We have lost another Oldies Station....

Earlier in 2004 we lost our local 1430 WRTH from oldies to American Favorites (ya right). Found out today WSAI 1530 out of Cincinatti is completely off the air. What the HELL is wrong with these people? St. Louis has KLOU 103.3, but they play more late 60s... I miss the 1st generation Rock and Roll....

Good Night Sweethart... Good Night.....

 

I've noticed over the years that the oldies stations start out with Buddy Holley, and doo-wop thru the Shirelles. A year or so later they're playing mostly Mo-town and Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers and some early disco. Some stations are saved for a while by going to classic rock but then you lose them to the modern Eminem, Mariah and rap syndicate when they're sold or they just die.

 

What do ya mean WE??

I don't listen to the radio.....

 

Hey Classy,
I feel for you man. About 3 years ago, we lost a great oldies station here in Denver. It was "Fabuous 560 KLZ". You listened to this station and it was like it was 1963 again! It only lasted about a year. The owners decided that there wasn't enough money in oldies. The next format they used was romantic songs. They said they wanted a station to appeal to women. It lasted just a few months before it changed formats again. This time it was religious programming. Well, long story short, the station ended up going to a sports/talk format. They are Denver's version of ESPN radio. It bums me out. My two daily drivers only have AM radios in them and there is nothing much worth listening to on there. There is a station that plays alot of 40s music, but they mix in alot of easy listening stuff that I can only take so much of.

Denver's oldies station on FM is KOOL 105. Their music is headed in the direction of 60s and 70s music. They rarely play any music before the Beatles era during the day. Their best DJ is DaBoogieman. He was the main force behind the old 560's success. He went over to KOOL after 560 went under. The station does allow him to play "classic hits" from the 50s from 10PM to Midnite Monday-Friday, and from 8PM to midnite on Sunday nights. That is only about 14 hours of 50s music in a 168 hour week. By the time you add in commercials, that isn't much music at all.

Two weekends ago a great show went off the air as well. There is a public supported radio station here in town that had a show on every Saturday night from 7-9PM. It was called the R & B Jukebox. They played the edgy, not fit for radio at the time, black rock 'n' roll and blues from the 30s thru the 60s. This show used to really blow me away. Every week I heard a song that I'd never heard before! I rarely missed it. Well, right before the holidays the host, a guy named Easy Bill, made the announcement that after 7 years on the air, the station was cancelling the show. No explainations or reasons, it was just done. This show, as well as the 14 hours of music DaBoogieman plays every week, was the last piece of Denver radio worth listening to if you ask me. All this being said, I guess it means it's time to put a CD player in the daily driver, as well as XM radio! I think this is the future of music if you like music that is off the mainstream............E

 

What are "American favorites"?

 

102.9 used to play '50s music all the time. Then it went to just the weekends, then only Sunday nights. They recently completely did away with all and anything 1950s. I complained all over the place and got them to allow '50s requests to be played.
-Dean

 

We have gained another oldies station... try XM, hell of a lot better...

 

Let me echo Hyfire in his XM praise. I don't have it yet, but I wish I had it. The funny thing is, even if I DID have XM and had access to something like 100 channels, I'd still only listen to about 3 of them. Hank's Place would be my reason to get it in the first place.

Now, if someone tells you that Sirius is the same and you should get that one instead, they are probably not a music lover and probably don't know what they are talking about. I decided against Sirius when I tuned in one day (on Dish Network's Sirius Channels) and found that they are very loose with their classifications. If they think that The Doors are a "Jam Band" what other mistakes do their programmers make?

 

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What are "American favorites"?

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Sorry, Americas Best Music..
http://www.wrth-am.com/

 

Barry, Neil and Barbra. Scary.

When did that become "American Music". I must've missed that meeting. Of course, I stopped going to bath houses years ago. That might explain why.

 

We're lucky in Chicago to have a GOOD oldies staion. It happens to even be on AM! The only catch is the station is 1690 & many radios don't go that high. check out www.realoldies1690.com for streaming radio. There are a coupla DJ's from my youth Ol' Uncle Lar'(Larry Lujack) & snotnose Tommy (Edwards). They used to be on WLS am in the 70's when there were still rock stations on am.

 

We have a couple of oldies stations, one is real bad except on Sunday nights from 7 to midnight. www.wwsw.com (3WS) They play lots of do-wop and 1950s hits, mostly local hits, not a lot of chart toppers. www.wjpa.com (Washington, PA) is also a great station but the signal is weak, for some reason only our Ford vehicles get it in clear

I really don't listen to the radio anymore as it sucks so bad, thank god for XM radio. I do agree that Sirius can't compare in the oldies and country music departments. Hank's Place, America, and Bluegrass Junction are my major favorites, along with the 1950s station, which is pretty good. Technology isn't all that bad!

 

Well that generation is dying off fast so there are fewer and fewer listeners (or prospective buyers so fewer advertisers).

We no longer have a true Oldies station anymore. With retro being so popular, some station needs to dig out the early recordings of DJs (50's and early 60's) and remaster and put on the radio (or satelite). Don't have to pay for a modern DJ, just someone to load the tapes and commercials.. I hope that the stations recorded the early DJ's./ It would be cool to hear them announcing songs and doing commericals for old products..

 

I've always wanted to buy an old am station and play country oldies... Louisiana Hayride and Opry stuff... but I suppose I'd be the only listener...

Even here at work, I'm right now listening to The Maddox Brothers with Rose... and everyone looks at me funny.

 

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We're lucky in Chicago to have a GOOD oldies staion. It happens to even be on AM! The only catch is the station is 1690 & many radios don't go that high. check out www.realoldies1690.com for streaming radio. There are a coupla DJ's from my youth Ol' Uncle Lar'(Larry Lujack) & snotnose Tommy (Edwards). They used to be on WLS am in the 70's when there were still rock stations on am.

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Thats another Clear Channel Station.... keep your fingers crossed. On a side note, I have an 33-1/3 LP of Uncle Lar and Little Tommy that my dad bought when I was a kid, that's some funny stuff.

 

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I've always wanted to buy an old am station and play country oldies... Louisiana Hayride and Opry stuff... but I suppose I'd be the only listener...

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Not if I could get it to come in on my radio.

 

sirius might be loose sometimes, but i've heard gene vincent stuff that i have newver heard before. my dad has sirius, i like it alot. their "sirius disorder" just about satisfies my eclectic musical tastes in playing damned near every kind of music imaginable. might not have a hank channel, but their outlaw country is pretty fuckin sweet too.

me though, i rely on cd's anymore, i shaved the antenna on my impala the hell off and didn't put another on because of radio around here. 105.9 the mix sticks to crappy 80s stuff, and i mean BAD 80s stuff. like any station though, and i also mean classic rock stations, they have their favorites. how many times can you hear lynyrd skynryd before you put a saturday night special in your mouth??? i used to love skynyrd too... satellite radio seems to be alot better about playing a variety, though within a single day you get repeats. oh, and sirius' uncensored comedy rocks.

 

God, do I remember those guys from WLS; I lived in Roselle, IL back then.
Out here there are no good 50's stations any longer.

Luckily I managed to download about 2000 late 40's to early 60's when Napster still was a real site.
Almost complete collections of some real early doo wop, rockabilly and R&R from such as the Cadillacs, Coasters, Fats Domino, Duane Eddy, Chimes, Capris, Champs, Charts, Del Vikings, Gene Vincent, Little Willie John, Spaniels, Smiley Lewis, Rip Cords, etc and I havent even put a dent in the list!

Put a lot on CD's for cruzin listening.

I grew up on this stuff listening to Allen Freed on WINS 1010 in NYC, WGBB and many others.

I also played a fairly mean sax in a few 50-60's groups.

 

As we all know money and ratings talk-if the market is not there they will take that programing off the air. Thats why I still have my 8-tracks player!-got it in the garage works fine amoung the filler dust.
Long live the oldies!!

 

When I was growing up around the Boston area there were a couple of great radio stations and DJs.WHIL was in Medford and featured Jack McDermott who along with his wife Beverly Dawn(a rodeo star who had platinum blond hair and was built like Dolly Parton)used to host a dance at the Chelsea Armory every Saturday night.He played "oldies" back then(this was 1958-59).
Another one was WVDA that played ALL rock and roll,r&b and was hosted by a DJ named Joe Smith(no relation).
And then in the early 60's came WMEX with the legendary Arnie,"Woo Woo" Ginsberg who was an absolute lunatic on the air with all kinds of sound effects he used to do himself(a cowbell,a slide whistle,a train whistle and various others).Probably his most famous thing was the commercials for the Adventure Car Hop where a lot of street racing originated from.They even had a gimmick called a,"GinsBurger" that they served on a 45 rpm record.
I haven't lived there in a long time so I don't know what most of the venues are now(probably mostly unintelligible garbage).I know that an old friend of mine(and avid hot rod builder)Christy Massios used to have an oldies show on the Salem State College radio station called,"Uncle Henry's Basement".He had an unbelievable collection of 45's(about 50,000 if I remember right)and used to play stuff most people never heard of,and he knew the background on all of them.He was a walking record library.
In Southeast Michigan they have a couple of good college stations;WEMU(eastern Michigan University)and WDET(Wayne State University)that play oldies but their main force is jazz and blues with a lot of music from the early part of the 20th century.

 

Ya know... we almost lost WSM in Nashville... the original station of the Grand Ol Opry... THAT would have been a shame big time.

 

How bout good music stations period.I'm a classic rock guy myself'hey i'm 28 i'm stuck in the 70's i shoulda been born 20 years before LOL'99.9% of the music stations only play horrible shit muzac i.e hip hop or other shit music where the singer sounds like thier singing in a fuckin meat locker.good music period is rare as hens teeth on the radio today

 

Thed so called Oldies stations around here are biting the dust as well. The reason I say "so called" is because for the last 10 years or so they have pretty much sucked. Barry Manillow and a bunch of other crap from the 70's and the same Stones that they were playing on the Classic Rock stations. And it was the same songs everyday. The latest one to drop went 80's.
It sucks but I've gotten used to traveling with my own music. Long live the iPod...

 

I won a XM system at a local rod meet a few weeks ago and had it installed. I love it. I keep it on the 40, 50 , and 60 stations. This is the best system I have seen.

 

just got XM sattelite radio I love it!!! get it!!! you wont be dissapointed

 

Thast it right there,Sattelite radio is gonna bankrupt todays radio stations pretty soon and maybe thats not such a bad thing less gabbing and your choice of music all the time

 

I've been waiting on sat-radio until they get a better antenna. The car antennas for them are ugly, especially on a classic. Wonder when they'll come out with a hidden antennna.

 

At one point I was considering applying for one of those low power (100W) FM licences that were being talked about maybe 5-6 years ago. Supposed to be strictly for private owned stuff but W's FCC Chairman killed it.
Im on the top of a high hill with a 180' tower in the backyard so it would have been an interesting undertaking.

 

Classic rock is nother station that is no longer classic rock..

XM is great but I wish they would improve their rock station, they play to many songs that I have never heard. I want an 80's hairband station that plays the popular stuff.

 

you need sirius' "hair nation"...you'd love it-