I grew up with people listening to the radio all the time as a kid, but I obviously didn't know which station was which, so maybe somebody can refresh my memory.

It seems like songs stayed popular in rotation for years back then. I can remember hearing songs from, say 1982 in the late 80s (really this kept up well into the 90s too). That's part of the reason I always felt like the entire decade was my time. Were the "today's hits" stations only playing very current songs, or did they dip back several years?

Its interesting because I've (more recently) found tapes at Goodwill of old radio stations people must've taped at the time. One is a rock station from '84 which played mostly new songs within a couple years with a few late 70s thrown in, and the other is a hits station from '88 only playing the very latest stuff (that one was a continuous recording with commercials and all).

I grew up with people listening to the radio all the time as a kid, but I obviously didn't know which station was which, so maybe somebody can refresh my memory.


Yeah, they did.  Back in the 80s, my a-few-years-older-than-I co-workers used to listen to the local radio station's "psychedelic" hour over lunch.  To my mind, it was decent enough music, but it was acid-hippie-bleh-dinosaur-rock.  Respect to the whole Elvis and rock-and-roll thing, but everything between the Beatles and AC/DC was just a mishmash of dino-rock.  Everybody (I grew up with) knew that the real old school was 70s metal, and the new-school was new-wave transitioning to house.

I didn't have the internet back then.  My bad.  I owe my co-workers one for musical appreciation, for I would never have listened to that 60s/70s stuff had I not been subjected to it.  It took me 10 years to really break out of the whole decadeology thing and just accept the fact that that "retro" is whatever you enjoyed when you were a kid.  Once I got over that, I stopped caring what year the song was released.  Some of the tracks I once swore I hated as "too old" are beloved classics on repeat on every playlist I've had since... well, since the ability to create playlists on a computer.  The Doors, AC/DC, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Daft Punk, and Skrillex are all welcome in my headphones.

You're gonna hate me for suggesting this, but rip those tapes to MP3.  If you're listening to them in real-time as you rip them, record the ads, the products, and a few characteristic lines from each ad.  Spawn a thread on our lyrics board and cut/paste your transcripts of the ads there, even if you fast-forward through the songs you already have/know/recognize.  Then stash the tapes somewhere safe, and back up the MP3 rips.  It's because we hated the ads that we - in the pre-digital age - did everything in our power to stop them from being recorded to tape.

As terrifying as it may sound to you, those tapes may be the last existing recordings of those ads.  You know what you gotta do.

Because someone, somewhere, is going to google one of those obscure 80s ads, and I'd like them to land here, rather than some lesser message board :)

Yeah, they did.  Back in the 80s, my a-few-years-older-than-I co-workers used to listen to the local radio station's "psychedelic" hour over lunch.  To my mind, it was decent enough music, but it was acid-hippie-bleh-dinosaur-rock.  Respect to the whole Elvis and rock-and-roll thing, but everything between the Beatles and AC/DC was just a mishmash of dino-rock.  Everybody (I grew up with) knew that the real old school was 70s metal, and the new-school was new-wave transitioning to house.

I didn't have the internet back then.  My bad.  I owe my co-workers one for musical appreciation, for I would never have listened to that 60s/70s stuff had I not been subjected to it.  It took me 10 years to really break out of the whole decadeology thing and just accept the fact that that "retro" is whatever you enjoyed when you were a kid.  Once I got over that, I stopped caring what year the song was released.  Some of the tracks I once swore I hated as "too old" are beloved classics on repeat on every playlist I've had since... well, since the ability to create playlists on a computer.  The Doors, AC/DC, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Daft Punk, and Skrillex are all welcome in my headphones.

You're gonna hate me for suggesting this, but rip those tapes to MP3.  If you're listening to them in real-time as you rip them, record the ads, the products, and a few characteristic lines from each ad.  Spawn a thread on our lyrics board and cut/paste your transcripts of the ads there, even if you fast-forward through the songs you already have/know/recognize.  Then stash the tapes somewhere safe, and back up the MP3 rips.  It's because we hated the ads that we - in the pre-digital age - did everything in our power to stop them from being recorded to tape.

As terrifying as it may sound to you, those tapes may be the last existing recordings of those ads.  You know what you gotta do.

Because someone, somewhere, is going to google one of those obscure 80s ads, and I'd like them to land here, rather than some lesser message board :)

Good stuff, Foo. Yeah, radio stations before 2000 even, seemed to have a more diverse playlist before they started cutting more and more songs. Nowadays with Clear Channel, it seems to me they only play what's profitable and don't take a chance as much.

It doesn't surprise me they had a psychedelic hour in the mid 80s. Speaking for myself, the only way I knew about 50s/60s (and most 70s) music growing up was from my parents' albums (they played Beatles tapes in the car all the time), but I imagine many other people got exposed to it on the radio.

Yeah, that's the magic of commercials, since everybody hated them when they were new. Especially since those are local 1988 ads, I'm sure they're even more obscure! Its literally like going back in time and turning the radio on (same for VHS tapes with commercials, although alot of those are on YouTube). I'd love to back those up someday. I've made other tape copies, but digitally speaking.

Yes some of them did especially WCBS-FM in New York played a whole lot of doo-wop 60's and 70's and now they took away the doo-wop format to play more some 70's and 80's.

Radio stations I listened to that played current hits also played the older songs.  I was born in the late 70s, and it's quite surprising just how many 70s songs I remember hearing on the radio in the 80s.  Growing up, I wasn't really unaware those songs weren't new ...

Remember that 80s album 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac?  That right, back then, I didn't know it wasn't

Some rock station played classic rock and a mix of new stuff.  WBCN in Boston used to play Simple Minds, Talking Heads, and the Fixx, for instance, as well as the playlists they're holdover fans from the seventies had come to live.  Thus, they won eighties kids like me over to their audience.  There was also strictly Top 40 stations that played the same handful of hits over and over again and never reached back further than 18 months.  In Boston, WHTT and WZOU were doing this.  The problem was WBCN in Boston was turning seedy late at night.  They used to invite Madame X, a hooker -- excuse a "sexpert" -- who worked at the Naked-I Club in Boston -- okay, a hooker -- to talk dirty late at night.  That was when they used to play the best stuff on the so-called "Nocturnal Emissions" block.  It was evident by 1986 BCN was going trash.  There were other good stations in Boston, WFNX, and alternative rock sation which catered too much to the yuppies, and then there was "college radio" low on the dial.  College radio became my second passion in life!

Radio stations I listened to that played current hits also played the older songs.  I was born in the late 70s, and it's quite surprising just how many 70s songs I remember hearing on the radio in the 80s.  Growing up, I wasn't really unaware those songs weren't new ...

Remember that 80s album 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac?  That right, back then, I didn't know it wasn't


Oh yeah, I grew up hearing tons of Fleetwood songs around then and I never thought twice about it either. I think Go Your Own Way and You Make Loving Fun sound kinda 80s, and my personal perception might have something to do with it too. I think I heard The Cars early songs too.

It seems like songs stayed popular in rotation for years back then. I can remember hearing songs from, say 1982 in the late 80s (really this kept up well into the 90s too). That's part of the reason I always felt like the entire decade was my time.


I don't really remember listening to the radio in the 80's, however I know a bit about what was around and considered 'recent' in the early '90's. When I listen to some songs from like 1982-88 today, some of them remind me of my (earlier) childhood, even though I was not born yet or still a toddler when they were released.

Sometimes I hear a song even today on the radio and think -> "That's a song from your childhood"... and when I google it, I am surprised that it was already released in 1984.

So yes, at least German main stream radio stations played older music in the late 80's and early 90's, too.

And you know what is really great? Our regional pop station switched from 2000's-only-music to 80's-2010's music around the turn of the decade. Now they play everything from the 80's-2010's.

And you know what is really great? Our regional pop station switched from 2000's-only-music to 80's-2010's music around the turn of the decade. Now they play everything from the 80's-2010's.

Wow that's a really cool station if it plays the 80's to now.

And you know what is really great? Our regional pop station switched from 2000's-only-music to 80's-2010's music around the turn of the decade. Now they play everything from the 80's-2010's.

Yeah, I love that (for the most part) 80s music is sticking around on regular radio stations. Maybe not as many songs, but at least the bigger hits. I bet there's a few reasons why. One is that the sound of 1982+ music is more electronic, slick and therefore more "modern". They're also so well known, and new generations of kids/younger people are into them now.

I think its really cool hearing The Boys of Summer, Don't You Want Me, Living On A Prayer or Billie Jean right next to Katy, Bruno Mars and Adele.

One is that the sound of 1982+ music is more electronic, slick and therefore more "modern". They're also so well known, and new generations of kids/younger people are into them now.


Indeed, I have never heard for example 60's/70's music on a regular pop station - not even in the 90's, when the 60's and 70's were as "far away" as the 80's are today. It was all about the "best mix of the 80's, 90's and today"...

It was all about the "best mix of the 80's, 90's and today"...

That was the case ten years ago as well... and lots of pop stations still maintain 80s music on their main playlist. "80s through today" or whatever. (Guess they could say, "80s, 90s, 2000s and today" but that does seem a bit wordy.) There aren't too many stations (at least near me) that play absolutely nothing prior to 1990, except for one, which says "90s till now" (possibly to make it alliterative).




And you know what is really great? Our regional pop station switched from 2000's-only-music to 80's-2010's music around the turn of the decade. Now they play everything from the 80's-2010's.

That is great.

I don't really remember listening to the radio in the 80's, however I know a bit about what was around and considered 'recent' in the early '90's. When I listen to some songs from like 1982-88 today, some of them remind me of my (earlier) childhood, even though I was not born yet or still a toddler when they were released.

Sometimes I hear a song even today on the radio and think -> "That's a song from your childhood"... and when I google it, I am surprised that it was already released in 1984.


I did not listen to the radio much during the 1980's myself, even though I was in my single-digit years then; however I do have some recollections of my parents playing the radio in the car when I was little. The "current pop" stations might've had some 70s' stuff on their playlists then. Not sure about the 60's and earlier music, although by 1989 I do remember the songs from those years being played on "oldies" stations.

Then enter the 90's, and some radio stations still maintained 70's music; it was all about "the 70's, 80's and 90's"; others dropped it by 1993-ish and all they played was "80's and 90's hit music"...

Indeed, I have never heard for example 60's/70's music on a regular pop station - not even in the 90's, when the 60's and 70's were as "far away" as the 80's are today. It was all about the "best mix of the 80's, 90's and today"...


There are some radio stations in New York that play 80's 90's and today's.