Has your local classic hits station changed its timeframe?

[80sat40fan]

I live in metro Detroit, and one of our classic hits stations, WOMC/104.3 FM has evolved over the last year. They used to play a couple of hits an hour from the 60s (Motown + Beatles or Rollings Stones), and then equal time to the 70s and 80s. Earlier this year, they started playing songs from '90 and '91, and now they will play a couple of tunes an hour from throughout the '90s including "You Get What You Give" and "All Star". They are also giving slightly more time to '80s songs than '70s tunes.

That station also features the syndicated show, "Scott Shannon's America's Greatest Hits". Earlier this year, the show would feature Top 5 countdowns most hours from '72 through '89. Now, their countdowns cover '76 to '91, although they are playing an occasional tune from the mid '90s like "I Only Want To Be With You".

This got me wondering if other stations may be evolving or if Detroit may be a unique market. If you listen to your classic hits station, have their been any subtle or radical changes to the playlist or years featured?

[mrjukebox]

I live in the NY metropolitan area-WCBS-FM in New York used to play a wide variety of oldies from the mid-50's,early to late 60's,70's & 80's-In 2002,the station tweaked its format-Gone were the songs of the 1950's & 1960's-The station was clearly aiming for a younger demographic-Now CBS-FM strictly plays songs from the 70's & 80's-Scott Shannon does morning drive & CBS-FM runs his syndicated show every weekend.

[mitchm]

I live in a much smaller market than either Detroit or New York, but the same thing has been happening in Sioux Falls, SD, for years. I switched from listening to Top 40 radio to a classic station in about 1986, not because I no longer liked current music, but because I liked music from 1955 to 1975 better. My favorite period would be 1964 to 1967. I graduated from high school in 1972. Local radio stations have been gradually pushing their playlists forward ever since that time and I don't see that trend ever stopping. There are 8 stations I still listen to in the area, which range in music from late 1950s to 2017, but the one I listen to most covers from 1956 to 1991. Their call letters are KISD out of Pipestone, MN. Their favorite decades are, in order, the 70s, 60s, 80s, 50s, and they are just starting to get into the early 90s. No other station in the area has a spread of 35 years from oldest to newest songs, but there are some that come close.

I blame this in large part on advertisers. Just like on TV, advertisers target the under 49 crowd. My theory is that once a song gets 40 years past its release date, station managers start dropping the song based also on its chart peak. Most songs still heard from 1955 to 1963 made at least the top 5. Songs from 1964 to 1975 are mainly top 10 songs and hardly anything that didn't make the top 20. I listened to the AT40 countdown from 11/07/1970 yesterday and except for listening to countdowns I haven't heard most of those songs in the last 5 years, maybe having heard 5 of the 40 songs on freeform radio.

One big advantage that music lovers have in 2017 that wasn't available to people our parents age is the internet. Until I retired about 2.5 years ago, I listened to local stations more than 90% of the time. Now I listen to internet stations more than 80% of the time. It's not that hard to find countdowns from pre-1975 on the internet so I am completely satisfied with what I can listen to. I have never been a music collector so radio is my best option, and I'm sure that will continue until the end. I do own about 160 countdowns now mostly from 1956 to 1975 just in case that music does disappear from the internet.

I have never seen any numbers as to how many stations broadcast the AT40 70s series and the 80s series. My guess is that the number of stations airing the 70s series is well past its peak and the 80s series is presently holding its own. I hope Premiere continues offering these series for a long, long time, but I doubt there are very many stations adding the 70s series at this time. Ten years from now, the 80s series will probably be in the position the 70s series is in now.

[lasvegaskid]

This has been happening for a while:

Jul 26, 2011 at 4:26pm lasvegaskid said:
Seems that there is a shift. The ultra oldies stations that used to play pre rock era Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Sedaka, Como, are now Elvis-Beatles and even some early 70s. Oldies stations are 70s-mid 80s (classic AT 40) and almost no 60s anymore, except for maybe some "special" programming and zilch 50s. AC/Hot AC outlets that used to be havens for late 70-early 90s are now mainly 90s -early 00s.

at40fg.proboards.com/thread/1985/change-on-radio

[mellongraig]

My station CFQM is now generally playing hits from the 70s, 80s, and some early 90s with a few 60s sprinkled in. They used to be 60s, 70s, 80s, and some occasional 50s as well for some special programming until a few years ago.

[BrettVW]

Absolutely. WOCL/Orlando was, for years, heavy on 70s and 80s with a few late 60s tunes thrown in. In 2015 they switched from AT40 the 70s to AT40 the 80s and really began to focus on 80s and phased out the 60s. Now, they are "70s, 80s, and 90s" and play many 90s songs that were Hot AC staples less than 10 years ago. They also have broken into the 2000s and even the early 2010s, with songs like Mr. Brightside by The Killers and Hey Soul Sister by Train. The 70s have really become limited, and it really is more like 80s, 90s, and 00s.