How come Elvis isn't played as much on the radio anymore?

[Elvis Fonzie Dean]

You hear about The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, they're played a lot on the radio, and yet, only a few songs by Elvis. You don't see him promoted on TV much either. Why?

[Fleet]

A radio station out here, KRTH 101.1 FM, has an Elvis hour every Sunday at Midnight.

The same station has "HD Tuesday," 8 PM to 12 Midnight which features only '50s and '60s songs.

[cocytus]

Originally Posted by Elvis Fonzie Dean

You hear about The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, they're played a lot on the radio, and yet, only a few songs by Elvis. You don't see him promoted on TV much either. Why?

Two reasons:

1) Elvis was waaaayyyy overexposed from the time of his death until about 10 years ago. It may have made his estate and the companies that own his music millions but it diluted his brand tremendously.

2) Fifties music fans (who remember it when it was originally played) are sadly dying off. As they do, the market for Elvis shrinks. It's similar for Bing Crosby. When I was a kid, you used to hear his music on the oldies stations all of the time. Now it's exceedingly rare that you do.

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by cocytus

Two reasons:

1) Elvis was waaaayyyy overexposed from the time of his death until about 10 years ago. It may have made his estate and the companies that own his music millions but it diluted his brand tremendously.

2) Fifties music fans (who remember it when it was originally played) are sadly dying off. As they do, the market for Elvis shrinks. It's similar for Bing Crosby. When I was a kid, you used to hear his music on the oldies stations all of the time. Now it's exceedingly rare that you do.

I know I like Elvis and Sinatra, but soon...Beach Boys Music may go away and only be in the ethers of the radio oblivion.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by cocytus

Two reasons:

1) Elvis was waaaayyyy overexposed from the time of his death until about 10 years ago. It may have made his estate and the companies that own his music millions but it diluted his brand tremendously.

2) Fifties music fans (who remember it when it was originally played) are sadly dying off. As they do, the market for Elvis shrinks. It's similar for Bing Crosby. When I was a kid, you used to hear his music on the oldies stations all of the time. Now it's exceedingly rare that you do.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in the south there are a
number of artists who are only heard during the holiday season (Bing Crosby,
Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Kenny Rogers, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Brenda
Lee, Frank Sinatra, Gene Autry, Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, etc.). Sadly, there's a whole generation who only know of them from their Christmas songs.
The oldies station here does still play Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Beatles,
The Beach Boys, and other rock & roll artists from '50s and the '60s the year
round, though.

[dakert]

If the radio played Elvis songs it would make the new songs sound crappy by comparison!!!!!

[70s show watcher]

Originally Posted by cocytus

Two reasons:

1) Elvis was waaaayyyy overexposed from the time of his death until about 10 years ago. It may have made his estate and the companies that own his music millions but it diluted his brand tremendously.

2) Fifties music fans (who remember it when it was originally played) are sadly dying off. As they do, the market for Elvis shrinks. It's similar for Bing Crosby. When I was a kid, you used to hear his music on the oldies stations all of the time. Now it's exceedingly rare that you do.

i like elvis too but i agree with you about the overexposure factor one thing also that you dont hear much anymore is the whole elvis is in hiding thing remember the stories about him being at various burger king;s around the country or at stuckeys truck stops and one of my faves elvis was still at graceland sitting on a lawn chair watching people take the graceland tour i guess the kids today are more accepting of his passing than fans of the past were

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by 70s show watcher

i like elvis too but i agree with you about the overexposure factor one thing also that you dont hear much anymore is the whole elvis is in hiding thing remember the stories about him being at various burger king;s around the country or at stuckeys truck stops and one of my faves elvis was still at graceland sitting on a lawn chair watching people take the graceland tour i guess the kids today are more accepting of his passing than fans of the past were

Yeah...now they'll use the same thing for Michael Jackson!

[Penny Lane]

Elvis's music sounds dated and very old fashioned. I guess that's why.The Beatles, Stones, etc. have fans in the younger generation. But that might end someday too.(Geez I hope not!)

[MickeyMac]

Most radio (and oldies in particular) dont play much of stuff before the Beatles. Its a damn shame because that music is the beginnings of rock and roll (especially the 50's stuff).


Which means sadly there are kids out there who arent aware of not just Elvis, but Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.

[Rezny@gmail.com]

But there's some good news:On the True Oldies Channel(TOC for short,,check to see which station in your area carries the TOC,mine is KGMT Fairbury,Nebraska 1310 AM)this next weekend(Jan.8 and 9),they are going to play A LOT of Elvis Presley songs .Not all,but a LOT.It's their Elvis weekend.

[Tweety]

For the most part, it's probably only around Elvis' birthday and the anniversary of his death that he's in the news any more. I guess 2007 marked the 30th anniversary of his death, so it's going to be a while before the next big one comes around.

The Beatles are heading for a big resurgence with the addition of their catalog to ITunes.

It is true that Elvis' stuff is dated, but he did have some of the great recorded performances ever. I STILL think "Hound Dog" is the absolute best rock and roll performance ever put on a record. He did 30 or 40-something takes of that song before getting it "right".

The Beatles did so many subtle and not-so-subtle things in their songs that the songs can still sound fresh and new (and in many cases, undated) to young fans growing up.

The Stones stuff is great rock and roll... I think there will always be a place for Beatles and Stones music on everyone's IPod. I haven't heard much about Led Zeppelin in many years, and I never really put them into the Beatles/Stones category... those two groups are in a class by themselves.

We're probably not going to see groups like that come along again, because Rock music will never be that young again. No group is going to stay together for ten years any more. The Beatles played a thousand gigs before anyone had ever heard of them. It took John and Paul five years of working 24/7/365 to become "overnight' successes. Now, we're being force-fed a bunch of crap from "American Idol".

[LUNCH]

Originally Posted by dakert

If the radio played Elvis songs it would make the new songs sound crappy by comparison!!!!!

I'll go with that comment. Of course the newer songs don't really need any help in sounding terrible.

[Seinatra]

As his fans age I think this is a natural process.

He does have his own 24 hour radio channel on Sirius though, so he is obviously still popular and has his own channel. The one time I remember listening they were not playing music but had Wink Martindale on (if you know who he is) and he was talking about the first time they played his record on the radio and how Elvis was so shy he went to see a movie by himself at the time and they had to go out and find him. It was a pretty fascinating story.

[Zoneboy]

If Elvis is played on the radio in this area it's usually limited to "Burning Love" and "Suspicous Minds"

These are actually 2 of my favorites and on occasion you might hear other Elvis tunes but these seem to be the only ones played on a regular basis except for seasonal fare such as "Blue Christmas"