The B 98.5 (and for that matter, AC) That I Miss

[wpb1999]

To start off, I know many will disagree with me. I respect that. Opinions should be expressed.

Second, I think that the current B98.5 is a great station. But, I do miss the pre-semi-format change.

B98.5 changed to a new format over the summer that was fresher and newer. They eliminated the songs from the 1970s (Billy Joel, Elton John, etc.) and added the current songs (Pink, Katy Perry, ect.) So when this happened I started listening to Atlanta's Greatest Hits, instead. I thought that WSB-FM had gone away from its AC roots. But, then I listened to CheapChannel's Lite and Magic stations. They sounded the same. Lots of currents and less older songs.

So I started thinking about this and figured out that unless your station is specifically "SOFT or LITE AC" then you are going to age with the format instead of the audience.

Soft AC's will play mainly older songs of the 70s and 80s and some 90s and B98.5's beloved "NOW".

Straight ACs will play 70s, 80s, 90s, "NOW" . They play all of those decades.

Hot ACs (WSB and Star) will play some 80s and mostly 90s, 2000s and Today.

I consider B98.5 to be HOT AC even if they are heavy on the 80s.

So, this is the B98.5 That I miss. I miss the Billy Joel, Commodores, Elton John, Journey, and Little River Band B98.5. I know it will NEVER happen, but they should bring back the 70s and pertain just a little bit to the older crowd like myself. So IMO, B should play the 70s, 80s, 90s, and a little bit (not a lot) of the fabulous "NOW".

In case you haven't figured out by now, I am sick of the overused term of "NOW"!

 

[MRFLASHPORT]

NOW you should tune to 106.7!
Sorry, couldn't resist.

I don't miss the older AC hits, as we have the Dave, The River, and AGH to fill that gap. Dave for example, goes from playing Smashmouth to the Beatles to the Black Keys. They're all over the map. It doesn't bode well with the typical AC listener.

WSB HD2 (when it works) is more what Peach FM 95 was post 1988. Sounds like more of what you're looking for.

 

[carolinaradio]

AC's are moving away from 70s music almost everywhere. Magic 98.9 up here in Greenville, SC very rarely plays anything from before 1980.

Just like when the format moved away from the 60s in the late 1990s. And, if AC is around in 2020, they'll start moving away from the 1980s. It's just the evolution of the format.

 

[jabba17]

AC's are moving away from 70s music almost everywhere. Magic 98.9 up here in Greenville, SC very rarely plays anything from before 1980.

Just like when the format moved away from the 60s in the late 1990s. And, if AC is around in 2020, they'll start moving away from the 1980s. It's just the evolution of the format.

I know the boomers want to stretch out the popularity of the music of their youth, but it isn't going to stretch forever.

The boomers should be thankful that their music has lasted as long as it has. 60s/70s music today is as old as 30s/40s music was in 1982...and that era of music was long gone then except for a few "nostalgia" stations on AM and short-lived oddball FM stations like WJYF 104.1 "Joy FM" playing MOYL when they were still out of LaGrange.

 

[caller10]

Second, I think that the current B98.5 is a great station. But, I do miss the pre-semi-format change.

Me too! But most of all I miss the "98 at 9". Just as Jesus is central to Christianity and Shabbat to Judaism, B98.5FM's "98 at 9" was the central tenet to the B98.5 "faith". It was ingrained in the very fabric of millions of Atlanta's office workers lives and repeated countless times. Many times an hour Jordan Graye and Kelly McCoy would remind us that B98.5 FM plays over ninety-eight minutes of music every weekday morning starting at nine! They called it the "98 at 9".