When did Easy 102.9 change from soft AC to AC?

[vchimpanzee]

Jacksonville has been listed as one of the markets where soft AC is successful but here are all but one of the most recent songs (when I looked) under "Last songs played":

"Raspberry Beret", "Someday" by Sugar Ray, "Livin' on a Prayer", "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry, "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors, "Angel" by Shaggy, "Like a Virgin", "Bent" by Matchbox Twenty. I also saw "Don't Stop Believin'" when I clicked for more, although the songs played earlier were softer overall. Now some of these songs I don't know, but based on who sang them, I'm not optimistic.

If you believe this is soft AC I have some land there in Jacksonville to sell you.

 

[Groove1670]

If you are 40+ the songs you listed are AC. The new Soft AC is Whitney, Celine, Gloria, etc. Titles will vary depending on market. Soft AC 60's and 70's titles are now classified as MOR. Yes we are all getting older.

 

[John FL]

If you believe this is soft AC I have some land there in Jacksonville to sell you.

To answer the title question of this string, change has been ongoing.

When the “Easy" brand of AC was brought to Jacksonville in September 2015, these were the songs that were featured in the first hour of WEZI.

Gino Vannelli – Living Inside Myself
Stevie Nicks & Don Henley – Leather and Lace
Tina Turner – I Don’t Wanna Fight
Barbra Streisand & Andy Gibb – Guilty
Genesis – Follow You Follow Me
Stevie Wonder – Part Time Lover
Elton John – Little Jeannie
Billy Joel – Honesty
Michael Jackson – Man In The Mirror
Bananarama – Cruel Summer
Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes
Kool and the Gang – Joanna
Bette Midler – From A Distance

For the next several months, it had looked like Jacksonville finally had a radio station that was unique. But that wasn't in the cards and as is usually the case, not enough time was given to develop the brand. At the 106.5 6000 watt signal, the station just wasn't going anywhere. So, they moved to the 100,000 watt signal at 102.9 in the Fall of 2017. That was the beginning of the end of "Easy" as we really knew it.

A shame really but we've seen these things play out many times in Jacksonville.

You can look at Miami's "Easy" and it's a tremendous success. Look at their playlist and you'll see that uniqueness come through. There's a fantastic airteam and let's face it, their PD, Gary Williams, unequivocally knows what the hell he's doing. He's built an incredible team and brand.

As one poster put it in one of my strings in the Florida board "WFEZ has pretty consistently been between #1 and #3 in 18-34 in Miami, so I think that the better definition of soft AC is mood based, not age-defined. Cox has developed a format based on older music that does not sound "old" to the listener... it just sounds "nice".

It takes talent to make the above happen and something I've long taken issue with Jax radio.

 

[passtheword]

Jacksonville has been listed as one of the markets where soft AC is successful but here are all but one of the most recent songs (when I looked) under "Last songs played":

"Raspberry Beret", "Someday" by Sugar Ray, "Livin' on a Prayer", "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry, "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors, "Angel" by Shaggy, "Like a Virgin", "Bent" by Matchbox Twenty. I also saw "Don't Stop Believin'" when I clicked for more, although the songs played earlier were softer overall. Now some of these songs I don't know, but based on who sang them, I'm not optimistic.

If you believe this is soft AC I have some land there in Jacksonville to sell you.

All music formats evolve over time; Easy 102.9's is no exception. I'll pass on that mix of music, however...

 

[vchimpanzee]

Here's what someone else said elsewhere on this site.

Since the last time I did a ratings scoreboard for Soft AC stations, I removed WEZI Jacksonville from the list. It still plays some softer 1980s and 90s songs, but it also puts in some quite uptempo titles too. I noticed WEZI played "I Love Rock & Roll" by Joan Jett and "Living La Vita Loca" by Ricky Martin in the last hour, even though I also see You're Beautiful, These Dreams and Time After Time. I guess someone at Cox thinks the playlists from WDUV and WFEZ don't work in Jacksonville?