Why are there so few soft AC stations around the country? I noticed a lot of the soft AC stations are in warm climates like south Florida and Southern California, where old people go in the winter. And of course, a few soft ACs on HD2s that are there probably because the program director likes the format. Just 15 years ago, many AC stations had the soft AC sound, rather than the Hot AC sound we have today.
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Why is soft AC so unpopular
- Thread starter nd2023
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A
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Speaking as a listener and fan of "soft rock" or whatever genre one wants to call what's played on Soft Adult Contemporary format stations, I think the problem is poor music selection. Those of us who like "soft" music aren't hung up on whether it was recorded this year, a decade ago, or four decades ago. We care about whether or not the songs sound pleasing to our ears. I suspect that many of us enjoy a good cover of a familiar song as much as we might like the original. I think many of us would like live-in-concert recordings of our favorite songs as much as the studio versions. I think we enjoy variety. When I share a CD version of a mix-tape of some of my favorite softer sounding songs with friends, they tend to play them often, and comment to me about how much they like the variety and mix of familiar and unfamiliar but still good sounding songs on them. Maybe a station that played that kind of music might succeed where one that slavishly sticks to tight playlist of recent soft-sounding "hits" fails. I think it might be interesting if someone actually tried it before the usual industry insiders insist that "Since we've always done it this way, no other way could possible work".
If you study the history of the Soft AC stations, many were originally Beautiful Music stations, but their audience got too old. So they decided to transition into a format that was similar in terms of tempo, but used original recordings rather than stringy covers. Now, the generation raised on the original Soft Rock format has aged itself out of the target demo. So it was time to freshen the format.
Soft AC was never limited to a particular era. In fact it was one of the first formats to play music from as many as three decades. But as programmers started mixing in more modern music, it started to change the sound of the format. So there still are stations with a softer approach to the music, but their names have changed from passive words like "Lite" to more active words like "Now." It still draws on a broad range of music in terms of eras and styles, but less like the old "elevator music."
Soft AC was never limited to a particular era. In fact it was one of the first formats to play music from as many as three decades. But as programmers started mixing in more modern music, it started to change the sound of the format. So there still are stations with a softer approach to the music, but their names have changed from passive words like "Lite" to more active words like "Now." It still draws on a broad range of music in terms of eras and styles, but less like the old "elevator music."
G
Groove1670
Guest
Sadly , times have changed. So has musical tastes. You'll find a few Soft AC's in markets with older demos.
About the first of the year WDDV Venice and WSDV Sarasota (Sunny 1320/1450) signed on with a soft hits format, but then again, that's
Florida.
http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/87286/sun-rises-over-floridas-doves/
http://www.sunnyradioam.com/main.html
https://www.facebook.com/SunnyRadioAM
Florida.
http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/87286/sun-rises-over-floridas-doves/
http://www.sunnyradioam.com/main.html
https://www.facebook.com/SunnyRadioAM
I guess as a 25 year old male I am way below the low end of soft AC's target demographic. My mom got me into liking this music from a young age, and it just stuck with me.
Now I like CHR and I'm well within its target demographic. But I don't like mixing AC and CHR on the same station.
Now I like CHR and I'm well within its target demographic. But I don't like mixing AC and CHR on the same station.
Same as OLDIES it is a Dying Format.
A
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It's ironic. "Soft Adult Contemporary" music is extremely popular. It sells well, and artists who perform that genre of music are in large demand for live appearances. True, they don't sell out stadiums and arenas, but any half-way decent solo act or band that specializes in softer sounding, melodic music has little trouble booking paying gigs. And yet, no radio station seems to have broken the code on how to exploit the popularity of that kind of music to turn it into good ratings. I submit that the problem lies with bad attempts to program that genre of music, not with the genre of music itself. Done right, music geared towards contemporary adults who prefer a "softer" sound should strike a very responsive chord. Especially if the programmers realize that Power Ballads are "soft" music.
The issue with soft AC is that it appeals to persons in the 55 and over demos, and can't be sold as there is little ad money being spent to reach seniors on the radio.
A few exceptions have been moderately successful. WDUV in the Tampa Bay area is fairly consistently #1 in 12+ ratings, but is seldom about 14th or 15th in 25-54 ratings. So its billings are about 15th in the market. It's sister WFEZ in Miami launched a few years ago with a similar soft AC approach, and was rewarded with almost non-existent 25-54 numbers... so they adjusted to be on the softer side of traditional AC but not so soft... and not so old demographically.
This is not about "doing it right" but about the fact that soft AC does not attract salable demos.
It's not really about ratings, but money. Back when soft rock replaced beautiful music, the stations were still getting great ratings. But the money for the format and the audience was drying up. The exact same thing happened for Smooth Jazz. The music is still popular, and the artists still tour, and still even win Grammy awards. But the format is toast on the radio because there's no advertising money in it.
A
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No, the issue with "Soft AC" is that it was designed with a far too narrow of a definition and focus, and because of that flawed definition, it only appeals to a small audience that advertisers don't crave. It's as if some guy back in the late 60's/early 70's decided that since elevator muzak (sorry, "beautiful music") was losing popularity, they had to engrave in stone a definition of what should be decreed from on high as the official, inviolate, unchangeable definition of "Soft AC". No one dare change it, or modify it, or develop it, or refine it. It was carved into slabs of marble several decades ago, and remains ever the same.
It will never, ever work, until someone tries it and does it right and it does work, at which point the experts will proclaim "I knew it all along".
You can talk yourself into believing whatever you want, but it's not always the truth.
Stations like W-Lite in Chicago had broadened the focus a lot during the past five years. They were changing it continually, adding more contemporary songs, and songs with some tempo. If you look through this message board, you'll find threads from people asking why certain songs are in the format. After a while, it gets to a point where the format needs to be replaced completely. No one wants to do it. These stations have invested a lot in keeping the name and imaging, but you have to know when to let go.
It's kind of like Goldilocks & the Three Bears. For some, the music mix is too hot. For others, the music mix is too cold. Finally, it's just right. You look at the demos of who the songs are appealing to, and make decisions from there. But this idea that a format and a group of songs are locked into place and never evolves is not in my experience. Formats are ALWAYS evolving, until they're done. Otherwise we wouldn't have jobs.
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I grew up with my family and relatives listening to "beautiful music" and that
is what I've generally listened to all my life. As they say on KAHM FM 102.1
and KAHM.Info, "The music you liked at 16, is the music you'll like all your life."
I've listened to KAHM for many, many years. The music they played back in
the 80's is NOT the same music they play today. For one, they play vocals
now. They also play more contemporary songs. With those changes and others,
they've remained a viable and dare I say, SUCCESSFUL radio station. They
have changed with the times but remained faithful to the genre/format.
Nothing is static, including music....
is what I've generally listened to all my life. As they say on KAHM FM 102.1
and KAHM.Info, "The music you liked at 16, is the music you'll like all your life."
I've listened to KAHM for many, many years. The music they played back in
the 80's is NOT the same music they play today. For one, they play vocals
now. They also play more contemporary songs. With those changes and others,
they've remained a viable and dare I say, SUCCESSFUL radio station. They
have changed with the times but remained faithful to the genre/format.
Nothing is static, including music....
Your conclusions seem to fail in a great part due to having faulty data.
"Beautiful Music" was on the ascendancy in the very time period you say it was losing popularity. The early 70's were when it propelled at least one FM to the top of the ratings in every market in the US and in many across the world.
"Beautiful Music" did not go into a decline until some period in the mid-80's when the demos had aged from the peak a decade before to the point that it was becoming a difficult sale in transactional markets. As TheBigA stated, some stations migrated to a more vocal version of the format which they called Soft AC. Others adopted what some called "the new Beautiful Music", Smooth Jazz. Others just jumped to more viable formats.
Many of those softer or "Lite" ACs did well for two decades, but they could no longer maintain that position in most markets due to changes in the tastes of the middle and older part of 25-54. "Soft" is not the mood that attracts listening that it once was, and music in general has become more rhythmic and up-tempo.
But your idea that nobody attempted change is just wrong. Gradual change in synch with the target demo is a constant with most stations and it was none the less so with smooth AC.
G
Groove1670
Guest
John Mellencamp, Men At Work, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper are your new AC superstars. anyone for Jack & Diane 
... but it is 16th in 25-54.
That's a comparable sales demo rank to soft AC WDUV in Tampa. And WDUV is around 15th in billings in the market, even though it is consistently #1 in 12+.
I still don't understand the psychology of "No Soft Music on The Radio." I understand that this generation of adults doesn't want Anne Murray and Barry Manilow. That was a previous generation. Each generation decides what relaxing music it wants. Maybe it was Sinatra and Dean Martin in the 60s, then it was Kenny Rogers and The Carpenters after that. But now, even current artists such as Gloria Estefan, Norah Jones and Sade are too soft for today's AC stations.
This generation wants no soft music at all. In fact, it doesn't even want a format that appears to be soft, even though life is getting more hectic, traffic is getting crazier, our jobs are more demanding. Nobody wants to relax. AC stations that used to refer to their music as soft or relaxing are running away from those labels.
During the Beautiful Music era, nobody talked over the songs. During the Soft AC era, they'd also play three or four songs in a row with nobody talking over the intros. Songs would be allowed to fade out before the DJ came on.
Now AC stations have DJs talking over the music, up to the post, like a Top 40. Jingles, even on stations that call themselves "Lite" or "Soft" or "Magic" are uptempo, with stingers. Almost no songs are played back to back with nothing between them.
What happened to the human need for some soft music to relax to, do an important work project to, read a book to? Let me light a fire in the fireplace, open a bottle of wine and listen to Pink or Nickelback, artists who probably don't even want to be considered soft or laid back?
This generation wants no soft music at all. In fact, it doesn't even want a format that appears to be soft, even though life is getting more hectic, traffic is getting crazier, our jobs are more demanding. Nobody wants to relax. AC stations that used to refer to their music as soft or relaxing are running away from those labels.
During the Beautiful Music era, nobody talked over the songs. During the Soft AC era, they'd also play three or four songs in a row with nobody talking over the intros. Songs would be allowed to fade out before the DJ came on.
Now AC stations have DJs talking over the music, up to the post, like a Top 40. Jingles, even on stations that call themselves "Lite" or "Soft" or "Magic" are uptempo, with stingers. Almost no songs are played back to back with nothing between them.
What happened to the human need for some soft music to relax to, do an important work project to, read a book to? Let me light a fire in the fireplace, open a bottle of wine and listen to Pink or Nickelback, artists who probably don't even want to be considered soft or laid back?
I think this goes to the foreground/background discussion. No one wants to be wallpaper. Everyone wants attention. I'm even hearing this in country music. Don't play too many ballads in a row. Especially in morning drive. Keep their attention. Give them a reason to listen. If you have on-air talent, use them.
If you mention those artists, then you are on the wrong board. Adult Contemporary is that way.John Mellencamp, Men At Work, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper are your new AC superstars. anyone for Jack & Diane
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