What happened to the "Good Time Oldies" format in Houston?

[Reefmonkey]

I remember when I was a kid, in late elementary school and junior high in the mid to late 1980s, getting hooked on Oldies 94.5 KLDE. I would get ready for school to their morning show with Sherry Bernardi and some guy whose name I don't remember, have it on during the evening while I did my homework, or listen to it on my Walkman or little boom box (I did say this was the 80s) as I mowed the grass or hung out by the pool or tinkered in the garage with my dad. To me, this stuff was quintessential summertime music. Of course, this was a time when there was a lot of Baby Boomer-fueled nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s, made popular by generation-bridging movies like "Back To The Future" and "Dirty Dancing" as well as period TV shows like "Crime Story," "Tour of Duty," and "China Beach," and lots of 20-year retrospectives on The Summer of Love, Woodstock, etc.

 

So first KDLE moved from 94.5 to 107.5 (switching places with The Buzz) in the early 2000s, and then changed formats and disappeared completely. While there are some "classic rock" stations in Houston, I can't find any true Oldies 50s and 60s music stations that are going to play a mix of 50s and 60s rock, Motown, Beach Boys, Stones, The Temptations, The Drifters, Beatles, etc. True, I have a lot of favorite songs of this kind on a playlist on my phone, and you can find this stuff on satellite radio, but when I listened to it during a trial subscription in my car, I just didn't find it had the same feel as tuning into a local station did. So what happened to this format, did the Boomers just finally get too old to be a viable marketing demographic for radio sponsors?

[FilioScotia]

did the Boomers just finally get too old to be a viable marketing demographic for radio sponsors?

 

You put your finger right on it. That's the down and dirty truth about "Oldies" radio, not just in Houston but everywhere else. Advertisers want the younger audience, people between 15 and 45. They don't want to spend their ad dollars at stations that don't appeal to that demographic. Younger people can be influenced to rush right out and buy the latest trendy stuff. Older people are wiser than that, and they don't fit the description of "impulse buyers".  Most of them anyway.

[Nate99]

Yep. 

 

Programming supported by advertisers is notoriously indifferent to people over a certain age. Market research must be pretty rock solid that you can not sell old people anything through a TV or radio ad. 

 

TV programs can get huge overall ratings, but if the 18-34 demographic trails, they'll cancel them every time. 

[Subdude]

Oldie radio stations may be going away, but it seems that 1960s-1970s muzak/background music is still very much the default format.  I was just thinking this the other night because the background music at a restaurant was all from that era.  I think a lot of businesses feel it is a safe choice to be somewhat perky and non-offensive, so it's not vanished yet.

 

 

[Blue Dogs]

You can find them on Spotify.com

[Purpledevil]

Reefmonkey, I can sum it up for you pretty easily. KLDE never really "flipped" from Oldies until The Arrow died. At that point, it went straight classic rock and truly changed formats, filling the hole left by the Urbanization of 93-7.

Think of it this way. In the 90's, KLDE played music from the 50's and 60's. Music that was roughly 30 to 40 years prior to the 90's. When KTBZ and KLDE flip-flopped in July 2000 (it was on my birthday, the 18th, we were at the STP concert as it happened) KLDE began abandoning the 50's, left the 60's alone, and added a good portion of 70's. Gone was The Crickets, Chubby Checker, and Del Shannon, while Electric Light Orchestra, KISS, and David Bowie got heavy amounts of airplay. Now that KLDE was in the 21st century, they were playing music from 30 to 40 years ago. After that K-Hits became the new name in '06, pushing the heavy rotation of 60's out the door and replacing it with 80's hits. That lasted until Cox hired Dean & Rog and dropped the K-Hits name for "The Eagle", wiping out everything but the absolute monster hits from the 60's like "Born to be Wild", adding even more 80's to the playlist. At this point, we were at 2010...and The Eagle was still playing songs from 30-40 years ago.

Even now, as a classic rock station as opposed to classic hits, The Eagle hasn't added rock hits from the 90's yet, while The Arrow already had The Black Crows, Metallica, and Pearl Jam in the rotation before it met its demise. Perhaps we'll be waiting until 2020 for the 90's to be added to the genre of music offered by 107-5. That would make those bands 30 years old by then, and history on the station shows that's seemingly the magic number.

[Purpledevil]

Oldie radio stations may be going away, but it seems that 1960s-1970s muzak/background music is still very much the default format. I was just thinking this the other night because the background music at a restaurant was all from that era. I think a lot of businesses feel it is a safe choice to be somewhat perky and non-offensive, so it's not vanished yet.

Good Lord, Subdude, I'm getting old. I remember when we used to make fun of KODA by calling it "coma", because of the instrumental elevator music it used to play. Ol' 99-1 has sure come a long way from those days.

You are absolutely right, it's all canned in from the bird nowadays, since it's no longer available locally, but that easy listening format is still widely used in the background of many businesses today as it was back then. I kid you not, I heard an instrumental only, slowed down version of Timbaland's "The Way I Are" at the doctor's office a couple of weeks back, lol.

[hbcu]

you only hear it when a DJ comes in and does a live mix

 

I laugh when our so-called market leading stations can't come up with a track when someone requests it...

[Subdude]

Good Lord, Subdude, I'm getting old. I remember when we used to make fun of KODA by calling it "coma", because of the instrumental elevator music it used to play. Ol' 99-1 has sure come a long way from those days.

You are absolutely right, it's all canned in from the bird nowadays, since it's no longer available locally, but that easy listening format is still widely used in the background of many businesses today as it was back then. I kid you not, I heard an instrumental only, slowed down version of Timbaland's "The Way I Are" at the doctor's office a couple of weeks back, lol.

 

I didn't remember that is was KODA, but I do remember Houston had a "beautiful music" station with instrumental elevator music.  I loved that even as a young'un.  I used to listen to it while studying.  Unfortunately Beautiful Music is a genre that has pretty much gone extinct.  

[FilioScotia]

That was "Beautiful Music KXYZ - 1320 AM.  My favorite station in the late 50s and early 60s. It wasn't "elevator music" that fades into the background. KXYZ played beautiful MOR music that made you want to listen to it, with big name singers and lots of lush instrumental arrangements of the popular songs. Mantovani, Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, 101 Strings and others.

 

My favorite memories of KXYZ include its great promos, played mostly at night. Very well written, heavily produced with lush strings and harp music. Such as:

 

"In Houston's downtown area, lifeless mannequins draped in the latest attire stand stiff and silent in the shops, which a few hours ago buzzed with the excitement of bargain-hunting shoppers... now relaxing at home to Beautiful KXYZ Music."  

 

"The almost-deserted parking garage is lonely and unfamiliar to a late-staying office worker, whose footsteps echo as he walks to his car and turns on the radio. Somewhere in the distance a siren is heard racing to an emergency somewhere, and the lonely feeling is dispelled by Beautiful KXYZ Music."

 

Some of Houston's finest golden throat announcers worked at KXYZ in those days. People like Pat Brown, who later moved to TV at Channel 39 and worked with Marijane Vandiver for years. My personal favorite was Milt Willis, who later moved into sales at KODA.  I also remember Larry Fogle and Jeff Thompson. Maybe Brucesw can come up with some others. (?)

 

Richard Fulghum jocked beautiful music at KXYZ till the mid 60s when he moved into news and sales at KILT AM/FM. I'll never forget what one of the KILT DJs said about Fulghum one night, not long after he made the move. "Dick Fulghum is doing news for us now. He used to work at that other station - you know, the one with the beautiful music. They fired him when they caught him dicing tomatoes on their harp." 

 

Those were the truly golden years on Houston AM radio. In the mid 70's, the format changed to pop music & around 1980 it changed over to a Christian station. It now promotes itself as "A Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Station" with religious programming in several languages.

.

[Purpledevil]

Haha, Filio...well at least I think I know who wrote the wiki article on KXYZ now. I believe Multicultural has changed who it's leasing to now, at least most of the time. KXYZ is airing CRI in Mandarin during the week, some English and Spanish programming on the weekends. By the time I was old enough to really pay attention to radio, KXYZ was already playing pop music, then switched to Disco. Studio 13 anyone?

Oh yeah, Subdude, KODA was wall to wall instrumental music well into the 80's, finally morphing into a very soft AC around 1985 or '86. It went by KODA 99.1 before adopting the Sunny moniker.

[Subdude]

One of the few remaining Beautiful Music stations is KNCT operating from (I think) Killeen Texas.  You can listen to it via TuneIn Radio or similar apps.  

[plumber2]

did the Boomers just finally get too old to be a viable marketing demographic for radio sponsors?

 

You put your finger right on it. That's the down and dirty truth about "Oldies" radio, not just in Houston but everywhere else. Advertisers want the younger audience, people between 15 and 45. They don't want to spend their ad dollars at stations that don't appeal to that demographic. Younger people can be influenced to rush right out and buy the latest trendy stuff. Older people are wiser than that, and they don't fit the description of "impulse buyers".  Most of them anyway.

 

The "Older" audiences are still there but they are targeted by advertisers selling, Gold Coins & Bullion, Carpet Cleaning, Tree Trimmers and Fine Clock Shops. You'll find them on the AM hate Radio Stations up and down the dail.

 

Funny thing  though because back in the day, my parents "The Older Audience" back then, listened to 102.9 KQUE. "Effervescent" as the station promo called it. It was great listening music. Whenever I wanted to calm my mother down after school, I'd switch the car radio to KQUE and let it work on her. I kinda miss it.

[Witch King]

What is an "AM hate Radio Station"?

[Purpledevil]

One that only signs on from noon to midnight?

[Blue Dogs]

Hold on, there's an AM hate radio station?

[Firebird65]

I don't mourn the passing of KLDE. I got tired of hearing Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" 5 times a day. Out of all the thousands of songs released from 1956 to 1980 (the timespan of their playlist), you'd think they would have had at least a little more variety. I swear their playlist consisted of the same 501 songs played over and over and over again. What's funny is that each year on Labor Day Weekend, KLDE would play its "Top 500 Songs of All Time," which really meant they just played their entire playlist like they did every day, except for one song.

[djrage]

KRBE is carrying Cumulus' Goodtime Oldies on their HD2 subchannel

[Blue Dogs]

Now everyone is blowing up their radio stations to talk about LeBron James going back to Cleveland.