From: lightw@cetra.trl.OZ.AU (Liron Lightwood)
Subject: Re: Time to bury "The Home of Rock'n'Roll" 
Originator: wdp@gagme
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne, Australia
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 20:12:12 GMT

lagnaf@camelot.bradley.edu (Jeremy Styninger) writes:

>Consultant/voiceover god Joe Kelly cites recent research indicating
>that males 18-44 describe rock 'n' roll to be "oldies"  In other words
>Beatles, Chuck Berry, Dick Clark, Little Richard.  Another group with
>the same demographics describe rock as "music."  Bruce Springsteen, U2,
>Eric Clapton and MTV.

>"Heritage AORs targeting men 25+ may want to re-think their continued
>use of the positioning slogan 'the home of rock 'n' roll,' Kelly
>writes.  "This study seems to tell us that more than 50% of the men in
>this demographic think of rock 'n' roll as oldies or Dick Clark.  That
>being the case, the home of rock 'n' roll is about as useful as a tit
>on a bull" 

Which reminds me of the following conversation which I seemed to have quite
often during the late 80's.

Friend: What kind of music do you like?
Me:     Rock'n'Roll
Friend: Oh, 50's and 60's?
Me:     No.  I meant rock music.

This conversation was all thanks to a network of rock stations in Australia
(including FOX FM in Melbourne) who were using the slogan, "Good times and
Great Rock'n'Roll" during the late 80's, to describe their music - 60's and
70's rock (including classic rock) and songs from the 80's (and later the
90's) which didn't clash, ie. they didn't play pop, dance, rap, etc.

Meanwhile, Melbourne's other rock station, MMM played a very similar mix
of music.  Their slogan was "Triple Your Music", but they often mentioned
"Melbourne's home of rock'n'roll" on promos.

I hated those slogans.  For a start, Rock'n'Roll to me (and it seemed
everyone else) meant 50's and 60's rock'n'roll.  People stopped using 
"Rock'n'Roll" ages ago when referring to rock music.  As much as these 
stations seemed to be living in the past, (based on their music) the use of
the term "Rock'n'roll" only made it seem more so.

Of course, IMHO.

In 1990, FOX FM (and the other stations in the network they belonged to),
changed their slogan to 'Better music and more of it', and MMM changed their
slogan to 'The rock of the 90's in '91.  Also, all the above-mentioned
features, with the exception of the Classic 9 at 9, are now history.

Their music hasn't changed much though. :-(

-----------------------------------------------

P.S. When I say these stations were living in the past I mean it.  Apart from 
their playlists, regular feature titles included Rewind (artist profiles), The
Classic 9 at 9, the Classic Rock show, Back to the future (rock memorobelia
from the 60's), the Time Tunnel, and The Past Master's Weekend.

Unfortunately, these were the most forward-looking mainstream commercial music
stations Melbourne had at the time, and even today.  The other music stations 
were 'Hits and Memories' and 'Classic Hits' type stations. 

Of course, IMHO.

Liron Lightwood                     Internet : r.lightwood@trl.oz.au
Telecom Research Laboratories       Phone : +61 3 253 6535
770 Blackburn Road                 Snail : P.O. Box 249 Clayton 3168 Australia
Clayton  Vic. 3168 Australia        Disclaimer : My views are not my company's

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