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The Lite is OUT!

R

RBRadioWaves

After 24 years, 93.9 WLIT has turned out the Lite. It is now going as 93.9 MY fm.

Correct my if I am wrong, but based on their online playlist, their last few songs were probably "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel, "When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars, "Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, and "Seperate Ways" by Journey. "My" probably signed on with "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry and "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

No word on the status of the DJs.
 
With The Mix all in as an Adult Top 40 station (flirting with being CHR as well), and given the mess that is I-101, WLIT has decided to flip to a full-on Hot AC station. Their tag line is "More Variety From The 80's Till Now". The LITE airstaff is gone, Delila as well.
 
This might be a smart move for them since the ratings were down after the holidays. Also it looks like they will keep the Holiday music as always. This might be the trend with the AC format. The older AC songs may slide into the Classic Hits Format.
 
With all the "almost-CHR" stuff they are airing now, I was predicting this change for a while.

Is anyone in Chicago like WDUV in Tampa? Love songs of the '70s, '80s and '90s without Adele and Bruno Mars? Or am I thinking the classic hits stations?

-crainbebo
 
According to Radio-Locator.com, the call letters "WMYC" aren't being used anywhere, so I wouldn't be surprised if WLIT-93.9's call letters are changed to WMYC, since it could stand for "My Chicago".

I also wonder if the station might remain jockless for the long term, since the station issued a press release announcing the change by saying that listeners wanted "commercial-free commutes, so their drives are full of music". That suggests to me a maximum-music, jockless format.
 
crainbebo said:
Is anyone in Chicago like WDUV in Tampa? Love songs of the '70s, '80s and '90s without Adele and Bruno Mars?
Click to expand...

A WDUV clone or "sound alike" is not going to happen. Even in a market where there is a business community recognition of the value of senior consumers, WDUV is #14 in billings despite being overwhelmingly #1 in 12+ listening. That's because the format is almost entirely consumed by 55+ listeners, most of whom are also over 65.

Still, it's a good choice in Tampa. WDUV is not a full signal, although pretty adequate. It's a nice format and, run frugally, able to make a profit in a major senior retirement area.
 
With a new Program Director coming along I doubt if the Christmas music will stay

your going for a Younger Demo now so if your going to do christmas music do it on the weekends then once sunday night @ midnight rolls around you shift back to Normal music
 
Mike said:
With a new Program Director coming along I doubt if the Christmas music will stay

your going for a Younger Demo now so if your going to do christmas music do it on the weekends then once sunday night @ midnight rolls around you shift back to Normal music
Click to expand...

They've already declared that they will stick with Christmas Music this fall.
 
Looks like clear channel is doing to WLIT what CBS did to WDOK 102.1 'The New 102' here in Cleveland - shifted the station to a younger demo attracting CHR leaning adult top-40 format. I looked at the recently played songs on WLIT's website and it looks like they played much of the same things WDOK plays now. Delilah was also dumped from WDOK when this change occurred along with long-time DJ Nancy Alden along with a few others and replaced them with younger DJs who came over from Hot AC WQAL 104.1. Clear channel probably is doing this to compete with Merlin Media's WIQI and Hubbard Broadcasting's WTMX. WDOK still has the Christmas music from mid-November through Dec 26.

I wonder if WJMK and/or WLS will tweak their playlists any in the wake of WLIT turning off the lite?
 
I have said this for a long time that they needed a new identity. They have not played soft rock in a long time so Lite should of been dropped awhile ago. New call letters for a new identity needs to be done. It happened when they were WLAK. Remember, Chicago's 5th grade lake?
I wish 93.9 good luck! This was a move in the right direction. Too bad we don't have local talent. This is Chicago and we love our DJ's.
 
Folks, this is a name change, not a format change. The playlist between 10 and 11am today, according to the website, is...

Heaven--Bryan Adams
Home--Phil Phillips
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic--The Police
Fallin'--Alicia Keys
Stronger--Kelly Clarkson
Borderline--Madonna
How to Save A Life--The Fray
She Will Be Loved--Maroon 5
Stay--Rihanna
Torn--Natalie Imbruglia
Somebody That I Used to Know--Gotye
Open Arms--Journey

Which of these songs would not be heard on today's AC stations? It's all AC music. What Hot AC station plays The Police, Bryan Adams, Madonna, Journey? Hot AC stations rarely go back before 2000... certainly not back to the 80s! Other Clear Channel AC stations such as WLTW New York and KOST Los Angeles sound like this. Unlike WLIT, they have good ratings, so they made their changes gradually.

In an interview, Programming VP Tommy Austin admitted as much, "The music is fairly similar in that we didn't turn off the LITE, we just made it brighter." Maybe these days there's a sales advantage of saying you're "Hot AC" and not an AC station called Lite.

Of course, it is odd that today's AC stations no longer play soft music or ballads. I understand that every generation defines what its AC music should be. Sinatra and Elvis give way to the Carpenters and Barry Manilow who give way to Phil Collins and Gloria Estefan. But I can't remember a generation that distained ALL soft music and ballads. Even The Beatles, The Stones, Springsteen and Madonna had their ballads and soft songs. But today AC stations can't play anything that's soft. So even though they play songs from the 80s, they can't play "Saving All My Love for You" by Whitney Houston, "Cherish" by Madonna, "She's Out of My Life" by Michael Jackson or "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen. They're all too soft.

Some AC stations still call themselves Lite or Magic or Easy Rock. But they only use those IDs if they've been using them for decades. They never refer to the music this way anymore. I suppose all large market AC stations have moved to a more uptempo, contemporary playlist, other than WFEZ Miami and WDUV Tampa, which can be described as Super Soft stations. Minneapolis remains the only sizable market with no AC station.
 
OK. I'm glad it's still AC and not some Adult Top 40 thing.

-crainbebo
 
RBRadioWaves said:
They've already declared that they will stick with Christmas Music this fall.
Click to expand...

Great way to freefall in the ratings, playing Christmas music in the fall...anytime before Thanksgiving. December 15th onward, I might just tune in!
 
Gregg said:
Folks, this is a name change, not a format change. The playlist between 10 and 11am today, according to the website, is...

Heaven--Bryan Adams
Home--Phil Phillips
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic--The Police
Fallin'--Alicia Keys
Stronger--Kelly Clarkson
Borderline--Madonna
How to Save A Life--The Fray
She Will Be Loved--Maroon 5
Stay--Rihanna
Torn--Natalie Imbruglia
Somebody That I Used to Know--Gotye
Open Arms--Journey

Which of these songs would not be heard on today's AC stations? It's all AC music. What Hot AC station plays The Police, Bryan Adams, Madonna, Journey? Hot AC stations rarely go back before 2000... certainly not back to the 80s! Other Clear Channel AC stations such as WLTW New York and KOST Los Angeles sound like this. Unlike WLIT, they have good ratings, so they made their changes gradually.

In an interview, Programming VP Tommy Austin admitted as much, "The music is fairly similar in that we didn't turn off the LITE, we just made it brighter." Maybe these days there's a sales advantage of saying you're "Hot AC" and not an AC station called Lite.

Of course, it is odd that today's AC stations no longer play soft music or ballads. I understand that every generation defines what its AC music should be. Sinatra and Elvis give way to the Carpenters and Barry Manilow who give way to Phil Collins and Gloria Estefan. But I can't remember a generation that distained ALL soft music and ballads. Even The Beatles, The Stones, Springsteen and Madonna had their ballads and soft songs. But today AC stations can't play anything that's soft. So even though they play songs from the 80s, they can't play "Saving All My Love for You" by Whitney Houston, "Cherish" by Madonna, "She's Out of My Life" by Michael Jackson or "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen. They're all too soft.

Some AC stations still call themselves Lite or Magic or Easy Rock. But they only use those IDs if they've been using them for decades. They never refer to the music this way anymore. I suppose all large market AC stations have moved to a more uptempo, contemporary playlist, other than WFEZ Miami and WDUV Tampa, which can be described as Super Soft stations. Minneapolis remains the only sizable market with no AC station.
Click to expand...

Excellent post; agreed. Very interesting that GenX doesn't care for ballads or soft rock. Given that there's little rock on the charts, "soft rock" as a positioner seems very passe.

When adults don't care for softer music, what does this say about our culture today?
 
I remember WLIT eliminating the 70's for about a month last year, only to go back to adding 70's music a month later. The only exception was that the Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, & Helen Reddy were eliminated for good from the playlist. They however were playing songs from the Bee Gees & Sister Sledge, & anything that had an upbeat tempo. At least when CBS had Fresh, they didn't even touch the 70's, & they did play a lot of 90's songs that most stations weren't touching that would fit an AC format. I did like Fresh, but it didn't work out for CBS (at least on the analog side of radio). This whole renaming the station from the Lite to My hasn't convinced me to listen to the station. For now, I still listen to I-101, since they're playing a lot of 90's songs that most stations ignore (even many that can fit an AC station). Once I-101 goes away, I'll be back to listening to Rewind 100.3, since that's been my default station for so long. They only added a bunch of 90's songs once I-101 came on the scene, & added the newer music back into the playlist as well. I only wish Rewind 100.3 would drop the 70's music as well. Let K-Hits have it for their Classic Hits station, as well as The Drive for their male version of Classic Hits (what few songs from the 70's that Rewind plays that might also fit the Drive).
 
promixcuous said:
Given that there's little rock on the charts, "soft rock" as a positioner seems very passe.
Click to expand...

At some point, "rock" became, among more AC leaning listeners, anything that was hard. The term is quite vague.

When adults don't care for softer music, what does this say about our culture today?
Click to expand...

It says that we are in a recession and many people to turn to things that cheer them up.
 
It says that we are in a recession and many people to turn to things that cheer them up.
Click to expand...

Or, as in the case of this "adult", never would have liked AC music irrespective of what the economy was like. Of course, I'm 62 years old, and these days mainly prefer indie-rock stations like Sirius XMU and (online) KEXP and WFUV's "The Alternate Side", so I suppose I'm somewhat "atypical" !
 
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