This morning they played Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" and Barbra Streisand's "A Woman In Love". Over the weekend I heard them play Dionne Warwick's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again". So they're not afraid to be older and softer than what people here might expect.
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106.1 The Breeze
- Thread starter Joeyjboy
- Start date
When we learned that Soft AC was the plan for 106.1, I remember thinking 'Well, it's not going to be like "Barry Manilow/Barbra Streisand" Soft AC.' But here we are...and they're playing them both! Though to be fair, the Streisand song isn't from the '70s (just barely). It was released in 1980. I still think that's getting too old. Unless it's a still relevant hit that tests huge, I don't think anything from before 1983-ish is a great idea. Turning off the younger end for the sake of the older end is a suicidal move.
That's what they seem to be doing in Seattle too. My only guess is they're using the older music to attract listeners, drive up the ratings, then settle into a more balanced playlist in a few months.
Do you subscribe to the theory that one "bad song" -- in this case, a song that the money-demo listener's mother likely grew up liking rather than the money-demo listener herself -- will immediately send an appreciable number of desirable young listeners to another station, never to return? Does playing about 20 percent '70s music really put the playlist out of "balance"? The Breeze can't go too uptempo for fear of not being seen as much of an alternative to what now passes for traditional AC. Pre-1983 was full of pop hits that, stylistically, weren't far off from the softer mid- and late '80s songs that make up much of The Breeze playlist -- are people Corporate America considers more gullible to a sales pitch that much more resistant to "A Woman in Love" than to Starship's "Sara" or Atlantic Starr's "Secret Lovers"?
It depends. In the car, it's very easy to change the station. It requires a bit more energy to do it at home. There are those Achy Breaky songs that just cause people to cringe. But if we're talking about background music, which is what this is, you might be able to play songs that you wouldn't play normally. I hear songs in the elevator or stores that I'd never sit through if I was in my car.
As I've said, there are two things at work: Attracting enough listeners to sell, and then getting the right mix of demos to work. They seem to be focusing on the first part now.
E
eyeconic
Guest
They are my wife's favorite station now, has it on all the time. I just told her about it because nobody knows they exist. I notice the tunes I heard have not been played in this market for over 20 or more years, many "oh wow" cuts. Sounds more like a we play anything station then BEN does.. She is 42 and always had WOGL on, and won't listen to 98.1 now, so this makes me think the Breeze is going to hurt WOGL the most, just my observation, time will tell. She loves the station, I might even get lucky tonight for turning her on to it, thanks IHeart 
And as I said earlier, WOGL has been one of the things keeping WDAS from being #1. If this station can shave a point off WOGL, it gets WDAS one step closer.
I don't think this applies anymore. Each station kinda has to be pigeonholed into a format/type/name but what is actually presented on the air can be whatever serves the intended goal. In the case of a Soft AC in Philly, where they pretty clearly need to carve a niche between WOGL and B101, I believe they can include plenty of uptempo stuff as long as it tests well. I'd be aiming squarely at the 30-40-year-old listeners while including stuff for the 40-50-year-old listeners that won't turn off the former group. And even if the library were exactly what I'm suggesting, it'd still be softer/older than B101 so everyone can feel free to call it "Soft AC."
They are my wife's favorite station now, has it on all the time. I just told her about it because nobody knows they exist. I notice the tunes I heard have not been played in this market for over 20 or more years, many "oh wow" cuts. Sounds more like a we play anything station then BEN does.. She is 42 and always had WOGL on, and won't listen to 98.1 now, so this makes me think the Breeze is going to hurt WOGL the most, just my observation, time will tell. She loves the station, I might even get lucky tonight for turning her on to it, thanks IHeart
One of the reasons I think WBEB should not react musically to this new station is that if anyone has reason for concern, it'd be WOGL. But at the same time, unless things really change at The Breeze, I'm not convinced any station should be exactly sweating just yet.
But that's not what they're doing. At least not now. Things may change in a few months.
30-something female listeners are generally CHR and AC / Hot AC listeners.
The hole, if one truly exists in each market, is roughly 40-64. The salable part, of course, is 40-54, and the rest is spillage. The hole is for the most part created by the changes in the music AC and Hot AC have been playing in the last decade which has had the effect of making such stations younger in appeal and, thus, less satisfying to the top end of the sales demos.
Another factor is that the bulk of the 35-54 audience today grew up on contemporary radio that played a lot of gold... often going back 8 to 12 years. So a teen in 1980 was hearing quite a dose of 70's music on their local CHR... and that explains why these "Breeze" stations can successfully play some 70's songs in the mix without being too "old".
Or country. Women in their mid-late 30s are the target for WXTU. But any currents-based format works, including WDAS.
Good point. I should have said "in the area of pop music" as there are plenty of female listeners to country, urban, regional Mexican and Spanish language CHR / Hot AC as well.
An "interesting" strategy.
Surely you just. Even Hot AC stations are still playing some pre-1983 music, like Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" (released in 1979, became a hit in 1980).
And there were a whole bunch of songs from the early '80s (or even older) which were re-released in the late '80s, which we have a whole thread about: https://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?553207-the-late-80s-re-release-craze
I'm really not kidding. "Rock With You," however is one of the songs I'm talking about that can and should still be included of course. And it doesn't turn off the older end of the demo. "Woman In Love," for example, is exactly on the same level and it certainly would turn off a lot of the younger end.
Had a dentist’s visit today...sure enough, the Breeze was a blowing.
Next up: an elevator near you.
Next up: an elevator near you.
Bad memories for me. I had to have root canal work done in the '80s and had the procedure done under nitrous. These many years later, I can still remember the way "Holding Back the Years" and "True" sounded in the background -- watery, distorted, each note seeming to last 10 seconds, each song 10 minutes.
By the way, when was the last time you were in an elevator that actually had music, any kind of music, piped in? I can't even recall when I was in one last. Background music seems to be limited these days to retail and dentist-office settings. My ophthalmologist plays ancient tapes of miscellaneous background music (light classical, show tunes, standards, soft rock) left to him by his predecessor in the practice more than a dozen years ago, but none of the other doctors I see bother with music at all.
A couple of doctors I see have the radio playing in the office area, so you can hear it as you check in, etc. At the eye doc, they have Sirius XM playing quietly. Most of the time you can't hear it in the exam rooms unless you're alone waiting for someone. With any voice talking, it's pretty much inaudible.
As a curiosity- WISX flipped to the wind gust or whatever back on the 17th of Nov if I remember correctly. Now, it's the fifth. They had to have played 10,000 songs by now right? They can't be commercial free much longer. They gotta start playing some spots soon to make some sort of cash flow.
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