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Does anyone besides me think AC today is a joke?

The demos haven't changed at all. The people making up the demos have. Apparently, there are no longer as many with "ballad-driven tastes" as one might expect.

If that is true, why is that? andrewduong77 wrote about how KMGL changed its playlist drastically since 2011, but I do not see how something like that could happen so drastically. It seems like in 2010, the "old" format was still intact, but 5 years later it is not? This puzzles me.....
 
If that is true, why is that? andrewduong77 wrote about how KMGL changed its playlist drastically since 2011, but I do not see how something like that could happen so drastically. It seems like in 2010, the "old" format was still intact, but 5 years later it is not? This puzzles me.....

AC is a more female-targeted format. While they may enjoy a nice ballad from time-to-time, they also like to get up, dance and feel young again, especially when the economy is doing better, as it has over the last 5 years.

I think men tend to be more nostalgic, more content with sitting and growing older, than women. Look at all the father's day cards showing dads lying on the couch. You don't see that on mother's day cards. Doesn't that explain why gold-based formats lean more rock and attract more men whereas current-based formats lean more rhythmic and attract more women?
 
If that is true, why is that? andrewduong77 wrote about how KMGL changed its playlist drastically since 2011, but I do not see how something like that could happen so drastically. It seems like in 2010, the "old" format was still intact, but 5 years later it is not? This puzzles me.....

I think it's more a matter of waiting for most of the listeners to be in sync with the younger end, at least to some extent. If dramatic change was ongoing, it would have more effect on the bulk of the audience than catching up quickly to where the station should be. To which part are you referring when you ask, "Why is that?"? The first and second sentence or the third?
 
I think it's more a matter of waiting for most of the listeners to be in sync with the younger end, at least to some extent. If dramatic change was ongoing, it would have more effect on the bulk of the audience than catching up quickly to where the station should be. To which part are you referring when you ask, "Why is that?"? The first and second sentence or the third?

Kind of a combination of both, really. There were a lot of ballad-driven songs last and this decade, so it's not like they are lacking in material they could use and I'm sure those artists have plenty of fans (even many '80s and '90s babies) who grew up listening to them, as well as current artists they could include (James Blunt, Norah Jones, Train, Ed Sheeran, ect.) who likely have many fans? Also on the flip side, why weren't uptempo songs like "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne or "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira used last decade? (those songs sound like they would fit "today's" mold, but not yesterday's.) I just don't understand what is changing that AC stations would have to "reinvent" themselves?
 
What's "used" is what the listeners say they want via careful, methodical research. What "was" is irrelevant. What "is" matters.
But there "is" still a lot of music being made that is more ballad-driven, many of which make the charts. It seems like AC stations are hopping on what "was" relevant on CHRs in 2009 (more rhythmic-sounding music) to try and sound "edgy" and "relevant."
 
They're sounding the way their target audience it to sound. What they want to hear. Maybe they're fickle. Maybe their tastes lag. Maybe it will change again in a year or two. But if you're seeing it time and again, in place free place, clearly it's the audience taste at work.
 
I was listening to KWRL The River 99.9 La Grande, OR last night, and I SWEAR, after flipping from Westwood One AC to a locally-based format (very few personalities), they have gone Hot AC. I heard "Blurred Lines" WITH the rap. What?! I'm sure there are "CHR-like" ACs out there that play Bad Blood/Taylor Swift with the rap as well. Times have definitely changed and I rarely listen to major market ACs anymore. KKRB Klamath Falls will always be an online preset.

-crainbebo
 
I was listening to KWRL The River 99.9 La Grande, OR last night, and I SWEAR, after flipping from Westwood One AC to a locally-based format (very few personalities), they have gone Hot AC. I heard "Blurred Lines" WITH the rap. What?! I'm sure there are "CHR-like" ACs out there that play Bad Blood/Taylor Swift with the rap as well. Times have definitely changed and I rarely listen to major market ACs anymore. KKRB Klamath Falls will always be an online preset.

-crainbebo

I've been listening to the station for upwards of an hour and I'd have to describe it as a generally uptempo, fairly contemporary leaning AC. The music isn't really consistently recent enough to be described as Hot AC. The lack of a definite identifier can probably be contributed to the fact that it's serving a small town which has different expectations. Production is very smooth though. 40 or 50 years ago, a station that small would be painful to listen to! "Live & Local" was not everything it was cut out to be.
 
I heard "Blurred Lines" WITH the rap.
There was a "Black-ish" marathon. While I taped every episode I watched just enough to find out if I had seen it. I have no reason to think I missed any of them. On one Dre and his black co-workers were enjoying this song until a white co-worker showed up and they turned it off and the guy commented on how much he loves Robin Thicke and the black guys are all "Who? I don' know who dat even is."
 
I was listening to KWRL The River 99.9 La Grande, OR last night, and I SWEAR, after flipping from Westwood One AC to a locally-based format (very few personalities), they have gone Hot AC. I heard "Blurred Lines" WITH the rap. What?! I'm sure there are "CHR-like" ACs out there that play Bad Blood/Taylor Swift with the rap as well. Times have definitely changed and I rarely listen to major market ACs anymore. KKRB Klamath Falls will always be an online preset.

-crainbebo

It should be no surprise. It seems AC acts almost 100% like CHR these days. No matter what city you go to or what AC station you listen to, a vast majority of their rotations today consist of CHR titles with rap, cussing, and sexual content included. AC is much less nostalgic today than it was say, 10, 20 years ago. They only seem to care about the music today's families want to hear, and the music they want is hardcore rap, wild club dance, and hip-pop.
 
As Gen Y gets older, you're going to see old format definitions disappear, because Gen Y grew up on completely different music than the previous generation.
 
I was listening to KWRL The River 99.9 La Grande, OR last night, and I SWEAR, after flipping from Westwood One AC to a locally-based format (very few personalities), they have gone Hot AC. I heard "Blurred Lines" WITH the rap. What?! I'm sure there are "CHR-like" ACs out there that play Bad Blood/Taylor Swift with the rap as well. Times have definitely changed and I rarely listen to major market ACs anymore. KKRB Klamath Falls will always be an online preset.

"Blurred" without the rap would not be the huge hit it was. I find it a terrific song, and also find that the mixing of some "rap" with vocals as in the Wiz Khalifa / Charlie Puth "One More TIme" hit is refreshing and has injected some nice variety in pop... just as Jason Aldean did with Country.

And, hey, I'm way outta the demo. But this music is so much better than the 60's and 70's stuff that it is the only contemporary material I listen to.
 
As Gen Y gets older, you're going to see old format definitions disappear, because Gen Y grew up on completely different music than the previous generation.

I beg to differ. As a member of Gen Y who grew up in the 2000s (2000-2010, that is), I "grew up" listening to Norah Jones, James Blunt, John Mayer, ect. As I have gotten older, my tastes have evolved to include music that spans the AC or AAA format (Sting, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, ect.)
 
There are a lot of us.

And we're not giung to just accept having his garbage forced on us in public places. The cussing, rap and other problems need to be fixed.

You're not in that group. Thus, there's no "us" in this case. Nothing is going to be "fixed," because nothing is wrong, anymore than it was back in the old days when groups sang about "afternoon delight" and "Puff the magic dragon."
 
KKRB Klamath Falls will always be an online preset.

Until they either shut off the stream due to increasing costs or they stop making money with the format and flip.

Never say "always" in the radio business.
 
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