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Why did AC stop being soft?

John Tesh was on Star 92.1, which also ran Delilah, in Myrtle Beach SC. I would have found him annoying but he didn't really talk that much. They dropped Delilah, possibly because the music no longer matched, and I think he's on a different station too.

On SNL the other night I heard "Nothing from Nothing" by Billy Preston. Not soft but I like it.
 
In the Scr/W-B radio market, Magic 93 used to carry Delilah a few years ago but has since dropped it, while on the other hand the former Lite 94.3 carried Tesh during the morning hours. The latter has since flipped to talk.

Before Magic 93 carried Delilah, they had its local love songs show ran during nights right after their 70's at 7 hour. This was when they were owned by Citadel.

So far, no stations around here neither have Tesh or Delilah, but another AC station 45 miles from me still runs Delilah during evenings. I can receive it with a weak signal on my portable radio.
 
CurtisNEPA said:
The morning hours are the worst in my opinion, and in some cases they don't start playing music until like 10am.
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That's when I hate radio chatter the most. Obviously the DJ's are trying to get listeners pepped up for the morning but all these silly games they play just get on my nerves.
 
In a mall where I was yesterday, it was bad enough that I had several frustrating situations to deal with, but the music really got on my nerves. I finally concluded the songs were so old that I wasn't actually hearing AC but some form of classic hits. The worst song had the lyrics "she moves in mysterious ways". Just before I left things got better. "Too Shy" isn't too bad, though blasting from those speakers it wasn't good. "New Kid in Town" was the last song I heard before leaving. I'm almost convinced I could accept that one on a standards station. I know I'd be fine with it on classic country.
 
I forget which thread it was, but I actually thought Katy Perry's "Roar" was the least annoying of her songs. That's before I heard the mess in my dentist's waiting room. Must have been a much more easygoing version I had heard on TV.

Once the dentist was ready for me I told the hygienist the noise had to go. The dentist explained how that worked. Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" had followed Katy and I forget what was next.

The recorded station ID included "Songs that make you feel good." They obviously didn't ask me.
 
Much like Music Lover, I hate most morning zoos as well. I don't care about Kardashian gossip, I don't care about most viral videos and I don't care about stupid fart jokes. Just play some darn music! That's what Jack/Bob FMs are for...music in the rush hour without personalities.

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
Much like Music Lover, I hate most morning zoos as well. I don't care about Kardashian gossip, I don't care about most viral videos and I don't care about stupid fart jokes. Just play some darn music! That's what Jack/Bob FMs are for...music in the rush hour without personalities.

-crainbebo
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Are you even in the target demo, though?
 
I'm in the demo. Late 30's and mom of a toddler. However, I grew up knowing only the Soft AC format. I never encountered any harder-edged AC's until the 2000's. Because the Soft AC format had a mellow presentation, it helped with my stress relief.
 
TheBigA said:
How about when it's the same format, but now playing different artists? That's what has happened with AC. In the 90s, it played artists from the 70s. Now, 20 years later, it's playing artists from the 90s. Same format, different artists.
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Not necessarily. AC used to be very ballad heavy and had a much softer and in many instances, much wider playlist. A lot of AC stations today don't really play all that much from the '90s anyway. It's mostly the latter 2000s and the '10s.

I think some of it can be attributed to the changing tastes of the demographic that AC targets. The older format targeted primarily baby boomers. Today's AC targets primarily GenX and older Millennials. I am guessing ballads have fallen out of favor with the format's target demographic.
 
bchristi said:
Not necessarily. AC used to be very ballad heavy and had a much softer and in many instances, much wider playlist. A lot of AC stations today don't really play all that much from the '90s anyway. It's mostly the latter 2000s and the '10s.
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My quote was responding to a post who said today's AC is a different format. I said it's the same format with different music. It's like some people feel today's country radio format isn't country anymore. That's their opinion, but it's actually the same format with different music and artists. At one time, country was very male targeted. Today it's very female targeted. Not a different format, but a different target using different music.
 
I think people are more "traditional" than we give them credit for. AC stations change to move with the "times" by making their product more "rhythmic." However, I think a lot of listeners go to it to hear artists they don't hear on other stations like contemporary artists like Michelle Branch, Lifehouse, Natasha Bedingfield, Sara Bareilles, Daughtry, as well as standards like Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Imbruglia, Sting, Rod Stewart, ect. Some AC stations I think are actually pretty well-done and attract a lot of listeners. However, I do not think the AC in Kansas City is very good once Steel City took over KC102.1. For example, two songs in a row were "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne and "Back in Black" by AC/DC. They also play worn out recurrents like "Party Rock Anthem" and "Ain't it Fun" and their ratings show it; they again got a 2.2 in the market share. However, this does not mean they are faultering in their target demo of women 25-44, and since I am not in that demo or work there, I really can't comment. However, I sometimes think media outlets try to push the "hip new thing!" on listeners and on TV viewers, though the audience is more grounded. These are just my two cents, though.
 
tall_guy1 said:
I think people are more "traditional" than we give them credit for. AC stations change to move with the "times" by making their product more "rhythmic." However, I think a lot of listeners go to it to hear artists they don't hear on other stations like contemporary artists like Michelle Branch, Lifehouse, Natasha Bedingfield, Sara Bareilles, Daughtry, as well as standards like Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Imbruglia, Sting, Rod Stewart, ect. Some AC stations I think are actually pretty well-done and attract a lot of listeners. However, I do not think the AC in Kansas City is very good once Steel City took over KC102.1. For example, two songs in a row were "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne and "Back in Black" by AC/DC. They also play worn out recurrents like "Party Rock Anthem" and "Ain't it Fun" and their ratings show it; they again got a 2.2 in the market share. However, this does not mean they are faultering in their target demo of women 25-44, and since I am not in that demo or work there, I really can't comment. However, I sometimes think media outlets try to push the "hip new thing!" on listeners and on TV viewers, though the audience is more grounded. These are just my two cents, though.
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Are there any AC stations still doing the old format in midsize to large markets that are doing well in the ratings?
 
tall_guy1 said:
Ocean 104.7 in Cope Cod is one of the top stations in the area. Also, Easy 93 in Miami is a top rated station there.
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Both have heavy concentrations of 55+. I'm sure David E. has info on how well these stations bill, but while they may bill better there than they would in markets with fewer retirees, their ad revenue is most likely much lower than stations that are targeting the younger listeners in Miami and on Cape Cod.
 
Yes, same with WDUV (105.5 The Dove) in Tampa and WFEZ (Easy 93.1) in Miami. These stations still airs the traditional AC format. Thus, they have a heavy concentration of 55 and up.
 
andrewduong77 said:
Yes, same with WDUV (105.5 The Dove) in Tampa and WFEZ (Easy 93.1) in Miami. These stations still airs the traditional AC format. Thus, they have a heavy concentration of 55 and up.
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WDUV has moved to a hybrid of a traditional AC and a modern one because the older demos were killing them in sales. Since then, they moved into the top 10 in 25-54 and billing should follow.

WFEZ started out as a really soft AC, but they soon realized that Miami is not the market for old-leaning non-ethnic stations. With only 30% of the market being non-Hispanic white, and the retirement community being a much lower percentage of the market than decades ago, they updated the format so it is just on the softer side of WLYF rather than being so 55+.
 
I see, that's why WLYF is starting to ditch many 70s titles since 2014 just like other major market AC that had phased out 70s totally (like KMGL and KODA) or spinning one 70s every 3-4 hours like WLTW. Not to also mentioned that WLYF's Classic Hits sister WMXJ aren't playing much 70s, despite dropping most 60s couple years ago, well more than half of their playlist is consisted of 80s while most major market Classic Hits focus half 70s and half 80s.

Back in 2011, WMXJ as Majic 102.7 was playing real oldies just like WLS-FM with mostly 60s and 70s with some 80s while most Classic Hits at the time were heavy on 70s with a few 60s and 80s. Over 2012 and 2013 they had multiple slogan changes, a logo change, and a rebrand to Magic 102.7 (dropping the "j" in favor of "g" for "Magic"), they dropped more 60s and added more 80s in rotation, and leaned more towards some Classic Rock tunes. Entercom purchased Lincoln Financial Media stations in Dec of last year. On new year day, WMXJ got re-branded as 102.7 The Beach with a slogan as "More Music, More Fun" and they focused really heavy on 80s. Thus they also play very few titles from the 90s like "Enjoy The Silence" (even WOCL airs that song) and "Black Or White" and they still air very few titles from the 60s like "Light My Fire" and "Come Together".

Back in 2011, WLYF were playing a fair amount of 70s along with most other AC, but most of their music at the time were almost like WDUV and WFEZ now unlike any other AC around the nation. WLYF starts to evolved little by little since 2014, they start phasing out some 70s titles through a playlist update in 2014 and went to playing between one 70s an hour and every other hour. They phased out even more 70s titles through last year playlist update and went to playing three to four 70s a day, pretty much like WLTW. At the same time, they are playing a little less 80s than they did before. Around four to six 80s an hour much like WLTW. Though based on the 70s, 80s, and 90s titles they're playing, they're still leaning toward the soft AC songs which still put WLYF next to WFEZ like "The Next Time I Fall", "Cherish" by Kool & The Gang, and "On The Wings Of Love". But, prior to last year playlist update, they added more edgy songs like "I Gotta Feeling", "The Promise", and "The Glamorous Life" that many AC had been playing lately in the past couple of years.

Therefore even WLYF is changing a little bit, it's hard to believe now that WLYF would always stay between Soft AC and Mainstream AC knowing that WFEZ is starting to sounds more like WLYF. WLYF will have to lean a little more toward Mainstream AC to remain competitive with WFEZ and to avoid overlapping too much 70s and 80s that their sister Classic Hits WMXJ had been leaning on. Thus, Miami had lost a Hot AC/AC hybrid, WFLC (97.3 The Coast), a couple years ago, leaving WMIA (My 93.9) as the only Hot AC in the market, so WLYF is trying to fill in the gap between Mainstream AC and Hot AC by leaning a little more toward Mainstream AC.
 
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