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What is with the few Soft ACs launching the past few years?

Soft adult contemporary has been considered a tricky format to program because, unless there is a very older population present, the said station wouldn't rank high in the ratings. Even so, billing may be hit-or-miss at best for this format due to demographics (Relating to advertising, 55+ are said to have strong brand loyalty). Even today's 45-54 year olds aren't as tuned in to soft music, generally speaking, as yesterday's.

WEZI launched on 106.5 FM in Jacksonville in 2015, making Jacksonville join Tampa Bay and Miami in having a Cox-owned Soft AC in Florida. But it didn't stop there. iHeartMedia flipped Rhythmic Oldies 98.1 Kiss FM (KISQ) in San Francisco to 98.1 The Breeze. Although there was initial outrage over the format switch, KISQ in particular has enjoyed staying in the Top 5 ratings at least most of the time. But it may not exactly be a high biller, as the station was launched to chip away KOIT's ratings. Both KOIT and KISQ rank high in the market.

Now, today, Entercom has decided to launch a Soft AC, this time in Seattle. Although KMPS has done well in the ratings, ranking higher than sister station KKWF, and the DJs/staff of KMPS insisting that they are still with the station, KMPS nevertheless was flipped to 94.1 The Sound, with slogan "Relaxing Favorites at Work." Like KISQ in San Francisco, KMPS was launched to chip away some ratings away from its competitor, this time being Hubbard's KRWM (Warm 106.9).

As Soft AC is considered to be a retiree format, it's a bit strange to see newly launched stations in San Francisco and Seattle. But Soft AC is also present in places like Columbus, Chattanooga, Cape Cod, etc. Perhaps America in general is aging, but are 35-54 year olds into soft music more than we thought? Especially given that adult contemporary artists like Michael Bolton have long been gone from mainstream AC and more contemporary, uptempo music has been in favor by the general 25-54 population.
 
The programming that aired on soft AC stations 20 years ago is a geezer format today. But what is airing on stations like 98.1 The Breeze is not similar to what you would have seen on WLIT for example 20 years ago.

Less sappy ballads, for a start. Less crooning (Celene Dion, here's looking at you). And, importantly, no "Love Songs with Delilah".
 
Well, Delilah is on two of the five big market Soft AC stations, WFEZ Miami and WDUV Tampa. Cox can't put it on WEZI Jacksonville because WEJZ, the mainstream AC station, runs Delilah. With no DJs so far on 94.1 in Seattle, we don't know if it will pick up Delilah or John Tesh.

As for the ratings, here's what they look like in the November surveys...

KISQ San Francisco -- #4

WFEZ Miami -- #2

WDUV Tampa -- #1

Too soon to look at WEZI Jacksonville, since it just moved from a 6,000 watt signal to a 100,000 watt signal. And in Phoenix, KOAS is a rim-shot, so its ratings are not that great.

In San Diego, KXSN sometimes ranked at #1. But it moved to Mainstream AC a couple of years ago when that format became missing in the market, and now is Classic Hits. I guess it's an indication of the difficulty of making these stations acceptable to the under 55 crowd that nobody replaced KXSN when it stopped being Soft AC. A number one station leaves the format and no one duplicates it.
 
Would be nice for KSWD (ex-KMPS) to get Delilah back to Seattle airwaves. She LIVES in the market, tapes her show in Kitsap County, and has been missing from western Washington airwaves since KAFE Bellingham dumped her in late 2014, and KRWM earlier that year. I'm sure there would be a lot of calls and dedications from western Washington.
 
I guess it's an indication of the difficulty of making these stations acceptable to the under 55 crowd that nobody replaced KXSN when it stopped being Soft AC. A number one station leaves the format and no one duplicates it.

Sure, WDUV is a great example of this. WDUV was #1 in the 6+ ratings for years but was WAY down the list in the ad-friendly demos. Their adjustments in the last couple years have helped them at least be competitive, and are probably what Cox is trying to copy in Miami and Jacksonville.

I thought for sure the adjustments to WDUV had included dropping Delilah. I stand corrected on that point.
 
Sure, WDUV is a great example of this. WDUV was #1 in the 6+ ratings for years but was WAY down the list in the ad-friendly demos. Their adjustments in the last couple years have helped them at least be competitive, and are probably what Cox is trying to copy in Miami and Jacksonville.

I thought for sure the adjustments to WDUV had included dropping Delilah. I stand corrected on that point.

WDUV had been famous for being #1 in 12+, but 15th in billings.

Now they are in the top couple of stations in 25-54 and moved well into the top 10 in billings. Of course, billings lag ratings growth, so we can likely expect WDUV to move into the top 5 in revenue soon.

It took a major revision of the playlist to achieve the change.
 
WFEZ Miami -- #2

WDUV Tampa -- #1

WFEZ started as a softer AC with a lot of gold from waaay back. They misjudged the mood of the market and the demographics. They rather quickly became just a tiny bit softer and more gold based than WLYF, the traditional AC leader. WFEZ is about 99% gold based, with the bulk of the music being 80's and 90's, with a bit of later 70's.

It's an 80's gold based AC. WLYF plays about 15% current and recurrent, which WFEZ does not do.

WDUV is now a '75 to '85 core musically, about 6 to 8 years older than WFEZ as to the median song age.
 
Too soon to look at WEZI Jacksonville, since it just moved from a 6,000 watt signal to a 100,000 watt signal. And in Phoenix, KOAS is a rim-shot, so its ratings are not that great.

KOAI converted to a Classic Hits format this year, so there is no more Soft AC in Phoenix.
 
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