Listening To The Radio

I recall back those early years we were living in the country side. The only common music are serenade of birds and insects and sounds of the nature. When I was a toddler I heard the first music from the radio. It was an old Philips Brand radio. It was the pride of my family. I noticed my father placed it high on top of his wooden cupboard. That was out of reach from us children. Only dad and mom had the direct access to turn on or switch off. Early morning dad woke up and turn on the radio. There was the familiar music and national anthem  and sometimes..I heard the sate anthem back the entitled " Fair Land Sarawak". Most of the time my father tuned to the Chinese program and I could hear those mandarin songs but sometimes he changed the channels either to Malay or English. Those English songs really caught my attention! When I was in primary school later, I was able to sing a few oldies ...most of the lyrics by heart. Songs like "My Bonnie Is Over The Ocean", "Young Ones", "From A Jack to A King", "yellow Bird" ...just to mention a few. Honestly, I would not sing in front of any audience be it small or big. I was quite shy. Sometimes my dad or mom overheard me singing and encouraged me to sing louder..I would just stopped.I remember I used to sing Mandarin songs by heart without the proper expressions of what the songs mean.I played drums a little...see I only know a little but I enjoyed those moments.
May be you like to know what is "Oldies"....so here...help yourselves....

Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day.

In the 1980s and 1990s, "oldies" meant the 15 years from the birth of rock n roll to the beginning of the singer-songwriter era of the early 1970s, or about 1955 to 1972.

In the early 2000s, 1970s music was increasingly included,^[1] and early 1980s music is beginning to also be called "oldies", though the term "classic hits" is used to distinguish the "new" oldies (the Generation X oldies) from the "old" oldies (the Baby Boomer oldies).^[2]

Oldies music is sometimes synonymous with classic rock music.

Oldies tunes are typically from R&B, pop and rock music genres. Country, jazz, classical music, and other formats are generally not considered oldies music, although some of those genres have their own oldies format (for instance, classic country), and a number of songs "crossed over" from country to Top 40. Occasionally the term is used to describe the rare station that includes 1940s music as well, although music from before 1955 (coinciding with the "birth of rock'n'roll"), is typically the domain of the adult standardsdancing music. format. However, the term constitutes ambiguity for people who like old

This format is sometimes called Golden Oldies (after another album series of the same name, which was sold through bulk TV commercials), though this term usually refers to music exclusively from the '50s and early '60s. Oldies radio typically features artists such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, The Beatles (pre-Revolver), The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Four Seasons, and Sam Cooke; as well as such musical movements and genres as doo-wop, rockabilly, Motown, British Invasion, early girl groups, surf music, and bubblegum pop.

Most traditional oldies stations limit their on-air playlists to no more than 300 songs, on the philosophy that average listeners will stay tuned provided they're familiar with the hits being played. The drawback to this concept is the endless repetition of the station's program library. Oldies has some overlap with the classic rock format, which concentrates on the rock music of the late-'60s and '70s and also plays newer material made in the same style as the older songs.

Source : Wikipedia