I remember about a few years ago, about 2007 or 2008, there was a thread on this site about 80's music being played on the oldies channels nationwide.

The radio station in my town is kinda slow or something, but they're finally starting to play late 80's music on the station. They're mostly concentrating on the 1980-1983 era, but when they played Bill Joel's 1989 song "We didn't start the fire" I was shocked! Lol.

Have they started playing all the years of the 80's on your oldies station yet?

That song is considered Classic Rock by one of the local stations around here and is played regularly

Not yet.  They still play alot of stuff, from the 40's - 70's, on AM 740.

What's the problem?  They were playing songs from 1968 on oldies stations in 1989.

The r&b station here has what they call a throwback weekend the first weekend of every month. They play Prince, MJ, Debarge, Mary Jane Girls, Luther Vandross,  like everything is from the 80s. I like it alot. It's the only  time I play the radio. (because everything else they play is rap and garbage)  And they've been doing it for about 5 years.

What's the problem?  They playing songs from 1968 on oldies stations in 1989.


You got a great point Maxwell, and I believe you that they did play songs from the late 60's in the late 80's.

It's just that I'm a little shock that's all!  :D

I think I started the original thread... I was shocked that Hungry Eyes was playing on an LA oldies station....

They used to play songs from the 50s 60s and 70s now they play songs from the 60s 70s and 80s  >:(

Believe it or not, back in 2002 there was already a thread about '80s being added on the oldies stations! http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/1029822689.shtml ('80s are Oldies now?)

I wrote a couple threads on this subject in the past:

http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/smf/1234028423.shtml

http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/Before70s/smf/1262891822.shtml This shows as '80s get added, sadly the '50s/much of the '60s has to be removed (I hate this more than simply adding '80s!)  :\'(  (The phasing out of pre-70s music on the radio)

Washington/Baltimore doesn't even have a proper oldies station during the week! The closest are classic rock, Jack FM (basically a '70s-current mix) and a classic hits station that mostly plays '70s/'80s soft rock! Meanwhile, while I went to the beach over the weekend, I notice the trend toward newer music continued: 92.1 "The Wave" of Ocean City, MD just TWO years ago in 2008, the newest song I heard was from 1974 (Rock The Boat); then last year they removed all '50s/most early '60s and added mid-late '70s; then this year, I listen to the same station and find out it was playing Ghostbusters!

On most oldies stations that play '80s, 1985 seems to be the dividing line (WCBS-FM for example). Many agree music started to go downhill after that year. Also, I fully accept that the entire '80s can be called oldies now (with the 20 years makes it an oldies back on the 2002 thread; but I still hear fewer '80s songs on oldies stations that I thought I would by this time, with playlists centered around 1973 or so).

But the biggest problem I see from expanding oldies/classic hits is that we are enchroaching on the hip-hop era, and that genre will definately draw disinterest if such songs are added; when I first hear "Walk This Way" or some other rap song on the oldies station, THAT's when I'll feel old!

Really, the oldies format is dying a slow, slow death; as it tries to move forward in time, you'll see either stations rebranding themself (like old school for modern R&B/Hip Hop), or perhaps see new formats emerge ('90s, modern adult contemporary, etc). As of today, there are only around five or so oldies stations that play the typical playlist you'd hear on oldies stations back in the '80s (up to 1971 or so).

Of course having Sirius/XM helps (Malt Shop oldies), but it seems like oldies nowadays means "Mall shop era".

But I can still say I haven't heard Madonna, U2, or Bon Jovi yet on an oldies station, not yet...

1989 is 21 years ago and that is a long long time in the world of music. If you consider it, you are probably more shocked at the fact that the music you grew up with is now old hat, and that makes you feel a bit....old hat.

1989 is 21 years ago and that is a long long time in the world of music. If you consider it, you are probably more shocked at the fact that the music you grew up with is now old hat, and that makes you feel a bit....old hat.


Danoota&Me, I'm only 21, Lol. I forgot to mention that, sorry!

The reason why I'm shocked is that I'm so used to hearing 60's and 70's and even early 80's that when they started late 80's I just was kinda surprised, that's all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWJXypuYjLQ
What "oldies" were considered in 1989!

You got a great point Maxwell, and I believe you that they did play songs from the late 60's in the late 80's.

It's just that I'm a little shock that's all!  :D


The shock being what is still fresh in your mind is now considered dated by everyone else. I heard a song from 1999 being played on an oldies station once!

1989 is 21 years ago and that is a long long time in the world of music. If you consider it, you are probably more shocked at the fact that the music you grew up with is now old hat, and that makes you feel a bit....old hat.


but of course that's the problem isn't it? I listen to adult contemporary music from the 80s (and 80s popular music) but I still think of the oldies music as the 60s (even though I was born in the 60s)  and I'm willing to give them the 70s even tho I was a child.... what I don't want to give in to is this notion that music I listened too as a teen is now acceptable to call oldies.... I just don't want that!  >:(

About 10 years ago, I was grocery shopping, just be-bopping thru the aisles in a good mood, noting sale prices and trying to figure out what I was gonna make for dinner that night; when suddenly I realized they were playing an instrumental/muzack version of one of my favorite Simply Red songs.  That was a little depressing to finally realize that the things I liked are now old-fashioned.  lol  Alas, I've embraced my elderly personna ever since.  I don't have the energy to be young and hip anymore (not that I ever really was to begin with). 

I heard Simply Red in the supermarket too!  And you know what?  That's where he belongs!
8)

I heard Simply Red in the supermarket too!  And you know what?  That's where he belongs!
8)


;D

5 years ago I was hearing Yazoo in the grocery store...then again, "Situation" came out in 1982, so...

;D

5 years ago I was hearing Yazoo in the grocery store...then again, "Situation" came out in 1982, so...


Actually, I remember hearing "Situation" in a grocery store back in '87.  I was working there at the time.  They switched from Muzak to Top 40, but the old Greek guys who ran the supermarket chain decided they didn't like the Top 40 stuff, so it was back to Percy Faith and Bert Kaempfert!
::)

I could only wish, that they played something by Yazoo, at the grocery store, where I work!

;D

This situation is completely unacceptable.

Soon all the Jack-FM format-types will be playing songs of the 90s, 00s and today!

Terrestrial radio sux.  I only listen to catch the traffic report on the commute then I switch to CD.

This situation is completely unacceptable.


I was just listening to that cd you made me a while back! Its so good!

And right now on my 101.9 WLIF FM (Baltimore, MD) (weekend only for "Flashback Favorites", once part of WQSR), they are playing Roy Orbison's "You Got It". I can understand that one though as he is primarily though of as a early '60s artist and is quite '60s sounding, but don't look for Only The Lonely, Running Scared, or Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream). I hate the pre-Beatles boot more than the '80s expansion!

But in terms of "80s 80s" artists, have anyone ever heard Madonna, Paula Abdul, New Kids On The Block, Bon Jovi, or U2 following the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, or Creedence Clearwater Revival on an oldies station?

When I hear "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" in the supermarket, then I'll feel old.  I'm sure they have somewhere. 

Back Street Boys was really horrible to have to hear in the supermarket!

When I hear "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" in the supermarket, then I'll feel old.  I'm sure they have somewhere. 

Back Street Boys was really horrible to have to hear in the supermarket!



They want it that way.

What always baffles me is when I hear a song in a store that a) is an oldies, but b) was not even a hit over here.

I was in a Value Village thrift store (known as 'Savers', for you American and Australian folk), and heard 'Just An Illusion' by Imagination and 'Dignity' by Deacon Blue both back to back.  I had to stop and think for a second .. when I walked through that door to the store, was it a magic portal to the UK or something? LOL

  We need only look in the mirror to see the oldies...

And right now on my 101.9 WLIF FM (Baltimore, MD) (weekend only for "Flashback Favorites", once part of WQSR), they are playing Roy Orbison's "You Got It". I can understand that one though as he is primarily though of as a early '60s artist and is quite '60s sounding, but don't look for Only The Lonely, Running Scared, or Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream). I hate the pre-Beatles boot more than the '80s expansion!

But in terms of "80s 80s" artists, have anyone ever heard Madonna, Paula Abdul, New Kids On The Block, Bon Jovi, or U2 following the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, or Creedence Clearwater Revival on an oldies station?


AAAAAAHHHH!!! WCBS is playing Express Yourself! Lookout Paula, they may play you! Really, just stream these so-called oldies stations online and tell me if they play songs from '89 (or worse yet, the NINETIES!) And the song that followed: The Soul Surviors' Expressway to Your Heart! (It's A to Z day). But really, 1967 and 1989 are worlds apart in terms of styles! But now comes the worst part: 4 CONSECUTIVE '80S SONGS IN A ROW! Eyes Without A Face, Eye Of A Tiger, Faith, Faitfully! I feel there is now a trend not just to simply play some '80s, but to increase the frequency of the '80s that they're playing! The average year of those six songs is 1982! Damn!

driving to work....same old LA "oldies" station pops on Joan Jett 'I Love Rock & Roll'  ::)


Apparently tho they have dropped the "oldies" from their logo.

OLD LOGO
http://www.carllectibles.com/graf/kearth.jpg


NEW LOGO
http://www.starkmanassociates.com/files/krth-earth-101fm.jpg


guess that's how they get away with it. They are known as the oldies station but apparently don't call themselves that anymore.
::)

What always baffles me is when I hear a song in a store that a) is an oldies, but b) was not even a hit over here.

I was in a Value Village thrift store (known as 'Savers', for you American and Australian folk), and heard 'Just An Illusion' by Imagination and 'Dignity' by Deacon Blue both back to back.  I had to stop and think for a second .. when I walked through that door to the store, was it a magic portal to the UK or something? LOL


When I was listening to ATF with Casey Kasem religiously in 1983, The Fixx was one of my favorite groups.  Nineteen eighty-three contained two of their biggest hits: "One Thing Leads to Another" and "Saved By Zero."  Casey never told us The Fixx was a miserable chart-performer at home in the UK, and nobody there would have been more surprised if Fad Gadget went ATF Top 10 in 1983!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/10/uhoh3.gif

Lookout Paula, they may play you!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

It happened today. On a #1 hits weekend, they played Straight Up!  :\'(

They still have ONE song from 1959- The Isley Brothers' Shout (last head a few weeks ago). But I don't how much longer it will last as I definately hear more '80s than '60s songs now. :( Last year, they'd play about 1 '80s for every 2 '60s. Now that ratio is reversed, and the average song is probably now from around 1976 or so instead of 1973. Time keeps on slipping.... into the future....

Update: Just four songs later, they played Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy". This is from WLIF. Baltimore's Oldies was WQSR until 2005 until Jack FM arrived, then it was relegated to WLIF on weekends as "flashback weekend". 2005-2008 was '60s and '70s only, and since 2009 they've added more and more '80s and are playing less and less '60s and even very early '70s. What worries me is if they start to add the early '90s in, is that rap/hip hop-type pop and sappy "diva pop" like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey may be the next target in a few years (particularly the latter as 101.9 played those last three like they were going out of style back in the day). Let's face it, the current dance-pop is really making this stuff sound "old timey" to today's youth; even the '80s synths feel "old-fashioned" in style.

Update AGAIN: Just another four songs later, they played Roxette's The Look! STOP IT! I don't want to hear Milli Vanilli!

WCBS FM now plays music from 1959-1989 but once in a while they may play a 90's song so I guess the 90's will be considered "oldies" soon.

WCBS FM now plays music from 1959-1989 but once in a while they may play a 90's song so I guess the 90's will be considered "oldies" soon.


I believe on their online stream several months ago I heard Michael Jackson's Remember the time (1991, peaked in '92). I was stunned when I first heard it. But like the people before me who hated when they heard "Uptown Girl" or something about 10 years ago, it's soon going to happen to the '90s generation. "Classic hits" or "Greatest hits of all time" is simply a natural progression of when they were branded as "oldies", as most markets don't have a pre-Beatles station anymore, and DC and Houston doesn't even have a "classic hits", let alone "real oldies" station!

I believe on their online stream several months ago I heard Michael Jackson's Remember the time (1991, peaked in '92). I was stunned when I first heard it. But like the people before me who hated when they heard "Uptown Girl" or something about 10 years ago, it's soon going to happen to the '90s generation. "Classic hits" or "Greatest hits of all time" is simply a natural progression of when they were branded as "oldies", as most markets don't have a pre-Beatles station anymore, and DC and Houston doesn't even have a "classic hits", let alone "real oldies" station!


The 90's will be considered "oldies" 10 years from now,Whoever thought groups like Britney Spears or The Backstreet Boys would be in that category?

Yeah '80s is oldies now, I've listened to some oldies radio recently and many of them are '60s, '70s and '80s. And Yeah I heard Madonna. It is weird hearing dancey '80s music on an oldies station I must say but the '80s are 31-21 years ago.

Yeah '80s is oldies now, I've listened to some oldies radio recently and many of them are '60s, '70s and '80s. And Yeah I heard Madonna. It is weird hearing dancey '80s music on an oldies station I must say but the '80s are 31-21 years ago.



and 10 years from now the 90's will become oldies,In the year 2021 would you ever think that Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber would be categorized as an "oldie"?

and 10 years from now the 90's will become oldies,In the year 2021 would you ever think that Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber would be categorized as an "oldie"?


That's a weird thought!  :D

now it's been some thousand years  man has defined for the ears  how he wanted to  nothing to me new
but I don't think it right                to box everything so tight        70's I want I say      90's is what you get today                   


older is not oldie         

That's a weird thought!  :D


and us older folks who are close to 40 consider the 80's "oldies".

and us older folks who are close to 40 consider the 80's "oldies".


Speak for yourself, Howard  I am 40 and don't consider 80's "oldies"

to Howard with much good hope and prayers

One fine day
You'll seek for thee
And you will know you loves were
Ment to be
One fine day
You're gonna want zy you're a girl

The arms you long for
Will open wide
And you'll be proud To have zy
Close by your side
One fine day
You're gonna want zy you're a girl

Though I know you're all kind of oy     
Who only wants to puke on ground       
I'll keep cleaning and someday, darling   
You'll come to zy  when you want to settle down, oh

One fine day
You'll meet once more
And then you'll want The love you
threw away before

One fine day
You're gonna want zy you're a girl

Blaaaaaaaaaa  blaaaaaaaaa    blaaaaaaaaa    blaaaaaaaaa 

One fine day
You're gonna want zy you're a girl

One fine day
You'll want zy you're a girl

One fine day


;)

Speak for yourself, Howard  I am 40 and don't consider 80's "oldies"


If it was more than 30-35 years,It's an "oldie".

na na na na  don't think thats right don't think thats right

na na na na  don't think thats rig i i  i i i i i  i iht  ll no o o

You are so right about that.  In oldie stations, they played Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative", and all of the late 80s songs, and I was like WTF?????  Since when did the late 80s became old school?  They even started playing early 90s music in some old school radio stations.  I was in junior high in the late 80s and high school in the early 90s.  This is showing me that I'm not getting any younger.

You are so right about that.  In oldie stations, they played Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative", and all of the late 80s songs, and I was like WTF?????  Since when did the late 80s became old school?  They even started playing early 90s music in some old school radio stations.  I was in junior high in the late 80s and high school in the early 90s.  This is showing me that I'm not getting any younger.


Between 1989-1994 could be considered "old school",next few years the 90's will definitely be part of an oldies station.

The 90's will be considered "oldies" 10 years from now,Whoever thought groups like Britney Spears or The Backstreet Boys would be in that category?
Wel Britney Spears was only around for 1 year in the 90's really. The Backstreet Boys yeah they would pretty much be remembered for their songs in the late 90's era.

I would consider oldies like 1986 and before because New Jack Swing and Rap weren't big then pre 1987. In 1987 or 1988 they got big. The 1987-1989 era was super pop like Jody Watley and Taylor Dayne too. Stuff like Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Gloria Estefan/ Miami Sound Machine early stuff, Ready For The World and Belinda Carlisle's debut solo album kinda straddles that 1985-1987 line. A group like Ready For The World they didn't sound like early 80's R&B(SOS Band, Rene and Angela, or Rick James) but they didn't New Jack Swingy either if you will. They were in between those 2 era's.

And then you have the mid to late 90's rap.

And then you have the mid to late 90's rap.


Although I've heard 80s dance music on the oldies station I have yet to hear 80s or 90s rap.
I guess there is a limit  ;D