I think the idea that people only come for tempo or texture is one of those "written in stone" axioms that is not true in all cases and at all times. Those axioms have done a lot of damage. It's like the axiom that mood is important and song is not. Downtempo, textured, moodscapes with no melodic substance for the listener to grab onto have been one of the most damaging elements of the BA approach over the years. Maybe, again, it comes from programming for listeners who listen to and come from pop/rock and want to hear instrumental music in that context rather than a more MOR/B-EZ type approach but lappealing to pop/rock listeners is the way to bring new listeners into the format. They want a variety of moods, tempos and textures and the wide open emotional canvas that songs without words can offer them and some vocal songs that are within their comfort zone but sound fresh and relatable rather than old, tired, and fried. And they want infectuous hooks and songs they can grab onto in the process. I know some SJ guys who are "all mood all the time" more than song driven but their backgrounds tend to be B-EZ/MOR. Taking cues from a dead format is not a good idea unless you want to be a dying format.
This is not to say that that axiom does not have a glimmer of truth to it or that it is not entirely situational, although it most likely applies more to listeners who came in from traditional jazz background than CHR/AC/UAC but nothing can be written in stone anymore. These Axioms and assumptions that have been locked into traditional thinking for a long time have to be dismantled, reevaluated, and a "take what you need and leave the rest" approach applied to them according to what approach to the format a person is developing and what audience they are focusing on. If you take all the colors out of the rainbow but one it's not a rainbow anymore.
