Oldies station playing the Police?

[British]

I was at a resturaunt, a place you would take your family to, and heard Pink Floyd's "Money", uncut(think it was uncut). Props to letting an uncensored song in through the muzak system you would take your kids to.

[TheRob]

Plenty of us are in that "money demographic" right now, which is why the oldies stations are easing out of the 50s-60s and into the 70s-80s. Their advertisers want our money. Our local "oldies" station (no longer "Oldies 95", now just "94-9 KCMO") will play The Police and Sheena Easton right next to the Beach Boys and the Supremes.

The classic rock-formatted stations are playing the same game, sliding into the 80s heavily. The last time I checked KYYS' log, in one ten-song block, eight songs were from the years 1981-1984 (think AC/DC, Billy Squier, Foreigner, Night Ranger *shudder*), and one was from 1995. If you were 18 in 1984, you're 40 today. Money.

My dad is 67, he graduated high school in 1957, long gone from that desirable demographic, and it is impossible for him to find a radio station playing Buddy Holly or Little Richard. We at least have some non-commercial stations that play artists like John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Art Blakey - if only for a couple of hours per week. However, 15 years ago, we had two stations in town playing the same rock and roll oldies from 1955-1972 era.

"Your solution is both fair and democratic ... and I want no part of it"

[KYYX4ever]

You know, TheRob, you bring up a good point. Different eras in the Oldies get "popular" at different times. I recall being in college in the mid-80s when [b]one[/b] Oldies craze got started---and it was 50s and early 60s. My parents were ecstatic. I'd hear it on the radio when I came home from college for vacation or whatever. Little Richard, Bill Haley & the Comets, Fats Domino, Wilson Pickett, Ricky Nelson, Dee Dee Sharp, Elvis, Everly Brothers, Dion, Duane Eddy, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, Gene Vincent.....at this time I started to get into Oldies, too. My parents thought it was ironically hilarious that I was making tapes of this stuff.

A few years later, I noticed many more 60s and early 70s Oldies stations. You'd still hear lots of 50s; in fact, you'd hear many Oldies stations spread across the dial, period. It was a hot demographic !

Lots of "Classic Rock"--which seems to be what Oldies has morphed into--stations now. The radio follows the aging of certain demographic groups. There are still plenty of older people who were teens in the 50s and 60s, but those who were teens in the 70s (and now the 80s, I guess) are a hotly sought-after demographic b/c they have the $$$. Ha! Who would've thought that all those denim-clad, stoner burnouts we remember from our teen days would now be a hotly sought-after demographic !

And now that you bring it up, I think there's like one Oldies station on the FM dial here. [b]One[/b]. Weird. Although there are probably some on the AM dial that I don't know about.

[jumpshift]

Over the past few years some oldies stations have been adding some 80's stuff to their playlist. Usually obvious stuff like Hall & oates, Tina turner, and john Cougar. But I wouldn't be surprised if they started playing something like Men Without Hats (Safety Dance) or Kajagoogoo (Too Shy). Imagine that. That would be so funny.