Classic Hits Music Categories

[insidesource]

I'm in the early stages of putting on a Classic Hits Station in a small market on the east coast and would appreciate any input on what would be the best way to set up the music categories for 60s, 70s & 80s hits. I've set up CHR, Hot AC & AC formats but not sure of the categories and sub-categories for an oldies formatted station.

Thanks! 

[Seltzer]

Assuming your focus is going to be 60s-70s-80s:

67-72   Power
67-72   Secondary

73-76    Power
73-76    Secondary

77-82    Power
77-82    Secondary

83-87    Power

Pre 67   Power       

As time marches on, you will likely want to add a secondary category for 83-87 as you add more 80s.

Pre 67 generally is Beatles stuff, couple Beach Boys tunes, etc

When putting your clocks together,

15% should be 60s
70% should be 70s
15% should be 80s

[insidesource]

Thanks for the reply and info Seltzer, very helpful.

 

[finallyescaped]

A 67-72   Power
B 67-72   Secondary
C 73-76    Power
D 73-76    Secondary
E 77-82    Power
F 77-82    Secondary
G 83-87    Power
H Pre 67   Power       

15% should be 60s
70% should be 70s
15% should be 80s

I added catagory letters for easy reference in your response. How would setup your clock rotation? You have 8 categories, and potentially 12-13 songs per hour. Would you a standard one-hour clock, or would you use a flow clock to help balance your decades rotation?

[landtuna]

Pre 67 generally is Beatles stuff, couple Beach Boys tunes, etc

IMHO, if you follow this advice you are shortchanging the older listener demo who remembers the pre-67 era and also the newcomer to Oldies who may not have been exposed to this music before.  There are a ton of really good songs from 1956-1967 that deserve airplay on bonafide Oldies outlets.  By limiting your playlist to 15% of this category you are missing some of the best of the Oldies AND the music that inspired the British Invasion and Folk Rock.

Pre-67 is so much more than the Beatles and Beach Boys.

[semoochie]

If the oldest person you're trying to reach is perpetually 54, what's the oldest song you should play and how much time should you spend, trying to reach that person?  Right now, stations are still playing music from 1964 and their oldest salable listener was 6 at the time! Something's gotta give and soon!

[finallyescaped]

If the oldest person you're trying to reach is perpetually 54, what's the oldest song you should play and how much time should you spend, trying to reach that person?  Right now, stations are still playing music from 1964 and their oldest salable listener was 6 at the time! Something's gotta give and soon!

Someone who is 54 right now was born in 1958, which means they were 15 years old in 1973. There won't be a HUGE selection pre 72-ish that is extremely emotional for that person. That would explain the recent trend of Cl Hits being 70s/80s with almost no 60s (except the BIGGEST of the late 60s, and about a dozen Beatles records).

[semoochie]

Beatlemania had a tremendous effect way down the line!  I was ten at the time but I once dated a girl who was two years younger and felt the same way, not just about the Beatles but that whole period of rock!  If we start thinking that people don't make a connection before they're 14, it's going to disappoint a lot of people, still in the money demos! 

[insidesource]

I appreciate all the input and thoughts on this subject. Would welcome any comments on category placement within a hour. Do's and don'ts for top/bottom of the hour, quarter hours, outta news, spot sets, etc.

Thanks!
 

[Rico Garcia]

Would welcome any comments on category placement within a hour. Do's and don'ts for top/bottom of the hour, quarter hours, outta news, spot sets, etc.

Great questions, however if you're playing the right music, where a category falls isn't as important as what's in that category. It all comes down to philosophy, and the great thing about philosophy is that there's no right or wrong. There's a lot of psychology in it, too. If you feel what you're doing is best, you'll yield that result (MOST of the time).

Proof is in the answers to your questions:

Some programmers say come out of a stopset with a Power to payoff those who sat through commercials. Others say don't waste a power out of a stopset because your audience is slightly reduced after spots (10-20%), so wait for your power to be heard by the largest audience possible.

Some programmers say sweep the quarter hour with a Power to carry someone into the new quarter hour. Others say to drop in a secondary/novelty record there to keep your P1s intrigued into a new quarter hour since P1s are the majority of your AQH ratings.

If you're in diary, sweeping quarter hours sounds great in theory, but is someone really going to remember they listened until 8:20 instead of 8:15? I'm sure that can go either way.

If you're in PPM, quarter hour sweeps are looked at as bad. Instead, you should bowtie your stopsets around quarter hours (break from 11-17, or 26-32, etc.). Again, is that right or wrong?

A safe general rule that most will agree with is to of course follow a secondary song with a power as to not lose the mass cume potential.

At the end of the day, I'd focus more on song selection in your categories than where the categories fall. With a gold-based format I'd even consider a flow clock as opposed to a fixed position clock. This prevents your hyper P1s from learning that "they always play 80s music after the news" or whatever.

Lastly... don't be afraid to take risks. Try something, then change it up, then change it up again. Expose your creativity; don't just follow what a bunch of radio geeks say on a radio board.

AND, on all of this, it's just MY opinion. Programming is just that, which is why this creative medium is so fun!