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How extensive should an Oldies rock station be?

Asked by filmfann (52225points) October 21st, 2011

I grew up listening to oldies stations, and I still do. Today, they usually focus on a few songs from the 50’s, lots of 60’s and 70’s, and some 80’s songs.
Now, that is quite a range, and includes a lot of different musical styles that were very popular, from Folk to Funk, Disco to Punk, and old time Rock n’ Roll.
You look at the Top 100 Songs of 1967 and it’s amazing how many good tunes charted, and then consider that Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, potentially the greatest album ever made, didn’t have any singles, so nothing from it is on the chart. Many albums from that year, and others have real depth, and you could play a lot of uncharted songs that everyone would love to hear. The Doors first album, also from 1967, had a lot of great songs I would love to hear on the radio.
Now, of course you are going to weed out the songs that were hits that no one wants to hear now. No one will miss Mitch Miller, or most of Pat Boones’ stuff.
So, if you figure maybe 50 songs from the 50’s, and at least 80 songs from each of the next 20 years, plus many good songs from the 80’s, plus the deep album tracks, you should have thousands of great oldies songs to choose from.
So, how come every time I turn on an oldies station I gotta hear “Sweet Caroline” or “Pretty Woman”?
Shouldn’t they have enough stash to not have to play that every couple hours?
By my math, they play about 360 songs a day. They should be able to go a week without replaying “Hey, Jude”.

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