First of all, LA radio sucks. I try to get San Diego stations, but they don’t always come in.
Having said that, though, I have a particular bone of contention regarding “oldies” stations.
The Beatles recorded more than five songs, people! I’ve heard “She Loves You” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” so many times they’re being ruined for me. Beyond that, seems like they only play “Yesterday”, “Penny Lane”, and occasionally “Yellow Submarine”. Wake up! How about something trippy, like “Tomorrow Never Knows”? How about a rousing chorus of “Hey Jude”? How about early, rocking stuff like “Boys” or “Slow Down”? When’s the last time I heard “Day Tripper”?
And who imposed the ban on pre-Kennedy era R&B? “You Talk Too Much”, “Over and Over”, “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”? The San Diego stations play those, when I can hear them! Jeez!
We have a fairly new station here in NYC called “Jammin’ Oldies.” (105.1) At first I loved it–disco, funk, soul. But, jeez, Gladys Knight recorded more than one song, you know. So did Parliament. So did the Commodores. They play 3 Barry White songs, but I think that is because the songs were featured on Ally McBeal.
But then again, most Classic Rock stations have this problem, too.
It’s not just the oldies stations that do that, the Classic Rock, Variety…any station that plays more than the most recent songs will pick a handful of songs and play those regularly, occasionally throwing in a few other songs. (The stations that play new songs, of course, rarely have more than 1 or MAYBE 2 from a given band with a new album out…)
I’ve noticed that the various oldies stations around here tend to specialise further (we have 2 or 3, now that 1050 CHUM has gone all-sports) - either 70s stuff, or 60’s stuff, or…you get the point.
Classical music went downhill in L.A. ever since KFAC changed owners, and then folded. Yeah, I know there’s KUSC, but I could never get it in good enough on my radio. Never.
KFAC was the best. My entire family used to be volunteer phone answerers at their “Top 40 Listeners Marathon”, where they’d have listeners vote for the top 40 favorite classical pieces (Ravel’s Bolero, Pachelbell’s Canon and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue were always on the list). We’d answer the phones when people called in to pay for a year’s membership (kind of like the PBS memberships) and we’d give them free Hollywood Bowl tickets too. (We got freebie Hwd. Bowl tickets for being volunteers.)
That was so fun. Those were the days. KFAC had a membership magazine that listed EVERY musical piece that they’d play for each month - and they didn’t do a lot of repeats. I’d scour the magazine each month for my favorite pieces, and then try to make a point of tuning in when they played.
I listened to WCBS here in New York. I like the Beatles as much as anyone, but do they have to play two of their songs evey hour? And at least one of Elvis’s? Then they play doo-wop or Bobby Darin, as if that was all the 50’s offered. Hmmm…
We have a station here near San Luis Obispo, CA (95.3) that every thursday has “Three for Thursday” where they play 3 songs in a row by the same artist.
And I swear they pick the worst songs they recorded. The last time I listened, they were playing James Taylor and instead of his good stuff, they ALWAYS play “how sweet it is” and 2 other weak songs. I finally just quit listening.
And their slogan is “95.3 , the California Sound” even though 99.9% of the music is from artists outside of California.
My experience with any oldies station is that it’s
great for about 3 days, because they’re playing these
songs that you haven’t heard in ages, then you realize
their playlist is just as small as everyone else’s, it’s
just a different subset of stuff.
Having said that, I sometimes like “Music of your Life”
stations because who else is gonna play “Gentle on My Mind”
or “Wichita Lineman” or tons of other great stuff (admittedly,
mixed in with lots of Percy Faith, but I try to appreciate
that for camp value) anymore?