Posted by Allan Sniffen on July 25, 2007 at 09:24:51:
It would appear there is a small cadre of fifties music fans who are being very vocal about what they think is a lack of fifties music on CBS-FM.
This isn't new... fifties music fans have always been vocal whenever it appeared "their" music was being decreased on the station. CBS-FM has struggled with this for years. And "struggle" is the word. I doubt there's anyone at the station who is in favor of arbitrarily throwing out any era of music.
While it's easy to criticize those at the station, I think it's important to recognize that radio programming is driven by advertiser preferences. For better or worse, it's the advertisers who want younger listeners. All media, including radio, is driven by that. If CBS-FM was to become the station it was in 1982, it would not attract advertising and would be forced to totally change its format.
There are those who think this is ridiculous... that younger listeners will embrace fifties music if they're exposed to it. That could be true... but, again, advertisers aren't patient and won't wait around for a process like that to move forward. In fact, if those who buy advertising perceive a radio station is appealing to older listeners they'll hesitate in buying time on it. CBS management, whether they like it or not must function within that bias. It's not fair and it may not be right. But those are the rules.
All of that acknowledged, I think it's important to recognize that CBS-FM is trying to re-establish itself. Even though many of you listened to it for 30 years, right now, it's almost like a new station. In radio programming, new stations must establish themselves with their primary listener base. Sometimes they do that with short playlists. Thankfully, CBS-FM does *not* seem to be doing that (I actually thought they would--on that, I'm glad I was wrong). But... it's very important in this early phase for the station to build listeners in their thirties and forties. Once we get past this early phase, then I think it's likely the playlist will expand and you will hear more older music than you're hearing now.
What I don't think helps is having a few people repeatedly posting (mostly elsewhere) that the station and the people who work at it have a bias against fifties music. That's not the case. They are all working hard to give you the radio station you want and, at the same time, make it successful with those who pay the bills. Give them some time and be patient. A month ago you wouldn't have believed CBS-FM would come back in any form. It did... and most people seem to think it sounds pretty good. The architects seem to know what they're doing. Have faith in that and give them time to give you the best station possible.