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Why did AC stop being soft?

Here are more songs I have heard on WEZV for the first time (assuming the lyrics search gave me the correct results). Some could have been part of the soft AC format. Some are old. Some are newer. I wish I could say "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart was on this list, but it was actually played on the old format, for some bizarre reason.

"Say Something" A Great Big World
"Dancing with Myself" Billy Idol
"Not Over You" Gavin DeGraw
"Angel" Shaggy
"Give Your Heart a Break" Demi Lovato
"Youngblood" 5 Seconds of Summer
"How Do You Talk to an Angel" The Heights
"Happier" Marshmello & Bastille
"The Bones" Maren Morris
"Life in a Northern Town" Dream Academy
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Backstreet Boys
"Without Me" Halsey
"Vogue" Madonna
"Castle on the Hill" Ed Sheeran
"Come On Eileen" Dexy's Midnight Runners
"Set on You" George Harrison
"Lost in Emotion" Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
"Get Lucky" Daft Punk
"Here Without You" 3 Doors Down
"I'm the Only One" Melissa Etheridge
"Losing My Religion" R.E.M.
"Lights Down Low" MAX
"Only Human" Jonas Brothers
"DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" Usher
"To Be with You" Mr. Big
"Paparazzi" Lady Gaga
"Should've Known Better" Richard Marx
"Send My Love" Adele
"Blank Space" Taylor Swift
"PYT" Michael Jackson
"Cry Me a River" Justin Timberlake
"Opposites Attract" Paula Abdul
"Rude" Magic!
"Every Morning" Sugar Ray
"One Headlight" The Wallflowers
"Apologize" (either Timbaland or Luke Bryan, so I should have made a note of what type of voice)
"All About That Bass" Meghan Trainor
"Only in My Dreams" Debbie Gibson
"Can't Help Falling in Love" UB-40
"Lose You to Love Me" Selena Gomez
"You Might Think" The Cars
"Slide" Goo Goo Dolls
"Cups" Anna Kendrick
 
I finally made one comparison. WLTW has a list of top songs and many of them have been played on WEZV. it's possible most of the others have been and I just haven't heard them.

More songs that are new to WEZV:

"Would I Lie to You" Eurythmics
"Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone" Glass Tiger
"Separate Ways" Journey
"Don't You Want Me" Human League

Three of these could have been in the soft AC format.
 
I am noticing a lot of songs from the soft AC format that are showing up again, or at least I am hearing them.

More songs that are new to WEZV (for some of these I am assuming my lyrics search worked correctly):

"If The World Was Ending" JP Saxe
"In My Blood" Shawn Mendes
"Danger Zone" Kenny Loggins
"Limitless" Bon Jovi
"Shape of You" Ed Sheeran
"Beautiful People" Ed Sheeran
"Baby One More Time" Britney Spears
"Whatever It Takes" Imagine Dragons
"Thunder" Imagine Dragons
"The Middle" Jimmy Eat World
"Express Yourself" Madonna
"Breathe" Anna Nalick
"The Flame" Cheap Trick
"Pon De Replay" Rihanna
"What About Love" Heart
"I Know" Dionne Farris
"Look What You Made Me Do" Taylor Swift
 
Still more songs that seem to be new to WEZV assuming the lyrics search was correct:

"Secrets" OneRepublic
"Be Alright" Dean Lewis
"Love Come Down" Evelyn "Champagne" King
"Our Lips Are Sealed" The Go-Gos
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Green Day
"Roll to Me" Del Amitri
 
TheBigA said:
BTW I see the station dropped its "Easy" positioner a few months ago. So they seem to have moved to a more active AC,
Click to expand...

The call letters probably won't change, so the listeners will still hear "easy," sort of, once an hour. There's been nothing "easy" about the music mix on WEZN in Bridgeport, CT, for a long time. In fact, "Star 99.9" is a full-blown hot AC.
 
More songs that seem to be new to WEZV, assuming the lyrics search gave the right results:

"Crazy" Gnarls Barkley
"Come to My Window" Melissa Etheridge
"Style" Taylor Swift
"Don't Start Now" Dua Lipa
"Payphone" Maroon 5
"Everybody" Backstreet Boys
"Don't Wanna Know" Maroon 5
"Heart of Rock and Roll" Huey Lewis and the News
"Roar" Katy Perry
"You Need to Calm Down" Taylor Swift
"Eastside" Benny Blanco, Halsey and Khalid
"SexyBack" Justin Timberlake
"Vacation" Go-Gos
 
How does this constant, almost OCD-ish, monitoring of WEZV's playlist further the nominal subject of this thread: 'Why did AC stop being soft?" You've made it obvious, over and over, that the station is playing a lot of songs that most people, even those with more harshness-tolerant ears than you, wouldn't call "soft." Some probably wouldn't call them "adult," either, but that's getting into "OK boomer" territory. So are you going to accept that the music being played on current stations calling themselves "adult contemporary" reflects the sort of music that most listeners in their 30s and 40s grew up with and are most comfortable listening to as background music? Or are you just going to keep piling title upon title, week after week, until you've convinced everyone here that WEZV is playing loud, irritating music that, because you hate it, everyone else must hate, making the AC format's apparent popularity nationally some sort of elaborate hoax?

PS -- You really had no idea you were listening to "Vacation," "Heart of Rock and Roll" and "Come to My Window" without having to search for lyrics? What sort of sheltered listening life did you lead in the '80s and '90s?
 
CTListener said:
How does this constant, almost OCD-ish, monitoring of WEZV's playlist further the nominal subject of this thread: 'Why did AC stop being soft?" You've made it obvious, over and over, that the station is playing a lot of songs that most people, even those with more harshness-tolerant ears than you, wouldn't call "soft."
Click to expand...

The fact is that Soft AC is its own format. That's the obvious answer to the question. And I don't see anything that leads me to believe this station seeks to be soft AC. They are playing what they view as "today's best, yesterday's favorites." All of these songs qualify.
 
TheBigA said:
The fact is that Soft AC is its own format. That's the obvious answer to the question. And I don't see anything that leads me to believe this station seeks to be soft AC. They are playing what they view as "today's best, yesterday's favorites." All of these songs qualify.
Click to expand...

His main sticking point appears to be "Easy." It may not have been mentioned in the Wikipedia page you referenced earlier -- and Wikipedia is a notorious source of outdated, incomplete or even incorrect information -- but the first thing you see on the station's own homepage is EASY in big capital letters, with the slogan in much smaller type below it. I'm actually surprised you cited Wikipedia at all, since anyone anywhere can visit the homepage and listen to the station for themselves.

It is somewhat odd that WEZV continues to base its identity on those middle two letters of its call. A station I cited earlier, WEZN Bridgeport CT, has retained the call it used in its softer days but only whispers it at the top of the hour, and the letters are not seen at all on its website. For the average listener, and all website visitors, that station is Star 99.9, playing "Today's Best Mix." WEZV could do something like this, too, but apparently feels its continued use of "Easy" (Wikipedia notwithstanding) is not offending or misleading anyone other than the ultra-sensitive Vchimp.
 
TheBigA said:
I know a country station that calls itself "easy." It doesn't matter what they say. It matters what they do.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Is it a standard hit country station or one that plays only the less raucous of today's country songs? And is "EZ" part of its call or is the branding a meaningless holdover from some previous format? In Boston, WEZE now sits at a Salem teach-and-preach station, but "Easy" is not part of the package there any more than it is in Bridgeport, where the format is Hot AC.
 
CTListener said:
PS -- You really had no idea you were listening to "Vacation," "Heart of Rock and Roll" and "Come to My Window" without having to search for lyrics? What sort of sheltered listening life did you lead in the '80s and '90s?
Click to expand...
For those songs, I knew what they were. I meant the others.

And what is wrong with taking one station's interpretation of AC and comparing it to the others? I'm only doing this because it WAS soft.
 
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