Oldies music — almost all of us have an understanding of what you can find in that type of genre. Most oldies playlists consist of music released in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. However, when searching for music from the 1950s, you will often find only a small fraction of the other songs on those stations. This is a practice that needs to change.

In order to initiate a change in the oldies format, we must first find out why ‘50s music is even being ignored.

The reason for this is actually not as complicated as we might think. Even for a nostalgia-obsessed radio format, the original fans of ‘50s music are starting to age out of the demographic that is deemed necessary to advertise to. Basically, the target demographic for ‘50s music is dying.

So if most people who listen to oldies music aren’t interested in the 1950s era, why is this such a big problem? Well, considering how most things we know come from being taught about them, eras of music (especially those that were very influential to society) should also be considered as educational tools — not in an academic sense, but just as something that newer generations should be aware of.

If you were to ask an older person when they considered rock ‘n’ roll music to first come into existence, they would most likely say the 1950s. This is because the ‘50s did give birth to the well-known genre. The ‘50s were the highlight of an era that shock and surprised many people. That new sound that was coming from their radios was something they had never heard before. Millions of people were astounded at what they were hearing. They couldn’t even fit it into a specific category. That was when the term “rock ‘n’ roll” was first used for a genre of music.

As time goes on, less and less people from today’s past generations will be alive to tell others about how revolutionary the 1950s were for music. This is why radio stations that are dedicated to older eras of music should also make room for the most influential of those eras.