'60s Songs You Don't Hear Anymore for Obvious Reasons...

[CTListener]

What sets them apart from mainstream AC stations is that just about all the music has to be at least 25 years old, so what's desired is older songs that still do well with people in the lower end of 25-54.

Wait! The math doesn't work here.  A 25-year old song is a song that most 25-year old's haven't heard and probably wouldn't like (according to resident experts although I find plenty of exceptions to that).  If you want people to like Oldies the age range is more like 50+.

I'm talking about older songs that have stayed "current" through placement in movies, TV shows, commercials and the like. Think "Unchained Melody," "Stand By Me," "Old Time Rock and Roll," etc.

 

anything by the Rascals besides "Good Lovin'," anything by Tommy James besides "Mony Mony"? Ten years ago, "My Love," "I've Been Lonely Too Long" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion" worked on oldies radio. With '80s and late '70s songs occupying a greater percentage of the music slots at classic hits radio, there's no longer room for those secondary and tertiary titles.

Wait!  Were we talking about Oldies or Classic Hits?  British Invasion music would be Oldies.  I wouldn't expect to hear it on a CH playlist (although it would be OK by me if it did).

They're still around at classic hits WDRC-FM Hartford, at least the major titles are. "Downtown" and "Dream On," "Good Lovin' " and "Hot Blooded," all on the same playlist. Are classic hits stations really getting rid of traditional oldies completely?

[CTListener]

Here are a couple of hours of WDRC-FM, just to illustrate my point. This was 3 to 5 yesterday afternoon:

Get Down Tonight
Brick House
Honky Tonk Women
Sweet Caroline
Cherry Bomb
Lady (Styx)
Takin' Care of Business
Paperback Writer
Fame (David Bowie)
In the Summertime
Causing a Commotion
Tighter, Tighter
Roll With It
Magic (Pilot)
The Rubberbnd Man
Proud Mary (CCR)
Two out of Three Ain't Bad
Happy Together
Hello It's Me
I'm a Believer
Don't You Forget About Me
Over My Head

OK, what doesn't belong? I'll go on record as saying I enjoy this sort of music mix. Maybe it's a little too relentlessly upbeat, but it pretty much touches all the relevant musical bases. No Motown in these two hours, but Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" got a spin in the next hour, and the Four Tops' "Bernadette" was played a couple of hours previous. They have pretty much banished the British Invasion, though, outside of the Beatles, Stones, "Downtown" and, for some reason, the Dave Clark Five's "Bits and Pieces."

[oldies76]

Everything belongs.....it's a good representation of classic hits.

Maybe one Motown song (mid-late 60's) and one or two British Invasion or Psychedelic songs per hour would add nicely to the mix. Plenty of 70's already there (disco, rock, soft) and some 80's represented.

Going forward....just do similar hourly mixes throughout the rest of the day without repeating songs. Many classic hits would be played daily!

Heck I'd go as far as adding a few golden oldies (1955 to 1964) once in a while to highlight this important period, mainly late nights.

[cyberdad]

Per Billboard's Hot 100 charts, Clark had five other top ten hits in the U.S., for a total of six. 

I wonder if those other songs were played on Top-40 outlets then.  I was in Japan when "Downtown" was popular but returning to the Bay Area in '66 I can't remember ever hearing it or the others.

Indeed they were....along with a couple of other singles that just missed the top 20. 

Again, I'm not a cheerleader for Clark, nor am I advocating any approach or format.  I also accept any argument that comparing Clark's talent and/or how well her music has held up versus the two contemporiaries I used may may or may not be a fair or valid comparison today.  I'm just looking at the track records.

Personally, I liked some of Clark's stuff "greater and lesser" and disliked some of her stuff "greater and lesser".  Examples of each type of my "likes" would be "I Know a Place" and "Who am I".  Personal "dislikes" would be "This is My Song" and "Cat in the Window". 

As long as we're talking about track records, it may also be worth noting that Clark began her career as a teenager (her first UK recording released in 1949), and she remains active today at age 79.

[firepoint525]

I was told by a radio programmer that the average person listens to radio 20 minutes a day so you have to play the very recognizable songs or your ratings and advertising will suffer and that is why most radio stations keep playing the big songs that everyone knows.  That is why I started to collect vinyl records and vintage airchecks.  Barry Scott had a Lost 45s show and I listen to 4kz in Australia on Saturday evenings when they have their Sunday Gold show with Greg Vuleta (4pm to 10pm EDT Saturdays)  Australia has some good stations, even on the AM band.

Of course, you could also argue that most people listen only 20 minutes or so every day BECAUSE of all the repetition.  They tune in today, hear the same song(s) that they heard yesterday, and then tune out again. 

[firepoint525]

Again, I'm not a cheerleader for Clark, nor am I advocating any approach or format.  I also accept any argument that comparing Clark's talent and/or how well her music has held up versus the two contemporiaries I used may may or may not be a fair or valid comparison today.  I'm just looking at the track records.
Personally, I liked some of Clark's stuff "greater and lesser" and disliked some of her stuff "greater and lesser".  Examples of each type of my "likes" would be "I Know a Place" and "Who am I".  Personal "dislikes" would be "This is My Song" and "Cat in the Window". 
As long as we're talking about track records, it may also be worth noting that Clark began her career as a teenager (her first UK recording released in 1949), and she remains active today at age 79.

Pet Clark was a bit of an oddity among all the British invaders, as she was already in her 30s by the time she first cracked the charts here, and one of the few solo artists and even fewer female British invaders.  One of my faves by her would have to be "Don't Sleep in the Subway."

[firepoint525]

Per Billboard's Hot 100 charts, Clark had five other top ten hits in the U.S., for a total of six. 

I wonder if those other songs were played on Top-40 outlets then.  I was in Japan when "Downtown" was popular but returning to the Bay Area in '66 I can't remember ever hearing it or the others.

There is an oldies/classic hits station that I used to be able to pick up (can't get them anymore; they must have reduced power or something) that wouldn't play anything by Gary Lewis and the Playboys other than "She's Just My Style."  It fit their format just fine, but odd that they would play that and nothing else by them.  (They were satellite-fed out of Dallas.)

[firepoint525]

OK, what doesn't belong? I'll go on record as saying I enjoy this sort of music mix. Maybe it's a little too relentlessly upbeat, but it pretty much touches all the relevant musical bases. No Motown in these two hours, but Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" got a spin in the next hour, and the Four Tops' "Bernadette" was played a couple of hours previous. They have pretty much banished the British Invasion, though, outside of the Beatles, Stones, "Downtown" and, for some reason, the Dave Clark Five's "Bits and Pieces."

The classic hits station here (the one that I can still receive, not the one that I just mentioned previously) has gone fairly heavy with late '80s lately.  I heard "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals again today.  No problem with that, but I am going to cringe if they add "Hard to Handle" by Black Crows to their playlist, partly because it is from the '90s (1990, to be exact), but also because it has been burned to a crisp by the stations that are already playing it! 

[cyberdad]

Pet Clark was a bit of an oddity among all the British invaders, as she was already in her 30s by the time she first cracked the charts here, and one of the few solo artists and even fewer female British invaders.  One of my faves by her would have to be "Don't Sleep in the Subway."

Good observation....very true.   And "Subway" was one of those that peaked just under the top 20, IIRC.  

FWIW, there's a "classic rock" jock here in Chicago (Bob Stroud) who's for many years has hosted a retrospective program.... "Roots of Rock".  An element of the show is a look back at Chicago top 40 charts of a given year and playing some of the songs.  Non-rock songs are omitted.  If Andy Williams, Perry Como, or someone of that ilk had a chart hit that week, it wouldn't be part of the broadcast....although mention might be made.

I recall listening one Sunday when Clark was mentioned one of the artists on that week's chart, but not played.  Apparently this was met with a clamor from the audience ("classic rock" fans, remember) to hear her.  Stroud subsequently announced on the air that he had heard the message, and included her in his retrospective program from that day forward.  

[CTListener]

Per Billboard's Hot 100 charts, Clark had five other top ten hits in the U.S., for a total of six. 

I wonder if those other songs were played on Top-40 outlets then.  I was in Japan when "Downtown" was popular but returning to the Bay Area in '66 I can't remember ever hearing it or the others.

Her follow-ups got played a lot on Boston radio, so maybe she was bigger on the East Coast. And here in Connecticut, DRC-FM had "My Love," "I Know a Place" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway" on the playlist in addition to "Downtown" until just a few years ago, when the influx of '80s titles started. It seems the mid-'60s are being cleared out. I'd imagine the late '60s and early '70s will be next. There are still a half-dozen Three Dog Night songs getting regular airplay; will they be reduced to just "Joy to the World"?