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Who gets annoyed at classic rock radio stations playing 90s music? Great article/research here...

This is a really great read guys - some guy did some research into what songs/bands get played most on classic rock radio stations, and noted what year they came from.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-classic-rock-isnt-what-... 

He found that quite a lot of bands from the 90s are being played - annoying right? Even including Green Day! Metallica, U2, Guns N Roses, Nirvana and Pearl Jam were also mentioned - those are great bands at least, but they shouldn't be played on classic rock radio stations, if you ask me.

What do you think of this guys? And what crap does your local classic rock radio station play?

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I don't care for most 80's and 90's rock bands..be it Pearl Jam, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, REM, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Metallica, etc..etc..to me personally classic rock is from artist and bands from 1964-79..give or take a few years. Call it nostalgia or whatever but those bands mentioned above don't belong on a radio station claiming to be a classic rock station in my opinion. My local classic station has been adding in AC/DC, Guns N' Roses and a few others gradually but I still don't like it. I think they are doing it to attract a more broader listening audience (younger) and thus more advertisement which greases their bottom line in profits.

most of those you mention really belong on the "alternative" stations...which I confess I'll listen to on occasion...but if Guns N' Roses comes on...the radio goes off...immediately.

Frankly, I spend most of my time with the MP3 player plugged in...at least I can control what I want to hear...

As a Classic Rock DJ, I have to say, as I started out, all I wanted to play were the "Real Classics"(Led Zep, Who, Doors, Deep Purple, etc)  but my listeners all wanted newer Rock also...If I only play what is considered "Classic Rock", it would be the same as just sitting in my room playing CDs for myself. noone would come and stay for only those. So I started adding newer bands (even Motley Crue, Metallica(which I hate to be honestLOL) and Nickelback to name a few) and suddenly had a really large Listener Base. This Base comes to the chatroom and requests everything from Really Old Classic Rock to new Metal. The map is interesting to me, but considering I work for an Internet station, our listeners are scattered all over the world, so we have to accomidate the tastes of everyone everywhere.  Considering the fact that we dont make any money with our Internet stations(we only do this for the love of our listeners and our love of the music, we could sit down and say "we will only play real Classic Rock" but that would mean going back to our rooms, putting CDs in a player, putting on a headset and staying away from the internet. No station, be it FM or internet can survive on only that. 

Bear

I see the inclusion for a broader audience...I have to admit...I can tolerate the Metallic boys...here's another newer band worthy of inclusion:  3 doors Down...GREAT listen!

Bear Awesome
I am totally here with you on this one. The way I kinda get around this is by labeling myself as an "Album Rock" kind of an AAA Radio station instead of using "Classic Rock" in the radio stations name title etc..
I don't really consider myself a "Classic Rock" station Yet I play tons of Classic Rock, simply because I am more of an easier listening progressive station and really don't play heavy rock ac-dc etc.. and most of my listeners expect this and in requests tell me "Keep it chill" and in lines of what your talking about here bear I totally agree! If I go too far out lol and add too much stuff like Gentle Giant, Starcastle, King Crimson etc.. I seem to find my listeners drop off a percentage because bottom line here is if people don't recognize it they lose interest yet you get those quality listeners and ones whom come back just because I am so far out there. I refuse to comply! lol
Same with too much 80s I have listeners whom enjoy an occasional Clash song, Blind Melon... but that's as far as I go "Occasional" I don't like shows and don't do any because then people get stuck listening to 2 hours worth of shit they hate lol
Journey, Krokus, The Cars, Talking heads, a lot of people don't realize these cats had albums in the 70s that in my mind were some of their better shit yet I don't think it should be eliminated from a classic rock playlist simply because everyone associates the cars etc.. with the 80s and songs like The Cars-Drive or The Talking Heads-Once in a lifetime.
I'd rather have less listeners and quality returning listeners then tons of listeners tuned in to hear the same AC-DC/Van Halen songs everyone expects. Let me throw in Krokus-insalata mysta  for ya!
I play what I like with listeners suggestions and don't waste too much time worrying about how many listeners I can get or if I'm keeping true to the genre I'm listed under.
Too much emphasis is spent I believe on genres etc..
I believe listeners like a mix, sounds like your doing just that and a great job of it Bear.
Up Next, 1977 Talking Heads-Don't Worry About the Government"  lol
Awesome discussion Rich!
PeAcE

Perfectly said Waxtrax!!!And what a lot of people don't know or realize, we (owners/managers/DJs) at our Online Radio Stations don't make a penny with what we do(actually we pay to play for Yall)...we play our music for the love of the music and our cherished listeners....and if Im on-air and somebody requests a Country song, well by God they will get it....as long as its not many back to back....our pay is to see how many people are tuned in to our stations/shows and the Peeps that hang out in our Chatrooms, listening and having fun!!!

At my first station (pure classic rock) we had a rule...pull the playlist and it had to be 80% classic rock at a minimum, the rest was the DJs own ruling as long as it wasnt some far-out BS that was only good at killing off listeners!!!!

You got it Bear!
Exactly, sounds like were on the same page with that. Being a broke ass hippie and pretty much living off the grid and catching a WiFi connect when I can I'm hoping my donate button takes off soon or
Next set "Coming soon"-The sounds of silence by Simon and Garfunkel.

Yes, people don't realize the out of pocket cash that it takes to keep spinning.

Well said Bear.

It;s a fine line...I suspect most are OK with the AC/DC inclusion but I'm with Rich...I can tune in another station when I want to hear alternative or another format...we have two here in the MB area...one is pretty much traditional classic...the other includes more of the 80's and 90's.  guess which gets played more in my ride???

Actually...the MP3 player!

I have noticed too that there less and less classic rock stations on the AM side..most markets usually had 2-3 back in the day but now..scarce.

That is a great point Jeff; I often am surprised by the large cities that DON'T have a classic rock station...D.C. for example...

I guess it's cheaper to have a bunch of guys just yakking...

AND the ones that you can find almost seem to play the same playlists...you can listen to one driving across the state and two hours later...find another station and can hear the same exact playlist in the same exact order...

I'm not into 90's rock at all & the only great thing to come out in that decade is Sheryl Crow. 

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