(NOTE: I copied this post of mine that I just posted in the other topic about "No 70s Soft Hits for Houston in the Future!" that I made on this board a little over a year ago here.)
It's been more than year since I first made this topic. My prediction wasn't wrong, so I brought back this topic! Last month, my parents and I were taking another trip to Galveston. While I was listening to KODA as we were driving through Houston, I thought I was hallucinating that KODA has eliminated 70s music completely and have cut down a little on 80s music as well. No! It was no hallucination! KODA has thoroughly eliminated 70s music and has cut down a little on 80s music as well.
On the other side, I remembered I mentioned earlier about WLTW/NY and WLIT/Chicago eliminated 70s music completely in this topic at the time I made this topic. Well, apparently WLTW gradually readded 70s music throughout Spring that year and played as much 70s music as usual again, even till now. WLIT also readded 70s music around April or May that year, though they eliminated 70s music again under a format rebrand and re-image as "93.9 My FM" from "93.9 Lite FM" just last week.
KODA still plays some really soft and decent 80s and 90s hits once in a while. I heard "The One" by Elton John while we were going down I-45 toward Galveston, along with that I also heard "Hold On My Heart" by Genesis as well a couple hours later. When my parents were at a Goodwill store in Galveston in search of a swimming trunk for my dad since he forgot his swimming trunk back in Dallas. When we stepped into Goodwill, I happened to hear "These Dreams" by Heart played over the air and it turned out that the Goodwill store was tuned into KODA since I was able to catch the ID after the song. I was like wow, KODA still plays "These Dreams" by Heart apparently, pretty good stuffs they still play now. But in conclusion, KODA did indeed cut down on softer/older music and had eliminated 70s music completely. Thus, when I apparently woke up to use the restroom at 2AM while we were staying at the Beachfront Inn hotel on Seawall Boulevard, I ended up staying awake till 5AM in the morning listening to KODA. Although I know for sure KODA synced their playlist with CC's Premium Choice AC which happens to play more softer 70s and 80s hits along with upbeat currents that KODA doesn't play anymore. I heard softer songs from the 70's, 80's, and 90's like "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac, "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, "Through The Fire" by Chaka Khan, then I also heard fresher and upbeat songs like "Carry On" by Fun which wasn't too bad at all, along with other older/softer and newer/upbeat hits that the average AC play today. Then later, I woke up in the morning to KODA playing "December" by Collective Soul which I know for sure is an upbeat 90s song that KODA had been playing since last year. I like that song, I know it wouldn't likely fit AC's back in the days, but it would fit AC's nowadays as the way AC's are now. Thus, as of 2013, it would test well with 30-40 year old female listeners, which is a median target for a typical AC. Later in the day, as we are driving through Houston back to Dallas, I happened to hear "Foolish Heart" by Steve Perry and also "Oh Sherrie" by Steve Perry. They still play some soft 80s music now, but they have cut back a little on the 80s. I remember KODA was really heavy on the 80s not more than a year ago. To conclude this, KODA still play some soft 80s hits, but they have cut far down on the soft hits of the 80s and 90s, they had eliminated 70s music completely, and they have their playlist a little more focused on currents and recurrents as of now.
Btw, not to mention that KVIL here in Dallas had eliminated 80s music completely just during the first week of May this year. (KVIL) "103.7 Lite FM" was rebranded to "103.7 KVIL" again which they had before until they rebranded themselves as "103.7 Lite FM" in December 2005. Along with the rebranding back to "103.7 KVIL", they also repositioned themselves as "Best Variety...90s, 2K & Today" on the first week of May this year. It was ironic that KVIL used to play a fair amount of 70s and 80s along with 90s and 00s at the time I was graduation from high school in 2010.
Despite of a format change, they called it as "retooling their format" and went 90s to present. I remembered how they gradually starts eliminating 70s music back in 2011 and by the end of 2011, before the flip to christmas music in November, they had eliminated 70s music completely. It was a surprise that they decide to eliminate 80s music two years later which happened just a little over a month ago. Even KVIL is still declared as an Adult Contemporary format, it either have a little lean to the Bright AC/Hot AC/Adult CHR format or it probably want to re-present the AC format in a completely new style like it's sister Fresh stations, WWFS/NY, WIAD/Washington, and the now defunct WCFS/Chicago. Same with CC's WNIC/Detroit. Though I remember when I used to listen KVIL in my high school days from 2006-2010, KVIL was never heavy on the 70s and 80s at all, even they were playing 70s and 80s in the late 00s, just a fair amount of 70s and 80s music like they always had in the late 00s. KVIL had always shy away from the 70s and 80s ever since, just to protect it's strong Classic Hits sister, KLUV, in the DFW market.
Magic 104.1 KMGL/Oklahoma City is probably the oldest leaning AC in the midwest as of now since KMGL still plays a fair amount of 80s music and very little 70s music compare to KVIL/Dallas-Ft. Worth and KODA/Houston. KMGL was a little heavy on the 70s and very heavy on the 80s back in 2010 and 2011, circa the time I was graduating from high school, similar to KODA at the time as well, heck KODA was a lot heavier on 70s than KMGL at the time. I had noticed KMGL had backed off a lot from 70s music since last year, to protect it's strong Classic Hits sister, KOMA, in the OKC market. KMGL also did backed off from the 80s music a little, but not too far off. Even though I haven't get to go to OKC this year in May like I always did every year in the past since the EF5 tornado had hit Moore hard this year, unfortunately, which had caused traffic jam on I-35 N and S for a long period of time. Now, that my summer class at UT Arlington had started, I'm less likely to visit OKC till August, or even possibly not at all this year. Though I had been listening to KMGL on the TuneIn Radio app on my Samsung Galaxy Player (Android Media Player), I can clearly confirmed that KMGL cut down a hell lot on 70s music since the summer of last year, they're doing approximately one 70s every other hour or probably one 70s every three hour as of now. Though, KMGL still stay stick the 80s music, they're not heavy at all on the 90s music this year, I swear KMGL was testing 90s music like crazy back in 2010 and 2012, but they seems to back off from the 90s music this year besides spinning "What Is Love" by Haddaway and "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors occasionally (Noted that KODA was spinning "What Is Love" and "Two Princes" like crazy since 2010). KMGL pretty much backed-off far from the 70s and 90s music this year and focused more heavily on the 80s and currents and recurrents this year. They also used to do Flashback Weekend (70s & 80s), Awesome 80s Weekend, and Meet My 90s Weekend from 2012 and before. Heck, they dropped Flashback Weekend and Meet My 90s Weekend this year and focused completely on Awesome 80s Weekend on every weekend! That concludes KMGL tries to focus more on the 80s and currents and recurrents this year.
