Why Don't They Play Judy Garland On The Radio?

Question

I mean look at how successful she is. Look at her Carnegie Hall Album, that was on the billboards for over a year! The most famous song EVER written is Over The rainbow according to the American music association. And who sings it? JUDY GARLAND! Don't you think she should be played on oldies stations?

Although most oldies stations only play songs from the 60s and 70s, Judy sang in the 60s! Why not play her?

Answer 1

Because most of the radio "industry" long ago narrowcasted and dumbed-down its programming to cater to a younger demographic, a younger age group with more disposable income (or credit to burn through).
I can't get angry at the kids for not knowing anything about music beyond Justin Timberlake or Ashlee Simpson because they never get to hear anything more than 15, 20 songs at a time out of the tens of thousands released in any given month. (In my teens, mid-to-late '70s, I had a choice of top-40 radio, which was still halfway decent when not cheesy, and the then-still-wide-open FM rock stations.)
Radio executives will tell you they're only playing "what the people want to hear." That's always been a lie. (Payola, anyone?) Well, the business has gotten so bad that rock'n'roll is almost as marginalzed now as Judy Garland has been for years. It seems that "the people" constitute about 5% of the population, with the other 95% of us (in a country of 300 million) marginalized and shoved to the sidelines. That's why people buy satellite radio -- to hear the stuff they can't hear on commercial terrestrial radio anymore. (And they willingly fork over money for XM even though it's partly owned by one of the conglomerates that ruined radio and drove people to satellite in the first place: Clear Channel.)
Sigh. As for Judy, look for stations in your area that might carry The Music of Your Life or some other similar canned nostalgic radio format. Either that or see if there's a good nonprofit college or community station on the left side of the dial in your area ...

Answer 2

there is a definite market for that too. alot of alternate lifestylers would love a show tunes station as well.

Answer 3

who knows, I guess you really like her