Who/What Determines the "Classic Rock" Format Canon?

Forget over-the-air. Create an internet station. You'd probably end up with more listeners anyway.

 

Just for interest, here's the target demographic for Westwood One:

 

Two groups of people: first the press in all its variants, written, spoken, visual, and second, the music inteligentsia, i.e. the critics, specialists, theoreticians who may collaborate occasionally with the press or permanently with outposts such as allmusic.com, metacritic, etcetera.

Of course the two groups of people may act together as one, a journalist can also be a critic, or vice versa, take for example the people who do music shows on NPR, BBC..

Whether people agree with the journalist and critics - that's a whole different thing. As opinion leaders, they can influence people's perception of an album, but I personally, as a listener and buyer of music I will make my own opinion of classic rock.

 

Suppose you were in a position where you had Country, Top 40, NPR, Talk, Sports and new(er) Rock competitors in a town where your station is. Assuming you know, the best way to croudsource men 25-54, is through the music they're most passionate about. So, you have a list of songs this desired audience will always crank up whenever they play; it's the songs they'll never turn off, no matter how many times they've heard 'em. Now, your audience wants "Locomotive Breath" every now and then instead of "Aqualung", because they get sick of "Aqualung".

But, your research tells you, when a listener comes to a Classic Rock station to hear the best of the best, they hear "Locomotive Breath", and they DON'T say, "Awright! A Tull song that's not 'Aqualung'"! Nope, they say, "Hey, why are they playing this, whatever-it-is, when they could be playing 'Aqualung'...?" They get restless, and wander over to one of the other choices on the dial.

Your consultant keeps answering the question for the General Manager the say way: "Your audience knows this list, short as it is, contains the cream-of-the-crop, of the kind of songs your audience wants to hear. Therefore, the more instances the listener turns the station on and one of these is playing, the more instances he is likely to stay." And what the General Manager hears is, "If you want your listeners to still be there when the boner-pill commercials come on, nothing but these songs should be on the air." And pressures the Program Director accordingly. That wasn't what the consultant said, but it's the only kernel of communication the General Manager heard. Because, he interpreted it like a salesman would, not like a listener would.



(Meanwhile, Ariel Stream keeps offering a bizarro selection of pleasent-sounding music that's not based on what a listener expects to recognize, but what might encourage them to find something fresh to listen to...)
Now playing on Ariel Stream: Natalie MacMaster - In my Hands

 

In Australia they buy a playlist from the US then subtract songs that weren't hits here (eg Still the One by Orleans or any song that refers to baseball or football) and add Cold Chisel, Dragon and Australian Crawl. (half because Aussie bogans love them and half because there's a quota of Australian music they have to play)

 

Bogans?

 

Alls I can tell you is that - generally speaking - Classic Rock radio is nearly exactly the same as it was when I was growing up (early 80's).

 

The term bogan (/ˈboʊɡən/)[1] is Australian and New Zealand slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from an unsophisticated background or someone whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies a lack of manners and education.[2] Whilst bogan is widely recognised, localised names exist that describe the same or very similar groups of people.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan

 

I am in the target group and quit listening to the radio something like 37 years ago. I started creating mix tapes when I was 11. By the time I was 16 and was legally allowed to drive, I only listened to cassettes I recorded... The repetitive commercials and low music to non-music ratio drove me bananas, even on FM radio. I moved to Chicago for a couple of years in the early 80's. I was amazed at all the radio choices for a short period of time. I kind of dug the AOR stations, but to be honest, the music that was playing in Chicago was completely different that music played in Springfield, Misery. I immediately began to miss the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Pure Prairie League, Poco, Little Feat, Firefall, Marshall Tucker Band, etc, and was introduced to a lot of bands like Def Leppard, Scorpions, etc. In other words classic rock was not the same everywhere. Really, it wasn't long before I was making my own classic rock station on cassette! So who defines Classic Rock, well, I do...

 

I cut back listening to classic rock stations quite a bit in the 90's but still listen now an then. When I take road trips I search for the local classic rock station because they are easy to find and my wife is in the car.

I don't think they spend a lot of time on research. The list is pretty set (and contains a lot of Zeppelin). I do think they coordinate songs though between different stations. For example this month they may all be playing We are the Champions in heavy rotation. Like it is the current hit. We have two local stations and it happens all the time where I switch between stations and hear the same song, sometimes at the same time (two different networks) (this happened a lot on a road trip across the country this summer). If anyone knows if this is the case please let me know.

I am not really sick of the songs I like but I am really sick of hearing the songs I don't like.

 

For a brief period, I had to voice track the classic rock station in my company's clusterfvck. A miserable, soulsucking experience.

 

I do. Who are these so-called "men"?

 

Word. I've occasionally have an opportunity to board-op remotes for a Classic rocker in the past; when you know these people in person, then hear how little of their own energy and passion
makes it into their over-rehearsed performances, it's just amazing management doesn't have the capacity to understand what they're losing by using VT.




Now playing on Ariel Stream: Zucchero - Blu

 

Haven't listened to a classic rock station in decades. With thousands of choices on the internet, why even bother?

 

It was in the late 70's specifically that I remember FM radio had fallen - became totally predictable. For example major acts like Jethro Tull. Their pre-Aqualung catalog vanished and eventually distilled down to 3 key tracks off that LP plus a few on the following LP Living In The Past. Then in the early 80's I started to hear that term 'classic rock' being used more & more. Meaning: only the expected biggies get played. Thus Joe Walsh = Rocky Mountain Way, Free = All Right Now, and so on.
My favorite local station plays top 40 AM hits of the 60's & 70's. It has some limits too, but I never seem to get tired of it.

 

I know a few guys who do this for their daily shows. The do a whole weeks worth of shows in about 3 hours or so. I can only imagine how boring this is to do. At least, they don't have to listen to the songs.

 

Likely the same me who will tell you they don't like the Carpenters but will break into tears when they hear "Superstar."

 

True.