A new generation is plugged into the Summer of Love

It's 40 years later, but the Summer of Love is still with us, at least on radio. Van Morrison's " Brown Eyed Girl" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect," for example, remain staples for commercial stations around the dial.

"It was a very good year for music," says Pete Falconi, program director for "Oldies" WODS-FM (103.3). "The Beatles had raised the bar, and other artists were answering the call with more modern writing and musical experimentation." His CBS-owned station counts Beatles hits along with other tunes from '67, like the Box Tops' No. 1 hit "The Letter" and The Turtles' "Happy Together," as listener favorites.

"Songs that are good are songs that are good," says Ken West, program director of Greater Media's WROR-FM (105.7), speaking of tunes like the Jefferson Airplane's '67 release "White Rabbit."

A "classic hits" station, WROR plays music from the '60s up through the '80s , whereas most oldies stations stop at the early '70s. But even as the years go by, says West, the newer songs are not replacing many of the '60s classics. "As music tastes change, those songs just last," he says.

What gives them such staying power? Some of the longevity, says Falconi, is due to the era. In 1967, the Baby Boom generation was coming of age. "It was a turning point in history for that generation," says Falconi. "The music created such an emotional bond with people at that time."

Much of the music's widespread appreciation can also be traced to how radio was programmed in the '60s. Until the FM band caught on in the '70s, most rock, pop, soul, and R&B songs were played on the same AM "pop music" stations.

"An entire generation was hearing the same music," Falconi points out. "There wasn't such a fragmentation of radio formats. When a song came out -- rock or Motown -- it got played on Top 40."

The airwaves in 1967 embraced a huge range of styles, from Dionne Warwick's soft-pop "I Say a Little Prayer" to The Doors' rocking "Light My Fire."

"It was all mass appeal music," says West. "It didn't sound jarring. It sounded exciting."

Writing for the Edison Media Research group , media analyst Sean Ross says that in its own way this diversity has reinvigorated today's radio.

In his "Ross on Radio" column, which can be read at edisonresearch.com , Ross talks about how tunes from the late '60s are not only breathing new life into oldies stations, which are now focusing on the later '60s, but are also popping up at classic hits stations and even classic rock stations, which may be aimed at slightly younger listeners.

"There are certainly '60s songs that continue to resonate even for listeners who didn't grow up with them," he writes.

Locally, those looking to re-create the Summer of Love or experience it for the first time are in luck. "Boston oldies fans are in much better shape than other markets," Ross says. "There are only a few other markets that have both an extant oldies outlet and a classic hits station that reaches back to the pop side of the '60s."