Are there any big AM music stations anymore?

[Kent]

Has any other format died out as rapidly as beautiful music did in the 1980s?

Beautiful music died more slowly than you might think. Most large markets had multiple beautiful music stations in 1980. By 1985, most were down to one. The “Continuous Country” format introduced in the early 80’s was a beautiful music approach to country that capitalized on the softer country and urban cowboy sound that was popular at the time. KASE in Austin dumped beautiful music for ”Continuous Country” around 1982-83.

In 1980, I bet every rated market had a beautiful music FM in the top five. By 1990, the format was pretty much dead.

The last mass exodus from the format was in 1990. Despite the mass defections, that the format was dead was not a consensus. A handful of programmers and consultants thought people were bailing on the format too soon. Few stations adopted the format after 1990, but a handful tried. WKY in Oklahoma City picked up the format in 1990 after KKNG ditched it. KKJY in Albuquerque stuck with it for a few more years, too. The naysayers were ultimately correct, though. Beautiful music didn't have much life left. The audience was too old to sell, and the music library providers stopped maintaining the recordings.

KTXR 101.3 in Springfield, MO tried to keep its traditional sound until about ‘06 or ‘07, but, even then, it was mostly soft vocals by the late 90’s. Part of that was the lack of product available.

 

[gr8oldies]

Beautiful music died more slowly than you might think. Most large markets had multiple beautiful music stations in 1980. By 1985, most were down to one. The “Continuous Country” format introduced in the early 80’s was a beautiful music approach to country that capitalized on the softer country and urban cowboy sound that was popular at the time. KASE in Austin dumped beautiful music for ”Continuous Country” around 1982-83.



The last mass exodus from the format was in 1990. Despite the mass defections, that the format was dead was not a consensus. A handful of programmers and consultants thought people were bailing on the format too soon. Few stations adopted the format after 1990, but a handful tried. WKY in Oklahoma City picked up the format in 1990 after KKNG ditched it. KKJY in Albuquerque stuck with it for a few more years, too. The naysayers were ultimately correct, though. Beautiful music didn't have much life left. The audience was too old to sell, and the music library providers stopped maintaining the recordings.

KTXR 101.3 in Springfield, MO tried to keep its traditional sound until about ‘06 or ‘07, but, even then, it was mostly soft vocals by the late 90’s. Part of that was the lack of product available.

A rimshot took the WXTZ format and calls when the original WXTZ dropped the format and calls. It may have lasted a year on 93.9. WPTW-FM, Piqua OH had been Beautiful Music for the Northern Miami Valley for years; once WHIO-FM (99.1) became WHKO with a Country format, WPTW-FM became WCLR, hired a couple of the displaced WHIO-FM announcers and tried to market to Dayton. They flipped to A/C pretty quickly, then oldies. Now this facility IS WHIO-FM and has been simulcasting News-Talk for a number of years.

 

[Kent]

A rimshot took the WXTZ format and calls when the original WXTZ dropped the format and calls. It may have lasted a year on 93.9. WPTW-FM, Piqua OH had been Beautiful Music for the Northern Miami Valley for years; once WHIO-FM (99.1) became WHKO with a Country format, WPTW-FM became WCLR, hired a couple of the displaced WHIO-FM announcers and tried to market to Dayton. They flipped to A/C pretty quickly, then oldies. Now this facility IS WHIO-FM and has been simulcasting News-Talk for a number of years.

I remember WXTZ coming back on 93.9 after 103.3 dropped beautiful music. I thought it lasted longer at 93.9 than a year, but I wasn’t there when all that happened. Seems like 107.7 in Buffalo also picked up the B/EZ format after 96.1 dropped it in the early 90’s.

Park Communications would seem to be the company that stuck with beautiful music the longest. Seems like it kept the format on WDEF-FM, WPAT AM/FM, and KEZX until about 1994. Price Communications kept it on KNEV past 1990, too, or so I seem to remember. Seems like KNEV ditched beautiful music for soft AC under Price ownership before Citadel bought it.

KKJY had sister stations that also remained beautiful music until its owner started selling. Those sister stations were KJYE 92.3 in Grand Junction, which also used the “K-Joy” moniker and WFMZ 100.7 in Allentown.

Growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, Tulsa had two or three B/EZ stations in KRMG, KWEN, and KBEZ, the last of which lasted until about 1991. Can’t remember if all of them ran the format at the same time, though, which is why I say “two or three.” Seems like it ran the format about a year longer than KKNG. KWEN flipped to a soft rock based format only to go country a year or so later. It ran the “Continuous Country” formatics. Speaking of KKNG, WKY's flip destroyed it as a soft AC. It became “Mix 92.5, Four Decades of Favorites,” which never caught on. Despite killing KKNG, WKY struggled to make money. Seems like it kept the easy listening format until about 1994, though. DFW had at least KOAX 105.3 and KMEZ 100.3 in the early 80’s. KOAX blinked first and became soft AC KQZY “Cozy 105.3.” KMEZ swapped facilities with KNOK and became “EZ 107.5.” It kept the moniker but was soft AC by Summer 1990. In 1991, it became KCDU “CD 107.5” after Granum bought it and tried to recreate its WMMO there.

 

[cc333]

KAHM over in Prescott, AZ still plays a BM/Easy Listening format, don't they?

c

 

[semoochie]

I suspect they heard it, but in what amounts to a 'sales' environment like NAB, didn't want to acknowledge it. A colleague of mine sat down right after, put on the headphones, and pulled them off almost immediately: "He's right! What the Hell?".
The folks working at the booth turned around and started looking for more potential advocates.
AMAX was a total joke.

I played the sample for my tinnitus laden wife and she couldn't hear it at all but with all that noise going on in her head, I'm not surprised. I asked her about the 910 whine from when we were kids and she was completely unaware of it so either she's forgotten, she never noticed it or she's always had some problem with her hearing.

 

[vchimpanzee]

KAHM over in Prescott, AZ still plays a BM/Easy Listening format, don't they?

c

Yes, and I think it makes money because they had to start charging for their stream after Sirius/XM dropped Escape from radios and KAHM was overwhelmed. They never stopped charging even when Escape came back to radio after numerous protests.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Few stations adopted the format after 1990, but a handful tried. WKY in Oklahoma City picked up the format in 1990 after KKNG ditched it.

In Myrtle Beach SC a new owner took over WJYR "Joy 92" which by 2000 had quite a few vocals and instrumentals that were more contemporary, and Delilah had been on during the evening for several years. The new owner moved the soft AC (by today's definition; it was actually mainstream) to 92 because the signal was stronger. Standards was put on the all-sports AM which was 24 hours (sports remained at night) but had one of the area's worst signals (though a stronger station with a limited nighttime signal already had standards). People got mad!

WNMB lost its listeners to that other AC when it tried going more uptempo. The solution was to take over beautiful music, and it was mostly instrumentals, and traditional instrumentals. WEZV was number one among 12 plus! By 2006 instrumentals were about one third of all songs, and 2007 may have been the year instrumentals disappeared entirely. I know the station had gotten too uptempo but when the owner put soft AC on another station, WEZV sounded better. Soft AC didn't work so they switched that station to something else.

In 2017 WEZV changed to soft AC, though it was mostly soft AC anyway. But the change was really noticeable instead of a gradual move toward AC like it had been. Lots of protests and only one oldies station seemed to be attracting those who didn't like the change.

In early 2020 soft AC gave way to mainstream which meant lots of protests. Soft AC returned in late 2021 and it really is soft, unlike WDUV and WFEZ, with only a few high-energy songs that shouldn't really be on "soft" AC.

 

[KilowattKat]

One last attempt to keep Beautiful Music going, was to move it over to the AM dial. Ones that I know of that were moved over to a co-owned AM were KCTC 1320 Sacramento, 970 KBEE Modesto, WKY 930 Oklahoma City, and KMEO 740 Phoenix, which was already simulcasting the FM.

But none lasted for very long.

 

[luperm]

Yes, and I think it makes money because they had to start charging for their stream after Sirius/XM dropped Escape from radios and KAHM was overwhelmed. They never stopped charging even when Escape came back to radio after numerous protests.

I can't imagine that very many people are paying $10/month for the KAHM stream when for less than that, one could subscribe to SiriusXM (or many other services) and receive exponentially more content without annoying commercials.

 

[gr8oldies]

A rimshot took the WXTZ format and calls when the original WXTZ dropped the format and calls. It may have lasted a year on 93.9. WPTW-FM, Piqua OH had been Beautiful Music for the Northern Miami Valley for years; once WHIO-FM (99.1) became WHKO with a Country format, WPTW-FM became WCLR, hired a couple of the displaced WHIO-FM announcers and tried to market to Dayton. They flipped to A/C pretty quickly, then oldies. Now this facility IS WHIO-FM and has been simulcasting News-Talk for a number of years.

It may well have been a few years. I remember 103.3 Indianapolis becoming The Fox, simulcasting on 1430 AM, with a classic rock format (as the format was programmed in the late 80s). The "new" WXTZ seemed to go to at least 1992.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I can't imagine that very many people are paying $10/month for the KAHM stream when for less than that, one could subscribe to SiriusXM (or many other services) and receive exponentially more content without annoying commercials.

Probably. I don't like it that much compared to some other stations.

I haven't found any beautiful music I really like except on YouTube or other places where the stations were recorded back in the day for an hour or more. The various web sites have some good music but there are songs I don't like, which doesn't happen with those older recordings.

 

[johnbasalla]

WDLW 1380 in Lorain, Ohio calls themselves "Cool Cat Oldies". 500 watts day, 57 watts night from one tower. They also have an FM translator at 98.9 FM. I have a friend who works at another Lorain County station who said that "all the money goes into WDLW, instead of sister Country station WOBL", based in Oberlin. I listen to them occasionally, when I can, even if for no other reason than to hear what they are playing. They cover it all, from the 1950s through the early to mid 1980s and are not afraid to, occasionally, play a somewhat lesser hit. That can be exciting. They have former WMMS, Cleveland top radio personality Denny Sanders on in Afternoon Drive, and Beatles music expert Matt Slys hosts a sponsored weekend Beatles show on Saturday mornings at 10 a,m.
I hear a number of the same advertisers that also buy time on WEOL AM930 and 100.3 FM in Elyria, Ohio (with the tower and transmitter in Grafton, Ohio.

 

[cc333]

WDLW 1380 in Lorain, Ohio calls themselves "Cool Cat Oldies". 500 watts day, 57 watts night from one tower. They also have an FM translator at 98.9 FM ... I listen to them occasionally, when I can, even if for no other reason than to hear what they are playing. They cover it all, from the 1950s through the early to mid 1980s and are not afraid to, occasionally, play a somewhat lesser hit.

I could go for a station like that!

It'll never happen here in the SF Bay Area, though, unless I do it myself.

c

 

[cc333]

Probably. I don't like it that much compared to some other stations.

I haven't found any beautiful music I really like except on YouTube or other places where the stations were recorded back in the day for an hour or more. The various web sites have some good music but there are songs I don't like, which doesn't happen with those older recordings.

Same here.

I've found JIB On The Web to be a decent facsimile of the original format, as heard on WJIB Boston back when it was current. Their audio quality tends to be a bit inconsistent, and they use a moderately low bitrate. It sounds okay over speakers, but it's a bit "swishy" on headphones.

Serenade Radio is OK too, but they tend to talk a lot, and true Beautiful Music stations always minimized the talk except for top of hour news and the occasional ad or two. I'd say they're format is somewhat more like adult standards.

Aside from that, though, it seems well produced, and the audio quality is better and somewhat more consistent.

As for OTA stuff, there's nothing, at least not here.

c

 

[KilowattKat]

Probably. I don't like it that much compared to some other stations.

I haven't found any beautiful music I really like except on YouTube or other places where the stations were recorded back in the day for an hour or more. The various web sites have some good music but there are songs I don't like, which doesn't happen with those older recordings.

Have you tried KNCT, they are a "true" Beautiful Music station out of Killeen, TX. It's non-commercial with a big signal that covers Austin and Waco.

KNCT-FM

This website is home to KNCT-FM. KNCT.org has something for everyone including kids, parents, educators, and the general audience.

knct.org

 

[vchimpanzee]

Same here.

I've found JIB On The Web to be a decent facsimile of the original format, as heard on WJIB Boston back when it was current. Their audio quality tends to be a bit inconsistent, and they use a moderately low bitrate. It sounds okay over speakers, but it's a bit "swishy" on headphones.

I like some of the songs there but not all.

Serenade Radio is OK too, but they tend to talk a lot, and true Beautiful Music stations always minimized the talk except for top of hour news and the occasional ad or two. I'd say they're format is somewhat more like adult standards.


c

It's inconsistent musically. Also, even what they call "The Quiet Hour" isn't quiet. I still listen to it three times a week now that I know when it is on.

 

[cc333]

I like some of the songs there but not all.

I've found that I like pretty much most of the material I've heard, but I do like some more than others.

It's inconsistent musically. Also, even what they call "The Quiet Hour" isn't quiet. I still listen to it three times a week now that I know when it is on.

I agree. I like their material too, but their format does seem less consistent and more talk-oriented than I'd like for that kind of listening.

c

 

[Kelly A]

KAHM over in Prescott, AZ still plays a BM/Easy Listening format, don't they?

KAHM!!

 

[cc333]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of KAHM!! 😆

c

 

[tall_guy1]

Short answer: no.