'The Breeze' Blows into NYC

[DOB]

I've heard that billing is way down with WPLJ of recent years. They used to have bad ratings but made some nice coin. WNEW is clearly the hot ac champ in NYC, and while down recently WKTU is the rhythmic hot ac. With WLTW and WCBS doing so well in the money demo, it would be wise for Cumulus to do either an Easy 947 or Easy 955 "New York relaxing and refreshing choice for your workday".
I would miss their Saturday night show. That show on WPLJ plays some really great NYC dance classics that you cannot hear anywhere else. IT woulld be really cool if the new Easy 95.5 could get some of the old lite fm jocks to compliment the format. It would be interesting to see how much they could take from WLTW. Some of these soft ac stations have done some damage to the heritage acs of the market but WLTW is a very sloid station.

 

[radiolives]

Could The Breeze format be put on any of the former CBS Radio now Entercom owned stations?

 

[CurtisNEPA]

I don't know about how WNEW or Nash is doing, but either two of the stations mentioned could be good candidates for a soft AC. This board kept speculating that every time 102.7 is bound to change formats, soft AC is always on people's mind. Now that "The Breeze" format is spreading throughout the country, that would certainly be the case if either station decides it's not worth keeping the format because of bad ratings. As such, a soft AC would finally improve their ratings because it is commonly heard in offices and stores while top rated WLTW now plays WAY too much cutting edge Z100 stuff like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande along with the 80's and 90's stuff. There was an interesting article from last year about one disco legend who claims that her song "Come To Me" is consistently heard on WLTW and also said that 40 years later a lot of radio stations are still playing her music. But I don't know if this claim is true or not, but it might be possible that this song could also be heard over on CBS-FM. But, by all accounts, a soft AC would be free to play any softer songs like the one I mentioned from 40 years ago and pose a direct challenge to both CBS-FM and WLTW.

As for WPLJ, they should stay as is for now, but another station that no one yet mentions is 103.9. I don't know how good are their ratings but it seems like a good candidate for a soft AC. With a much crappy signal, they couldn't really compete with WBLS, which had better ratings than them. Personally, it would be a lot better if Cumulus makes the move.

That said, this market truly needs a soft AC.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't know about how WNEW or Nash is doing, but either two of the stations mentioned could be good candidates for a soft AC.

I don't see Cumulus blowing up Nash. It's doing exactly what they expected and what they intended.

 

[CTListener]

I don't see Cumulus blowing up Nash. It's doing exactly what they expected and what they intended.

I think all these markets that are airing The Breeze in the virtual vacuum of HD subchannels are going to wait until a couple of books are in on the main-signal Breezes elsewhere. If the numbers show that the younger, beat-obsessed, rhythmic generation is ready for softer sounds, even if they're sounds their parents liked, and that agency advertisers believe that and start targeting those listeners, then maybe a few poorly performing stations will be flipped. However, if the numbers skew 55+, it probably remains a fringe HD format.

 

[mets18]

iHeart has shuffled their HD subchannels. The Breeze is on 103.5 HD3, 80s goes to 106.7 HD3, and something called Broadway goes to 106.7 HD2.

 

[djl]

And for some reason the signal on iHeaet 80’s -> now 106.7 HD3 seems to be much weaker than when it was on HD2. They still have the iHeart 80’s logo on 106.7 HD2. The Breezw seems OK on 103.5 HD2 though they aren’t showing the logo.

It would have just been so much easier to put the Broadway Music on 103.5 HD3 rather than do this crazy shuffle.

I wonder if they will at some point add a 100.3 HD3 or remove WOR from 104.3 HD2 and put some type of 70’a station instead.

 

[CurtisNEPA]

That's weird. Maybe The Breeze format on 106.7 HD3 overlaps with their main signal so IHeart decides to move the format to 103.5 HD3. Some of the songs heard on The Breeze are also being heard on the main Lite FM signal.

Also, regarding the 70's disco song "Come To Me", which was claimed that it was still being played on Lite FM according to the article from last year, I wonder if anyone ever heard it being played? Checking their playlist, they still do play '70s, but have not seen that song even listed. However, I remember hearing Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" while I was stuck on the Schuylkill Expressway on my way to Philly that summer morning(at that time, 106.7 was a bit strong thanks to tropo).

So, it would be interesting if that song I mentioned as well as Stevie Wonder will be played more frequently on The Breeze than on the main Lite signal.

 

[nd2023]

That's exactly why The Breeze should have been on Lite FM's HD2. The HD sub channels should try to complement the main channels whenever possible