Absolute 70s is only on DAB in London, isn’t it? So Digital One gives Smooth 70s 4 or 5 times the coverage. You’ve said yourself plenty of times that UP or mobile apps drive much lower listening than DAB.

And the 70s is a key decade both for Smooth’s music genres – all that Philly soul and disco – and its target demo. If you’re fifty, the 70s were your teenage years.

It’s a peculiar decision from GMG to launch this station considering that Absolute who are known for slanting their decades stations towards rock have recognised the wide genres of music the 70s consisted of.

The only difference I can see between Absolute or Smooth will be the artists they playlist between Abba. David Essex on one station or The Clash on the other.

I think a 70s station as a concept is viable, and there are two possible angles you could take with the decade:

1. Rock, particularly Prog, Heavy Metal, Punk, New Wave, Glam Rock. e.g. Sex Pistols, David Bowie, Led Zepplin, The Who etc etc.

2. Pop, funk, RnB, Soft Rock. e.g. ABBA, Jackson 5, Rod Stewart, etc. etc.

And then you could probably play Queen most of the time on both. Rich pickings really.

I would agree it is a bit more of a ‘vague’ decade, a bit harder to sum up easily with a single song.

I understand the way you feel and agree for my own tastes, but I suspect it’s our vintage (I hope I don’t flatter myself.. I’m 41).

I came to early 70s music only through work, really – doing cheap overnight shifts on Supergold. I was probably more familiar with sixties stuff from my parents, who stopped listening to anything better than “Wheels on the Bus” for 5+ years when I came along. I guess some late 70s stuff (well, a couple of Abba LPs)started to filter through as I started to get interested in music, but glam rock and even some disco was before “my” time. My kids will be the same with Steps and S Club.

But why shouldn’t someone 5-10 years older than me get the same buzz from hearing Mud on the radio as I would from, say, the Thompson Twins? And if Smooth and Absolute do it right, they should be as different as the ‘parent’ stations. Good luck to them.

On the subject of the Christmas station it replaces: I was dubious, but I’ve been converted.

Firstly, it was talkable – I had it promoted to me by two “civilians” in a week.. the sort of word-of-mouth endorsement I’d normally only expect for Moyles, Evans or Wright. And once I was there it was bang on brand, did what it said on the tin (I didn’t hear Adele in the couple of hours I listened, though!), and did a superb job introducing me to Smooth as a brand. It matched my mood – I chose it to accompany present wrapping and a friend’s pre-Christmas visit – but I came away knowing subtly more about Mark Goodier, David Jensen and Carlos. I’d expect nothing less from Chris S., but I thought it was a lesson in really focused branding and marketing.

I think the decades stations are different (they need to stand on their own two feet a bit more rather than being a shop window). But if you look at what Absolute have achieved with the 80s already (which beats the main station in my local RAJAR book), I can see why others want a piece. Good luck to all of them!

Every decade is difficult to define if looked at from the same perspective that the 1970s tends to be.

Perhaps it’s the breakthrough of anything other than ‘popular music’ on mainstream television shows and radio stations, thanks to shows such The Old Grey Whistle Test, or perhaps its the prominent subcultures that centred around music styles such as punk and glam, but there seems to be a prevailing view of, “Oh, the 1970s, that was a bit of everything wasn’t it?”

If you approach the 1980s, or indeed any decade before or since, with the same wide lens, then it’s quite easy to tell that every decade had many different sounds, even if, as in the case of the 1980s and Stock, Aitken and Waterman style pop, only one of them is prominent in the memory.

What this means for a 1970s radio station is something that others have alluded to already, in the ability to market a station for that decade as distinctly different to others catering for the same market. It’s conceivable that, while there of course will be crossover, two entirely different playlists could be created for two stations focused on the exact same time frame, without being too niche and obscure in the process.

Another argument for the 1970s format is is the age range that it covers. 16 in 1970 is 51 years old in 2011. It’s a demographic that, potentially, has significant mileage and profit potential. Furthermore, 1970s music nostalgia is seemingly prominent right now – For example, the airing of 1970s Top Of The Pops episodes on BBC Four.

Finally, without any figures admittedly, I would expect that the music of the 1970s is being represented much less now on commercial and BBC stations than it was a few years ago. A lot of the music from that era sounds dated to anybody under a certain age, and there’s a decline in the number of people that vividly remember a non-Christmas song by Slade or Mud, JJ Barrie and The Wurzels. While I doubt that those are going to be the lynchpins of the playlist of either station, it does mean that those looking for a 1970s fix may be increasingly alienated by the sparse offerings that the major chains are giving.

A quick apology for the Adele song that James heard – that was during “Santa’s Festive Forty”, and each hour Santa was throwing forward to a takeover artist from later in the day.

I had used Adele’s chart tracks as placeholders, meaning to replace them with Christmas songs later, but clearly I failed on that last bit. Aside from that, I think things worked fairly well on the station overall!

Chris
(Personal capacity etc etc)

Small point David, as someone who was 16 in 1970 I became 57 in 2011, not 51.

James is right, one 70’s station is enough, not because of the decade, but because it’s such a stale idea. I also think it demonstrates a lack of judgement by GMG to plump for this format rather than try something unique.

That’s correct, Terry – I was getting mixed up there. Still, I feel that the valuable demographic point applies nonetheless.

“the only station that thinks Adele’s Rolling In The Deep was a Christmas song”

Seriously? Is there any station that wobbling blob of protoplasm (put-down © my old physics teacher!) isn’t on?

It could be argued that the two 70s stations could target very different audiences. Absolute will be rock and guitar based, whereas I’d expect Smooth to explore the music of Motown, funk & soul and of course the explosion of disco. Nile Rodgers should hopefully do well out of the PRS side of things!

I argue though that people don’t listen to stations in terms of genres or eras, unless it’s Capital where you know you’re going to get the same 150 tracks from the last 6 months max over and over. They like a mix. Most audience think, quite simply, in terms of “good song/bad song”.

Oh and @Chris – really enjoyed Smooth Xmas. My only criticism of it was there was WAY too much Phil Spector stuff versus the Slade, Pogues, Wizzard, Shakin’ Stevens, Paul McCartney, Mariah stuff everyone knows and loves.

Outside that there London “Smooth Radio 70s” is the only 70s station on the dial – fills a nice gap between Absolute Radio 60s and Absolute Radio 80s back home in the North West, and here in the East Midlands extends the range down a decade too.

I’ve actually been enjoying listening to Smooth Radio 70s over the last couple of days, dispite being born 2 and a half years after the decade ended – it’s the soundtrack of my childhood as it’s what my parents listened to and my peers liked too and listened to ever since – Bowie, Elton John, Queen, The Who, The Jacksons, Marvin Gaye, Fleetwood Mac, and yes Abba! – Many of the groups continuing well into the 80s and therefore releasing new material as we were growing up! That being said there has been loads of songs on Smooth Radio 70s which I can say I have never heard before too – some good, and some not so good.

Overall I’ve actually been liking these decades stations – but that’s perhaps because my own music listening tends to be a case of hearing (for arguments sake) “Life on Mars” on the radio, resulting in a load of David Bowie being put on, then some Elton John and after a few steps ends up being on the likes of Abba. The next day I might hear “If you Tolerate This then your Children will be next” and end up on another load of 1990s hits via Britpop (And I do like the way Absolute don’t cut they 100% at the edge of the decade but let 1980s-esq songs from 1990 slip onto the 80s stations and vice verse).

I am not sure of the merrits of having 2 70s stations on DAB unless they are attacking the genre from two different angles. Can’t get Absolute 70s here in North Yorks but can hear Smooth 0s which I have been dipping into on and off since I read this thread ysterday. The music definately is the lighter side of pop/rock from that era. One question, was there not a 70s station on AM in London, Liberty Radio I think it was called. That did not do too well I seem to remember. I could just about pick it up in Coventry on I think 972 KHz, they had two frequencies I believe. Maybe the time is not right to look back 40 years. Bu, both 60s & 70s are well covered by Magic & Gold I thought. Unless these two new offerings are brining something new to the table.

I am not sure of the merrits of having 2 70s stations on DAB unless they are attacking the genre from two different angles. Can’t get Absolute 70s here in North Yorks but can hear Smooth 0s which I have been dipping into on and off since I read this thread ysterday. The music definately is the lighter side of pop/rock from that era. One question, was there not a 70s station on AM in London, Liberty Radio I think it was called. That did not do too well I seem to remember. I could just about pick it up in Coventry on I think 972 KHz, they had two frequencies I believe. Maybe the time is not right to look back 40 years. Bu, both 60s & 70s are well covered by Magic & Gold I thought. Unless these two new offerings are brining something new to the table.

In many ways defining things by ‘decade’ will never suit every-ones tastes.

I occasionally tune into Absolute 90’s – but at times with it playing just ‘rock/britpop’ and no dance stuff – as my tastes are varied – depending on my mood I might fancy some 90’s dance which I know I won’t get on Absolute 90’s – or most other radio stations (other than perhaps Gaydio who only seem to go for the cheesey end of 90s dance), so I fire up my iTunes collection.

The same comparison I’m sure could be made with the 70’s for those who see it as “their era”.

Now an interesting discussion I’ve had in the past over the amount of classic 70’s music that was “missing” from the playlist of a radio station with a pretty wide music format I’m involved with and the answer was lack of content on CD – there is a wealth of 60’s compilation CD’s to rip into the system and post 80’s everything is on CD, but 70’s seems the forgotten era for CD releases.

Now we’ve had a chance to listen: what are peoples’ thoughts here on Smooth 70s? Is it a long-term listen, or a quick “dip-in” station?

Dip-in for half-an-hour and then leave, wanting to hear something less nostalgic and … erm, stuck in time.

Does any of our audience actually really care whether a song was actually first released at any particular point in time?
Most of them don’t know.
And very few of them really care.
I have no idea when any particular track was first aired.
What matters to me is whether I like it.
What we should be talking about is quality – not timing!
The problem there is – how on earth do you define it?

Can’t believe the detail of all this. The music on Smooth is excellent and has converted me from Radio2 since it took on Evans the megamouth. Wouldn’t swop this station for any at present and the songs played always get me into a good mood.Isn’t that why we all listen to radio? Analyse it all too much and you end up your own backside.