Younger listeners like older music. Newer songs have had a harder time getting traction in recent years, particularly as radio loses both its monopoly and enthusiasm for breaking music. Those formats that have seen upticks in current product, most notably Country and now Top 40, are seeing those benefits unevenly, even after a few years in Country’s case.
For those reasons, even contemporary formats are often reaching back for some titles from the ’90s, including songs that are older than the younger end of their target audience. That was what Ross on Radio found when we looked at the oldest songs getting significant play at 10 major formats, from CHR to Classic Hits, as well as key stations in those formats.
Specifically, we looked for the oldest title in Mediabase’s top 200 of each of those formats. (For some formats with deeper libraries, we also looked further down.) For individual stations, we found the oldest title playing at least 3x last week, enough that a song’s airplay likely does not come entirely from mix shows, special weekends, or all-request lunch hours.
While spins vary from week to week on library titles, it was still possible to see a pattern at most stations of regular rotation titles emerging around the same time period, even if each week’s “oldest title” is likely a little different.
As with our recent look at the newest songs on various Classic Hits stations, the oldest song on a given station doesn’t tell the entire story. For that, you’d have to analyze an entire week’s spins by era. But how far a station goes back is still a policy statement. Classic Hits WCBS-FM New York, despite its push into the 2000s, still plays “Brown Eyed Girl.” KOLA Riverside, Calif., which has helped lead the move forward, does not.
If new music sees a significant surge, libraries can change quickly. In the early days of CHR’s mid-’90s comeback, some stations relied heavily on ’70s disco and ’80s MTV titles. The change became clearest when PDs no longer felt like they needed “Brick House” or a “Flashback Weekend.” But CHR’s excitement over new music hasn’t yet translated into the sort of depth yet that allows stations to drop a throwback song for a newer title. Here’s a look at the oldest songs on 10 different formats.
Country: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark” (1987) has been cheerfully confounding the efforts of radio stations to lock down the “New Country” image through at least 4-5 different sea changes at Country radio. It’s still the No. 190 most-played song at the format. The next oldest is Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” at No. 160.
Looking at individual stations:
- KKWF (The Wolf) Seattle does go back to “Fishin’ in the Dark.” New Classic Country Rival KPLZ (Hank-FM) has a handful of ’70s titles — the oldest in recent weeks was Willie Nelson’s “If You’ve Got the Money” (1976) — but also plays songs as recent as 2020.
- WXTU Philadelphia: Garth Brooks, “The Thunder Rolls” (1991).
- KYGO Denver has been one of the most aggressive purveyors of the new streaming-driven Country. “Friends in Low Places” did get a spin last week, but the oldest song at the 3x level is “Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban (2002).
Top 40: Britney Spears’ “Baby … One More Time” (1998) is the oldest song getting significant CHR airplay, at No. 111 this week. For those CHRs playing fewer than 100 titles, the second-oldest song is TLC’s “No Scrubs” (1999) at No. 77. Both of those are songs that have become reliable Mainstream AC titles over the year.
- WHTZ (Z100) New York: Spice Girls, “Wannabe” (1997)
- WXSS (Kiss 103.7) Milwaukee: TLC, “Creep” (1994)
- KMVQ (Now 99.7) San Francisco’s oldest title over three spins this week is Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2002), although ’N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” (2000) makes an appearance with two spins. A lot of older titles can pop up occasionally on KMVQ; I heard Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” (1980) on April 20.
Hot AC: TLC figures into Adult Top 40’s oldest gold, too, but it’s an album earlier for 1995’s “Waterfalls” at No. 130. In the top 100, “Baby … One More Time” is the oldest title (No. 78).
- WNEW (New 102.7) New York: New Kids on the Block, “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” (1988)
- KBIG (104.3 My FM) Los Angeles: Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Under the Bridge” (1992)
- WTMX (101.9 the Mix) Chicago: With the newly relaunched Throwback 100.3 next door, Mix goes back to “All the Small Things” by Blink-182 (1999) and also gives a few spins to the single before it, “What’s My Age Again.”
Mainstream AC: It’s been at least a decade since many Mainstream ACs chose January 1980 as an arbitrary cut-off. The oldest song in the top 200 is Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (fall 1980). If you dig to the top 300, the oldest song becomes Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” (late 1979/early 1980).
- WLTW (Lite FM) New York: Elton John, “Your Song” (1970) — at the other end, Lite is playing SZA’s “Saturn” as a current.
- WSB-FM (B98.5) Atlanta: Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” is one of several songs from 1983. B98.5’s new end is also often hotter than comparable stations, but Atlanta has no straight-ahead Classic Hits outlet.
- KKMJ (Majic 95.5) Austin: Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” (late 1978/early 1979) is the oldest title, but Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” from a few months later is a power.
Classic Hits: Despite the format’s ongoing modernization, Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” (1967) was still the No. 109 song last week, with Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” (1971) close behind at No. 118. In this case, newest is relevant as well, and that would be Santana f/Rob Thomas’s “Smooth” (1999) at No. 197.
- KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles: Despite its own ongoing modernization, K-Earth still goes back to “Tiny Dancer.”
- WMJI (Majic 105.7) Cleveland: Having an Adult Hits station next door has allowed it to successfully lean older, going back to the Beatles’ “Twist & Shout” (1964, even if it’s 1986, too). Majic plays only a handful of ’90s titles, but one of them, Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” takes us to 1998.
- WGRR Cincinnati: Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” (1967) beats “Brown Eyed Girl” by a few months.
Classic Rock: As a whole, Classic Rock is more willing to steer into the late ’60s/early ’70s than a still very age-conscious Classic Hits format. But at the oldest end, the Rolling Stones’ 1966 “Paint It Black” (No. 161) is only about 18 months older than “Brown Eyed Girl.”
- WMGK Philadelphia: Rolling Stones, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965).
- WZLX Boston: “Paint It Black,” but would have been “Satisfaction” last week.
- WAXQ (Q104) New York: Animals, “House of the Rising Sun” (1964)
Active Rock: As Active, Heritage, and Classic Rock move closer together, the oldest song in Active’s top 200 is Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” (1970). If you go into the top 300, you can find Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” at No. 293; they also represent the oldest songs on several stations:
- WIYY (98 Rock) Baltimore: Led Zeppelin, “Whole Lotta Love” (1969)
- WRIF Detroit: Led Zeppelin, “Communication Breakdown” (1969); last week it would have been “Whole Lotta Love.”
- KXXR (93X) Minneapolis: Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” (1970) nudges out album-mates “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” by spinning 6x vs. 4x last week.
Alternative: Individually, it’s not unusual to hear many Alternative stations go pre-grunge. At the margin, however, it’s Alice in Chains’ “Man in the Box” (released 1990) at No. 125 that is oldest. Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991) is No. 23, however.
- WNNX (99X) Atlanta: At this gold-based Alternative, single spin titles can go back to Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” (1972), but the oldest 3x title is also 1979’s “Heart of Glass.”
- KROQ Los Angeles: Dramarama’s “Anything, Anything” (1985) transcends time and space in Southern California.
- WWDC (DC101) Washington, D.C.: Beastie Boys, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” (1986)
Hip-Hop/Mainstream R&B: Just as Mainstream Top 40 has embraced throwbacks, they’re a significant part of many contemporary Hip-Hop/R&B outlets as well. Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” (1992) is the No. 119 song at the format. All three of the stations I looked at in a cluster with an Urban AC, which is usually playing adult-friendly classic Hip-Hop as well.
- WEDR (99 Jamz) Miami: 2Pac, “Dear Mama” (1995)
- WERQ (92Q) Baltimore: Aaliyah, “One in a Million” (1996)
- WJMH (102 Jamz) Greensboro, N.C.: Jay-Z, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” (2003)
Adult R&B: The center of the format has become the ’90s and early ’00s, but there are still enough spins to make Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” (1978) the No. 197 song at Adult R&B. If you go down to No. 250, you’ll find Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” (1971).
Because of “Quiet Storm” and other “Love Song” shows, many stations have scores of songs getting 1-2x spins a week that predate the oldest regular rotation title. That includes WHUR Washington, the station that launched the “Quiet Storm,” where Smokey Robinson’s 1975 R&B hit of that name plays 5x a week.
- WVAZ (V103) Chicago: Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” (late 1976) gets three spins, but all in overnights. The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” (1977) is the oldest title with more of a spread.
- WBLS New York: Depending on whether you look at last week or this, the oldest songs are S.O.S. Band’s “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” or, from a few months later in 1980, Stephanie Mills’s “Never Knew Love Like This Before.”
- WAMJ (Majic 107.5/97.5) Atlanta: It came to prominence as one of the format’s newer-leaning stations. The oldest 3x a week title is Al B. Sure!’s “Night & Day” (1988), a few months into the “new jack swing” movement.