Formats
come and formats go. Such was the case with Westwood One's
'70's satellite format. Unfortunately,
it was also the case with what replaced it, rhythmic based,
'Groovin' Oldies'.
From
its inception, the format attempted to build a coalition
audience from R&B and Pop partisans who collectively
found it to be too far astray from their respective sensibilities.
The focus of the format was also too broad in terms of demographic
appeal, attempting to lure younger demos with tuneage from
artists like Whitney Houston while doing the same with their
parents (if not their grandparents) with icons such as Martha
& The Vandellas.
The
result was a sound that might be characterized as being
too Black to be White, too White to be Black, too Young
to be Old and too Old to be Young. In short, it wound up
disappointing too many people too much of the time. In missing
the target, what was desperately needed was focus on a more
well defined core audience, one that ultimately proved to
be younger and more ethnic in appeal as witnessed by today's
new breed of Rhythmic AC's that feature a significant percentage
of Gold product in their music mix.
Predictably,
affiliate reaction to the format, particularly in some of
the lily White markets Westwood One had affiliates in at
the time (Horse Cave, Kentucky comes to mind) was anything
but enthusiastic. 'Groovin' Oldies' went on to become the
shortest lived satellite format in the history of Transtar
/ Unistar / Westwood One, lasting a mere 21 months before
it was mercifully put to rest. Thus after ten years of working
on the satellite, I was laid off along with most of the
rest of the staff. That lay off however didn't last long
as new ventures (including the actual Ventures!) awaited
on the proverbial horizon at KOLA
in San Bernardino, CA.
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