Why is classic rock radio the way it is?

ok, next song comes on and it's .. "Horse With No Name" by America. Ugh.

Ok I'm putting my Beach Boys cd back on now. But that was fun for two songs at least; the ELO sounded great!

You'd think this would skew things, but the first thing they played after I turned it on was the Stones' "Satisfaction".

but that's what the "best new rock" is fer classic rock stations -- even if it's just the latest from some old farty buttrock act!

Like the New Allman Bros. tune? Or that John Hiatt "Almost Fed Up With the Blues" dungheap which might be the worst thing ever to enter my ear canal.

Now it's Steely Dan's "Rikki don't lose that number" hahah

I used to listen to it in the car when I didn't have a tape player, and every day they would play these songs: "Layla", "Land of Confusion" and one of those godawful sappy Billy Joel songs that I have attempted to block from my memory. And the same Fleetwood Mac songs over and over, but I didn't mind that part.

That sounds like the end of some sci fi movie where humanity has been delivered into Utopia.

still there's something dusky and smelly about the whole "classic rock" concept, i'll never cotton to it.

the weird beatific tones of the announcers and all...

Oh, and also they've been reviving those King Biscuit Flower Hour live things too, on Saturday nights! That's where I heard that Thin Lizzy set I mentioned to you, stence. A few weeks back it was a late 70s Kinks set. So, not too bad.

"Americana" radio hits Denver.

the syndicated shows on these stations are the fucking pits, all those unctious announcers interrupting the songs to spout banalities about how awesome are some terribly overexposed rock band.

this is pretty much it, especially if your local classic rock is Clear Channel. God. Damn. Them.

Luckily, the classic rock station in my town (which is Clear Channel) has started doing these "deep cuts" week-ends. It's still 66% shit, but it's cool hearing stuff like Aerosmith's "Mama Kin" evey once in a while.

It occurs to me that Clear Channel has this all mapped out for themselves. "Alternative rock" stations for the kiddies, "classic rock" stations for the adults. So then they can easily force-market one type of horseshit to one demographic, then slowly over time let them bleed into the other market, which markets the same exact horseshit to them again, only this time they won't even have to bother pretending it's edgy or rebellious. Beeee-autiful.

And what kills me most is they don't even jibe with the other ol' fogey standard bearer of taste Rolling Stone. For every best of list i've ever seen in that ragazine, there's stuff in the top 20's i've never heard played. That should really be a programmers mainstay shouldn't it?? Even the stuff they do play from those albums, it'll always be the same damn 2-3 songs at best.

While i'm thinking about it, why does the playlist all of a sudden free up overnights and weekends a helluva lot more...like after midnight they could give a F*** about upsetting the boat.

appparently to Clear Channel- controlled station it is. Someone mentioned upthread that there's about 60 songs in rotation on these "Classic" rock stations. Seems like there's less than that. I'm not saying they have to dig out some long-forgotten B-side; It is *commercial* radio after all. They don't want the masses turning the station because a tune's a bit obscure. But how about a little "Gimme Back My Bullets" interspersed between the "Free Bird/ Sweet Home Alabama/ Two Steps" three-fers???

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-020414radio-station-list,0,4376289.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Here's another reasonably accurate article:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20001005d.asp?prodtype=grn

I disagree Kenan. Free-form Fm radio is/was cool but classic rock has always been just an evil marketing formula. You're never gonna hear Little Richard, Buddy Holly, New York Dolls, Velvet Underground,Stooges, anything from Nuggets, just the stuff that business types decided would be appreciated by boomers. I think it's sad that the artists I've mentioned are not considered "classic" by
way too many Americans. Sure lots of the artists on classic rock radio are worthy, but the format has created a narrow canon that should be wider. Yea, I know it's commercial radio but still. Here in the DC area I don't have a college radio station I can pick up in my car, so if I want to hear old rock I end up listening to "oldies" radio instead.

Any rock older than ten years on that station is not fair game, just safe major label album rock. I was a college radio dj in the early '80s, when do I get my music nostalgia--I wanna hear the Replacements and Minutemen and Husker Du. I guess I have to settle for Mtv pop-punkers and the Strokes utilizing early 80s non-"classic" sounds.

Call me old-fashioned (haha, I'm 23 for chrissakes!), but what ever happened to tastemakers? I work part-time in wine retail, and my girlfriend works in a record store -- believe me, people *want* tastemakers. They *appreciate* being guided (not patronized) helpfully by enthusiastic folks who love what they do and what they know. Radio stations lack balls. I realize that they make a ton of money -- or, rather, they make Clear Channel a ton of money -- but that's a ridiculously conservative way to run a business. How is it in any way scientifically sound to play to people in a room a bunch of shit they've already been force-fed their whole lives -- by RADIO nonetheless! Doesn't that strike anyone as odd and sort of viciously circular?