I was raised on the Oldies. They played constantly in the car when I was young, but most importantly they played at the Lake. There's a number of songs by the Drifters, the Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, the Lovin' Spoonful, plus many many more, that are instantly "Lake Songs" for me that take me back to swimming in the sun and dinners on the deck.
Oldies, of course, had a very limited definition. They start in 1956 (which introduced Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly) to the early 70s, when the definition gets very selective. KBSG, for example, probably never played anything of the Beatles from their last album "Let it Be" save for the title track.
So for a good portion of my life I only heard 14 years of music or so and nothing after. Pink Floyd who? Led Zepplin what? As a result, I can sing along to almost every single Oldie.
Of course, in high school my tastes grew a bit, but when everyone else was listening to the Cranberries and Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam I was discovering the Eagles and Classic Rock. But I still came back every summer to Lake Songs on KBSG. Same was true in college. New music during the school year, return to Oldies in the summer.
Then something funny happened. Oldies 97.3 KBSG lost their spot as the top rated radio station that they'd had in the early 90's and started trying to brag about how they played more songs per hour than the other stations. Of course, when most songs are 2 1/2 minutes it's a little easier. (Random fact, it wasn't until 1964 that a Billboard #1 song was longer than 2 1/2 minutes when the Animal's "House of the Rising Sun clocked in at 4 1/2 minutes.)
But the station started cutting off the beginning and ends of songs to cram more in and became much less enjoyable to listen to. By that point, I was pretty firmly entrenched on the Mountain and KEXP but it fairly well sealed the deal and I only went back to Oldies every so often for a fix--usually when I was at the lake.
Then, when that apparently didn't help, they began expanding what they meant by Oldies. Rather dramatically, too. Mid 70s started showing up, and even some early 80s stuff, while they dropped their promotion of "17 songs an hour."
But now ... now, KBSG has thrown out the Oldies label altogether. Since August 1, they have been "The B 97.3" ... because that makes sense. The B? The problem with the new station is I don't know why I would actually listen.
The music overlaps with nearly everything else because they've dropped the 1950s almost totally. I'm not saying that anyone could really make a go at a radio station that gave the 50's much play right now, but it was the 50's the anchored the station with the Oldies feel. I guess if you're trying to lose that brand it makes sense to drop them, but they will be missed. Having a place to grab Buddy Holly every so often was nice, especially as I'm heading out to the lake this weekend for the first time since June.
So long, Oldies. I've grown up but I wish you didn't have to.
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