9-3-13
That according to the widely read music writer Bob Lefsetz and it's surely to get our classic rock readers upset as criticism of that format usually does. Lefsetz uses Paul McCartney's new song as an example of how music is delivered and received by the consumer has changed. Lefsetz also says Top Forty is a shadow of its former self. "The deejays are jive and the playlist is limited. But it's the only radio format, other than country, that truly matters anymore. It's where those truly interested in music, the young 'uns, go to check acts out."
According to Lefsetz' theory, "Not only are the children of the baby boomers pushing thirty, in some cases exceeding that threshold, there's a whole new generation of barely pubescent children who have never experienced free-form radio and sitting in front of the stereo listening to full length albums. And nothing angers the children of the sixties more. During the MTV era, at least different genres of music were entertained. It was not only Boy George and Duran Duran, but Bob Dylan and Tom Petty too. There was still a thread to the past. But now that thread has been broken."
Lefsetz says it's all about the megahit nowadays. "Sure, the classic rock acts are still plying the boards, but look at the performers at the festivals, they're not sixty to seventy, but twenty to thirty. Just because the boomers control the media, don't think a revolution has not taken place. Yes, we're fourteen years into the twenty first century and we still don't call it the "teens" but the change in the music business has been staggering. And it's got little to do with piracy and more to do with a whole new generation coming into power, who are not beholden to hundred plus dollar an hour recording studios and the construction of album long listening experiences. They grew up in this megahit era."
Read the full Lefsetz blog HERE
(9/4/2013 9:03:16 PM)
Nah. It just smells that way.
(9/4/2013 7:58:12 PM)
Classic rock isn't dead, yet.
Its going the way of the big band music era and the oldies format which is 50's and 60's music.
He isn't telling me anything I don't know.
And, I love the comment that the top 40 stations play the same limited songs over and over and the jocks sound jivey? My grandfather said that. Then my father said that to me And now I say that to my kids. Top 40 has always had a limited at list with different sounding jocks.
The guy is showing his age the way writes.
(9/4/2013 7:54:47 PM)
Classic rock isn't dead, yet.
Its going the way of the big band music era and the oldies format which is 50's and 60's music.
He isn't telling me anything I don't know.
And, I love the comment that the top 40 stations play the same limited songs over and over and the jocks sound jivey? My grandfather said that. Then my father said that to me And now I say that to my kids. Top 40 has always had a limited at list with different sounding jocks.
The guy is showing his age the way writes.
(9/4/2013 6:24:40 PM)
When classic rock was just rock, a top 40 station maybe, just maybe formatted one song that was 10 years old per hour. It's 2013 and stations are just starting to catch on? There's still only 60 minutes in an hour,even if you do set your 45 rpm @ 52 rpm.lol
(9/4/2013 1:45:04 PM)
Classic and Oldies still have an ongoing, unlimited future. As portions of the '50's and '60's-crowd pass on to Rock 'n' Roll Heaven where the Jimi and Janis fans can groove, the next generation is coming along. If programmers are smart enough to move with those audiences, the formats will be fine.
Even though music radio of the terra-kind is under assault, the key to maintaining an interested audience is in the presentations of the talent and the spots.
Fixing the music portions of any format is a 20-minute process.
It is the presentations that need corrections - big, fat, hairy, comprehensive corrections.
The irony is that so many readers - professional broadcasters, all - would consider these comments and say, "Huh?"
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