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Oldies is a generic term commonly used in the United States and Canada to describe a radio format that usually concentrates on Top 40 music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Oldies are typically from R&B, pop and rock music genres. Country music, jazz, classical music, and other formats are generally not considered Oldies music. Occasionally the term is used to describe the rare station that includes '40s music as well, although music from before 1955 is typically the domain of the Adult Standards format. This format is sometimes called Golden Oldies, though this term usually refers to music exclusively from the 1950s and early 1960s (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, 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. Oldies has some overlap with the Classic Rock format, which concentrates on the rock music of the late-1960s and 1970s and also plays newer material made in the same style.
The state of the Oldies format today Many oldies stations have made moves to completely drop music from before 1965 from their playlists, as it is believed that doo-wop and other music from the late 1950s and early 1960s appeals to demographics undesirable to advertisers. As a result, some oldies stations have filled the holes in their playlists with more hits from the mid- to late 1970s and even the 1980s, and others have evolved into Classic Hits (see below) or Classic Rock. 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-1950s through the mid-1960s. Most of these "Real Oldies" stations were on the AM dial and featured legendary personalities from the 1960s-1970s 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 planned to drop it 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. Nevertheless, 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" in Los Angeles, WOMC in Detroit, WOGL in Philadelphia, WMJI "Majic 105.7" in Cleveland, KLUV in Dallas, and KFRC in San Francisco. However, to illustrate the continued decline in the format, KFRC dropped the oldies format entirely in 2006 leaving most of northern California without a station airing oldies (the lone exception being the small city of Chico). 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 1960s and very early 1970s, but generally nothing later than 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. Jones Radio Networks, Waitt Broadcasting and Westwood One also offer 24-hour satellite-distributed oldies formats. ABC Radio actually offers two: in addition to the "True Oldies Channel," there is the much longer-running and more established "Oldies Radio" format (formerly known as "Pure Gold"), which focuses mainly on the decade from 1965 to 1975 with some older and newer material. 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. See also | ||||||||
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