Office policy: No more AC until "Hey Soul Sister" is gone

[andrewduong77]

Some of the stores in my city tune into our local Hot AC KDMX station or CHR KHKS station instead. Some of them just have their own programed music and they were playing "I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias, "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" by Usher, and more, which is known as Hot AC/CHR songs.

A Goodwill near my house usually tune into our local AC KVIL, but there are few times they tune into our local Hot AC KDMX and even our local CHR KHKS, but Goodwill consists of very old 50-70 year old employees and mostly old customers with some young customers searching for used clothes and items. Why would old people tune into a CHR station? That puts me to a wonder that a 50 year old female cares about Lady Gaga? I thought she would like Abba and stuffs. Our Goodwill never tune into a Classic Hits station KLUV once.

There is an Autozone store in my city that tunes into our local Classic Hits KLUV or Classic Rock KZPS, but their employees are mostly half old and young males and their customers are also mostly half old and young males looking for autoparts.

The Burger King near my house tends to play good songs. They don't tune into any stations at all. I remember I heard "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin and "The Living Years" by Mike and The Mechanics, and more while eating out at Burger King with my mom. It's a pretty good playlist chosen/programmed by our local Burger King fast food restuarant. I should good go eat their more often, it play songs that are a lot better than our local AC KVIL.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Actually, professional offices shouldn't be playing AC at all until they get rid of Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga for sure. But Bon Jovi isn't to bad.

PROFESSIONAL offices. Banks. Insurance companies. "Bed of Roses" and the Jennifer Nettles duet. Otherwise, no.

What's gonna happen if people go into a bank and hear Livin' On A Prayer? They're gonna leave and go to another bank cause the music is too "loud"?

And, sorry to ask, but are you even in the 35-54 age bracket? If you're in your 60s or older, AC isn't targeting you...

It does tend to ruin the professional image. I can imagine some people might decide they need to put their money into a more conservative bank.

And it has nothing to do with target audience. There are limits. And by the way, who is tageting me, then? There has to be a "Lite' station in every market. That's the only moral way to do things.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Maybe the banks should invest in satellite radio, Pandora or Muzak if they want to get lite music.

But what if they don't want to spend the money? What about other professional offices? This whole thing is ridiculous.

 

[ChrisInMI]

My mom is 57 years old and her current favorite song is "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez. She also loves "American Idol" and "Glee" (she loved the "Glee" version of Gaga's "Bad Romance"). She's more in touch with what's going on in the current CHR music scene than I am (I'm 31 and prefer my AC oldies, standards, and smooth jazz).

So yes, there are 50-something-odd women who dig today's hit music, and probably wouldn't turn the dial if a Bon Jovi or Lady Gaga song happened to come on their AC station.

I personally would prefer that AC stations not play Gaga, Katy Perry or the like because I used to use AC stations as a refuge from that kind of music. But if their songs test well with women in the 25-54 age demos then I see no reason for ACs not to play them. I just take my listening elsewhere (thank God for Internet streaming where I can find stations that play my kind of music) and chalk it up to change. The AC station of 2011 is not the AC station of 2001 or even 2006 - formats change. Hearing Celine Dion, Richard Marx or Whitney Houston on your average AC station is no longer a given; more likely you'll hear Pink or, on some stations, even Rihanna. Not the direction I'd personally prefer the format to go, but to quote one of Celine's hits that used to be a core song for the AC format, that's the way it is.

What seems silly to me is that a person going into a bank to do business would storm out in disgust if, say, "Wanted Dead Or Alive" came on the radio. To me, that seems really petty. A person can also bring along an iPod or other portable listening device if he/she is offended by the music a particular establishment is playing. I do think it's different if the purpose of background music is to set a mood - for example, I would expect a five-star, black-tie restaurant to have classical music or standards playing in the background, not Lady Gaga - rather than to provide a distraction for patrons while they shop or wait to be serviced. But for a bank, mall, or grocery store, most wouldn't consider the establishment's selection of background music pivotal to the customer experience.

 

[carolinaradio]

I still hear "Right Here Waiting", "I Will Always Love You", "Because You Loved Me", "My Heart Will Go On", etc. on multiple AC's. I'm surprised more stations don't hop on Whitney's more upbeat material from the 80s ('I Wanna Dance With Somebody', "How Will I Know", etc).

What I always point out is, while AC's have added some more agressive material, the 'softer' songs are still represented. Most AC stations still play songs like "You Are The Woman", "Kiss From A Rose", "Stuck On You", "Every Breath You Take", "In Your Eyes", "Higher Love", "Follow You, Follow Me", "Truly Madly Deeply", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Fire And Rain", "Man In The Mirror", and the like. I could go on and on. The 'soft' songs are not gone and I doubt they are going anywhere any time soon, necessarily.

 

[atlantaboy]

Aren't there companies that put out background music for businesses anyway?

AC's main "target" is the at-work crowd that works in offices (not customers that walk into banks for 5-10 minutes waiting in line), and these people in the 35-54 age bracket obviously want to hear Wanted Dead Or Alive, otherwise AC stations wouldn't be playing it during the workday

 

[carolinaradio]

Aren't there companies that put out background music for businesses anyway?

Yeah, most of the bigger stores use that (grocery stores, dept/big box stores, etc). I usually hear AC stations in places like Subway, Dollar General, the DMV (lol), hair salons, dentist's office, a boombox sitting in Suntrust, etc. Small locations that probably aren't big enough to bother/afford piped in music.

 

[andrewduong77]

I still hear "Right Here Waiting", "I Will Always Love You", "Because You Loved Me", "My Heart Will Go On", etc. on multiple AC's. I'm surprised more stations don't hop on Whitney's more upbeat material from the 80s ('I Wanna Dance With Somebody', "How Will I Know", etc).

What I always point out is, while AC's have added some more agressive material, the 'softer' songs are still represented. Most AC stations still play songs like "You Are The Woman", "Kiss From A Rose", "Stuck On You", "Every Breath You Take", "In Your Eyes", "Higher Love", "Follow You, Follow Me", "Truly Madly Deeply", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Fire And Rain", "Man In The Mirror", and the like. I could go on and on. The 'soft' songs are not gone and I doubt they are going anywhere any time soon, necessarily.

Exactly, I believe AC stations goals is trying to achieve variety and that what put the Adult Hits (Jack FM, Bob FM, etc.) stations in trouble today because AC is leaning a little closer to Jack FM/Bob FM by mixing in some upbeat songs from 70s, 80s, and 90s IMO.

Variety is good, as long as there isn't too much variety to put a station out of style. Variety of 70s,80s,90s,00s, and Todays pop, rock, and R&B prevents listener from getting bored. Except, AC stations tends to be less contemporary and a little more aggressive by mixing in some upbeat Hot AC, CHR and Adult Hits songs while still featuring Classic Hits songs as time pass by.

 

[radio2100]

My 102.5 and magic 98.9 still play hey soul sister all the freaken time and I hate it. All the kids love it though.

 

[carolinaradio]

My 102.5 and magic 98.9 still play hey soul sister all the freaken time and I hate it. All the kids love it though.

Magic 98.9 kept "Hey, Soul Sister" in power rotation (approx. 5-6 times daily) for a little over a year. Yep, that's right. I swear they spun that one more than any other AC in the country.

 

[icycool7227]

I agree it's an overplayed song still. It is a good song but it's just out of control. I listen to streaming radio a lot and usually turn off the station that plays it. It's gotta go.

 

[carolinaradio]

Exactly, I believe AC stations goals is trying to achieve variety and that what put the Adult Hits (Jack FM, Bob FM, etc.) stations in trouble today because AC is leaning a little closer to Jack FM/Bob FM by mixing in some upbeat songs from 70s, 80s, and 90s IMO.

Variety is good, as long as there isn't too much variety to put a station out of style. Variety of 70s,80s,90s,00s, and Todays pop, rock, and R&B prevents listener from getting bored. Except, AC stations tends to be less contemporary and a little more aggressive by mixing in some upbeat Hot AC, CHR and Adult Hits songs while still featuring Classic Hits songs as time pass by.

I was thinking back to 2006 or 2007 and comparing AC then to now - funny how things change. I never would have imagined hearing something like "California Girls", "I Gotta Feeling", or even older songs like Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again", etc. I really don't mind those songs as long as the softer songs are still included, which most AC's do. They don't play just aggressive songs. I bet if you look at most AC stations' playlists, for every 80s song like "Here I Go Again", there are 2-3 soft songs. Same for the 70s, today....not sure about the 90s since most everything I ever hear from that decade is pretty soft ("Because You Loved Me", "Kiss From A Rose", "Runaround", "Kiss Me", etc.)

I like the positioners "The Best Mix", "Best Variety", etc over "soft rock" or "lite rock." Gives a little more wiggle room and is a little more true to what the stations really play.

 

[vchimpanzee]

My What seems silly to me is that a person going into a bank to do business would storm out in disgust if, say, "Wanted Dead Or Alive" came on the radio. To me, that seems really petty. A person can also bring along an iPod or other portable listening device if he/she is offended by the music a particular establishment is playing. I do think it's different if the purpose of background music is to set a mood - for example, I would expect a five-star, black-tie restaurant to have classical music or standards playing in the background, not Lady Gaga - rather than to provide a distraction for patrons while they shop or wait to be serviced. But for a bank, mall, or grocery store, most wouldn't consider the establishment's selection of background music pivotal to the customer experience.

This is a strange world you live in.

During my last visit to the bank, I heard "Manic Monday" by The Bangles and "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees. I suppose that's as close to professional as your'e going to get today. The amazing thing is this particular station was playing Premium Choice just months ago. I think the backlash is finally happening.

 

[Groove1670]

With our super hyped up..short attention span... in a rush society the tempo will continue to increase on Hot AC (and some AC) stations.

I play AC/variety at my workplace. Everytime HSS plays someone sings or whistles to the tune. Nuff Said.

Hate to break it to you but Bon Jovi & The Bangles is now grown folks music.

Play Manic Monday for the Kids and you will probably get "Yuck".

The new song featuring Michael Bolton (Jack Sparrow) is a humorous song that shows the divide between the generations.

Just my PPM two cents.

 

[imhomerjay]

Most amusing is how the out-of-target-demo won't accept basic reality, as if throwing a tantrum like a toddler will magically change reality.

 

[firepoint525]

That song's popularity baffles me. And it won the Grammy. Ugh! :-\
Does it test that well?

When it won a Grammy (isn't it too old to qualify?) my girlfriend said "That song has such a happy beat, I hope they never stop playing it". There must be a lot like her out there.

Fortunately for me, my wife doesn't share your girlfriend's opinion. She hates it, too! The vocals on it are positively whiny! And as for that "out-of-target demo" b.s., you might have a point there IF they didn't also use it in that Samsung commercial! :

Train and Maroon5 are on tour together! UGH! That one is definitely on my "must-miss" list because I am still sick of the overkill that "This Love" got! And that was on a AAA station! :

 

[imhomerjay]

What Samsung uses in an ad has no bearing on the target demo of AC. That they may overlap is not surprising, but still not relevant to how a station may successfully be programmed.

 

[firepoint525]

What Samsung uses in an ad blah blah blah

Maybe not, but it explains why most of us are sick to death of the song! :

But that's okay. Eventually it will go the way of "You Light Up My Life," "We Are the World," "Achy Breaky Heart," and "Macarena." :

 

[oldies76]

But that's okay. Eventually it will go the way of "You Light Up My Life," "We Are the World," "Achy Breaky Heart," and "Macarena." :

Actually, I'm hearing more "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars a lot these days.

What really lasted on the radio back in the late 70's thru the early 80's, was Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"...funny, same titles!

Great , great song though.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Most amusing is how the out-of-target-demo won't accept basic reality, as if throwing a tantrum like a toddler will magically change reality.

Basic reality is professional offices need to get their act together and banish the new stuff pronto. We are talking PROFESSIONAL here and no amount of trying to convince me otherwise is going to change my mkind

And I will not tolerate this garbage in my grocery store. If they ever add it then they will be required to turn it OFF when I walk in. I did this every week when they had a problem keeping the volume at a comfortable level twelve years ago after they dumped the instrumentals. Some stores have done away with background music entirely and it's time for others to follow.

And no amount of attempting to convince me will change my mind that this new stuff is as out of place as tatoos, miniskirts, goth makeup and strange piercings. It's bad for the image and needs to go.