Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll:
How The 1980s Embraced 1950s and 1960s Oldies Music
Radio Still Alive in the Eighties
Photo: "Graffiti in Shoreditch London UK - A boom box? Or a pair of eye balls with a computer in the middle? Hum... Dunno..." by terencechisholm is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
Even with MTV becoming a dominant outlet to distribute music, Americans still listened to the radio in their cars, at work, and elsewhere. Battery-powered boom boxes and Walkmans made listening to the radio portable. During the first fifteen years of rock ‘n’ roll, the AM radio frequency dominated broadcasting markets. By the 1980s the FM format dominated radio with a clearer stereo sound and a wider broadcasting range than AM radio. FM radio stations focused on specific formats. Early rock ‘n’ roll music found itself in the oldies format. With the oldies format, listeners received more music and less DJ talk, thus beginning the decline of the local DJ celebrity due to radio automation. News updates disappeared from most FM oldies stations. Commercials, however, did not go away. Baby boomers preferred to listen to music of their youth instead of their children’s music. Radio managers catered to that preference. It guaranteed a large audience with money to spend, and thus advertising revenue. Some large markets had more than two stations playing the golden oldies.