Where have all the oldies FM radio stations gone?

I think that they think their listeners are dead. I’ve always liked oldies. I’m 39. Imagine my surprise when the oldies station (60s stuff mostly) changed to 80s and 90s and they are still calling themselves oldies. Man. And there’s another 80s and 90s station, too.

We have a classic rock station that places more 70s stuff but I don’t hear much 60s anymore anywhere. Sad. At least there are internet radio stations. Meanwhile we have at least 4 Hip Hop stations and probably twice that amount of Tejano stations.

Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Cranky. I am 53 and I am so far from dead a jet couldn’t get me there right now. I started listening to the good stuff when I was very young and I’m still listening. Check out this station from Vancouver, B.C. I hope this link works for you in the states. If you have time Jpenning, please let me know if it worked. www.1049greatesthits.com or better yet there used to be a station called Sea Isle 650, (Senile 650, lol). I can’t find the link right now but that station had every thing from the 50s up to the present. We’re still rockin’, Cranky, only we’re using a chair for help.

You might want to subscribe to satellite radio. They have all the oldies 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. And its mostly commercial free.

We have at least 2 in NE Ohio. That’s really all I listen to if I actually turn on the radio.

Bankruptcy Court?

Supply and demand can be a bitch.

There aren’t any in my area either. I think if any radio station in my area gets below a five-share of the market, it is doomed to the ranks of Country Music. There are seriously like 15 country stations. It’s fracking ridiculous. And even our “Classic Rock” station is playing early 90s Metallica. What happened to the Eagles? Skynyrd? I can only handle so much Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, and that’s the only real Classic they play anymore.

I think Clear Channel has grabbed a monopoly by buying up stations in lots of local markets.

They may not change the name of the station to reflect the new ownership, but formats and playlists get changed to what THEY think will be the most profitable.

He who has the gold makes the rules, unfortunately. All they care about is the bottom line, not their listeners. If your tastes line up with their profitability, great. If not, you’re SOL.

Time to start programming your own stations via either Pandora or Fine Tune. You get to decide what you hear, plus no ads either.

There’s a little bit of a learning curve, but it’s not too steep. Definitely worth it.

This is a link to an oldies station in Cleveland, OH. You can listen to the station live by clicking on the link near the top of the page.

As for where they went, I think it comes down to lack of market share.

@TheOnlyNeffie – I know WMJI, what’s the other station in NE Ohio that I’m missing?

I said that they THINK their listeners are dead. Not that they are dead.

They’re in my car.

i read an article about this approx 2 years ago – here in NY the golden oldies station, WCBS FM changed to oldies that are from 70’s – 90’s, like Madonna, Michael Jackson, disco, the Cars – stuff you might not think of as oldies. the article stated that the baby boomers are not interested in music from 50s and 60’s. the baby boomers are a big market. i don’t think they think the fans of golden oldies are dead, they just are formatting to the majority, which are the baby boomers. even the DJs on WCBS FM are no longer the older sounding guys, they’re actually DJs from rock stations i used to listen to when i was young, and one is from a disco station from the 70’s. i used to subscribe to Sirius, and they had golden oldies. i can’t stand golden oldies, i like music from the 70’s to 90’s because that’s what i grew up with.

I’m 58 and remember when my parents were upset that the radio stations quit playing big band music. That was considered oldies at the time. All of a sudden 50s and 60s music was considered oldies. They were so frustrated. Now I know how they felt. lol.

I am 22 years old and I grew up with music from the 50’s and 60’s and consider it to be a vital part of my cultural upbringing. It is sad to see that this country is throwing away its cultural history for the almighty dollar. The term “Goldies Oldies” is something unique to the baby boomer generation which described the revolutionary music and reflects the burgeoning youth culture starting in the 1950’s. Big band may be considred to be “oldies,” but it does not share the same title as “golden” This music was “golden” because it was a part of such a revolutionary time, it influenced the youth, and is so engrained in our culture that its influenced has spanned generations. Big band, though a great genre in my opinion, never had the same deep, widespread cultural impact. Half of the stations in my hometown play the same songs. I love music from the 70’s and 80’s too, but when I hear the same songs on the rock station, the light music station, the variety station, and the classic rock station, I get really annoyed. I listened to oldies 93.3 in Des Moines, but within the past two year, they took the word “oldies” out of their logos. To me this implies that “oldies” still refers to the “golden oldies”, the influentia, memorabel music of the 50’s and 60’s and they don’t want to mislead anyone to think that they still play those songs. Sure music from twenty years ago, is still “older” or technically an “oldie”, but it does not have the carry the same title as golden, because like I said that has its many implications. Sorry this is such a ramble, it is late and I should be typing my essay.

The fairness doctrine thanks to Ronald Reagan.

After Wrecking the Fairness Doctrine, music on AM radio went to right wing talk show format . Sports talk and religion music. FM radio was consume by big corporations with a playlist format not to be alter by the DJs. Google or Bing several cities for FM rock. Click the site on and you will see the same contest like BABE OF THE DAY with the same layouts nation wide.