I listen to Sirius XM. The station numbers used to be aligned with the decade of music they played, at the lower number level: 50s on 5, 60s on 6, etc. Sometime in the last few years, they removed the 50s and 60s, kept 70s on 7, 80s on 8, and on up. Sirius has so many channels, especially online, that I'll bet they live on with a randomly assigned number. Presumably. 50s and 60s were rarely listed to, I only listened to 70s on up.
But in general, Sirius replays the same songs on different channels, you'll hear the same songs on 70s and on Yacht Rock, for example. so that 2000 songs number still hold true.
yeah, this has been driving me nuts for a long time.
I was born mid-60's and "grew up" in the 70s.
Oldies stations were "niche" and played songs from 50s & 60s (usually pre-Beatles 60s, so like "American Grafitti" 60s).
now it's 2026 and "classic rock" stations can go a stretch and never get out of the 1970s.
I heard a stretch the other day that had a cut from Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (1979), AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds" (1976), the Cars "Best Friend's Girl" (1978) and then Kansas' "Wayward Son" (1976).
it is very strange.
yes, this is the music that I grew up with.
but it's older than dirt and the most popular/common format.
I think to myself "when I was a kid "oldies" were 15-25 years old".
I try to envision a past where, in 1975, the most common form of music on the radio was Big Band music from the 1920s and they just played hits by Duke Ellington and Al Jolson.
as a Gen X member (and fan!), I blame the Boomers for this.
lol
it's . . . surreal.
and don't anyone say that "well, it's the best music, everything now is crap"
everyone from every generation has said that.
but, until now, they had to deal with living in the present.
I listen to Sirius XM. The station numbers used to be aligned with the decade of music they played, at the lower number level: 50s on 5, 60s on 6, etc. Sometime in the last few years, they removed the 50s and 60s, kept 70s on 7, 80s on 8, and on up. Sirius has so many channels, especially online, that I'll bet they live on with a randomly assigned number. Presumably. 50s and 60s were rarely listed to, I only listened to 70s on up.
But in general, Sirius replays the same songs on different channels, you'll hear the same songs on 70s and on Yacht Rock, for example. so that 2000 songs number still hold true.
yeah, this has been driving me nuts for a long time.
I was born mid-60's and "grew up" in the 70s.
Oldies stations were "niche" and played songs from 50s & 60s (usually pre-Beatles 60s, so like "American Grafitti" 60s).
now it's 2026 and "classic rock" stations can go a stretch and never get out of the 1970s.
I heard a stretch the other day that had a cut from Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (1979), AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds" (1976), the Cars "Best Friend's Girl" (1978) and then Kansas' "Wayward Son" (1976).
it is very strange.
yes, this is the music that I grew up with.
but it's older than dirt and the most popular/common format.
I think to myself "when I was a kid "oldies" were 15-25 years old".
I try to envision a past where, in 1975, the most common form of music on the radio was Big Band music from the 1920s and they just played hits by Duke Ellington and Al Jolson.
as a Gen X member (and fan!), I blame the Boomers for this.
lol
it's . . . surreal.
and don't anyone say that "well, it's the best music, everything now is crap"
everyone from every generation has said that.
but, until now, they had to deal with living in the present.