Soft Rock (AC) vs Variety Hits vs Classic Hits

[Lotologist492]

I know WRAL "Mix" is AC but I'm not aware of another one in Raleigh/Durham.

WMAG comes in great in Raleigh although it may be out of Greensboro. The two stations (WRAL and WMAG) compliment each other in that one carries John Tesh and the other has Delilah, two radio programs with no presence in Atlanta.

 

[davideduardo]

I guess what I am trying to zero in on here is why today's AC stations - which lean HOT by popular definition - don't mix in love songs which are in fact popular with millenials and gen-Xers. I'm not saying mix in classic hits or a bunch of 70's/80's stuff, but at least turn down the heat with a few more love songs on the play list and I think that would define soft-AC, at least by today's standards.

Stations in markets as large as Atlanta test songs against their target audience... both the ones they play and ones that they want to find out about. Obviously, the songs your are referring to did not pass.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Or Bonneville's WRFM in NYC, which became WNSR (New York's Soft Rock) in 1986. It's now Power 105.

Most Beautiful Music stations kind of segued to AC around 1990 but maintained the same overall formatics and staff. The change from WRFM to WNSR was a flat-out format flip and happened a few years prior to the widespread evolution from Beautiful Music to AC. I was living in NY at the time, and WNSR had a totally different sound from WRFM.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

In Steve Goss' acceptance speech at the AIR Awards a number of years ago, he talked about the days when Peach 94-9 was a Beautiful Music station using Shulke. He said dead air was programmed into the format. After a music segment ended, the announcer was told to wait 3 seconds before talking. The same held true going into a music segment.

In the early 70's, Shulke stations got huge 12+ numbers in lots of markets and were often #1.

 

[jabba17]

In Steve Goss' acceptance speech at the AIR Awards a number of years ago, he talked about the days when Peach 94-9 was a Beautiful Music station using Shulke. He said dead air was programmed into the format. After a music segment ended, the announcer was told to wait 3 seconds before talking. The same held true going into a music segment.

In the early 70's, Shulke stations got huge 12+ numbers in lots of markets and were often #1.

Here's a sample of BM/EZ Peach, complete with the 3-second pauses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQF3XKvwKs

And, while we're at it, a spot for BM/EZ WSB-FM 98 containing a sample of music:
https://youtu.be/_qArDJMN0HE?t=48

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Here's a sample of BM/EZ Peach, complete with the 3-second pauses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXQF3XKvwKs

And, while we're at it, a spot for BM/EZ WSB-FM 98 containing a sample of music:
https://youtu.be/_qArDJMN0HE?t=48

Looking for the like button.

 

[TheBigA]

I guess what I am trying to zero in on here is why today's AC stations - which lean HOT by popular definition - don't mix in love songs which are in fact popular with millenials and gen-Xers.

You mean like Adele Hello? B98 is playing it. You mean like Charlie Puth See You Again (without the rap?) B98 is playing it. You have to be specific.