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WATR-FM to WWYZ

mikedow

mikedow

I worked for WWYZ in the late 80s for last of the Adult Contemporary formats. I remember loving the fact that the old Natural 92 library was still around. This incredible library exposed me to some incredible music. I wasn’t much of a ‘WZ listener in the seventies. What exactly was in their playlists? Was it free-form or programmed? Can anybody give the story of WATR-FM became a couple of automated Beautiful Music formats (what was WENU?) to the groundbreaking “Natural 92,” and what happened to the station in the years before Country.

Mike
 
In the seventies, Connecticut was loaded with easy listening instrumental "beautiful music" formats. WWYZ - the former WATR-FM and WENU - was lost in the pack in this format as "the music lovers WISE choice." The Gilmore family kept up the pictures of owls all over the Waterbury lobby long after the switch to "laid back and mellow" as "YZ the Natural 92FM" in early summer 1976.

YZ targeted women 18-34 with soft adult contemporary hits along with some lesser known texture cuts mixed in. It had a music-intensive, relaxed but less formal presentation than its beautiful music counterparts. YZ quickly caught on, reaching its peak in mid 1978 under program director Bob Craig. Bob's imprint was all over YZ, especially in the way he meticulously programmed every music set cut by cut. I've heard it described as "songs of life, love and loneliness." It was a class act. Bob left to program soft AC WMGK in Philadelphia in 1979.

WWYZ had begun slipping by 1980 in the face of Magic 104 WIOF's more familiar playlist, more heavily produced new hits and the fact that many key mellow seventies artists were putting out less new product. Program director Dave Popovich managed to tighten up things in 1981 and regain some traction, but he left after a year. After that, the more a succession of program directors and consultants tweaked things back and forth, the more ready they were for a switch to country in 1988. I'm proud to have been a part of YZ in its mellow heyday. I made some very good friends there.
 
I find it interesting that, to this day, both WWYZ and WMGK in Philly, given their history, still hold onto their calls.
 
Me and my father enjoyed listening to Natural 92 back then.it was a nice mix of music.we continued to listen to the station until 1988 when they switched to country.I continue to listen when the switch to country music.My dad went to WRCH.
 
WWYZ was one of very few Soft Rock stations in the U.S. They did a great job programming all songs by Rock - AOR artists, but only their softer material. I remember visiting my cousin who lives in Northport Long Island. He would switch his stereo back and forth between 92.5 WWYZ and 92.3 WKTU when that NYC station was also Soft Rock.

But I guess its days were numbered when 104.1 WIOF Waterbury-Hartford, owned by Merv Griffin, flipped from automated country to TM's Beautiful Rock, which was also heard on other stations calling themselves "Magic," mostly owned by Greater Media: WMGK Philadelphia, WMJC Detoit, WMGQ New Brunswick NJ and eventually WMJX Boston. There was also WMJC Rochester and WMGX Portland Maine, but I'm not sure if they subscribed to TM's Beautiful Rock or, like WWYZ, did the format on their own.

I always thought it was odd that Connecticut had TWO Soft Rock stations, both licensed to Waterbury but serving the Hartford market. Meanwhile the Connecticut FM dial was filled with Easy Listening stations... WWYZ before the flip, WKSS, WRCH, WKCI, WEZN, WHYN-FM and WTIC-FM, which was Easy by day, Classical by night. Interesting that they ALL kept their call letters.

Connecticut has NO soft music stations today except WRCH and they are no where as soft as they once were. Yet they are #1 12+ and #1 25-54. What changed the need for people to have soft music on their radio a few decades ago but they don't need soft music now, even thouh the pace of life is much crazier now?


Gregg
[email protected]
 
I can't help but wonder if, instead of being "yet another" Top 40 cookie-cutter, someone with some chutzpah would take one of those foundering Top 40 signals, and change it over to Beautiful Music. Then someone else take another, and change it to Smooth Jazz. They would be "monopolies" in CT, since nobody else is doing those formats. Is there any chutzpah left? It would appear not.

The key is getting a SALES STAFF that not only understands the FORMAT, but the CLIENTELE, and can SELL it. When all you have as a sales team is a bunch of 20-to-30-somethings, they can't sell it.
 
WPHA said:
I can't help but wonder if, instead of being "yet another" Top 40 cookie-cutter, someone with some chutzpah would take one of those foundering Top 40 signals, and change it over to Beautiful Music. Then someone else take another, and change it to Smooth Jazz. They would be "monopolies" in CT, since nobody else is doing those formats. Is there any chutzpah left? It would appear not.

The key is getting a SALES STAFF that not only understands the FORMAT, but the CLIENTELE, and can SELL it. When all you have as a sales team is a bunch of 20-to-30-somethings, they can't sell it.
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Despite some overlap with Clear Channel's WKSS and WKCI, Connecticut isn't exactly overrun by Top 40 stations. Even with CC's cutbacks, WKSS gets respectable numbers in Hartford with a much more marketable demo than other format options - and New Haven isn't big enough to support what audience an instrumental easy listening outlet could deliver. Stations like WTIC-AM, WRCH, WWYZ and WDRC are still popular choices for 55-plus listeners, but even these stations focus primarily on adults younger than 55. By the time WRCH dumped beautiful music in 1989, that format was toast as I personally witnessed its demise - and it wasn't because the people there didn't understand the format or clientele. Smooth jazz hasn't lasted either here in the Northeast; this isn't LA.

Yes, people 55 and over still buy things and listen to radio, but advertisers find it can require a prohibitive amount of investment to get that crowd (my crowd now) to alter buying habits. We see the age issue playing out on daytime TV with the cancellation of two ABC soaps. It's one of those old debates that pop up on these boards, kind of like when people say it takes "chutzpah" to increase the size of a playlist.
 
GlennO said:
Yes, people 55 and over still buy things and listen to radio, but advertisers find it can require a prohibitive amount of investment to get that crowd (my crowd now) to alter buying habits. We see the age issue playing out on daytime TV with the cancellation of two ABC soaps. It's one of those old debates that pop up on these boards, kind of like when people say it takes "chutzpah" to increase the size of a playlist.
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Well, they have managed to get a lot of 55+'s to buy computers and online services over the past decade or so, even if the ads haven't been targeting them, haven't they?

I know what you mean, though. Advertising is a cynical business; looking at it (and radio) from the outside, and hearing all the conventional wisdom from the insiders on this board and others, I get the impression that advertisers and broadcasters want audiences as young and stupid as possible, hence the tight, nearly stagnant playlists and the advertising for products whose only difference from their predecessors is a splashy "NEW" across the label or a trendy new color. Reality bites.
 
CTListener said:
Well, they have managed to get a lot of 55+'s to buy computers and online services over the past decade or so, even if the ads haven't been targeting them, haven't they?

I know what you mean, though. Advertising is a cynical business; looking at it (and radio) from the outside, and hearing all the conventional wisdom from the insiders on this board and others, I get the impression that advertisers and broadcasters want audiences as young and stupid as possible, hence the tight, nearly stagnant playlists and the advertising for products whose only difference from their predecessors is a splashy "NEW" across the label or a trendy new color. Reality bites.
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Actually, adults 25-54 remain the prime targets of most radio advertisers. The 55-plus that adult stations also deliver can be an extra "bonus." If you target upper demos primarily, it can be a tough sell. As classy as it was, I'm sure WWYZ would sound pretty dated if they brought back the Natural 92. I'm fortunate to have a lot of that 70s mellow stuff on CD along with a few airchecks.

I also get nostalgic for the less narrowcast radio of yesteryear, but those wide ranging playlists had plenty of songs that were clunkers even then. A lot of people in the business knew it, so imagine how people who were not as fixated on radio felt about it. There are also certain years and eras of music that can be stagnant - 1982, 1977, the year or two right before the Beatles and leading up to 1955 were not too exciting for new music. It's not necessarily a radio programmer's fault. There's still some good radio out there, but times change.
 
GlennO said:
I also get nostalgic for the less narrowcast radio of yesteryear, but those wide ranging playlists had plenty of songs that were clunkers even then. A lot of people in the business knew it, so imagine how people who were not as fixated on radio felt about it. There are also certain years and eras of music that can be stagnant - 1982, 1977, the year or two right before the Beatles and leading up to 1955 were not too exciting for new music. It's not necessarily a radio programmer's fault.
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I don't know about 1982; that was a pretty exciting musical year, with MTV and its influence just kicking in. I remember hearing "Jessie's Girl" for the first time in mid-'81 and thinking, "Now THAT'S what a rock hit ought to sound like!" In 1982, radio was full of really catchy pop and rock. The "MTV sound" peaked in 1984-85, and there are certainly plenty of songs from those years on classic hits playlists these days, but '82 is no slouch. As for 1977, that was my senior year of college/first year in the working world, so even though, in retrospect, the music wasn't particularly exciting -- disco had pretty much run out of ideas, but it was still dominating playlists -- I can't be objective. Songs like "Smoke From a Distant Fire" and "Baby Come Back" were the soundtrack to a very important year in my life. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way about 1971 and 1980, which I classify as "stagnant" years. I guess the key to successful radio programming, though, is finding the songs that resonate across the target generations, which explains why I hear "Crocodile Rock" and "Hip to Be Square" so much and "It's Gonna Take Some Time This Time" and "Angel in My Arms" hardly at all..
 
CTListener said:
I don't know about 1982; that was a pretty exciting musical year, with MTV and its influence just kicking in. I remember hearing "Jessie's Girl" for the first time in mid-'81 and thinking, "Now THAT'S what a rock hit ought to sound like!" In 1982, radio was full of really catchy pop and rock. The "MTV sound" peaked in 1984-85, and there are certainly plenty of songs from those years on classic hits playlists these days, but '82 is no slouch. As for 1977, that was my senior year of college/first year in the working world, so even though, in retrospect, the music wasn't particularly exciting -- disco had pretty much run out of ideas, but it was still dominating playlists -- I can't be objective. Songs like "Smoke From a Distant Fire" and "Baby Come Back" were the soundtrack to a very important year in my life. I'm sure there are people who feel the same way about 1971 and 1980, which I classify as "stagnant" years. I guess the key to successful radio programming, though, is finding the songs that resonate across the target generations, which explains why I hear "Crocodile Rock" and "Hip to Be Square" so much and "It's Gonna Take Some Time This Time" and "Angel in My Arms" hardly at all..
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Point well taken about 1982... I'll admit some bias just because I think it paled in comparison to 1983. You're probably more accurate picking on 1980. Disco really didn't peak until 1979, although with the exception of Saturday Night Fever you could argue that disco had already run out of fresh ideas. Back to topic, the soft side of the seventies were very good for YZ the Natural 92. From 1980 on?... Not so much.
 
GlennO said:
Yes, people 55 and over still buy things and listen to radio, but advertisers find it can require a prohibitive amount of investment to get that crowd (my crowd now) to alter buying habits.
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I wanted to highlight this point by Glenn because I think it's spot-on. Advertisers still want the 55+ crowd... advertisers want EVERY customer. However, the investment to effectively target that demo specifically would be cost prohibitive to businesses, especially local advertisers. I think it's just natural for most (not all) 55+ to get into buying habits. I look at my parents, 55+, and they shop at the same stores, buy the same products, use the same dentist, see the same lawyer, eat at the same restaurants. They'll try new things, but they're not as apt as I am in my late 20's to say "i'm bored, let's try something new."

I always like to highlight the "broad" in broadcasting. There just isn't enough bandwidth or ad dollars to get into niche formats. You need to appeal to the widest crowd possible to get the largest audience possible to get the most results for your advertisers. I think that's why you'll see stations like WRCH throw in some "hotter" recurrents to appeal to a younger crowd, while still staying relatively soft for the older crowd. The more, the merrier!
 
reelyreal said:
GlennO said:
Yes, people 55 and over still buy things and listen to radio, but advertisers find it can require a prohibitive amount of investment to get that crowd (my crowd now) to alter buying habits.
Click to expand...

I always like to highlight the "broad" in broadcasting. There just isn't enough bandwidth or ad dollars to get into niche formats. You need to appeal to the widest crowd possible to get the largest audience possible to get the most results for your advertisers. I think that's why you'll see stations like WRCH throw in some "hotter" recurrents to appeal to a younger crowd, while still staying relatively soft for the older crowd. The more, the merrier!
Click to expand...

That assumes that the "older crowd" is OK with "relatively soft" meaning Colbie Caillat instead of the Carpenters. Some of them aren't OK with that, and they have nowhere on FM to turn now.

WDRC-FM still plays Buddy Holly and Four Seasons along with all those Robert Palmer and Prince songs they've added in the past year or so, but are the 55+ listeners still listening regularly, do they only listen to the Saturday request show, or have they left for internet or satellite radio? And does playing an "Addicted to Love" or a "1999" two or three times an hour in a format otherwise dominated by '60s and '70s titles really bring in the 25-35 audience?
 
Someone has asked specifically about the music played on 'YZ in the seventies and early eighties. It was unusual, even for the time. Core artists were Billy Joel, Carly Simon and James Taylor... but they also played Michael Franks, Kenny Rankin, Spyro Gyra, and the Paul Winter Consort. When WIOF went soft rock in the seventies, they were more of a hit oriented soft rock operation. I think that this very much contributed to 'YZ's decline.

'YZ also sounded quite good when they were consulted by Pete Salant in the 1980's... that was short lived though.
 
Before YZ went mellow rock, the FM dial was populated by easy listening instrumentals and free-form album stations. Stations like WPLR mixed in softer album cuts from Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Pure Prairie League and more. The way some jocks would gradually transition from the softest to the hardest within the span of a few tunes without sounding like a train wreck could be very impressive. YZ targeted a portion of that audience who wanted the softer side of rock over the hard edge. There was a fairly big format opening when Gilmore Broadcasting launched and Bob Craig first programmed YZ in 1976. Bob used to say, "When they want to mellow out, they come to us."

The brand loyalty of the 55-plus demo can also work to the advantage of stations that aim at 25-plus (more likely 35-plus). True, some won't stay as things get more contemporary, but enough do. In the eighties, I remember some full-service AMs like WELI, WICC, WLAD and even that Bob Steele bastion WTIC adding newer product while the built-in upper demos stayed with them, even with adult standards alternatives down the dial. As someone said in R&R Magazine then, "It's easier to alienate a 25-year-old playing Sinatra than a 55-year-old playing Madonna." An updated version of that wisdom still applies.
 
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