KoKomo Played on the "oldies" station

[WDAE-FM101]

No it wasn't KMCQ - It was KISN! The station everyone raves about (11:50 on Friday evening)

[radioguy39nj]

WCBS-FM New York played "Kokomo" in 1988 when the record was a current.  At the time, WCBS-FM was in its glory days as an oldies station.  It probably worked because it was The Beach Boys and CBS-FM played lots of their 60s hits at the time.

[Mark Jeffries]

WCBS-FM New York played "Kokomo" in 1988 when the record was a current.  At the time, WCBS-FM was in its glory days as an oldies station.  It probably worked because it was The Beach Boys and CBS-FM played lots of their 60s hits at the time.

And CBS-FM played one current song an hour from the beginning of the format into the 80s.

And "Kokomo"'s a 14-year-old song.  In the 80s, that's about in the median age of songs oldies radio played.  The format was initially never meant to be ossified for years on end into 1955-to-1972 or 1965-to-1985 or whatever period you want to pick.

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Dear friend of mine programmed K-EARTH for years ... building it to its mega-station status.  At one point he was called to CBS corporate to discuss how they could reach younger audiences with their stations -- a question "the corporate brass" was clearly struggling with.  He marched into New York ... suggested that if they wanted to reach a younger audience, play younger tunes ... and got on his plane and went home.  That always struck me as a great example as to how wrapped around the axle people can get when a common sense answer is sitting on the table.  Sometimes we just LOVE having all those "rules" to tell us we can't do something OBVIOUS.

Who gives a crap what year a song is ... or what other classification it has?  If a station wants a "vibe" and a song fits the taste that audience has ... add it!  (OR is that just too much common sense already sitting on the table???)

[landtuna]

LBB seconds what I've been saying for a long time.  Oldies is a genre and a time period.  "Kokomo" is a perfect example of a Surf song that became popular well after Surf was dead and gone but it does belong in that genre. 

[1954]

"KoKomo" is a 24 year old song. That would be the same as a 1995 Oldies station  playing "Joy To The World" or "Maggie May". And it's The Beach Boys..what's the big deal?

[semoochie]

I've always heard "Kokomo" on Oldies stations!  It's only because it's a Beach Boys song.  It's the same as Classic Rock playing even a new song by a core artist.  Roy Orbison's comeback song is another that would qualify.

[AQH]

LBB is spot on.

There's no problem in having an opinion on radio (we all do).   But if your reasoning is "that's the way it has always been done," then you're screwed.

[FightingIrish]

I think pretty much all oldies stations play that one. My local Clear Channel one does.

[Lonely Summer]

I've always heard "Kokomo" on Oldies stations!  It's only because it's a Beach Boys song.  It's the same as Classic Rock playing even a new song by a core artist.  Roy Orbison's comeback song is another that would qualify.

Exactly! It drove me crazy back in 1995 that KBSG would not play the Beatles reunion tracks, I mean, they played the Fabs aat least once an hour, the dj's talked endlessly about the Anthology series, why not just play the songs?