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Soft AC to a harder AC

J

JH_Radio

Here we go again.
WSNI did this starting soft and going harder.
Now the breeze.
SO how come?
How come they start off soft and go harder every single time?
I am surprised at how much harder and newer the breeze was when I tuned in the other day.
Is it softer in the morning, maybe ? Softer and older?
 
Some of the newer songs played include, "Holy" by Justin Bieber, "Blinding Lights" by The Weekend, "Circles" by Post Malone, "Sucker" by The Jonas Brothers, and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus.
 
This observation was made last week in the June PPM thread. The softer the music, the older the demo.

So they're hoping to tamp things down a bit with some newer songs with tempo.
 
JH_Radio said:
Here we go again.
WSNI did this starting soft and going harder.
Now the breeze.
SO how come?
How come they start off soft and go harder every single time?
I am surprised at how much harder and newer the breeze was when I tuned in the other day.
Is it softer in the morning, maybe ? Softer and older?
Click to expand...
That’s…checks math…two.

Demos. Profitability. Business. 😀
 
Leaning older, or younger or whatever, is kind of broad. Wanting to bring the age down somewhat doesn’t necessarily mean not still leaning a bit older than B101, if it can still make the money it needs to.
 
It's not just those two examples, but has happened a number of times here in Philadephia, and I suspect elsewhere.

In the late 60s, the old WFIL-FM was a soft-rock station. Once sold and changed to WIOQ, the station morphed into a progressive rock format, by way of harder top-40 stuff.

WMGK started in 1975 as pretty sleepy, near background station playing Ian and Sylvia mixed with popular John Denver tracks. By the early 80s, it had added harder, more popular songs, from acts like Styx and dumped the folkie stuff. By the 90s it went harder again by become a edgier 70s station, then to Classic Hits, and finally full-fledged Classic Rock.

WDVR was the sleepiest of all sleepy stations, later renamed WEAZ EZ-101 while adding some vocal tracks, then it competed directly with MGK, SNI, and Kiss 100, by dumping the instrumentals. It's way "harder" than the station used to be.

Heck even WYSP stood for "Your Station In Philadelphia" with its beautiful music format, but wasted no time going right to progressive rock.

Down where I am in Florida, a Tampa station known as "the Dove" played old "magic" style stuff when I moved down here. The older population ate it up and regularly gave them double-digit ratings, trouncing the market with the most semi-warm bodies. Over the last five years or so, out went the sleepier songs, and in came the harder stuff to the point where the dentists' offices and car shops complained. The numbers are now lower - I suspect the demo is a bit too.
 
Ok but really the 60s, 70s and 80s…heck the 90s…aren’t relevant here well into the 21st century. And “harder stuff” is a bit much to describe the likes of some of what’s cited. The existence of a beat isn’t really hard music. As audiences age and change so will the music. Thankfully.
 
The trend though, throughout the years, is mostly always softer to harder. I was merely trying to add some evidence to the OP's point. You may do with it what you want, if you don't feel its relevant.
 
I remember when the Breeze first launched they played "Fanny" by the Bee Gees and "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul. I didn't think those type of songs would last long as they were dumped a few years earlier by WOGL in favor of younger demos.
 
Another Soft AC "The Breeze" station, 107.1 WWZY on the Jersey Shore, switched to Hot AC years ago because "the demos were too old". It was a disaster and the ratings tanked. Then they switched to Classic Rock, and the ratings doubled. If "the demos are too old" for Soft AC, how are they not too old for Classic Rock?

Anyway, I think WISX has now softened their playlist a little bit again, and brought back more '70s music, compared to a week or two ago. And they're giving away tickets for an Air Supply concert.
 
The demos and the age of the music aren't perfect correlated. If enough younger people listen to classic rock to make it advertiser friendly, while they avoid soft AC...that's just the way it goes, perhaps.
 
Someone sees a business case... My local Hallmark franchise went under in 2018, and a few months later a new franchisee took over the store.
 
I don’t like how 106.1 The Breeze sounds lately. I noticed that they got rid of their afternoon 80’s hour, which I liked. Now it just sounds like another B101.
 
Granted, demo ratings may have justified the winds shifting towards mainstream AC, but I cannot help but notice that "Breeze" stations like KISQ and KBEB have made it work in their markets. Yet the same cannot be done in Philly.
 
victorres43 said:
Granted, demo ratings may have justified the winds shifting towards mainstream AC, but I cannot help but notice that "Breeze" stations like KISQ and KBEB have made it work in their markets. Yet the same cannot be done in Philly.
Click to expand...
In so many years past, I would have replied and said "Philly is different because no one can unseat the almighty B101." But WBEB is not quite the powerhouse they once were so I guess that's not what it's all about, Alfie. Maybe there just really isn't an audience here anymore for Soft AC. If I were an advertiser looking to reach older females, I'd just buy at B101.1 (And I wonder if I'd get more bang for my buck with WDAS-FM, as opposed to WISX.) And I assume I could reach older males more easily with WMGK and/or WIP. The only reason I can think of to buy ads on WISX instead of on B101.1 is because they would cost less. "You get what you pay for" is a phrase that comes to mind.

Also, it's possible we're all overthinking this. The Breeze might be on 106.1 simply because it's cheaper to run than what they had on there before; they might be selling it strictly as a package deal with others of their stations; and outside of that, they might be thinking about WISX a lot less than we are.

Useless fact: The Breeze and B101.1 are tied--and in fact, they're both tied with Alt 104.5--in the Atlantic City-Cape May book.
 
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