Music and Demographics

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Music and Demographics

Postby jon » Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:49 pm

Reading the recently published book on Storz stations -- Todd Storz was the first to garner huge ratings by repeatedly playing the top current hits for virtually all of the broadcast day, and probably invented the Top 40 format -- it took me back to a subject I hadn't seriously thought about in decades: Music and Demographics.

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):
  1. 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;
  2. 12 years old is the age when over 80% of children make a huge emotional connection to one or more genres of current music
Today, with so many stations focused on past hits, not current ones, would those same principles apply? If so, if your target demographic is 35-50, that would mean the 35 year old was 12 years old 23 years ago, in 1991. So, you shouldn't be playing anything from before 1991.

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.
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Re: Music and Demographics

Postby pave » Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:26 am

When a station is programmed from a position of "fear", Jon, I am satisfied that all those "rules" you mention in your piece would seem quite reasonable.

But then, accepting a ridiculous demographic target of 35-50 is, of itself, somewhat goofy. Stretch that out another 6 or 7 years and we're talking about a full generation!

Meanwhile, even though a "Boomer"-targeted station is playing tunes from the '60's, they still make fear-driven selections, maintain a very low library rotation and daypart the rest.

Add to that the anemic, maudlin and superficial presentations of the announcers - "live", voice-tracked or syndicated, and the product is extraordinarily unattractive and unappealing.
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Re: Music and Demographics

Postby jon » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:36 am

pave wrote:But then, accepting a ridiculous demographic target of 35-50 is, of itself, somewhat goofy. Stretch that out another 6 or 7 years and we're talking about a full generation!

It was only an example, as I was focusing solely on the lower number, 35, in my sample calculations.

The real question I'm left with is whether many advertisers would even be interested in Demographics that do not go below 35 years old, let alone the 46 or 62 that my other calculations gave me.
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Re: Music and Demographics

Postby pave » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:07 am

I think, jon, any advertiser who doesn't take into consideration the 50-plus crowd is doing themselves a hell of a diservice.

As well, I have yet to understand how the 20-40 gang is accepted as the "money demo", either. Particularly as they are a fickle group and, perhaps more importantly - unavailable to broadcasters much of the time.

Meanwhile, my peer group was, indeed, getting emotionally attached to The Hits (and a number of other musical influences) at around 12 years of age. We were also very much aware of popular music through our parents and radio etc for several years before that. Paul Anka's "Diana" was a hit when I was 9. But we were hooked up anyway.
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Re: Music and Demographics

Postby jon » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:27 am

Your comments, pave, have brought out what I think is "the big difference" between Then and Now: most parents, especially up to the mid-1960s, did not listen to Top 40, but listened either to MoR of the CKNW variety (think McGuire Sisters) or background music of the CHQM variety. Country was also becoming popular with Adults in certain areas of the country (no pun intended). To any parents with any of these musical tastes, Diana by Paul Anka was rock and roll, and would be an immediate tuneout.

The next generation of parents mostly listened to Top 40 as teenagers, though some areas would have had a lot of Country listeners.

Between that, and the older brothers and sisters, I can see huge exposure, though perhaps not the same emotional attachment, as early as 3 years old, and not just to current hits, but also popular Oldies being played on the radio at the time.

I hear what you are saying about 50+ demographics, but even Oldies stations in their most recent "big era" (around the turn of the century) were getting a lot of pressure from their Sales folks to get younger listeners so they could stop selling nothing but hemorrhoid treatments and adult diapers.
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Re: Music and Demographics

Postby PMC » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:32 pm

pave wrote:Meanwhile, my peer group was, indeed, getting emotionally attached to The Hits (and a number of other musical influences) at around 12 years of age. We were also very much aware of popular music through our parents and radio etc for several years before that. Paul Anka's "Diana" was a hit when I was 9. But we were hooked up anyway.


The cell phone is a hand tool that was a dream when you were 12. You didn't have a device in your hand that gave you sexting, or instant access to your bud's phone camera !

Radio can be programmed for different formats and will achieve audience numbers. Dead device batteries, makes radio very attractive :lol:
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