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Light and Easy 93.1. Is there anybody in there

I've been listening to 93.1 for quite some time. Will the station ever get a personality? The station needs a morning show. This market has a void. Either comedy and no music or a team that just does not appeal to me. There is room for a vibrant morning show. Has Cox hung out a "Help Wanted" sign?
 
You might see a morning show but it will be one person doing time, weather, traffic, news, community info, interviews, lifestyle stories, nothing else, very low key. The rest of the day will remain the same, as it should, this is a music focused format. No chatter needed.

This is a throwback to the original easy listening formats (for those who were around and can remember that time) Can anybody see the carts and reels spinning ever so slow. Damn Fill carts :)
 
If WDUV in Tampa can have a morning show, then so can Easy. I agree; I think it will ultimately have a morning show.

If Easy ever really wants to compete with Lite, Cox might want to think about hiring personalities for each of the dayparts. Lite has well-established market veterans during every daypart.
 
No chance...This is a profit center for Cox as really low overhead and large numbers equate to strong profit...Doubtful Cox adds any salaries
 
At the very least they should have a morning show, IMO. Of course it should be a very laid back, music-focused program, but it could do really well and give the listener a slightly more personal experience with the station. Since the station is focused on giving a relaxing vibe, maybe they shouldn't even do news in the morning since there's rarely any good news to share these days. Just traffic, weather, and information pertinent to South Florida.
 
Just when you thought Easy was going to stay EASY I start hearing Disco songs on their play list! Who wants to hear Turn the Beat Around when you are relaxing? Stick with the soft favorites. I see The Dove has added more of the late 50's and early 60's to their music list.
 
Dr Wayne said:
Just when you thought Easy was going to stay EASY I start hearing Disco songs on their play list! Who wants to hear Turn the Beat Around when you are relaxing? Stick with the soft favorites. I see The Dove has added more of the late 50's and early 60's to their music list.

Yeah I guess there's an occasional song that sounds out of place. Maybe they should only throw some of the slightly upbeat sounding music in late at night only.
 
Dr Wayne said:
Who wants to hear Turn the Beat Around when you are relaxing?
This is exactly what another poster and myself asked about in another thread.
Much of what the station airs was not considered soft and easy by a long shot in their day. It does not bother me, as the chimp had asked, because in all honesty, this station just does not resonate with me. My taste for light vocals leans more toward what I would lable eclectic.
 
Easy 93.1

One of my coworkers recently switched from MAJIC to EASY on her radio on her desk. I guess she got frightened when she started to hear some 80s hits.

I'm not impressed with EASY. I can take it in small doses, but they seem to be experiencing quite the identity crisis. There's songs on their playlist that are hardly EASY. Someone else mentioned DISCO, but I've also heard 80s electro pop on there. Not quite EASY !
 
Something I've noticed that with many of the soft ACs of the past is that they eventually evolve into a mainstream AC sooner or later.
 
Any other time, I'd back you on that one. But not when the station's barely been on for 3 months. I thought the whole point of Easy was for Cox to chip away at LFM's LITE (with Majic being the secondary collateral damage) to boost Coast 97.3 to the top without spending a whole lot of money. The '80s stuff is going to hurt THEIR cash cow.
 
Well, the listeners have spoken (Arbitron monthlies) and they LOVE the music on EZ 93.1...so the nit picking on the playlist posted here is a mute point.
 
Are we listening to the same radio station? Easy 93 has the exact same format as WDUV The Dove in Tampa. Even the pre-recorded liners are the same. Listen at www.wduv.com

You have to have an occasional upbeat song even on the easiest radio stations. Even an Adult Standards stations will play "That's Life" by Sinatra or "Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer" by Nat King Cole. Easy 93 plays the adult hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s. But sometimes an adult hit may be uptempo. People seeking soft music will accept an occasional uptempo song if it's tasteful and not aimed at kids.

My guess is Easy 93 wants to stress its music at first, then will add a live morning host if the ratings continue to be good and sales follow. But I doubt they'd add DJs in other dayparts for two reasons... Because the station skews so old, it clearly will never be a big revenue producer, even if it went to #1, as WDUV is in Tampa. So that limits the budget for staff. The second reason is because it wants to be the no-chatter, all-music station. WFEZ may be playing all vocals but the format is similar to Easy Listening where you get a steady flow of soft music whenever you tune in. The only exception may be in the morning when most people want the headlines, weather and a friendly word or two.

I personally think WFEZ would benefit from a quiet pre-recorded voice at the end of every song saying "That's the Carpenters and Close To You" or "That's Honesty by Billy Joel." Some AC stations such as WBEB in Philadelphia tag all their songs with the artist and title at the end. Most listeners say they want that info. But that's my only suggestion.

Gregg
[email protected]
 
AudioAnimal said:
Well, the listeners have spoken (Arbitron monthlies) and they LOVE the music on EZ 93.1...so the nit picking on the playlist posted here is a mute point.

The "monthlies" are called "books."

From the looks of the weeklies, the station will be 6th or 7th 12+ for the February book, and somewhere around 13th in 25-54.

This could conceivably be one of those stations that hits its highest level almost instantly and then maintains a level a bit below that after the thrill wears off. So it looks like this one will level off at perhaps 8th or 9th 12+ and maybe 15th in 25-54, but the job it does in taking WLYF out of the race to first is worth considerable billing to the Cox cluster.
 
This may just be my ignorance, but I didn't recognize a few songs played this morning.

What's New by Linda Ronstadt
Kiss Me In The Rain by Barbara Streisand
Just Another Woman In Love by Anne Murray

Thank goodness for yes.com. I agree with Gregg that the songs should be tagged. I think
a lot of people don't know the names or artists, and might feel a little lost on this station, especially if they really like certain songs and want to buy them or the CD's they're from.
 
richiedon said:
...I didn't recognize a few songs played this morning.
"You're still young, that's your fault, There's so much you have to know", Yusuf Islam, 1971.
Those were all major hits by major artists in their day(s).
 
Nearly all the songs played by Easy 93 and The Dove were Top 40 hits in their day (or at least a top AC hit, even if it didn't score that well on the regular Top 40 chart). There are a few songs that were never released as singles but have become radio hits, such as Elton John's Marilyn Monroe version of "Candle in The Wind." But many of these songs are done by artists whose music doesn't air on the radio anymore because other stations deem them too "wimpy" or "vanilla" so it's likely some listeners have forgotten their names. For that reason, I think it's a good idea to pre-record the artist and title at the end.

It wasn't too long ago that Soft AC stations told us EVERY artist they played. But that practice has gone out the window, either because so many dayparts are automated or even if there is a live DJ present, "radio professionals" think that info is too wordy. (Of course, station promos are never too wordy.) If the songs are already tagged with artist and title in a quiet voice, I don't think that's too obtrusive for a Very Soft AC station.

As for David Eduardo's prediction that Easy 93 may have peaked, that may be true. But older-skewing stations usually take longer to find their audience. Just as older listeners are set in their buying routines, so advertising may not motivate them as it does younger people, so too they may leave the radio dial where it is for extended periods and have not yet found Easy 93. I'd be surprised if it already peaked after only a few months on the dial. If the format is consistantly #1 in Tampa, why shouldn't we expect better ratings eventually in Miami? And it's hardly made a dent in the West Palm Baech ratings, where a similar station WRLX 92.1 (the call letters stand for "relax") was often #1 before being switched to Latin Hits. WFEZ's 98,000 watt signal on a 1000 foot tower blankets the WPB market.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
We would be curious to know if Tampa has similar breakdowns of competing stations and demografics.
 
ai4i said:
richiedon said:
...I didn't recognize a few songs played this morning.
"You're still young, that's your fault, There's so much you have to know", Yusuf Islam, 1971.
Those were all major hits by major artists in their day(s).
But the problem isn't my age: 62, but maybe that I haven't listened to very much AC radio in
the past. (Though I like to think I'm young at heart.) I've listed the peaks for the songs on the hot 100, and then AC.

What's New by Linda Ronstadt 53, 5
Kiss Me In The Rain by Barbara Streisand 37 , 9
Just Another Woman In Love by Anne Murray - , 7
 
Gregg said:
As for David Eduardo's prediction that Easy 93 may have peaked, that may be true. But older-skewing stations usually take longer to find their audience. Just as older listeners are set in their buying routines, so advertising may not motivate them as it does younger people, so too they may leave the radio dial where it is for extended periods and have not yet found Easy 93. I'd be surprised if it already peaked after only a few months on the dial. If the format is consistantly #1 in Tampa, why shouldn't we expect better ratings eventually in Miami?

Tampa is only about 10% Hispanic, while Miami's MSA is 50%. While WFEZ does have a significant Hispanic component to its audience, it also significantly underindexes among that group. And the same is true of the African American audience, which is 20% of Miami.

The biggest issue among Hispanics is that, while the mood may be appealing, to most Hispanics born outside the US most of the songs on the station are unfamiliar or unattached to any memories. That's a significant disadvantage in Miami.

And it's hardly made a dent in the West Palm Baech ratings, where a similar station WRLX 92.1 (the call letters stand for "relax") was often #1 before being switched to Latin Hits. WFEZ's 98,000 watt signal on a 1000 foot tower blankets the WPB market.

WFEZ gets a 65 dbu up to just about Delray Beach in PB County. Beyond that, the signal is not good enough for at home and at work listening. This kind of format tends to do better in home and work locations than in-car, so I don't see it doing better than the 1 to 2 share that some Miami metro stations have achieved there (95% of at home and at work listening is in the 65 dbu contour, on average).
 
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