along with some specialty shows.
In 2002, many oldies stations began dropping pre-1964 music from their playlists, since the earlier music tended to appeal to an older demographic that advertisers found undesirable—hence, the addition of music from the 1970s and early 1980s. WCBS-FM canceled their "Doo Wop Shop" program and began playing only one pre-1964 oldie per hour; by 2003, there were fewer than 50 songs from the 1950s and early 1960s in the regular rotation. Many other oldies stations eliminated their early rock-era catalog altogether, and rare exceptions included mainstay songs such as "Louie Louie
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists...
" by The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen is a 1960s garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
and "Stand by Me
Stand by Me (song)
"Stand by Me" is the title of a song originally performed by Ben E. King and written by King, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller, based on the spiritual "Lord Stand by Me,", plus two lines rooted in Psalms 46:2-3...
" by Ben E. King
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King , better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", a U.S...
.
From 2003 to 2006, many FM oldies stations—including KRTH, WOGL and KLUV—evolved into classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
(see below), classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, or gold-based adult contemporary formats (e.g. WHTT
WHTT
WHTT-FM 104.1 FM, is a commercial radio station based in Buffalo, New York United States. The station has a classic hits format and is known by the name "104.1 WHTT".WHTT is owned by Cumulus Media. Its transmitter is located in Buffalo....
-FM in Buffalo, New York). Others simply dumped the format altogether.
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 1979 (with some exceptions) and still may play one pre-1964 oldie an hour. Still, that is not always true. But most 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 Hits of All Time" (a la WRIT
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
in Milwaukee, KLUV in Dallas/Fort Worth, WRBQ
WRBQ
WRBQ-FM is a commercial classic hits music formatted radio station in Tampa, Florida.-History:Formerly WPKM and later WEZX, 104.7 switched to a rock ’n roll format as Q105 in December 1973, home to the Q-Morning Zoo, Cleveland Wheeler, Scott Shannon, Dave Saint, Jack Harris, Bill Garcia, Uncle...
(Q-105) in Tampa) or "Classic Gold" (a la the former format of CFCO in Chatham, Ontario, which has since switched to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, or the now-defunct "Classic Gold
Classic Gold Digital Network
Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...
" oldies-radio network in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
). Many say "Greatest Hits of the 60s and 70s". WSRZ-FM
WSRZ-FM
WSRZ-FM is a radio station broadcasting an oldies/classic hits format. Licensed to Coral Cove, Florida, USA, the station serves the Sarasota area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications.-History:...
in Sarasota, Florida 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 1950s and early 1960s music. KQQL
KQQL
KQQL is a classic hits music formatted radio station serving the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to the suburb of Anoka...
in Minneapolis – St. Paul and WLDE
WLDE
WLDE is an FM radio station from Fort Wayne, Indiana, which broadcasts a classic hits format. The station operates on the FM radio frequency of 101.7 MHz. Popular personalities during the week are "Jim and Carrie," "Captain Chris," and "Dr. Dave."-As WEZV:...
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, are two other examples of oldies stations which have relegated early and mid-1960s music to weekend specialty shows.
In 2003 Clear Channel's WSAI-AM launched the first "Real Oldies" branded station. It was created by Programmer Dan Allen and featured mostly the songs from the beginning of rock through the Summer of Love, 1967. It was a recreation of the WSAI that dominated Cincinnati ratings in the 1960s and early 1970s and returned original WSAI DJs to the air, such as Dusty Rhodes, Jack Stahl, Ted McAllister and Casey Piotrowski. Unlike the 300 songs normally played, the Real Oldies format featured a very wide playlist and spawned clones all around the country. Soon, other radio stations such as WWKB
WWKB
WWKB is an AM radio station in Buffalo, New York that operates on a frequency of 1520 kHz. It is owned and operated by Entercom Communications. The station carries a progressive talk radio format. Declaring itself as A New Voice, A New Choice, The Voice of the New Majority; WWKB carries a number...
in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, WCOL-AM in Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, and WRLL
WRLL
WRLL is a regional Mexican radio station licensed to Cicero, Illinois, and serving the greater Chicago area. It shares time with WCEV, which broadcasts over the same facilities.-The Original WRLL: Real Oldies 1690:...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
adopted the "Real Oldies" moniker. Most of these "Real Oldies" stations were on the AM dial and featured legendary personalities from the '60s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
-'70s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
golden Top 40 era (for example, WLS
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
legend Larry Lujack
Larry Lujack
Larry Lujack , a Top 40 Music radio disc jockey, was known for his world-weary sarcastic style, "Klunk Letter of the Day" and darkly humorous "Animal Stories" along with "sidekick Little Tommy", and "Cheap Trashy Show Biz Report." He was also referred to as Superjock, Lawrence of Chicago, Uncle...
was part of the WRLL air staff).
Veteran New York radio programmer Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon is a radio disc jockey, current co-host of the "Scott and Todd in the Morning" show on WPLJ, host of The True Oldies Channel, and the official voice of The Sean Hannity Show.-Early Radio Career:...
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 1960s and very early 1970s, but generally nothing after 1975. The most high-profile "True Oldies Channel" affiliate is probably WLS-FM in Chicago, which adopted the "True Oldies" approach in the wake of WJMK's change to Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
. However, WLS-FM has slowly been adding more local personalities (including veteran radio personalities Greg Brown and Dick Biondi
Dick Biondi
Dick Biondi is an American Top 40 and Oldies disc jockey. Calling himself "The Wild I-tralian", he was one of the original "screamers," known for his screaming delivery as well as his wild antics on the air and off. In a 1988 interview, Biondi related he had been fired 23 times; both fits of...
), and now only airs 'True Oldies' from 10am-3pm weekdays, overnights, and weekends. WIFO-FM
WIFO-FM
WIFO-FM is Jesup's FM heritage station, broadcasting a wide variety of programming, including mornings with Butch Hubbard, Local News with Bob Morgan, Local Sports; The only FM Atlanta Braves affiliate for Baxley, Hinesville, Jesup, Waycross, Brunswick, and Camden County; Since 1971 the oldest...
Jesup, GA airs the True Oldies Channel during weekends as a contrast to its normal weekday country programming, and it is well received. True Oldies has also evolved to include more 1970s music and less pre-1964 product, and at times plays 1980s material.
Many stations have since dropped the oldies format because of low ad revenue despite high ratings. On June 3, 2005, New York's WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
, an oldies-based station for over three decades, abruptly switched to the Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
format, resulting in a tremendous outcry from oldies fans in the Big Apple
Big Apple
"The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sports writer for the New York Morning Telegraph...
and a huge decline in revenue followed. WJMK in Chicago (WCBS-FM's sister station) switched to Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
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
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
and smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
formats are 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 WLS-FM.
Yet another reason for the discontinuance of oldies stations in recent years is the attraction of a more lucrative format as an attempt to lure younger listeners. In 2001, Baltimore's WQSR
WQSR
WQSR is a radio station broadcasting on 102.7 FM. The station is licensed to Baltimore and serves that market. Its transmitter is located in Pikesville, next to the Pikesville Reservoir. It is under ownership of Clear Channel Communications. The station offers an adult rock hits format known as...
(105.7 FM) and WXYV
WJZ-FM
WJZ-FM is a radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland, and broadcasting from studios in suburban Towson, Maryland. The station is owned by CBS Radio.-History of the WJZ-FM callsign:...
(102.7 FM) swapped frequencies, with WXYV being flipped from CHR/Top-40 to hip-hop at the same time, and WQSR retaining its oldies format. These two stations have since changed formats again, with 105.7 going to talk and eventually to sports radio, and 102.7 being a Jack FM station. In 2004, WWMG ("Magic 96.1") in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, switched to a Rhythmic CHR format and was renamed "96.1 The Beat". A new oldies station, nicknamed "Oldies 106.1" and carrying the WOLS
WOLS
WOLS is a Spanish language FM radio station broadcasting at a frequency of 106.1 MHz serving the Charlotte, North Carolina market. Its programming consists of music and other material distributed by "La Raza," the Regional Mexican radio network....
callsign, was created to serve the Charlotte area, but has since been flipped to Spanish-language programming.
The oldies format returned to WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
on July 12, 2007 in an updated form featuring music from 1964 to 1989 (and without the word "Oldies", but rather "Greatest Hits" in the on-air positioning), with songs such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun may refer to:In music:* "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", the first major single released by singer Cyndi Lauper on She's So UnusualIn film:...
" by Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, "Gloria" by Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
, and "We Built This City
We Built This City
"We Built This City" is the title of a song written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf, and originally recorded by the American pop rock group Starship and released as its debut single on August 1, 1985....
" by Starship in rotation (though it should be pointed out that the original WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
played current hits mixed in with its oldies as late as the late 1980s and the three songs mentioned here during most of their years). Also included on the returning format as well are a sprinkling of pre-1965 hits and a selected number of classic oldies from the pre-1964 period. Thus far, the resurrected WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
has been well received. Still, WCBS-FM is positioned as "Classic Hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
" rather than Oldies.
Other oldies radio 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 really lean Classic Hits and include KRTH "K-Earth 101" in Los Angeles, XHPRS-FMXHPRS-FM
XHPRS-FM or 105.7 The Walrus is a commercial oldies radio station in Tecate, Baja California, broadcasting to the Tijuana-San Diego metropolitan area on 105.7 FM....
"105.7 the Walrus" in Tijuana-San Diego, KOLA
KOLA
KOLA is a commercial classic hits music radio station in San Bernardino, California, broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino, California, area on 99.9 FM.-External links:*****KOLA was founded by Fred Cote, first owner and general manager....
99.9 in Riverside-San Bernardino, 103.3 WODS
WODS
- External links :****...
in Boston, 98.1 WOGL
WOGL
WOGL is an FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.The station plays mostly post 1964 pop leaning Oldies positioned Classic Hits music, including Motown, soul and rock and roll spanning roughly 1964–1985. An occasional pre-1964 song is played. WOGL is owned by CBS Radio...
in Philadelphia, WMJI
WMJI
WMJI — branded Majic 105.7 — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio broadcasting a classic hits format. The station serves Cleveland, Akron and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio....
"Majic 105.7" in Cleveland, and KLUV in Dallas. WLS-FM in Chicago, however is similar to the way oldies stations sounded several years back. They still play one or two pre-1964 songs an hour during the day and as many as 4 an hour at night. However, to illustrate the continued decline in the format, San Francisco's KFRC
KMVQ-FM
KMVQ-FM is a broadcast radio station in San Francisco, California in the United States. The station, known as "99-7 Now", broadcasts a Top 40 format with a Rhythmic lean....
moved toward Classic Hits in 2005 and dropped this 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
KCCL
KCCL is a commercial classic Hits music radio station. Licensed to Placerville, California, it broadcasts to the Sacramento, California, area on 92.1 FM.-History:...
(K-Hits 92.1) in Sacramento in January 2007. (However, KFRC had already evolved its format and positioning to classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
at the time it changed to "Movin".) But KFRC was not gone for long. On May 17, 2007 with Free FM
Free FM
Free FM was a short-lived, mostly-talk-radio format and brand name for eleven FM CBS Radio stations in the United States, and was created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air,...
hot talk format failing on 106.9 KIFR CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
relaunched KFRC with a rock leaning classic hits format on 106.9. But KFRC was not back for long either. On October 27, 2008, 106.9 KFRC FM became an all news 740 KCBS AM simulcast. KFRC now only airs on 106.9 FM HD-2 and online at KFRC.com. But KFRC came back again. On January 1, 2009, KFRC returned on the radio at 1550 AM, as true oldies.
KZQZ, which airs in St. Louis, Missouri and began playing oldies in March 2008, has held onto the traditional oldies format, playing a wide variety of top 40 Billboard hits from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.
On August 27, 2009, Grand Rapids, Michigan station WGVU-AM became the first public radio station to feature an all-oldies format. The format has since been imitated by other public radio stations; for example, WCNY-FM
WCNY-FM
WCNY-FM is a public radio station in Syracuse, New York that plays classical music and is a National Public Radio member station...
in Syracuse, New York has begun broadcasting a personality-based oldies format on its HD Radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
.
Jones Radio Networks
Jones Radio Networks
Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio such as news and talk programs, syndicated radio shows,...
, Waitt Radio Networks
Waitt Radio Networks
Dial Global Local is a national radio network based in Omaha, Nebraska, formerly owned by NRG Media and purchased in April 2008 by Triton Radio Networks...
and Dial Global
Dial Global
Dial Global is a radio syndication company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Triton Media Group and is a sister company to Townsquare Media, both of which are owned by Oaktree Capital Management....
(formerly part of Westwood One
Westwood One
Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...
) also offered 24-hour satellite-distributed oldies formats; the first two companies have been taken over by Dial Global's owner and the formats' futures are uncertain. ABC Radio actually offers two (and had three if Timeless
Timeless (radio network)
Timeless was a 24-hour satellite music service of Citadel Media . It has distributed a mix of soft oldies and adult standards to radio stations around the USA...
was counted): in addition to the "True Oldies Channel," there is the much longer-running and more established "Oldies Radio
Oldies Radio
Classic Hits Radio is a 24-hour Classic Hits radio network. Classic Hits Radio, formerly known as "Pure Gold" and "Oldies Radio", plays a selection of well-tested pop and rock hits from the late 60s, 70s and 80s...
" format (formerly known as "Pure Gold" during the time in the Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
), which focuses mainly on the decade from 1965 to 1975 with some older and newer material.
In North America, satellite radio
Satellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...
broadcasters XM and Sirius launched in 2001 and 2002, respectively, with 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 offered specific genre channels for disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
hits, garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, classic country
Classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...
, and vintage R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
hits. These pay radio channels boasted thousands of songs in their libraries, ensuring far less repetition than traditional broadcast stations. (In November 2008, following a merger of Sirius and XM, the two services shifted to a unified group of "decades" channels, with the playlists for most cut back to reflect a more conventional style of oldies programming.) Music Choice
Music Choice
Music Choice is a United States company that programs music and produces music-related content for digital cable, cell phones, and cable modem subscribers in the US. Music Choice programs dozens of audio music channels for digital cable subscribers, as well as programs and produces music-related...
similarly offers an interruption-free oldies station (which covers the '50s and '60s, primarily from the rock and roll era) as well as decades channels for the '70s through the '90s. A number of Internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
stations also carry the format.
In the summer of 2010, KYAA
KYAA
KYAA is a radio station broadcasting an oldies format. Licensed to Soquel, California, it serves the Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, and San Jose area. The station is owned by People's Radio, Inc...
(1200 AM) was launched in the Santa Cruz, CA area as a tribute to KYA of the '60s, playing the oldies of the '50s, '60s, and early '70s. The original KYA (1260 AM) was in San Francisco, CA.
Classic hits format
A variation on the oldies theme is classic hitsClassic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
, which provides most of the playlist of oldies with some classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
with an addition of contemporaneous R&B and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
hits as well, striking a balance between the mostly '70s-focused classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
genre and the more broad-based oldies format.
See also
- Classic rockClassic rockClassic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
- 1950s in music1950s in musicFor music from a year in the 1950s, go to 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s....
- 1960s in music1960s in musicFor music from a year in the 1960s, go to 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1960s....
- 1970s in music1970s in musicFor music from a year in the 1970s, go to 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1970s....
- 1980s in music1980s in musicFor music from a year in the 1980s, go to 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89For a history of music in all times, see Timeline of musical events....
- 1990s in music1990s in musicFor music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99This article includes trends in popular music in the 1990s....
- Baby Boomers