gabigley1 - When the True Oldies Channel first fired up a few years ago it rarely played anything beyond the early 70's. It's eveolved since then to include some stuff as recent as the 80's.
Chuck Douglas - First, I think mid-to-late 50's would be more relevant to your calculation than 1950. But beyond that, I don't get this tendency to micro-focus on what was being played when a potential listener was 15-18. Sure, that may denote the years of greatest emotional bonding to new music, but people tend to be very much into music well into ther 20's, and often well beyond.
Well Roo,
I'm assuming you mean an overall/industry "tendency" as I haven't posted anything since March, I don't think.
I can appreciate your view that people form musical attachments into their 20's and I hope you can accept the same fact for the 15 year old listener. When you hear "First Kiss" you're probably thinking about being 14 or 15. When you hear "Little GTO" maybe you mind goes to 16. "Last Dance" puts you at your high school prom perhaps? Songs evoke emotions and emotions control (buying) actions and the MOST emotion-controlled time in most lives is probably the teen years.
As an on-air guy, I love to love what goes over the air, but business wise it's all about tugging as many heartstrings as possible, building a big, loyal audience and holding their attention long enough to get them to the next commercial, right?
My thought is that it's easier to aim at that vast emotional ocean of a 15 year old's memory. Maybe I'm wrong...just thinking it out.
As for using 1950 as my time marker, these aren't static numbers; as I said, I am just wondering about the advertisers' desire for a 70(ish) year old listener.
