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On April 17, the Washington Post contained an article headlined: "For Aged Demographics, Disrespect Is Getting Old".
The story began: "Hey you there, music fan over 50 years old: "Here's something you should know:
The story reported the closure of a Washington radio station whose listeners were typically oldies---50s and up. The station was one of the lowest rated ones in the area. The sad, steely cored truth, according to the story, is that corporate radio is under such stockholder pressure that there is simply no room for narrow based formats which appeal only to an audience uninterested in big ticket purchases such as cars and computers. "Listeners over 45 are simply being abandoned", said the general manager of one commuication company.
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"Oh, you'll be tolerated as a talk show listener", the story continued. "Radio knows that you're interested in news, and that you'll call in to talk shows. A very few radio [and television?] stations actually target listeners as old as---hold on to your hats---64!
Of course, if you're older than that, you simply don't exist! You see, you're just not a 'useful' audience member."
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The TV Column of the Washington Post of April 19, in commenting on the new show "Weakest Link", observed: "On Tuesday night the new program lost a million viewers, but--as NBC scoffed in a news release, all of the viewers who went away were 50 and older. And, if there's one thing advertisers don't like, it's a viewer age 50 or older".
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I extend my sympathies to any readers who happen to be 50ish; long ago when I was 50, TV advertisers liked anybody and everybody.
What is it like for me to be 88ish? For radio and television, I don't exist!
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