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Norfolk VA Station Switches to Yacht Rock - Is This A New Trend?

G

Gregg.

92.9 WTWV, owned by Max Media in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach market, has flipped from AC to Yacht Rock. A few stations in some small markets have done this over the last several months but this is a full power FM outlet in Market #46.

WTWV, The Wave, had been one of two AC stations in the Norfolk market. Few markets have more than one AC station and a handful have none. WTWV competed with Audacy's 101.3 WWWD. Then iHeart decided to take its Black Information Network off a full-power FM and put it on a lower-powered station. 105.3 WNOH flipped late last year to Soft AC.

So how will a playlist of Christopher Cross, Chicago, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald do in 2026? I like listening to Yacht Rock on Sirius XM. But is it mass-appeal enough for a full-time FM format in a sizable market? Yah mo be there when it comes to the ratings?
 
Just to add to my above post: One of most indescribable stations I've ever had the pleasure of listening to here in Vegas. Reminds me of Merv Griffin's Magic104/Hartford when I worked there in the late 70's-early 80's. The voices, presentation, audio processing chain, music (including long versions of songs) &, in my opinion, a love-song based Yacht Rock format
 
bigdonho said:
So, what is the difference between Yacht Rock and Soft AC?
Click to expand...

The answer to your question depends on how you define each genre. The classic definition of yacht rock is music made primarily between 1976 and 1984 that was performed mostly by white artists, including some excellent performances by studio musicians, and was (mostly) acoustic in nature. Using this definition, artists that fall into the yacht rock category include Toto, The Doobie Brothers (when Michael McDonald was Singing lead), Michael McDonald (as a solo artist), Ambrosia, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Robbie DuPree, Jackson Browne, The Little River Band, David Gates (as a solo Artist), and Linda Ronstadt.

The classic definition of soft AC is mainly slow songs recorded between the early 1960s and late 1970s by such artists as Bobby Vinton, Bobby Goldsboro, Carole King, B.J. Thomas, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, Bread, Fred Knoblock, and some of the slower recordings by The 5th Dimension, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and The Commodores. Note that while there is some overlap between the two genres, classic soft AC was performed mostly by white solo artists and consisted mostly of ballads.

Because of the ageing of the audience, the definitions of both generes have changed with yacht rock including more acoustic numbers from the 1970s and 1980s and soft AC going more uptempo by dropping many of its 60s and 70s artists and adding more 80s and 90s artists in a mix that is definitely more uptempo. Using these revamped definitions, I'd say that yacht rock is now a subgenre of both the soft AC and AC formats that primarily focuses on hit singles (mostly not disco) recorded between the 1970s and mid-1980s.
 
ted chittenden said:
The classic definition of soft AC is mainly slow songs recorded between the early 1960s and late 1970s by such artists as Bobby Vinton, Bobby Goldsboro, Carole King, B.J. Thomas, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, Bread, Fred Knoblock, and some of the slower recordings by The 5th Dimension, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and The Commodores. Note that while there is some overlap between the two genres, classic soft AC was performed mostly by white solo artists and consisted mostly of ballads.
Click to expand...
This sounds very much like America's Best Music from Westwood One. They call it adult standards, but very few of the songs meet the classic definition of "standards".
 
vchimpanzee said:
This sounds very much like America's Best Music from Westwood One. They call it adult standards, but very few of the songs meet the classic definition of "standards".
Click to expand...

Perhaps that is because there are fewer and fewer listeners who still use the old definition of the word. (They are, to put it bluntly, literally dying off.)

We are now in a place in time where soft AC from as far back as 60 years -- for the moment, anyway -- now is the definition. It is you who cling to the past, while the industry moves on. I think you should just be grateful that the audience for that genre aren't passing away as quickly and as often as the listeners to the Music Of Your Life's original format hav.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Perhaps that is because there are fewer and fewer listeners who still use the old definition of the word. (They are, to put it bluntly, literally dying off.)

We are now in a place in time where soft AC from as far back as 60 years -- for the moment, anyway -- now is the definition.
Click to expand...
The definition of adult standards.

I was just pointing out that in radio, "soft AC" is not currently the format that was being described above.
 
ted chittenden said:
The answer to your question depends on how you define each genre. The classic definition of yacht rock is music made primarily between 1976 and 1984 that was performed mostly by white artists, including some excellent performances by studio musicians, and was (mostly) acoustic in nature. Using this definition, artists that fall into the yacht rock category include Toto, The Doobie Brothers (when Michael McDonald was Singing lead), Michael McDonald (as a solo artist), Ambrosia, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Robbie DuPree, Jackson Browne, The Little River Band, David Gates (as a solo Artist), and Linda Ronstadt.

The classic definition of soft AC is mainly slow songs recorded between the early 1960s and late 1970s by such artists as Bobby Vinton, Bobby Goldsboro, Carole King, B.J. Thomas, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, Bread, Fred Knoblock, and some of the slower recordings by The 5th Dimension, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and The Commodores. Note that while there is some overlap between the two genres, classic soft AC was performed mostly by white solo artists and consisted mostly of ballads.

Because of the ageing of the audience, the definitions of both generes have changed with yacht rock including more acoustic numbers from the 1970s and 1980s and soft AC going more uptempo by dropping many of its 60s and 70s artists and adding more 80s and 90s artists in a mix that is definitely more uptempo. Using these revamped definitions, I'd say that yacht rock is now a subgenre of both the soft AC and AC formats that primarily focuses on hit singles (mostly not disco) recorded between the 1970s and mid-1980s
Click to expand...
I'm going to post this Sean Ross article that should help with both definitions.
radioinsight.com

First Listen: Yacht Rock Vs. Soft AC

Not every market has Soft AC. After a stretch as the hot format in the late ’10s, inspired by the
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
You might get away (business wise) with "soft AC"nor Yacht Rock in a market where the population is older than normal AND very little revenue comes from national agencies.


My county Pickens in GA is growing but the school system is shrinking student wise. About 8 years ago one to the two private schools had to shut down. The public school system has shut down one of their middle schools. It would be hard because we are in the Atlanta PPM market so there is very little radio programming aimed at the +50 folks except for Republican talk radio (WSB). Even the local Southern Gospel station switched to an religious songs on country artists albums.*
 
vchimpanzee said:
The definition of adult standards.

I was just pointing out that in radio, "soft AC" is not currently the format that was being described above.
Click to expand...

I'll buy that ... but it's so close that the majority of listeners would not detect the difference.
 
amfmradio1 said:
Just to add to my above post: One of most indescribable stations I've ever had the pleasure of listening to here in Vegas. Reminds me of Merv Griffin's Magic104/Hartford when I worked there in the late 70's-early 80's. The voices, presentation, audio processing chain, music (including long versions of songs) &, in my opinion, a love-song based Yacht Rock format
Click to expand...

Ahh, amfmradio1, you worked at WIOF Magic 104? A great station! It was one of several stations using the "Beautiful Rock" format from TM, IIRC. There were Magic stations in Detroit, Philadelphia, New Brunswick, Des Moines, Boston, Portland OR and Portland ME. The format was so popular at that time that WIOF Magic 104 and WWYZ The Natural 92 were competing for Soft Rock listeners in the Hartford market.

Yacht Rock and Soft Rock share a similar playlist.
 
gr8oldies said:
I'm going to post this Sean Ross article that should help with both definitions.
radioinsight.com

First Listen: Yacht Rock Vs. Soft AC

Not every market has Soft AC. After a stretch as the hot format in the late ’10s, inspired by the
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
Click to expand...
Looking at the playlists of both The Breeze and The Wave, the similarity is intriguing.. Although my preference would be The Wave, if someone were to combine the two...that would be a great listen, satisfying both the Soft AC crowd and the yachters.
 
From the listening I've done to the station, 92.9 The Wave sounds a lot like 100.9 KTSO out of Tulsa. It's really more of a soft oldies station that has a couple or three yacht rock tracks thrown in each hour. The Breeze is definitely more contemporary.

If KTSO is any indication, burn won't be much of a problem unless the yacht rock tracks are too deep or otherwise too repetitive. The bigger question to me would be the shelf-life of a station that doesn't seem to play many songs newer than 40 years old. Seems like that's already appealing to a 50+ audience that isn't getting any younger.
 


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