Why is soft AC so unpopular

[Avid Listener]

Nobody allows the format name to get in the way of effective programming.

Right. Sure they don't.

 

[davideduardo]

Right. Sure they don't.

Station staff does not use sales-oriented format names in day to day conversations. We talk about our station, our genres but something that is principally used for sales and corporate relations is just not of much usefulness.

If we are talking about a song's ft, we don't say "that's not an AC song" but we might say, "I don't know how that would sound on K-Wave" (or whatever we call our station).

 

[TheBigA]

If we are talking about a song's ft, we don't say "that's not an AC song" but we might say, "I don't know how that would sound on K-Wave" (or whatever we call our station

Keep in mind that the reason soft AC is going away is because programming people were starting to see changes in the audience and what they expected from the station. So over the course of several years, they started changing the music, and getting good results. That means they're thinking outside the box, not restricted to certain songs just because they always fit in a format. After a while, the format changes so much that where it began is obsolete. There is no such thing as soft AC anymore. Same things with other formats. You're hearing songs in country now that never would have worked twenty years ago.

 

[semoochie]

No, they aren't the same. But, to the average adult listener who enjoys soft music with a contemporary sound, the two are similar enough that most folks who like the one would also like the other.

I can believe that a Jack Jones fan might feel that way about Michael Buble', mostly because Standards fans have to grasp at any straw available, but I can't see a Michael Buble' fan leaping back 50 years to what was popular with adults then!