I only worked various forms of current hits music, but some had room for a few Oldies in the format. Which is where the type of Music and Demographics I've been thinking about in the last couple of weeks comes into play.
Here were the two basic principles we used back then (when picking Oldies):
- Appeal to the bottom end of the Demographic your advertisers are interested in, e.g. - if your advertisers want 35-50 year olds, be sure the 35 year olds like your Oldies;
- 12 years old is the age when over 80% of children make a huge emotional connection to one or more genres of current music
I have heard Music Directors point out the major exception to that "rule": old songs that appeared in popular movies or TV episodes. And the movie does not necessarily have to, in this example, have been released after 1990, because that was an era when movies might be 5 years old before they debuted on network television, and 5+ year old television series were syndicated, and being viewed for the first time by 12 year olds.
A less convincing argument from Music Directors, in my opinion, is that a 12 year old who was a huge fan of a cover version of a song, will like the original. The problem with that is my observation that almost everyone I've talked to over the years prefers the first version of a song that they heard, especially if they heard it when it first came out and was a hit. On the other hand, I've also talked to people who first heard many songs as young teenagers when they were done by Stars on 45, and who much preferred the originals, especially after they grew up a bit. In both cases, I do agree that most people would like to hear the original version of a song they first heard as a Cover, but only if it is the same genre. People who adore "I Only Have Eyes for You" by The Flamingos from 1959, generally have little patience with the original hit by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler from the 1934 movie Dames.
If there is any validity these days to all of this, it does get scary to realize that the bottom end of the Demographics for a station playing a lot of '80s music is 46 years old, assuming the person had to be 12 years old in 1980. As for '60s, even if you start with the British Invasion in 1964, the bottom end of your Demographics would have to be 62 years old.
Scary numbers, but I don't know they still apply. After all, times change.