The Infinite Dial

It's interesting how Adult Standards, denied a full-fledged home of their own in many markets, are starting to show up as trace elements of the Oldies format. After all, a lot of Oldies listeners have no memory of anything before the early '70s as a current song. The songs that endure for them are the songs that still play in bars and at weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc., where you're likely to hear "The Way You Look Tonight" in between "We Are Family," "Brown Eyed Girl," and "Love Shack."

Their parents may have drawn a line in the sand in 1956. But a listener who wasn't there at the time is going to have a hard time making the distinction between, say, Sinatra singing "The Way You Look Tonight" (never rock and roll), Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" (somehow rock and roll at the time, but never on most Oldies stations), Etta James' "At Last" (a 1961 R&B cover of a standard that wasn't a pop hit at the time, but is much bigger now, thanks to TV ... got that?), and Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" (MOR in the '60s but considered Oldies now, thanks to a movie). These songs co-exist in roughly the same way on the Celestial Jukebox.

You're not likely to hear any of those songs (except "What A Wonderful World") on the average '70s-based Oldies-turned-Greatest Hits station. But you will hear them on those softer Oldies stations that play any pre-1964 music, such as KPMZ (Platinum 96.7) Dallas or WRNJ (Oldies 1510) Hackettstown, N.J., which gave me my favorite recent segue, until this afternoon when I discovered WLGZ-FM (Legends 102.7) Rochester, N.Y., which is in the process of segueing from Standards to Oldies -- a format that hasn't existed in Rochester for several years.

KPMZ has a loyal audience -- they've generated more comments than any station we've written about. But if some of its listeners feel like a second choice, here's Legends at 3:35 this afternoon. And see if you can guess my new favorite segue:

Billy Joel, "The River Of Dreams"
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"
Yvonne Elliman, "If I Can't Have You"
Peggy Lee, "Big Spender"
Yardbirds, "For Your Love"
Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
Doobie Brothers, "Listen To The Music"
Sly & the Family Stone, "Dance To The Music"
Kenny Rogers, "Lady"
R.B. Greaves, "Take A Letter, Maria"
Al Green, "Let's Stay Together"
Supremes, "You Keep Me Hanging On"
Ray Charles, "Busted"
Rod Stewart, "Maggie May"
Jeannie C. Riley, "Harper Valley, PTA"
Martha & Vandellas, "Heat Wave"