• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Comprehensive List Of Stations Still Airing the Soft AC/Easy Listening Format?

C

cc333

Stations that I know of that play some mixture of Easy Listening, Soft AC or Standards:
  • WHLC 104.5 Highlands, NC (they air a beautiful music-like format with some Soft AC and a ton of ads)
  • KAHM 102.1 Prescott, AZ (similar to WHLC, but with a somewhat more traditional EZ Listening playlist).
  • WJEJ AM 1240 Hagerstown, MD (probably one of the few MOR stations that still exists more or less in its original form, with a bit of everything ranging from oldies and classic rock 'n roll (like, really old stuff from the 50s) to AC and even some classical).
  • WERT AM 1220 Van Wert, OH
  • WEMP Two Rivers, WI (kind of like KAHM and WHLC, but more AC-leaning, with some oldies)
Any others? Internet-only streams don't count.

c
 
There's 97.1 Ocean FM (WOSN) This station serves The Treasure Coast of Florida which is just north of the Palm Beaches. It had a long history of being a Standards format. Today it's mainly a soft hits mix of 70s and 80s tunes. (Light & Refreshing Favorites)

What many might not know is legendary WABC jock of the 60s, Herb Oscar Anderson, had a one hour weekend gig at a the station around 2012 -2013.


It may have ben 6 or 7 years ago now but when the station flipped from Standards to Soft Pop, there was a lot of negative audience reaction. Today, it would appear older listeners are happy there's still a station like WOSN around.
 
CTListener said:
All the calendars at that station apparently haven't been changed since the '90s.
Click to expand...
The Phone Party is one of the most old school shows I've ever listened to - it's an "anything goes" Monday-Friday call in show in the mornings, and every Friday they do a buy, sell and giveaway show as part of it. I enjoy it, except when Lou Scally starts talking about his weight loss and how he and his wife never eat any snacks or pop, etc. Also their weather jingles are straight out of the 60s:
https://soundcloud.com/wjej-radio%2Ftracks
 
Do networks count? MeTV FM is in a few markets (Chicago, Milwaukee, Palm Springs and a few others). They play a generally softer mix of oldies. Also, the stations that are affiliated with Music of Your Life and America's Best Music tend to be Standards or Lite Favorites. When i drive on trips through the San Luis Obispo area, I always like to tune in KKJL-AM/FM (translator) and listen for as much as I can. They don't stream, but they are with America's Best Music I think.

I think Zoomer Radio in Toronto still fits in this category although they might be closer to Pop Oldies now.

And although I know that you said, Internet only streams don't count, there are a couple of standouts that are well programmed: KABL, based on the original station in Oakland (San Francisco) and Martini In The Morning.
 
There is so much to like about WJEJ, one of the last of its kind. There's Phil Miller in afternoons, very funny, his sense of humor and those crazy novelty records he plays have made him my favorite DJ to listen to The evening is live hosted (not VT'ed). Music Through The Night with Dennis McPherson is when WJEJ plays strictly Easy Listening/Standards, a lot of Beautiful music tracks.
 
KilowattKat said:
Music Through The Night with Dennis McPherson is when WJEJ plays strictly Easy Listening/Standards, a lot of Beautiful music tracks.
Click to expand...
That's my favorite part of WJEJ. The only place I'd ever heard a playlist even remotely similar was KABL (when it was still on the air at 960 AM 20 years ago; the Internet-based recreation is different in ways I can't quite pinpoint), and even then, that version of KABL skewed older, with few, if any songs from the 60s or newer (I had KFRC for that!), whereas WJEJ does throw in some almost-current soft AC here and there.

powers said:
Do networks count? MeTV FM is in a few markets (Chicago, Milwaukee, Palm Springs and a few others). They play a generally softer mix of oldies. Also, the stations that are affiliated with Music of Your Life and America's Best Music tend to be Standards or Lite Favorites. When i drive on trips through the San Luis Obispo area, I always like to tune in KKJL-AM/FM (translator) and listen for as much as I can. They don't stream, but they are with America's Best Music I think.
Click to expand...
Sure. I like what MeTV FM does, and I think if they could get a signal in or near SF, it would do relatively well in the 65+ demographic, which is still at least somewhat prevalent, at least in Contra Costa County (people seem to forget that there's more to the Bay Area's population beyond the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists whose average age is 18-34. Or perhaps they don't care?)

c
 
I've been listening today to WEMP for the first time. It's amazing the wide ranging variety of Easy Listening they cover! I've heard Soft AC - Heart, Anne Murray, Bette Midler (In My Life from her For The Boys movie soundtrack). Beautiful Music - covers of "Sailing" and "Kentucky Rain". Standards - Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett. Instrumentals - Percy Faith, Tommy Dorsey, Ray Conniff. Smooth Jazz - Paul Hardcastle. MOR/ Soft Oldies - Paul Stuckey, Bread. And now they get bonus points playing Shirley Bassey's rendition of Send In The Clowns! I like how they play much lesser known songs from artists as well as the hits.

I will be listening to WEMP a lot from now on! I don't think I've ever heard an Easy Listening station that plays this many flavors of the genre.
 
Here are 3 that should be on the list:

WSBB New Smyrna Beach, FL - Majority is Standards and instrumentals centered on the 50's/60's some Soft AC.

KDTH - Dubuque, IA - Wide ranging 50's to 70's, from Rosemary Clooney to Chicago. At 10pm starts ' Nice N' Easy - Instrumentals, Big Band, Beautiful Music, soft vocal standards from 50's and early 60's.

KDKK - Park Rapids, MN - Odd Easy Listening music selection from 30's crooners to Soft AC. Great choice if you like listening to Easy Listening that will stray often from the hits. Even more odd, this is a Class A 100kw FM that signs off during the overnight hours.

All three stream.
 
powers said:
Do networks count? MeTV FM is in a few markets (Chicago, Milwaukee, Palm Springs and a few others). They play a generally softer mix of oldies. Also, the stations that are affiliated with Music of Your Life and America's Best Music tend to be Standards or Lite Favorites. When i drive on trips through the San Luis Obispo area, I always like to tune in KKJL-AM/FM (translator) and listen for as much as I can. They don't stream, but they are with America's Best Music I think.
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, on my driving trips between Phoenix and L.A., I always tune to MeTV radio in Palm Springs. Great station!

On a recent long road trip from WA to AZ, I stayed in the San Luis Obisbo area and heard KKJL. Another great station!

Powers, we must have similar tastes in radio.
 
WELJ out on the very eastern tip of Long Island is soft AC/easy listening. Their signal is too far east to make it into the highly populated areas on Long Island.
 
AM FM listener said:
Ah, yes, on my driving trips between Phoenix and L.A., I always tune to MeTV radio in Palm Springs. Great station!

On a recent long road trip from WA to AZ, I stayed in the San Luis Obisbo area and heard KKJL. Another great station!

Powers, we must have similar tastes in radio.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the recognition! My tastes are VERY eclectic and always have been. I'm 54, so maybe a little youngish for this easy listening demographic but I worked on air for a few stations between 1985 and 1998 and the formats were Pop Top 40, Churban Top 40, Adult Standards (automated), Spanish Pop (automated), Adult Contemporary (circa 1989, where AC was more mellow and played music from the late 60s to then currents), Rock 40, Alternative, Old School R&B and Adult Alternative (AAA) - my favorite online stations are Jeffro Radio, Boss Boss Radio, and Fun Tower Radio because they remind me of how radio USED to be.
 
KilowattKat said:
Here are 3 that should be on the list:

WSBB New Smyrna Beach, FL - Majority is Standards and instrumentals centered on the 50's/60's some Soft AC.

KDTH - Dubuque, IA - Wide ranging 50's to 70's, from Rosemary Clooney to Chicago. At 10pm starts ' Nice N' Easy - Instrumentals, Big Band, Beautiful Music, soft vocal standards from 50's and early 60's.

KDKK - Park Rapids, MN - Odd Easy Listening music selection from 30's crooners to Soft AC. Great choice if you like listening to Easy Listening that will stray often from the hits. Even more odd, this is a Class A 100kw FM that signs off during the overnight hours.

All three stream.
Click to expand...
Thank you for these! I'm checking them out right now.

Given that it's almost 12:00 Pacific, KDKK has almost certainly signed off for the night, so I'll have to check it out during the day sometime.

WSBB has some weird distortion, but is otherwise decent.

The sound quality of KDTH, by comparison, is quite smooth and sounds quite like KVIN did before they went Indian (are they an ABM affiliate? The jingle I heard sounds rather like the ones I used to hear on both KVIN and KABL, and both of those stations had been ABM affiliates when I heard them).

The one thing about KDTH is that the transitions (say, from jingle to song or vice versa) are a bit sloppy, but that's OK. I like the format enough overall that it doesn't bother me too much if it's not perfect (I remember the original 960 KABL. It was so smoothly programmed and the songs and jingles flowed quite well that it was a pleasure to listen to).

c
 
Back
Top Bottom