Listeners Over 35 Need Not Apply

As America’s corporate-dominated radio industry scrambles desperately to find and unveil the Next Big Thing (by which, of course, we mean the next highly profitable and easily compartmentalized format,) a not-so-subtle shift is occurring on-air. With stations and their advertisers eager to attract and hold the iPod generation, retro is in, but the classic format known as “oldies” is apparently being ridden out of town on a rail. “Many existing oldies stations are barely holding on, the victims of declining ratings and radio-industry apathy. ‘Golden oldies’ stations, home to artists like Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller, are in even worse trouble. Ultimately, observers say, the radio industry simply doesn’t have much interest in baby boomers.”