Sad Post On "Oldies" Radio

[sKiZo]

For non- internet listening, your best bet is a local community radio station which has actual live programmers, not a computerized program list. One or more of those stations might have an oldies show. And if there isn't one, you could do it yourself!
Otherwise you're stuck with the internet.

I went REAL oldies here with a low watt AM transmitter. FCC legal, I can receive the signal from anywhere on my property and feed it a selection of old programming, including commercials. My favorite fun stuff for that sort of thing is old sports programming or a mix of 30's-40's stuff, using a random playlist in media player. On an old tube radio of course!

 

[gggvan]

question...when I was a kid in the 70's, my step dad loved 'oldies', he graduated in 1958. the 50's music was called oldies, 20 years later.

ok fine, but *40* years later, we still call them oldies...but we have not expanded it to include the aforementioned groups?

fwiw, there were 5 revolutions (aka start fresh with clean paper and re-write history) in music.

Chuck Berry.

Beatles.

Zep.

Van Halen.

Seattle (Pearl Jam, Nirvana etc)

Sadly, nothing appears to follow.

The slate has never been "wiped clean". It's always been a continuum. Sure, some bands make impacts that seem game changing, but there are always precursors. The grunge thing had many influences, and IMO was more hype than substance.

I would offer, the shangra-las, the Ramones, hip hop, rather than zep, van halen, grunge, who really offered nothing in terms of directional influence.

 

[Teddy White]

The slate has never been "wiped clean". It's always been a continuum. Sure, some bands make impacts that seem game changing, but there are always precursors. The grunge thing had many influences, and IMO was more hype than substance.

I would offer, the shangra-las, the Ramones, hip hop, rather than zep, van halen, grunge, who really offered nothing in terms of directional influence.

Agree, but would like to note one record that really was a game-changer: "I Feel Love". Try to imagine the pop landscape of the following generation without it (be that good or bad is another story).

 

[tom67]

I was a night club DJ in the late 1970's and also listened to Oldies and Progressive and MOR and classical. I have been exposed to a wide range of music. These days I use iTunes and their internet radio selection. I make play lists of the various stations. You can listen to over 100 1950's streams. I like SOMA-FM's 7 inch soul, which really is 45's transcribed to digital. I have 10 50's type stations, 5 jazz stations, 3 electronica (again, from SOMA-FM Secret agent, which is spy music) a 1920's big band station from Norfolk VA, and several 1960's and 1970's streams. They are all free to listen to.

Best response here....there is more choice than ever for whatever music you like if you are willing to embrace new technology and stream. With oldies, Amazon will give you almost everything you want for free and you can access faster with voice commands on your phone that will play the song faster than you could if you had a cd in your hand.

 

[Bubbamike]

Youse guys is just old. Look at yourselves, you're older than your fathers were when the music wasn't an "Oldie." Get over it. Don't complain about the music on the "Oldies" station, just remember what you thought of Guy Madison and Tony Bennet back in your yout.

 

[gggvan]

Agree, but would like to note one record that really was a game-changer: "I Feel Love". Try to imagine the pop landscape of the following generation without it (be that good or bad is another story).

You mean Donna Summer?

 

[Teddy White]

You mean Donna Summer?

Yes.

 

[gggvan]

Yes.

That was '77 and certainly part of the mix happening at the time. Think of it, you had Ramones, I feel love, Iggy pop, all within a few years sloshing around in the same pot.

 

[Teddy White]

That was '77 and certainly part of the mix happening at the time. Think of it, you had Ramones, I feel love, Iggy pop, all within a few years sloshing around in the same pot.

And the Pistols/Clash/Buzzcocks etc. in the UK. Jamaican reggae. Chic. It may have been the last great era in popular music. But now I really do sound like an oldie...

 

[AdamAnt316]

When I was growing up, my father's radios were always tuned to "Oldies 103", which played lots of doo-wop and early rock. Around the mid '90s, they started adding disco and other '70s pop like ABBA to their playlist, which is around the time I lost interest in them. Over the years, I've found a few stations here and there playing "standards" or early rock, but many of them have disappeared from the dial, or started adding newer music to their playlists. Even the so-called 'classic rock' stations have started adding '90s music to their playlists in recent years; no matter how much I enjoy Nirvana or Pearl Jam, I just can't bring myself to consider them "classic rock".
-Adam

 

[anytune]

Here in So Fla, there are two excellent oldies stations: The True Oldies Channel with Scott Shannon http://www.trueoldieschannel.com/. The format is 50s, 60s and 70s pop and rock.

Dick Robinson's Legend's Radio 100.3 FM plays American standards from the 40s, 50s and 60s.
http://streamdb5web.securenetsystems.net/v5/WLML

 

[Ronald1973]

It's the same with country radio oldies, a sentiment I've shared before in another thread. You rarely get anything past the 60's, with most of the it being 70's, 80's, 90's, and even some 00's now and then. I get the fact that people might not be as familiar with the 50's music and back to the 20's, but to truly understand the genre, you have to explore Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Roy Acuff, and Hank Williams, Sr. I realize, for instance, that some of Garth Brooks' material is now entering what would be call "legendary." Sure, I love Garth. He might not have always been the most traditional artist out there, but he stayed fairly true to his roots. The same thing with Shania Twain. There's room for them to be played as well, but to me, the 90's is really when country radio started to go downhill. Let's hear some forgotten gems.

 

[quaddriver]

The slate has never been "wiped clean". It's always been a continuum. Sure, some bands make impacts that seem game changing, but there are always precursors. The grunge thing had many influences, and IMO was more hype than substance.

I would offer, the shangra-las, the Ramones, hip hop, rather than zep, van halen, grunge, who really offered nothing in terms of directional influence.

if you use the word 'grunge' sorry and no offense but you dont get it. just ask any of the band members. the proper term is seattle sound. prolly cuz they started in that locale, but the influence ate up the USA in the 90;s

go back to what I said, fortunately, this is the future and we have internet etc and all the reviews, opinion pieces, sales data, trend data are out there. those 5 *specific* acts, rewrote the rules of the game when they appeared. and oddly, if you are a student of music history, can loop each one together. fate, karma, whatever, put the right band in the right place to kill the previous direction music was going. It took the first 3 bars of any chuck berry riff to shoot an arrow into the heart of do wop, and it cascaded from there. each band as they ended one era, started another.

sobering food for thought, unless you are a savant, people are not 'musically mature' until age 10, such that the advertisers dont really target any audience <12. When "Ten" came out, unless you are older than 38 (and I surmise that most here are not) you were not even listening when the last revolution started. its been that long....I was 5 when zep1 when into heavy rotation and the effect it had on my beatles to pscyh collecting dad was profound. and on cue, in the mid 70's I took notoce. then a couple years later - eruption (no pun) and it started over.

it is not a requirement that the game changers be the best musicians, or even the most popular. You can tell simply who they are when the critics or other bands either say 'we are like them or they influence us' or 'we or nothing like them' when you are the yardstick.....

 

[gggvan]

if you use the word 'grunge' sorry and no offense but you dont get it. just ask any of the band members. the proper term is seattle sound. prolly cuz they started in that locale, but the influence ate up the USA in the 90;s

go back to what I said, fortunately, this is the future and we have internet etc and all the reviews, opinion pieces, sales data, trend data are out there. those 5 *specific* acts, rewrote the rules of the game when they appeared. and oddly, if you are a student of music history, can loop each one together. fate, karma, whatever, put the right band in the right place to kill the previous direction music was going. It took the first 3 bars of any chuck berry riff to shoot an arrow into the heart of do wop, and it cascaded from there. each band as they ended one era, started another.

sobering food for thought, unless you are a savant, people are not 'musically mature' until age 10, such that the advertisers dont really target any audience <12. When "Ten" came out, unless you are older than 38 (and I surmise that most here are not) you were not even listening when the last revolution started. its been that long....I was 5 when zep1 when into heavy rotation and the effect it had on my beatles to pscyh collecting dad was profound. and on cue, in the mid 70's I took notoce. then a couple years later - eruption (no pun) and it started over.

it is not a requirement that the game changers be the best musicians, or even the most popular. You can tell simply who they are when the critics or other bands either say 'we are like them or they influence us' or 'we or nothing like them' when you are the yardstick.....

I use grunge not out of accuracy, but because it's probably better known moniker.

what did Led zeppelin put an end to and what new direction did they chart? English white boys playing blues songs from black artists...I don't think that was new. I could see an argument for black sabbath, wasn't that ~1969 too, in their complete 180 from love, flower power stuff, in favor of a darker, leaner meaner sound. The stooges first album was also '69, to me, you listen to that and you draw a straight line to the Ramones 5 years later.

 

[richamor]

Nothing to add really...except I grew up listening to Rock. Hard Rock like Hendrix, Zeppelin, Airplane, Joplin along with some pop Rock like Guess Who, Grass Roots, Tommy James, some blues like Mayall, Yardbirds, Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and on and on. I found Beaker Street program with Calvin out of Little Rock AR and I was in heaven. Great...and I mean GREAT radio. And AM at that! But now at 62 I don't listen to that so much anymore. If I never hear Stairway to Heaven again I'm fine with that. If I do get a hankering for some "oldies" I can always find what I want on Spotify or Google Play. Or I can dig out some old vinyl.

generally I listen to new stuff now.....or old stuff I bypassed back in the day. FM radio has been dead to me for years. Always the same old same old. Clear Channel Radio. Always loud always clear always mediocre.

 

[FONSguy]

For many of us who were working night club DJ's, there's some tunes YOU NEVER WANT TO HEAR AGAIN.

 

[quaddriver]

I use grunge not out of accuracy, but because it's probably better known moniker.

what did Led zeppelin put an end to and what new direction did they chart? English white boys playing blues songs from black artists...I don't think that was new. I could see an argument for black sabbath, wasn't that ~1969 too, in their complete 180 from love, flower power stuff, in favor of a darker, leaner meaner sound. The stooges first album was also '69, to me, you listen to that and you draw a straight line to the Ramones 5 years later.

pscychadelic era...the hippy stuff. read the accounts of the first US tour....

btw - and somewhat very topical, netflix has on this month a documentary on how the beatles changed the music world. saw it while flippin last night, as soon as I finish 'ww2 in color' (another recommend) I turn to that.

but anyways, dont take my word for it, just about everything ever written is online. google up 'rocks back pages', they have archived most of the print from the era.

 

[Condorsat]

Sure, I love Garth. He might not have always been the most traditional artist out there, but he stayed fairly true to his roots. The same thing with Shania Twain. There's room for them to be played as well, but to me, the 90's is really when country radio started to go downhill. Let's hear some forgotten gems.

90's ... for me it was the sixth generation <link ... when it started to go downhill. I remember attending a Hank Williams JR concert in the late 80's in North Carolina .. change was coming .. that was more like a rock concert vice country .. still a hell of show though but I like Country & Rock.

 

[Guest127]

You kind of know the lines are a little blurred when you hear " Sunshine of your love" on the easy listening channel,right after a Carpenters song !

 

[Todd Dodds]

Nothing to add really...except I grew up listening to Rock. Hard Rock like Hendrix, Zeppelin, Airplane, Joplin along with some pop Rock like Guess Who, Grass Roots, Tommy James, some blues like Mayall, Yardbirds, Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and on and on. I found Beaker Street program with Calvin out of Little Rock AR and I was in heaven. Great...and I mean GREAT radio. And AM at that! But now at 62 I don't listen to that so much anymore. If I never hear Stairway to Heaven again I'm fine with that. If I do get a hankering for some "oldies" I can always find what I want on Spotify or Google Play. Or I can dig out some old vinyl.

generally I listen to new stuff now.....or old stuff I bypassed back in the day. FM radio has been dead to me for years. Always the same old same old. Clear Channel Radio. Always loud always clear always mediocre.

Beaker Street with Calvin...I wonder if that's the same Calvin from WRPL (Radio With Balls) in Charlotte, NC? The only radio I ever liked.
The station failed, or got turned into a different format, and Calvin disappeared for a while until with no fanfare, advertising or anything other than word of mouth, Calvin's tapes and playlists showed up on a new frequency. Hours of underground music with only the required FCC ID breaks. Then it all stopped.
Interesting read... http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/February-2010/The-Last-DJ/