As a “radio lifer”, I am always trying to keep up with what is happening now, as well as staying in touch with those “good old days” of radio. As a result, I am a member of several “back in the day” groups on Facebook. There are a lot of interesting posts and comments from people like me who have spent, not only their formative years, but continue to want to be a part of the business that we love. But, there are also numerous posts from people who want radio to be like it was and can’t understand why Classic Hits and Classic Rock stations don’t continue to play “that great music from the 60’s and 70’s.” They mostly come off sounding like our parents did when they complained about that “loud rock ‘n roll” music we played. “You can’t even understand the words”, they would say or “it’s just noise.” They wanted their Big Band and MOR music to still dominate the radio. But, a funny thing happened on the way to Rock ‘N Roll dominance on the radio. Advertisers began to realize the economic impact all these younger listeners were having on radio revenue. It did not take long for MOR to move out and R ‘n R to move in. Radio stations figured out that this was where the dollars were as agencies, more and more, wanted those younger demos that advertisers were demanding.
It is just the same today. Listeners who want 60’s and 70’s music have outgrown that desirable 25-54 demo – even 35-54 – and advertisers no longer want to target them because they do not have the spending power (or desire to spend) that the advertisers want. A person’s musical tastes are usually honed between 14 and 18 – high school years – and tend not to change much after that. If you do the math, someone who graduated from high school in 1990 is now almost 50! One from 2000 is nearing 40! How could Classic Hits stations continue to play 60’s and 70’s? The 80’s are now the nostalgia category and many Classic Hits stations have 80’s weekends or an 80’s show on Saturday night. In order to deliver those desirable demos, Classic Hits stations must now be playing music from the 90’s and beyond – with some solid 80’s for flavor. An 80’s Saturday night show and 80’s weekends on special occasions like Memorial Weekend and Labor Day weekend.
If you would like to discuss this for your Classic Hits station, just reach out to Jim Kennedy Consulting at 434-990-0145 or e-mail to james@jimkennedyconsulting.com. I would love to talk with you.
