Is that some of the songs played like The Eagles "Desperado" and Jackson Browne "Stay". They are completely boring and slow. I also wish that AC would play some of the songs I hear overhead at restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory and iHop. I always hear these great songs but they are never played on the regular radio. I wonder why that is? I can't name any songs off the top of my head but it would make AC stations better if they played those certain songs.
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What I dislike about AC radio
- Thread starter icycool7227
- Start date
Borig and slow are good. People need to be able to relax. AC radio has evolved beyond the point where it can be considered relaxing.icycool7227 said:
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Check out how well uptempo songs play with today's female audience (hint: they do well).
The overwhelming percentage of posters may well be males, but perhaps having a bit of perspective that the stations aren't targeting them would help the discussions be far more logical.
The overwhelming percentage of posters may well be males, but perhaps having a bit of perspective that the stations aren't targeting them would help the discussions be far more logical.
imhomerjay said:
I believe many women like uptempo songs, look how well CHR does today with women 25-54. At the same time look at how many ACs play a much more uptempo mix of music than they used to,have great ratings during the holiday season, and then crash from there, even in the demo they target. Just from a casual observation it appears the (relatively) soft ACs do better year round than the harder ones. Even if women love fun upbeat songs, all the stations that play this music fragment each other which makes room for one softer station.
If a greater number of men participated in these discussions the bias would develop more against softer music than if women in ACs target demo only commented. Soft formats (even when they were more common) never targeted men. Many men hate soft music. I recall a friend of mine in high school was beaten up by a group of bullies for wearing an Air Supply T-shirt. Yeah they were just teens, but I highly doubt any of those dudes grew up to become Soft AC fans.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Of course they look like they're crashing after the artificially high holiday numbers. Suddenly that 8 (or whatever, just as an example pulled out of the air) that looks good the other 10.5 months of the year pales next to the 13 or 14 (or what have you). But when the pattern repeats itself and is clearly pegged to the temporary format change, it's not up-tempo songs that cause the crash. It's the up-tempo songs that keep many of the country's top mainstream ACs somewhere near the top of the heap and billing quite nicely.
And of course there are individual, anecdotal cases where a softer station does better than a mainstream competitor; there are always going to be unique case studies. There's a reason those are exceptions.
Again, though, the point is that even in a male-dominated forum, it's a more logical discussion to talk about what the actual target audience--in this case females--will listen to, than the rants that AC isn't catering to the posters' tastes and should do what would appeal to them.
And of course there are individual, anecdotal cases where a softer station does better than a mainstream competitor; there are always going to be unique case studies. There's a reason those are exceptions.
Again, though, the point is that even in a male-dominated forum, it's a more logical discussion to talk about what the actual target audience--in this case females--will listen to, than the rants that AC isn't catering to the posters' tastes and should do what would appeal to them.
I do not know if it is hard vs. soft but rather cool vs uncool that men value. Soft is OK with men, at least older men like me, so long as it's cool soft, such as AAA, not overplayed, wimpy soft, like most AC's. That's what I dislike about AC radio, it's too predictable, too wimpy.
Jay F said:
Ha. I think we are using the word "wimpy" differently. I use the word to emphasize predictable, tired, overplayed music. Just look at the top 6 songs on R-I's AC chart. Each has been on the chart from 32 to 55 weeks. 55 weeks? Over a year on the chart and that song is still at #4? That's "wimpy" to me but that's how most AC's are programmed, which is probably why I do not listen to mainstream AC radio anymore.
On the other hand, your tongue-in-cheek (I assume) "wimpy" soft is actually quite brave these days. I like those kinds of AC and, you are correct, they are hard to find. They are not usually called AC anymore, maybe Soft AC or Smooth AC. I haven't been to Klammath Falls, OR in a couple of years, but when I was there last, I enjoyed KKRB, Sunny 107.
The only AC station I actually like isn't AC at all. But arbitron calls it soft AC because the man in charge thinks it is. What it really is we now call adult standards. It's a little more contemporary-leaning than, say, Dial Global, but they use the words "Relaxation" and "easy" and make a real efffort to play the real standards alongside the AC oldies and regular oldies.
Apparently nearly all the AC tunes I like have made it into the adult standards format.
Apparently nearly all the AC tunes I like have made it into the adult standards format.
@AM FM listener: Thanks for mentioning KKRB/Klamath Falls. I checked them out and really enjoyed it. I realize being in a small market they can get away with playing music you wouldn't hear in the larger markets. The stakes aren't as high. They played some songs I never heard of before, that was refreshing. They played a wide variety of eras from currents like Taylor Swift-Mine (which I still like...no burn yet) to some great classics like Chicago-I've Been Searching to Barbra Streisand-Guilty. Hearing "Guilty" on any radio station gives me the tingles. I'm highly aware of how taboo it is for a song like that to be played these days so it's a real treat to hear.
I also like what I didn't hear on SUNNY 107, cynical sounding pop-rock artists like The Fray (I personally can't stand "You Found Me") or even Daughtry. Maybe they do play this genre, but not in the 2 hours I monitored them and this made the station sound refreshing.
KKRB actually reminds me of random international ACs I discover more than most U.S ACs. A variety of music and eras but nothing too hard or upbeat. Thanks once again for the find.
I also like what I didn't hear on SUNNY 107, cynical sounding pop-rock artists like The Fray (I personally can't stand "You Found Me") or even Daughtry. Maybe they do play this genre, but not in the 2 hours I monitored them and this made the station sound refreshing.
KKRB actually reminds me of random international ACs I discover more than most U.S ACs. A variety of music and eras but nothing too hard or upbeat. Thanks once again for the find.
icycool7227 said:
Wow, of course these songs are slow, but it's funny that you call them boring...because I actually find most of today's new AC material boring for a different reason: Most of the songs actually don't have catchy tunes, and they hardly have any creative use of instruments. At least songs like "Desperado" and "Stay" have tunes that are worth singing along to, and they actually have a decent instrumental backing. Call me weird, but within the last year, the only new AC song I can think of that was catchy or interesting enough for me was "Fireflies" by Owl City.
-28 year old male
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