Programming Oldies: An oldie by any other name is NOT the same.

If you're going to program a 50's & 60's oldies format on the radio, AM or FM you had better call it oldies. That's right, "OLDIES." It's not a dirty word. It's a word that its intended audience knows and understands. That's right. You're going after the audience that grew up with this music. In other words, older people. Seniors. People who remember JFK, Ike and dare we say, Harry Truman. This is the audience you go after first because this is the audience that likes this music and wants to hear it. Once you have them secured then you go after the younger demos beginning with people in the 40-55 age range. Any demo younger than that is frosting on the cake.

So, how does one go after these younger demos, the ones that the advertising agencies so hungrily crave? By doing the same thing that you do to attract the older listeners. By sounding PROFESSIONAL. You hire the best air personalities available who know and love the oldies. You allow them to give out bits of information about the individual songs that they play. Like the year the song first came out or whether it was the group's first or only hit. Listeners like this. There has NEVER been a documented circumstance where a listener has said, "Oh my God. That DJ mentioned the year of the song. And then he mentioned the label that the song originally came out on. I am offended. I am NEVER listening to that station again." Trust me. This has NEVER happened. The people in the broadcasting biz who are most against this giving out of oldies information are those who know little about the music and are either consciously or unconsciously envious of those who do. Hey, if you don't have a good background in oldies music then you shouldn't be programming or working as a DJ on an oldies station.

And while we're on the subject of oldies, let's examine the word itself. Oldies. Does the word bother you? If you're a young person and you heard the station use the word oldies would that automatically turn you off and thus cause you to change the station? Or would you be rational and intelligent and listen for awhile before deciding whether or not this music is to your liking. I'm betting on the latter. I'm betting that if you like 50's and 60's music then it won't bother you if the word oldies is used. You are far too mature to allow a single word to cloud your judgment.

Now let's get back to the topic of sounding professional. In addition to having the best air personalities on the air they must also be live. In other words right there in the studio doing their show. No satellite feeds, no voicetracking and definitely no live DJ but who is broadcasting from another city hundreds or even a thousand miles away. That type of broadcasting may work for talk formats or individual syndicated programs that are aired on the weekend. However, it is no substitute for a DJ who must have a live and local mike in order to establish an effective rapport and connection with the audience. Yes, I understand that it means having a larger payroll but if you don't have live air personalities playing the music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week then your station has no "feel" to it, no soul. In other words it lacks the all important human factor.

Finally we come to one more important factor in our discussion of oldies formats. THE PLAYLIST. LOL. Nothing raises eyebrows or brings out more heated arguments than a discussion of the playlist. This topic could be an article all by itself. My opinion is this. When it comes to a 50's & 60's oldies format a LARGE playlist is far more effective and desirable then the typical 450 song standard issued dogma that the consultants so sickeningly cling to. And some broadcasters so willingly and slavishly bow to. People, especially oldies fans DO get sick of hearing the same songs over and over again. It's called "human nature." They WANT to hear a bigger variety of tunes especially ones that they haven't heard in years. And there has NEVER been a documented circumstance where a listener has said, "My God. What is that oldie they're playing? I've never heard it before. I'm shutting off my radio and never listening to that station again." NO! THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED. This is just propaganda by the 450 song playlist people who firmly believe that EVERYONE wants to hear "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison fifty times a day.

In conclusion I believe that the biggest problem with radio today, regardless of format is that it keeps churning out the same overcooked product over and over again. LOL. They keep changing the brand names of the individual formats but it's STILL the same old stuff. It's like baking and packaging crappy tasting cupcakes. You can give them a new name and a bright new package but if you're still making the same crappy cupcakes then nothing has really changed. And I believe that the consumer, or in radio's case the listener is far too intelligent and sophisticated to not notice this. I understand that marketing and having a clever brand name can help a station build its cume. But it had better have a quality product to back it up. Personally I've never been a big fan of catchy brand names. If you're broadcasting a format and you are doing it well, they will listen. Just don't forget that "human touch."