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'The Breeze' Blows into NYC

A

AlNYRadio

iHeart has placed the popular ‘The Breeze’ branding...on WLTW-HD3. (First time WLTW has ever had an HD3)

This is a move that iHeart has done in multiple markets, including WKSC-HD2 Chicago, KEGL-HD3 Dallas, and WJMN-HD2 Boston.

Do they really think someone in NYC will actually launch a Soft AC station? As discussed before, the options are limited and don’t make 100% total sense, especially for the ‘leading’ candidate, WPLJ.
 

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The Breeze is only popular in San Francisco mainly because they been around since 2016 but in other cities where Iheart has the breeze is yet to be determined.

Wait Sacramento and Philadelphia just had their Format's flipped last week for their editions of the Breeze. We have to wait for the December PPM's to determine if the Breeze is popular in other areas besides San Francisco. So far KISQ San Francisco (Iheart Flagship station for the Breeze) is third in the San Francisco PPM's after Entercom's KCBS Radio and NPR News/talk affiliate KQED.

https://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb009
 
AlNYRadio said:
Do they really think someone in NYC will actually launch a Soft AC station? As discussed before, the options are limited and don’t make 100% total sense, especially for the ‘leading’ candidate, WPLJ.
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More importantly, do they really think someone is actually listening to an HD3 that this would even matter.
 
ansky212 said:
More importantly, do they really think someone is actually listening to an HD3 that this would even matter.
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Here in Connecticut, iHeart has silenced its classic country feed on WWYZ-HD2. The display now reads "Artist: The Breeze, Title: The Breeze," so I think I know what's coming soon! Again, a soft AC rollout on an HD2, for which relatively few listeners have equipment capable of OTA reception (streaming is available) and which even fewer know exists. I don't get it. Why put it on main signals in only a few markets and bury it on HD in others? Maybe iHeart wants to see a few Philadelphia and Sacramento books (and maybe see how Entercom does in Detroit) before flipping more main signals of stations in its cluster? Or maybe The Breeze is destined for HD only in all markets where iHeart's music stations are all doing too well to flip? Hartford certainly fits the latter description.
 
I think it is more of a block against anyone using the "Breeze" branding in NYC. It doesn't really matter if anyone is listening.
 
mets18 said:
I think it is more of a block against anyone using the "Breeze" branding in NYC. It doesn't really matter if anyone is listening.
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I keep seeing this and it doesn't make sense to me. Why would iHeart care if someone else called its NYC station "The Breeze" if the only plan iHeart has for soft AC in the market is a largely-ignored HD3? Maybe just in case the "Breeze" concept transitions from an older-skewing niche into something advertisers will be interested in on a main signal? Or with an eye toward the day that streaming on mobile devices seriously cuts into FM radio's cume and TSL?
 
Whatever the reason for this being on the air, I am considering it a decent substitute for Lite FM, while they are in holiday music mode. The music is only slightly lighter, and there are no commercials. When there is a song I don't like, it is easy to go down one notch to the HD2, and listen to one of their tunes from the 1980's.
 
CTListener said:
I keep seeing this and it doesn't make sense to me. Why would iHeart care if someone else called its NYC station "The Breeze" if the only plan iHeart has for soft AC in the market is a largely-ignored HD3?
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In trademark battles, being first on the air makes a difference regardless of listenership. It gives them the option of using it themselves, or simply preventing anyone else from using the format and attacking WLTW.
 
TheBigA said:
In trademark battles, being first on the air makes a difference regardless of listenership. It gives them the option of using it themselves, or simply preventing anyone else from using the format and attacking WLTW.
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Yes. So we won’t see any (HD1) station use ‘The Breeze’ name. Entercom has done that in Detroit as we’ve seen. But that doesn’t mean that the format can’t get on another signal with a different branding. For example, ‘95.5 The Bay’, has a nice sound. Or ‘95.5 The Sound’, and ‘Easy 95’ for that matter. (You can substitute any frequency for 95.5)
 
After seeing a list of some of the songs that they play [from the format that's currently parked by iheart on another station in the US, the thread headline should just read "The Breeze Blows"
 
I think iHeart should drop the 80s channel on 106.7 HD2 since it is almost the same as WCBS-FM. The Breeze is a good alternative for Lite-FM listeners who don't want to listen continuously to Christmas music.
 
AlNYRadio said:
Yes. So we won’t see any (HD1) station use ‘The Breeze’ name. Entercom has done that in Detroit as we’ve seen. But that doesn’t mean that the format can’t get on another signal with a different branding. For example, ‘95.5 The Bay’, has a nice sound. Or ‘95.5 The Sound’, and ‘Easy 95’ for that matter. (You can substitute any frequency for 95.5)
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Calm soothing female voice: We Play Just your Easy Favorites, on WPLJ, Easy 95 point 5. (Never mind that in a PPM market, the call letter/frequency imaging is unnecessary.)
 
JBraddock said:
Calm soothing female voice: We Play Just your Easy Favorites, on WPLJ, Easy 95 point 5. (Never mind that in a PPM market, the call letter/frequency imaging is unnecessary.)
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Call letter and dial position imaging are very necessary in PPM... for different reasons... but equally compelling.

We know in PPM that average listening spans are around 15 minutes. So every time a listener stops listening there is as chance they will not come back to your station the next time. Reminding them of who you are and where you are is critical so that, if they liked what they had been hearing, they will think first of your station when they come back.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Call letter and dial position imaging are very necessary in PPM... for different reasons... but equally compelling.

We know in PPM that average listening spans are around 15 minutes. So every time a listener stops listening there is as chance they will not come back to your station the next time. Reminding them of who you are and where you are is critical so that, if they liked what they had been hearing, they will think first of your station when they come back.
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Was at odds with GM of an FM station I had applied at 10+ years ago. Except for legal top of the hour ID, he did not want the call letters of the station mentioned at all. They are a low-wattage station at the left of the dial that was owned by a school system and listener supported, alternative 6 days of the week, oldies on Sunday run separately by another group. Where I lived at the time [and whenever I drove west away from their signal] there were two other stations on the same frequency, one further west, one further south. At times they are battling it out for signal supremacy. My beef was that you would WANT the station call letters mentioned ASAP so people weren't getting you confused with the other two stations when it came to your fund raising spiels that they do twice a year. Not very good if you're just giving out your frequency and they are sending their money to either WBBB or WCCC because that's the call letters they heard, thinking they're supporting you, because YOUR station didn't want to use the call letters.
 
This is a smart move by iHeart.

First, I place the odds of iHeart flipping any of its analog FM signals in NYC at zero. All are very successful!

However, if Soft AC takes hold in some of the major cities that recently adopted the format, and if 102.7's ratings remain stuck in neutral (I don't know if core demo ratings have risen or not since the recent revamp), the next logical move would be for Entercom to flip that signal to Soft AC.
 
Barry said:
Linked below is an article on the recent success of the soft A/C format in several major markets. Perhaps it should be strongly considered for an underperforming station such as WPLJ (as a post above suggested).
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No where in that article does it talk about profitability of the format.

Just because a station gets good ratings doesn't mean they can translate ratings to sales success.
 
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