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Rhythmic oldies

January 09, 2023

Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, R&B, disco, or dance genres of music. Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and, depending on market conditions, may be designed for African-American or Hispanic audiences. It is also referred to as "Jammin' Oldies" or "Music From Back in the Day" by various radio stations. Since the late 2000s, much of the library in the "rhythmic oldies" format has been adopted by the classic hits format. A variation on the format is urban oldies.

History

On November 19, 1997, the Los Angeles radio station formerly known as KIBB began a new concept in radio. KCMG, which named itself Mega 100.3 after a listener contest, was "oldies with attitude".[1] Chancellor Media, later to be called AMFM, developed the format with the intention of using it on other stations. [2] Just as radio in the 80s had the "urban versus churban" competition, R & B oldies radio was dividing into two camps—the straight urban oldies stations targeting African Americans, and the "Jammin' Oldies" stations with a wider audience that included both blacks and whites. On Jammin' Oldies radio, DJs were often mostly white or a variety of racial groups. Many of the songs played had crossed over to top 40 radio, while R&B stations continued to play more hits, including ballads, not familiar to top 40 fans, especially if those songs were not singles. Some of the rhythmic stations played songs completely unrelated to R & B; "Mony Mony" by Tommy James on the now defunct WFJO in Tampa was one example, though this station dropped such songs eventually.[3]

Another version of the format was "Groovin' Oldies", as in the case of WGRV in Detroit. This station switched from modern rock in April 1999, calling itself "The Groove". This format lasted until a switch to adult contemporary in June 2001. The last song was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men.[4]

In April 1999, WGAY in Washington, D.C., switched to "Jammin' Oldies", which had been successful in every market where it was tried. One reason was that the format was tailored to each specific market. In Los Angeles, the format leaned toward Latin music. Other markets included Fresno, Chicago, and New York City. Listeners changed from urban contemporary and other types of oldies stations. Most of the music came from the 70s, but there were also 60s and 80s hits. Unlike most radio formats, Jammin' Oldies did not target one specific ethnic or gender group. Black and white artists were included, and a slight majority of listeners were female.[5] WJMO "Jammin' Oldies 99.5" succeeded at first,[6] but two years later fell victim to a declining economy.[7] Another problem for "Jammin' Oldies" was that it was the "hot new format" in 1998, but there were other "hot new formats" in 2000.[8]

In Chicago, it was rocker WRCX that changed—to WUBT "103-5 The Beat". The result was a significant ratings improvement that resulted from adding pop artists such as Madonna, the Bee Gees and Tina Turner to what had been old school urban oldies.[9] But the deregulation of radio in 1996 made consolidation a priority. This meant companies were looking at operating groups of stations rather than at individual stations they owned.[10] Clear Channel bought AMFM, and in 2001 WUBT became top 40 WKSC-FM.[11]

In New York City, Chancellor Media decided to convert a station it had been having trouble formatting for some time. As 1998 began, the company had just bought WNSR-FM, with initially a modern adult contemporary format that evolved to a cross between its sister station WLTW and the Hot AC format which was being used by WPLJ at the time. In January 1998, Chancellor changed the call letters to WBIX, rebranded the station as "Big 105", and steered it more toward the Hot AC format of WPLJ. Eleven months later, with zero improvement in the ratings, WBIX was flipped to the Jammin' Oldies format and became WTJM. The difference from competitor WRKS was described this way by Airplay Monitor editor Sean Ross:

TV spots feature former New York mayor Ed Koch, not exactly someone you expect to emerge from the P-Funk mother ship.[3]

Music director Wayne Mayo had held the same job at WRKS in New York City and at KISQ in San Francisco. By 2002, the station flipped to Urban Contemporary.[12]

Early success stories included KMEZ in Louisiana, WRBO in Memphis, XHRM-FM in San Diego and KTXQ in Dallas, as well as KFMK in Austin, KISQ in San Francisco, and KNRX in Kansas City. Contrary to what one might expect, competition from oldies and urban adult contemporary had little effect on ratings.

The format proved to be little more than a "passing fad", one that stations got excited about but listeners did not—or when they did, not for very long.[13]

In November 2000, WOCL in Orlando, KHZZ in Sacramento, and WBBT-FM in Richmond changed several weeks after WGFX in Nashville left the format. But the format was still successful in some markets—KCMG in Los Angeles, WJJJ in Pittsburgh, KDJM in Denver, WMOJ in Cincinnati and KMGV in Fresno all went up in the Summer 2000 ratings (in fact, KMGV was no. 1 with listeners in the 25–54 group). Joining the format in October 2000 was KMBX in Seattle.

Some in radio believed that Jammin' Oldies tried to target too many types of listeners. R & B oldies stations specifically targeting African American listeners were doing better than Jammin' Oldies--WWSO in Norfolk, KMEZ, and WRBO.[8] Other stations of this type included WNPL in Nashville and WPLZ in Richmond.[3] Former KCMG program director Don Parker said a mass-appeal format would not do as well as one that targeted a specific ethnic group (his station went after Hispanics despite requests to add more disco). Consultant Barry Mayo also said targeting blacks was a good strategy.

By 2000, Jammin' Oldies stations had different approaches, with some playing only 60s and 70s music, and others focusing more on the 80s, with still others such as WMOJ playing early rap. KMBX played no 60s music, while WJJJ (which was co-owned with oldies WWSW) added songs from the 80s and 90s and de-emphasized Motown. WUBT program director Jay Beau Jones said stations that ventured into the 90s probably should not be considered oldies.

WEJM in Philadelphia was one of the stations with older music dominant. Still, some radio program directors did not like using the term "oldies" even for these stations.[8]

Other stations emphasizing older music were WJMO and WZJM in Cleveland. By contrast, WFJO played nothing from the 1960s, and WZMX in Hartford played few songs from before 1970.[13]

In some markets, Jammin' Oldies should never have been tried, in the opinion of Infinity Broadcasting senior vice president John Gehron. Former AMFM Chief Programming Officer Steve Rivers said the format was tried when conventional oldies was not succeeding, but this turned out to be a mistake. Rivers also said that with the format's phenomenal success, expectations might have been too high, but some stations experienced success like they had not in the past.

Smaller-market stations such as KHZZ found it hard to achieve the numbers found in the big cities. KHZZ experienced competition from former oldies station KHYL, but both stations ended up giving up the format, with KHZZ turning to oldies and in 2000, KHYL shifted towards Urban AC, branded at "V101.1". [3]

By 2002, numerous stations were changing to R&B and dance music. In addition to WTJM, which switched its call letters to WWPR and became an urban contemporary station, format pioneer KCMG (which became KHHT) was playing newer hits, along with WJMR in Milwaukee and KMJK in Kansas City, Missouri. Greg Love, the program director in charge of switching KMJK to Jammin' Oldies, said the format began to lose its appeal because people got excited to hear the songs, and then they were no longer special. Wayne Mayo said hits were chosen from too narrow a time period. WJMR program director Lauri Jones said people listened to several stations, and that when she worked in Minneapolis, she observed that her station was no longer the primary choice of many listeners.

KHHT program director Michelle Santosousso said many R&B stations were focusing on rap, and the more adult hits were hard to find. This led to a change not only in musical style but also target audience. Jones said Jammin' Oldies stations went from 70% white and 30% black, to 70% black and 30% white. Love and Mayo both said there were black listeners, and now the stations had to focus on that audience. Santosousso, on the other hand, said the number of ethnic groups in Los Angeles required a different approach. Jones said the term "old school" replaced "classic soul", while Love said "old school" had to go. Love also said The Isley Brothers, Barry White and The Temptations were recording new music, and an oldies station could not play those. But listeners wanted to hear them.[12]

In late 2012, Clear Channel Radio announced a new Rhythmic Oldies format for KOGO-FM in San Diego, which had been stunting with Christmas music. It features a broad mix of mainstream dance and pop hits (with musicians such as Donna Summer and Mariah Carey), with soft rock musicians like George Michael, Hall and Oates, and Elton John mixed in. However, due to low ratings, the station shifted to Rhythmic Adult Contemporary with its playlist shifting towards 1990's, 2000's and current material.

On February 6, 2015, KHHT—Los Angeles, the successor to the first rhythmic oldies station, KCMG, flipped to urban contemporary, returning that format to the 92.3 FM dial position for the first time since 2000. Legendary Los Angeles radio personality Art Laboe, whose show was carried at nights on KHHT, later moved to KDAY. Since the demise of KHHT, a few stations in the suburban areas in and around Los Angeles have flipped to the format, including KQIE in the Inland Empire, KOCP in Ventura, and KQAV in the Antelope Valley.

List of radio stations airing the rhythmic/urban oldies format

List of radio stations formerly airing the format

References

  1. ^ Doug Reece, "L.A. Outlet's Launch Boosted by Name That Station Contest", Billboard, 02/07/98, p. 81.
  2. ^ radiomagonline.com http://radiomagonline.com/news/radio_kcmgfm_los_angeles/. Retrieved November 20, 2007. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Sean Ross, "R&B Oldies Format On The Rise", Billboard, 03/06/99, p. 28.
  4. ^ www.michiguide.com http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-m/wmgc.html. Retrieved November 30, 2007. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ Frank Ahrens, "Jammin' Oldies: Nostalgia to Beat the Band", Washington Post, April 20, 1999.
  6. ^ Frank Ahrens, "'Jam'n' Is Sweet To the Former WGAY", Washington Post, July 22, 1999.
  7. ^ Frank Ahrens, "WJMO's Last Jam: Oldies Dropped", Washington Post, March 30, 2001
  8. ^ a b c Sean Ross, "Will Beat Go On For 'Jammin' Oldies'?", Billboard, 12/09/2000, p. 91.
  9. ^ Jim Kirk, "Ratings Respond to Oldies, Pop Mix", Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1999.
  10. ^ Jim Kirk, "Radio Consolidation Changes Tune for Competing Stations", Chicago Tribune, August 29, 1999.
  11. ^ Robert Feder, "`Eighties Channel,' `The Beat' Are History", Chicago Sun-Times, January 9, 2001.
  12. ^ a b Dana Hall, "Jammin' Oldies Stations Switch to More Current R&B", Billboard, 2/16/2002, p. 80.
  13. ^ a b Warren Kurtzman with Grant Johnson, "Rhythmic Oldies Insights: A Look at the Health of One of Radio's Newest Formats", http://www.colemaninsights.com/onlines/Coleman%20Rhythmic%20Oldies%20Insights.pdf, Retrieved on 2007/12/04.

January 09, 2023
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Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic R amp B disco or dance genres of music Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and depending on market conditions may be designed for African American or Hispanic audiences It is also referred to as Jammin Oldies or Music From Back in the Day by various radio stations Since the late 2000s much of the library in the rhythmic oldies format has been adopted by the classic hits format A variation on the format is urban oldies Contents 1 History 2 List of radio stations airing the rhythmic urban oldies format 3 List of radio stations formerly airing the format 4 ReferencesHistory EditOn November 19 1997 the Los Angeles radio station formerly known as KIBB began a new concept in radio KCMG which named itself Mega 100 3 after a listener contest was oldies with attitude 1 Chancellor Media later to be called AMFM developed the format with the intention of using it on other stations 2 Just as radio in the 80s had the urban versus churban competition R amp B oldies radio was dividing into two camps the straight urban oldies stations targeting African Americans and the Jammin Oldies stations with a wider audience that included both blacks and whites On Jammin Oldies radio DJs were often mostly white or a variety of racial groups Many of the songs played had crossed over to top 40 radio while R amp B stations continued to play more hits including ballads not familiar to top 40 fans especially if those songs were not singles Some of the rhythmic stations played songs completely unrelated to R amp B Mony Mony by Tommy James on the now defunct WFJO in Tampa was one example though this station dropped such songs eventually 3 Another version of the format was Groovin Oldies as in the case of WGRV in Detroit This station switched from modern rock in April 1999 calling itself The Groove This format lasted until a switch to adult contemporary in June 2001 The last song was End of the Road by Boyz II Men 4 In April 1999 WGAY in Washington D C switched to Jammin Oldies which had been successful in every market where it was tried One reason was that the format was tailored to each specific market In Los Angeles the format leaned toward Latin music Other markets included Fresno Chicago and New York City Listeners changed from urban contemporary and other types of oldies stations Most of the music came from the 70s but there were also 60s and 80s hits Unlike most radio formats Jammin Oldies did not target one specific ethnic or gender group Black and white artists were included and a slight majority of listeners were female 5 WJMO Jammin Oldies 99 5 succeeded at first 6 but two years later fell victim to a declining economy 7 Another problem for Jammin Oldies was that it was the hot new format in 1998 but there were other hot new formats in 2000 8 In Chicago it was rocker WRCX that changed to WUBT 103 5 The Beat The result was a significant ratings improvement that resulted from adding pop artists such as Madonna the Bee Gees and Tina Turner to what had been old school urban oldies 9 But the deregulation of radio in 1996 made consolidation a priority This meant companies were looking at operating groups of stations rather than at individual stations they owned 10 Clear Channel bought AMFM and in 2001 WUBT became top 40 WKSC FM 11 In New York City Chancellor Media decided to convert a station it had been having trouble formatting for some time As 1998 began the company had just bought WNSR FM with initially a modern adult contemporary format that evolved to a cross between its sister station WLTW and the Hot AC format which was being used by WPLJ at the time In January 1998 Chancellor changed the call letters to WBIX rebranded the station as Big 105 and steered it more toward the Hot AC format of WPLJ Eleven months later with zero improvement in the ratings WBIX was flipped to the Jammin Oldies format and became WTJM The difference from competitor WRKS was described this way by Airplay Monitor editor Sean Ross TV spots feature former New York mayor Ed Koch not exactly someone you expect to emerge from the P Funk mother ship 3 Music director Wayne Mayo had held the same job at WRKS in New York City and at KISQ in San Francisco By 2002 the station flipped to Urban Contemporary 12 Early success stories included KMEZ in Louisiana WRBO in Memphis XHRM FM in San Diego and KTXQ in Dallas as well as KFMK in Austin KISQ in San Francisco and KNRX in Kansas City Contrary to what one might expect competition from oldies and urban adult contemporary had little effect on ratings The format proved to be little more than a passing fad one that stations got excited about but listeners did not or when they did not for very long 13 In November 2000 WOCL in Orlando KHZZ in Sacramento and WBBT FM in Richmond changed several weeks after WGFX in Nashville left the format But the format was still successful in some markets KCMG in Los Angeles WJJJ in Pittsburgh KDJM in Denver WMOJ in Cincinnati and KMGV in Fresno all went up in the Summer 2000 ratings in fact KMGV was no 1 with listeners in the 25 54 group Joining the format in October 2000 was KMBX in Seattle Some in radio believed that Jammin Oldies tried to target too many types of listeners R amp B oldies stations specifically targeting African American listeners were doing better than Jammin Oldies WWSO in Norfolk KMEZ and WRBO 8 Other stations of this type included WNPL in Nashville and WPLZ in Richmond 3 Former KCMG program director Don Parker said a mass appeal format would not do as well as one that targeted a specific ethnic group his station went after Hispanics despite requests to add more disco Consultant Barry Mayo also said targeting blacks was a good strategy By 2000 Jammin Oldies stations had different approaches with some playing only 60s and 70s music and others focusing more on the 80s with still others such as WMOJ playing early rap KMBX played no 60s music while WJJJ which was co owned with oldies WWSW added songs from the 80s and 90s and de emphasized Motown WUBT program director Jay Beau Jones said stations that ventured into the 90s probably should not be considered oldies WEJM in Philadelphia was one of the stations with older music dominant Still some radio program directors did not like using the term oldies even for these stations 8 Other stations emphasizing older music were WJMO and WZJM in Cleveland By contrast WFJO played nothing from the 1960s and WZMX in Hartford played few songs from before 1970 13 In some markets Jammin Oldies should never have been tried in the opinion of Infinity Broadcasting senior vice president John Gehron Former AMFM Chief Programming Officer Steve Rivers said the format was tried when conventional oldies was not succeeding but this turned out to be a mistake Rivers also said that with the format s phenomenal success expectations might have been too high but some stations experienced success like they had not in the past Smaller market stations such as KHZZ found it hard to achieve the numbers found in the big cities KHZZ experienced competition from former oldies station KHYL but both stations ended up giving up the format with KHZZ turning to oldies and in 2000 KHYL shifted towards Urban AC branded at V101 1 3 By 2002 numerous stations were changing to R amp B and dance music In addition to WTJM which switched its call letters to WWPR and became an urban contemporary station format pioneer KCMG which became KHHT was playing newer hits along with WJMR in Milwaukee and KMJK in Kansas City Missouri Greg Love the program director in charge of switching KMJK to Jammin Oldies said the format began to lose its appeal because people got excited to hear the songs and then they were no longer special Wayne Mayo said hits were chosen from too narrow a time period WJMR program director Lauri Jones said people listened to several stations and that when she worked in Minneapolis she observed that her station was no longer the primary choice of many listeners KHHT program director Michelle Santosousso said many R amp B stations were focusing on rap and the more adult hits were hard to find This led to a change not only in musical style but also target audience Jones said Jammin Oldies stations went from 70 white and 30 black to 70 black and 30 white Love and Mayo both said there were black listeners and now the stations had to focus on that audience Santosousso on the other hand said the number of ethnic groups in Los Angeles required a different approach Jones said the term old school replaced classic soul while Love said old school had to go Love also said The Isley Brothers Barry White and The Temptations were recording new music and an oldies station could not play those But listeners wanted to hear them 12 In late 2012 Clear Channel Radio announced a new Rhythmic Oldies format for KOGO FM in San Diego which had been stunting with Christmas music It features a broad mix of mainstream dance and pop hits with musicians such as Donna Summer and Mariah Carey with soft rock musicians like George Michael Hall and Oates and Elton John mixed in However due to low ratings the station shifted to Rhythmic Adult Contemporary with its playlist shifting towards 1990 s 2000 s and current material On February 6 2015 KHHT Los Angeles the successor to the first rhythmic oldies station KCMG flipped to urban contemporary returning that format to the 92 3 FM dial position for the first time since 2000 Legendary Los Angeles radio personality Art Laboe whose show was carried at nights on KHHT later moved to KDAY Since the demise of KHHT a few stations in the suburban areas in and around Los Angeles have flipped to the format including KQIE in the Inland Empire KOCP in Ventura and KQAV in the Antelope Valley List of radio stations airing the rhythmic urban oldies format EditKQIE Redlands California KOCP Oxnard California KQAV Rosamond California KMGV Fresno California KZLA Riverdale California KOKO FM Kerman California KKBB Bakersfield California KMRJ Palm Springs California KXFM Santa Maria California KOSJ Santa Barbara California KWIE Barstow California KAJM Phoenix Arizona KJHM FM Denver Colorado leans Rhythmic AC KWRP Pueblo Colorado KUMU FM Honolulu Hawaii leans Rhythmic AC KTGV Tucson Arizona WKXB Wilmington North Carolina WIIN Jackson Mississippi KABQ FM Albuquerque New Mexico KPRR FMHD2 El Paso Texas W275BK Atlanta Georgia WPPZ FM Philadelphia Pennsylvania WNBU New Bern North Carolina WLMG HD2 New Orleans Louisiana WMMJ Washington DC Leans Urban AC WDCJ Prince Frederick MD Leans Urban AC WOSL Cincinnati Ohio Leans Urban AC List of radio stations formerly airing the format EditKISQ San Francisco KCMG KHHT Los Angeles KRLA Los Angeles California WTJM New York New York WUBT Chicago Illinois WWYW Dundee Illinois KTXQ Fort Worth Dallas KSOC Dallas Texas KTJM Houston Texas KYOK Houston Texas WJMO Washington D C WALR FM Atlanta Georgia WTZA Atlanta Georgia XHRM Tijuana Baha California shifted to Rhythmic AC in 2013 WEJM Philadelphia Pennsylvania WDAS AM Philadelphia Pennsylvania WRNB Philadelphia Pennsylvania KYOT FM Phoenix Arizona KHOT Phoenix Arizona KDJM Broomfield Colorado KBTB Seattle WFJO Tampa Florida WMGE Miami Florida KSSX Carlsbad California WGRV Detroit Michigan WGVX Minneapolis Minnesota KSGS Minneapolis Minnesota KFVR Salt Lake City Utah WZTI Milwaukee Wisconsin WJMR Milwaukee Wisconsin WJJJ Pittsburgh Pennsylvania WZUM Pittsburgh Pennsylvania WZJM Cleveland Ohio WOSL Cincinnati Ohio WMOJ Cincinnati Ohio WDBZ Cincinnati Ohio KNRX Kansas City Missouri WFNZ FM Charlotte North Carolina KFMK Austin Texas WBKS Indianapolis Indiana WGLD Indianapolis Indiana WZMX Hartford Connecticut WSCQ Columbia South Carolina KMMG Albuquerque New Mexico KQBT Albuquerque New Mexico WOCL Orlando Florida KHYL Sacramento California KHZZ Sacramento California WYSR Fort Wayne Indiana WFUN FM St Louis Missouri WENN Birmingham Alabama WBBT FM Richmond Virginia WPLZ Richmond Virginia WWSO Suffolk Virginia WNPL Nashville Tennessee WGFX Nashville Tennessee WGVN Lexington Kentucky KTFM San Antonio Texas KCJZ San Antonio Texas WTKN Murrells Inlet South Carolina KOCN Pacific Grove California KHLR Benton Arkansas WBUF Buffalo New York WLCL Rochester New York CKDX FM Toronto Ontario KOQL Ashland Missouri KMOQ Joplin Missouri KGGN Reno Nevada WDJO Dayton Ohio WLOR Huntsville Alabama WVVE Panama City Florida KQOD Stockton California shifted to classic hip hop KMGW Yakima Washington KRTO Guadalupe California KOAS Las Vegas Nevada WATV Birmingham Alabama WRBO Memphis Tennessee KMEZ New Orleans Louisiana KTYL FM Tyler Texas Solid Gold Soul syndicated by ABC Radio Groovin Oldies syndicated by Westwood OneReferences Edit Doug Reece L A Outlet s Launch Boosted by Name That Station Contest Billboard 02 07 98 p 81 radiomagonline com http radiomagonline com news radio kcmgfm los angeles Retrieved November 20 2007 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help a b c d Sean Ross R amp B Oldies Format On The Rise Billboard 03 06 99 p 28 www michiguide com http www michiguide com dials rad m wmgc html Retrieved November 30 2007 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help Frank Ahrens Jammin Oldies Nostalgia to Beat the Band Washington Post April 20 1999 Frank Ahrens Jam n Is Sweet To the Former WGAY Washington Post July 22 1999 Frank Ahrens WJMO s Last Jam Oldies Dropped Washington Post March 30 2001 a b c Sean Ross Will Beat Go On For Jammin Oldies Billboard 12 09 2000 p 91 Jim Kirk Ratings Respond to Oldies Pop Mix Chicago Tribune March 31 1999 Jim Kirk Radio Consolidation Changes Tune for Competing Stations Chicago Tribune August 29 1999 Robert Feder Eighties Channel The Beat Are History Chicago Sun Times January 9 2001 a b Dana Hall Jammin Oldies Stations Switch to More Current R amp B Billboard 2 16 2002 p 80 a b Warren Kurtzman with Grant Johnson Rhythmic Oldies Insights A Look at the Health of One of Radio s Newest Formats http www colemaninsights com onlines Coleman 20Rhythmic 20Oldies 20Insights pdf Retrieved on 2007 12 04 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rhythmic oldies amp oldid 1113741180, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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