When we bought our new Subaru Outback last summer we decided to get Sirius/XM radio. Mostly because we love our oldies–music from the 1960s and also from our earlier childhood in the 1950s. How nice to be able to listen (mostly) without the intrusive patter of DJs and the noisy chatter of advertising.
Once in a while I’d tune in to the music of the 1940s on Channel 4 because 40s on 4 reminded me of my mother. She was a huge Sinatra fan and loved Big Bands as well. Her cousins lived in Brooklyn and danced so well they competed in the annual Harvest Moon Ball. I used to love to hear her stories about those days.
A few weeks ago I hit Channel 4 in the car and got –Billy Joel.
The channel devoted to the Big Band sound other 1940s music had been hijacked to make room for several months of Billy Joel interviews and music.
Say what???
Oh, subscribers could stream the 1940s music channel on their smartphone or computer, but that would require a separate subscription. Most people subscribe to satellite radio to listen in their cars, not on their phones or computers.
Sirius/XM has been largely silent on the subject, too, mostly ignoring the campaign of tweets, Facebook comments and other expressions of dismay from their subscribers.
It seems that the audience for 1940s music–our parents’ generation–is expendable. That’s because it’s very small. And therefore considered insignificant.
My father would have been 95 this year, my mother 89. Both are gone now and so are so many of their generation. So Sirius/XM took a gamble that hijacking the ’40s music channel wouldn’t be more than a blip in their business and would be outweighed by the benefits of three months of Billy Joel.
“That’ll be us, one day,” M said, as we talked about it. “Our music will be just as expendable in the not too distant future. In fact, you can expect that the audience for doo wop and other 1950s music will be next on the chopping block.”
In today’s modern world, this is how we know we are old: when the cultural evidence that we existed starts to be archived.
I hope I’ll be getting in my car for decades to come–two, at least–and I don’t want to hit XM5 or XM6 and find that the soundtrack to my life has been co-opted for a Kanye West channel. Or worse: a Justin Bieber feature.
But it’s inevitable, just as aging is inevitable.
Our generation is old now.
“But I don’t FEEL old!” I want to cry out. “I have youthful attitudes! I have no grey hair! I like hip hop and contemporary alternative music, too!”
No one’s listening. The heavy footfalls of time marching on drown out my protests.
I’m always astonished at how old I am when I see myself in pictures. I think I’m still 25 (in my head). Recently when I mentioned Bob Dylan, my kids said “He’s still alive? He’s so old and crusty, we thought he was dead by now.” I almost passed out. Argh.
I was born in ’57, but I still love swing era jazz…and earlier. We used to subscribe to Sirius/XM, but cancelled after a year as we found they kept doing what you describe: hijacking the channels we liked best to make room for “lowest common denominator” stuff. That’s not what we paid for, so we got out.
How awful. Luckily, I let my subscription to XM go the way of the Dodo long ago, when I realized that the comedy channel cycles, and after about 3 months, starts to repeat itself, with the occasional new thing thrown in. That was all I used it for, anyway.
Yikes…this is scary. No matter what city I’m in there’s an oldie channel on the radio! But like everything else….may not be dependable in years to come. Glad I have my old oldies CD collection!
AND…..I have my playlists on my phone, Ipod and Pandora….yaaaaaay for me! As long as my grandkids keep me cooly updated….I’ll age just fine….hopefully! Great post, Carol!
That’s terrible. The whole point of Sirius/XM should be to offer all those different genres and niches instead of top 40 which is all over regular radio. Yes, it definitely makes me feel old, too, that they’ve totally dismissed the generation above us and make us feel like we’re next in line.
I don’t know….there are a lot more of us than people our parent’s age. And I bet a good number of us will still be subscribing to Sirius/XM…which will keep our era’s music on their system, dontchathink? Maybe not. But I think it’s all about marketing and advertising. If they don’t get a lot of listeners on the earlier-era channels, I can see why they’d use them for the short-term to promote something else more profitable. May not be “nice,” but it is their business. My channels of choice are 70s on 7, and Studio 54, btw. 😉
Thankfully we don’t have those options here – so it’s good old CDs with the good old guys belting it out and me singing along loudly with them!
So Kayne can go West or North……:P
Carol, only for a while these cultural icons become expendable, but I’m delighted to witness (even in our lifetime, and reflected in the enthusiasm of my children) that the quality (or quircky) greats of the past are happily resurrected, and enjoyed by a new generation. There has been this dramatic up-tick in sales of vinyl albums–kids are scouring library sales bins and digging up Herb Alpert, Ray Conniff, Al Martino, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, et al [our rejects,otherwise these LPs wouldn’t be in the discard bin] in order to “feed” their turntables. So it is merely a blip, I am confident in that “cycle of life” which ensures the Greats are never really forgotten….but are merely “rediscovered” again and again…it just takes a bit of patience and seredipity.
I think it’s great that other generations are tuning in, but advertisers just don’t see it the same way. It’s not so much the artists as it is the marginalization of an entire generation.
I’ll always be between 18 and 39 in my head. I ididn’t know that when 50 would hit so would the weight big time!
Anyway we have a 1950’s diner here next to a kid’s amusement park and the beach. My friend from home and I meet at “you know the diner….” Neither of us can remember the name (Hot Diggity Dog–just googled it.) She uses it as an example of my impending dementia. I don’t point out the obvious
Yeah, it hit me that when people younger than me are hitting their 30s, I’m definitely waving goodbye to my prime years. That being said, I like the wisdom and perspective of my age. I wouldn’t rewind my life.
I love Frank Sinatra, my parents had me late in life and this was the normal for me. But I enjoy everything from Bluegrass to Lawrence Welk. Music has always been such a huge part of my life…a life that’s old, there I’ve said it are you happy now? Great post Carol as always!
Don’t worry, they will bring back the 40’s on XM! Do you remember when the first time you heard The Beatles muzak? OMG I was still in my teens. And that was 40+ years ago. yeah, I’m old.
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I’m always astonished at how old I am when I see myself in pictures. I think I’m still 25 (in my head). Recently when I mentioned Bob Dylan, my kids said “He’s still alive? He’s so old and crusty, we thought he was dead by now.” I almost passed out. Argh.
OMG. I get it.
I was born in ’57, but I still love swing era jazz…and earlier. We used to subscribe to Sirius/XM, but cancelled after a year as we found they kept doing what you describe: hijacking the channels we liked best to make room for “lowest common denominator” stuff. That’s not what we paid for, so we got out.
We may end up doing the same thing.
How awful. Luckily, I let my subscription to XM go the way of the Dodo long ago, when I realized that the comedy channel cycles, and after about 3 months, starts to repeat itself, with the occasional new thing thrown in. That was all I used it for, anyway.
Now, I use my iPod and listen to what *I* want. 🙂
We’re not in the car all that much any more so haven’t noticed it yet.
Yikes…this is scary. No matter what city I’m in there’s an oldie channel on the radio! But like everything else….may not be dependable in years to come. Glad I have my old oldies CD collection!
AND…..I have my playlists on my phone, Ipod and Pandora….yaaaaaay for me! As long as my grandkids keep me cooly updated….I’ll age just fine….hopefully! Great post, Carol!
I’ll bet you are way cool!
I could do a channel of just Carole King, James Taylor and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young…
Sign me up!
Oldies stations now play music from the ’70s and ’80s…. Arrrggghhh. When did our music get to be before “oldies”???
I noticed this, too. Ugh.
I like the 60’s music and it is beyond oldies, elderly tunes! 40’s music is ancient melodies I guess!
60s are my faves, too.
That’s terrible. The whole point of Sirius/XM should be to offer all those different genres and niches instead of top 40 which is all over regular radio. Yes, it definitely makes me feel old, too, that they’ve totally dismissed the generation above us and make us feel like we’re next in line.
Yeah and I’ll bet they say “it’s bizness”…but a bad PR move to not response to listeners. At all.
I love all of these “oldies”! Especially the music! But, I still feel ageless!
You look ageless, too!
And Time keeps good rhythm . . .
Ha! it does!
dang. we’re old.
dang. we ARE. Sigh.
I don’t know….there are a lot more of us than people our parent’s age. And I bet a good number of us will still be subscribing to Sirius/XM…which will keep our era’s music on their system, dontchathink? Maybe not. But I think it’s all about marketing and advertising. If they don’t get a lot of listeners on the earlier-era channels, I can see why they’d use them for the short-term to promote something else more profitable. May not be “nice,” but it is their business. My channels of choice are 70s on 7, and Studio 54, btw. 😉
I’ll have to listen to Studio 54 and check it out!
Our oldies station plays music from the 60s and 70s. I guess those years will soon be on the chopping block.
Looks that way.
How sad. I grew up on the music of the 40s and still have many of the albums that I listened to as a kid.
Thankfully we don’t have those options here – so it’s good old CDs with the good old guys belting it out and me singing along loudly with them!
So Kayne can go West or North……:P
(laughter) Yes he can!
Bad business decision – and I’m sure they will regret it (but they’ll never admit it)!
I’m not sure it will have much of an impact, sad to say. But it IS bad business.
I enjoy the Oldies music too. Can’t handle the rap music stations.
Carol, only for a while these cultural icons become expendable, but I’m delighted to witness (even in our lifetime, and reflected in the enthusiasm of my children) that the quality (or quircky) greats of the past are happily resurrected, and enjoyed by a new generation. There has been this dramatic up-tick in sales of vinyl albums–kids are scouring library sales bins and digging up Herb Alpert, Ray Conniff, Al Martino, Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, et al [our rejects,otherwise these LPs wouldn’t be in the discard bin] in order to “feed” their turntables. So it is merely a blip, I am confident in that “cycle of life” which ensures the Greats are never really forgotten….but are merely “rediscovered” again and again…it just takes a bit of patience and seredipity.
I think it’s great that other generations are tuning in, but advertisers just don’t see it the same way. It’s not so much the artists as it is the marginalization of an entire generation.
I’ll always be between 18 and 39 in my head. I ididn’t know that when 50 would hit so would the weight big time!
Anyway we have a 1950’s diner here next to a kid’s amusement park and the beach. My friend from home and I meet at “you know the diner….” Neither of us can remember the name (Hot Diggity Dog–just googled it.) She uses it as an example of my impending dementia. I don’t point out the obvious
You and are the same age, then!
That is awful. I cancelled my subscription to xm and just plug my ipod in or pandora on my phone.
Eventually we’ll do the same.
I don’t know how much longer I can stay in denial about this aging thing.
I’m ok with my aging. I’m just not ok with how others not my age see it.
Yeah, it hit me that when people younger than me are hitting their 30s, I’m definitely waving goodbye to my prime years. That being said, I like the wisdom and perspective of my age. I wouldn’t rewind my life.
Agree 100%!
I love Frank Sinatra, my parents had me late in life and this was the normal for me. But I enjoy everything from Bluegrass to Lawrence Welk. Music has always been such a huge part of my life…a life that’s old, there I’ve said it are you happy now? Great post Carol as always!
Don’t worry, they will bring back the 40’s on XM! Do you remember when the first time you heard The Beatles muzak? OMG I was still in my teens. And that was 40+ years ago. yeah, I’m old.
I have discovered most of the crew of A Walk in the Woods (average age of 28) have no idea who Robert Redford is…
I believe it. He’s been invisible during their lifetimes.
I think we should all get one RESET button per lifetime! Don’t you?