You ought to hear some of what WEZV calls "refreshing and relaxing".
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iHeart's "Sunny" Soft AC gets a makeover
- Thread starter kevtronics
- Start date
Today just before 8 AM (EDT), Sunny played Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car". They tend to play more upbeat songs in the morning, I guess to help people wake up.
That song is too uptempo for a soft AC format (at least a traditional soft AC/soft oldies), IMO.
It wasn't back when it was popular. I haven't heard that one (yet) on WEZV.
Billy Bobb's Fun Club on Channel 48 in Greensboro NC had "When the Going Gets Tough" as its theme song. Later, they changed to a new theme song which sounded a lot like the other song.
Bad strategy. You need softer songs when you wake up.
My America's Best Music station (prior to 2015) didn't seem to understand that strategy. The local DJs thought it was an oldies station. I think they were clueless as to what Jeff and Carl were playing. The son of the station owner didn't play what his father played. "Take It on the Run", "Caught up in You", etc. I can't believe people didn't complain.
Good lord, people. All of the songs listed in this thread are lite rock, easy listening...whatever label you want to apply, to most listeners.
Actually, no.
I was involved with, and on a couple of occasions, program director of LA's #1 AC station. We did not play any super-soft songs in AM Drive and limited the moderate-soft songs prior to 9 AM.
We monitored other AC stations such as KOST, and they also dayparted the softer songs out of AM Drive.
In fact, the first AC I ever did, back in the mid to late 70's had the same restrictions. Don't put the people back to sleep, but don't rock their world, either.
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Actually, no.
I was involved with, and on a couple of occasions, program director of LA's #1 AC station. We did not play any super-soft songs in AM Drive and limited the moderate-soft songs prior to 9 AM.
We monitored other AC stations such as KOST, and they also dayparted the softer songs out of AM Drive.
In fact, the first AC I ever did, back in the mid to late 70's had the same restrictions. Don't put the people back to sleep, but don't rock their world, either.
Same must apply to classic hits stations, too. Remember the movie "Groundhog Day"? The tune playing on the clock radio every day at 6 a.m. is "I Got You Babe." If that top-of-the-hour tune had been "Cherish" or "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Phil would have just hit the snooze button and the whole plot of the movie would be shot!
I had to look up the lyrics of some of these to find out the names of the songs, but these songs are showing up on WEZV. "Thinking Out Loud", "Set Fire to the Rain", "Girl on Fire", "Bleeding Love" (that one's a real problem just because of its violent lyrics), "Just Another Day", "We Belong Together" and "Superman". I can't remember which of those seemed reasonable for a station trying to give the impression of being "easy" and which ones weren't. Does Sunny play any of these? Most of these weren't on WEZV a year ago when it first changed. "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Drops of Jupiter", "Unwell", "Mad About You" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" and "Fallin'" also seem to be new.
"Superman" (Five For Fighting) was about as soft a hit as there was in its day, and it stuck around mainstream ACs as a recurrent long after its chart run. It fits an "easy" format today perfectly. Is WEZV playing much Jewel, or David Gray's "Babylon"? When I think of late '90s/early '00s "lite" formats, those artists and songs come immediately to mind.
As for lyrics, I don't think the average soft AC listener gives even half a crap about what the singer is singing, so long as the music isn't harsh. Suzanne Vega's "Luka" did well at AC despite being about child abuse. Joan Baez's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" used to get "lite" airplay until it aged out of the format, and the backdrop of that song is the Civil War!
As for lyrics, I don't think the average soft AC listener gives even half a crap about what the singer is singing, so long as the music isn't harsh. Suzanne Vega's "Luka" did well at AC despite being about child abuse. Joan Baez's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" used to get "lite" airplay until it aged out of the format, and the backdrop of that song is the Civil War!
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Never mind.
Madonna, Kool and The Gang, or The Association?
Wouldn't work on soft AC, but "The Lady is a Tramp" or "Beyond the Sea" would wake a person up.
The one Jewel song I remember is "You Were Meant for Me".
For some reason I thought "Torn" was Jewel.
I don't know the lyrics of "Babylon". I find when I look up lyrics there's a lot of Ed Sheeran and similar artists.
Normally I don't either. In order to figure out what the lyrics are I have to pay close attention. It would help if they'd provide a list of songs played.
The Association or Kool and the Gang would be fine with me. I'm not familiar with the Madonna song by that title.
Part of the song is "easy" but it's kind of on the uptempo side. I'm not sure whether this is a dance remix or the original version. I seem to recall a more easygoing version originally.
The other two are definitely easy. The Association is very easy.
It makes no sense since even when I go to the beach WEZV would usually be "easy" for a while if I got lucky but then I'd have to change stations for at least one or two songs, but I keep hoping for things to get worse so someone will give us a better station. So I actually enjoy listening since the worse it gets, the better the chances someone will give us a better station. I'm usually disappointed because WEZV is pretty good at times. Which means I enjoy the songs I hear at those times. And even some that are not so good that it's nice to hear again. The ones with lyrics I have to look up I don't like.
I'm hearing it right now on WEZV. There must not have been any truly soft hits "in its day". It's not excessively loud but it's not "easy".
I'm sure others have told you this, but you have an extreme sensitivity to a lot of music that 99 percent of your fellow Americans would consider soft and inoffensive. To me, "Superman" is so soft that it verges on wimpy. A comparable tune would be Randy Van Warmer';s "Just When I Needed You Most" -- high-voiced, simpering vocalist weeping about something. The only difference is that Randy was crying about some girl who left him (probably because he was always whimpering), while the Five For Fighting vocalist was wailing that no one really understands "a man in a silly red sheet." I have no idea how either song could not be considered easy listening.
I think the difference is in the percussion. I have less of a problem with Randy Van Warmer.
Anyway, we need to get this discussion back to what's actually on Sunny.
Anyway, we need to get this discussion back to what's actually on Sunny.
I wrote down some lyrics and looked up the song today and it was "Superman". Merely having the word "Superman" in a song's lyrics does not make it "Superman". So I was referring to a different song. And I don't remember how I felt about the other song, but I probably didn't like it. I know I could Google lyrics at home, but I make it a point not to go to most web sites when I am at home.
I figured out what the lyrics of the other song were. "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth. I already described that one, of course. I get why people would think it is soft, and if i am correct, it was the drums or drum machines that were the problem for me.
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There are two different mixes of that song: the album version, which most AC stations play, and a remix with a constant electronic drum beat, which most CHR, many Hot AC, and some AC stations play.
As for Randy Vanwarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most", that definitely was played on Easy Listening stations back in the day. It's in this recording of KOIT (in Kahn AM Stereo!) in 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM7zjFBUTkk
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