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The Breeze vs. Sunny vs iHeart Radio Cafe

G

Gregg.

I see that iHeart, on its website and app, is offering several Soft Music services, The Breeze, Sunny and The iHeart Radio Cafe. They are a bit different.

On Sunny, there are quite a few jingles and there is some audio processing to make it sound louder. A group of singers give us jingles like "Sunny in the morning" and "The most music while you work, Sunny Radio." Some liners get played over the song intros. So someone is spending time programming this service. Its playlist is mostly 70s and 80s and is more uptempo than The Breeze, although I heard "Make It With You" by Bread and other songs that most Classic Hits-Oldies stations would avoid. And I haven't heard any harder rock songs. No Stones or Aerosmith. The service airs on 100.3 WNIC-HD2 Detroit. Website: Sunny Radio | iHeart

On The Breeze, there are no jingles. Just liners announced by the same voice guy. The music isn't always soft. We get songs like Cher "If I Could Turn Back Time" and Steve Perry "Oh, Sherrie." But most titles are soft. Most are from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Even a few recent songs from Adele and Ed Sheeran are on the playlist. A few 60s titles are there as well. I heard "Mrs. Robinson" from Simon & Garfunkel the other day. Website: The Breeze | iHeart

There's also a service called The iHeart Radio Cafe, originating from 107.7 WMOV-FM-HD2 Norfolk. It's also leans soft, but more like soft Classic Rock. Many of its songs were Top 40 hits, but most of the artists are known as album rock performers. "Mother & Child Reunion" by Paul Simon is playing now. It recently played "Hard Habit to Break" from Chicago, "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon and "Lowdown" from Boz Scaggs. Website: HeartRadio Café | iHeart

iHeart had put The Breeze on HD channels in about 40 markets. But it seems it is being deleted from some of those markets. This morning I tuned in 103.5 WKTU-HD3 New York and it's gone. Is this a transmitter issue, or is it gone for good? We'll see soon. It is always on 106.5 KSNE-HD2 Las Vegas, since that's the originating station for the website and app. Being on at least one broadcast station is required to get better rates from ASCAP and other music licensing services.

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Sunny's playlist I believe are the tunes discarded from WNIC-HD1 over the years, mostly from the 1960's and 70's (a handful of 80's songs as well). They even add Chrismas songs in late November through Christnas Day, old school style, adding songs per hour every week.
 
I have also noticed lately that IHeart has started to add commercials to Sunny and The Breeze. Both stations were previously commercial free.
 
Sunny rarely plays anything newer than the early 2000s, but strangely I heard them play Taylor Swift's "Love Story" this morning.

The Breeze is as stale as day-old bread. Its only reason for existing is so iHeart can claim ownership rights to the name and prevent a competitor from using it.

Café is similar to SiriusXM's "The Bridge" channel, which they refer to as "mellow classic rock".
 
>>>I have also noticed lately that IHeart has started to add commercials to Sunny and The Breeze. Both stations were previously commercial free.<<<

There are/were two versions of The Breeze. The one on HD Radio has/had no commercials. The one on the iHeart app and website does. I've only heard Sunny and the iHeart Cafe a few times, so I didn't notice if there were commercials.

BTW, the HD Radio version of The Breeze lists the legal I.D.s for all the affiliates, chopped up into 1/3 of the list, read three times each hour. They're still playing the I.D.s for stations that have deleted The Breeze. The voice hasn't re-recorded the I.D.s yet. Meanwhile, the app/website version just gives the legal I.D. for KSNE-HD2 Las Vegas.

I compared both versions once, with my HD radio playing WKTU-HD3 while my computer played the iHeart version. They each played the same songs in the same order but a few minutes apart. That was a year ago. More recently I did a quick comparison and the playlist was not duplicated anymore. I'm sure their libraries were the same, but with one playing commercials and the other not, I suppose the song order is not the same anymore.
 
I am listening now to iHeart's Yacht Rock Radio. Yes, another iHeart AC format. A similar playlist as heard on Sirius XM's "Yacht Rock" channel. But as RadioDog says, the voice on iHeart is someone with a British accent. I suppose he's a sea captain? Sirius uses someone who sounds like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island. He's good!

Here's some of what I heard on iHeart Yacht Rock on 6/1 in the afternoon...

"Changes in Latitude" - Jimmy Buffet
"Miracles" - Jefferson Starship
"Breezin'" - George Benson
"Lonely in Love" - Dan Fogelberg (I like this and haven't heard it in years!)
"Ventura Highway" - America
"Baby, I'm A Want You" - Bread
"Sailing" - Christopher Cross (makes sense!)

Good playlist! I guess Sirius XM never copyrighted the words "Yacht Rock"?

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Gregg. said:
I am listening now to iHeart's Yacht Rock Radio. Yes, another iHeart AC format. A similar playlist as heard on Sirius XM's "Yacht Rock" channel. But as RadioDog says, the voice on iHeart is someone with a British accent. I suppose he's a sea captain? Sirius uses someone who sounds like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island. He's good!

Here's some of what I heard on iHeart Yacht Rock on 6/1 in the afternoon...

"Changes in Latitude" - Jimmy Buffet
"Miracles" - Jefferson Starship
"Breezin'" - George Benson
"Lonely in Love" - Dan Fogelberg (I like this and haven't heard it in years!)
"Ventura Highway" - America
"Baby, I'm A Want You" - Bread
"Sailing" - Christopher Cross (makes sense!)

Good playlist! I guess Sirius XM never copyrighted the words "Yacht Rock"?

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Click to expand...
I have never understood why it's called "Yacht Rock", almost seems derogatory, like when Smooth Jazz is referred to as "Jacuzzi Jazz".

I prefer calling it Mellow Rock, which is a name used for awhile back in the 70's and early 80's on the old KNX and KCBS-FM, and KBBC-FM Phoenix. Probably won't make a comeback on the radio, but am glad I can stream it online at various sites.

I can also see some current artists that would be a nice fit, like Brandi Carlisle, Maggie Rogers, Mumford and Sons, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, and more. But now, I'm almost describing a AAA playlist.
 
>>>I can also see some current artists that would be a nice fit, like Brandi Carlisle, Maggie Rogers, Mumford and Sons, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, and more. But now, I'm almost describing a AAA playlist.<<<

Yes, that would not be found on Yacht Rock. The whole idea is that it is the softer rock songs from the 1970s and 80s. Nothing newer and certainly nothing current. It's not just tempo they're going for. It's also familiarity.

I guess Yacht Rock is a bit of a put down. But it seems to be commonplace. Audacy has a channel called "Jugger-Yacht." Accuradio has a channel called "Rock The Yacht." They have similar playlists but I don't think Audacy uses any voices and I know Accuradio does not.

I guess the concept is, this is what you'd hear on the speakers on a boat owned by someone who is very well-off and was in college in the 70s or 80s.
 
Gregg. said:
>>>I can also see some current artists that would be a nice fit, like Brandi Carlisle, Maggie Rogers, Mumford and Sons, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, and more. But now, I'm almost describing a AAA playlist.<<<

Yes, that would not be found on Yacht Rock. The whole idea is that it is the softer rock songs from the 1970s and 80s. Nothing newer and certainly nothing current. It's not just tempo they're going for. It's also familiarity.

I guess Yacht Rock is a bit of a put down. But it seems to be commonplace. Audacy has a channel called "Jugger-Yacht." Accuradio has a channel called "Rock The Yacht." They have similar playlists but I don't think Audacy uses any voices and I know Accuradio does not.

I guess the concept is, this is what you'd hear on the speakers on a boat owned by someone who is very well-off and was in college in the 70s or 80s.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Think of those guys in the Dockers commercial in the '90s, the one Jerry Seinfeld skewered on "Seinfeld." Frat boy types shooting the s*** while leaning casually in their Dockers, their dialogue punctuated with sly laughter and in-jokes.
 
Gregg. said:
>>>I can also see some current artists that would be a nice fit, like Brandi Carlisle, Maggie Rogers, Mumford and Sons, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, and more. But now, I'm almost describing a AAA playlist.<<<

Yes, that would not be found on Yacht Rock. The whole idea is that it is the softer rock songs from the 1970s and 80s. Nothing newer and certainly nothing current. It's not just tempo they're going for. It's also familiarity.

I guess Yacht Rock is a bit of a put down. But it seems to be commonplace. Audacy has a channel called "Jugger-Yacht." Accuradio has a channel called "Rock The Yacht." They have similar playlists but I don't think Audacy uses any voices and I know Accuradio does not.

I guess the concept is, this is what you'd hear on the speakers on a boat owned by someone who is very well-off and was in college in the 70s or 80s.
Click to expand...
Yes, the name Yacht Rock does make sense It's a nice soundtrack for the summer, boating, at the beach, by the pool. Playing songs by Jimmy Buffet, Bernie Higgins ((Key Largo), Christopher Cross (Sailing), really gives it the sun and sea vibe.
 
kevtronics said:
Sunny rarely plays anything newer than the early 2000s, but strangely I heard them play Taylor Swift's "Love Story" this morning.

The Breeze is as stale as day-old bread. Its only reason for existing is so iHeart can claim ownership rights to the name and prevent a competitor from using it.

Café is similar to SiriusXM's "The Bridge" channel, which they refer to as "mellow classic rock".
Click to expand...
The Breeze is playing newer music from the past decade like the 2010's. However whenever one talks about the Breeze being stale on the Sacramento and Bay Area editions they usually are referring to older songs from the 1970's and 1980's which is viewed as targeting older audiences.
 
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