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Who Remembers Syndicated Formats "The Breeze" and "The Wave"?

G

Gregg

With the initial success of KTWV Los Angeles and a few other early stations that jumped on the "New Age" or "NAC" format, two organizations decided to syndicate 24/7 formats. One was called "The Wave" even though it never aired on KTWV. The other was called "The Breeze."

The Wave was supposed to sound like KTWV. I imagine that some KTWV consultant also consulted "The Wave." I had the opportunity to hear it while on a trip to Toronto because it aired on an FM station in the Buffalo area that today is WLKK Classic Rock. Just like KTWV at the time, it played a mix of New Age and Contemporary Jazz instrumentals with some Soft Rock and Urban AC vocals. So George Winston, Andreas Vollenweider and Enya were then as much a part of the format as George Benson, Kenny G and Anita Baker are today. I remember that the second time I was in the Toronto area, some years later, the format was morphing into a sort of New Age and Spacey Rock format, so The Moody Blues, Emerson Lake & Palmer and ELO were being added, just before the service was discontinued.

The other format, which I also liked, was called "The Breeze." A friend of mine who lived in Greenville SC sent me some cassettes of WBBO Forest City NC, which carried the format. This was more of a mix of New Age, Folk Rock and World Music. The DJs were very knowledgable and I was amazed at how few recognizable hits were included. They'd sooner play Livingston Taylor than James Taylor. I enjoyed it but I don't know how they managed to convince stations to sign up. I especailly wonder how they landed a station on the border of North and So. Carolina? There were only a few commercials on the tapes my friend sent me. Like The Wave, I think The Breeze only lasted a few years.


Gregg
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Gregg said:
The Wave was supposed to sound like KTWV. I imagine that some KTWV consultant also consulted "The Wave."
Click to expand...

Yes, but "consultant" should be plural. The format came from Frank Cody and Owen Leach, but included the participation of a number of individuals who helped find the new format for the then dead KMET in 1986.
 
WXDJ 95.7 Homestead FL (now COL on N. Miami Beach) debuted as the Wave....I wanna say 1986. Had to be the same format.

Now it's Spanish.....David can specify the music style....!

cd
 
cd637299 said:
WXDJ 95.7 Homestead FL...debuted as the Wave....I wanna say 1986.
Click to expand...
They began as either the Breeze or the Wave, then switched to the other, then returned to the first one, then went spanish.
For a while, the format was shifted to 98.3 which was on the same stick, but only as a class A and twenty some odd miles from downtown Miami.
I especially liked them when they got into very upbeat instrumental stuff.
Much more interesting than Sirius-XM's "Spa".
 
"The Breeze" was also on in Milwaukee, WBZN 100.7 Racine, WI. Late 80's. I may have a couple airchecks somewhere in the archives.
 
Sorry but the Breeze network was never on WBZN in Milwaukee. I was the first programmer there. Gary Guthrie was my consultant. We used the moniker of "Breezin 100.7" but that station was never part of any network. It was always live and local until the format change.
 
My bad. It was "Breezin" and not "The Breeze"... My 80's radio days are a bit hazy...

Where is Gary Guthrie today? Too bad he didn't step up and do battle with the geniuses at BA. ::)
 
I talked with Gary about 10 years ago and speaking of hazy (I understand), can't remember where he was at the time. Just wanted to thank him for his contributions and what we attempted in Milwaukee was way ahead of it's time. The deck was loaded so I don't know of to many who could have stepped up to take on BA. I know Rich McMillen and Bob O'Connor tried with their consultant group. Time and change have taken BA down from the SJ mountain top and it's a new world so let's all play! By the way, I still have Breezin 100.7 sweatshirts.
 
I still have a copy of the article in RnR about Rich McMillan right when they opened the consultancy and he was talking about how one dimensional the music had become in pursuit of "smooth and relaxing" and the need to bring back all the elements that were being filtered out before it was too late - this was in 1996 or so (!) They shut him down and shut him up pretty quick though and he ended up back at Love 94 under BA's protective wing ::) people gotta make a living and it was either step in line and shut up or get out of the biz until about 2 years ago
 
I remember "The Breeze," it was on the now defunct WLYT Haverhill MA.

This was in 1988, and they only had it on at night. I worked the night shift listening to it.

I remember DJ's Jackie Brush and Ben Johnson. This was my first introduction to Smooth Jazz/New Age.
 
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