"Soft Rock"

Many adult contemporary stations market themselves as "soft rock". This came out of the mid-'70's (I would place Magic 103 in Philadelphia as one of the first in the fall of 1975 to adopt this format) when the songs were the softer songs recorded by artists who could be played on rock radio - The Eagles, Elton John, Beatles, etc. Today the music isn't usually that "soft" and very little is "rock", mostly pop or crossover country or r&b. Is "soft rock" just a marketable name that really means nothing anymore as far as the actual music?
If the target audience is tested, do they say they like "soft rock" or "adult contemporary" or something else?

> Many adult contemporary stations market themselves as "soft
> rock". This came out of the mid-'70's (I would place Magic
> 103 in Philadelphia as one of the first in the fall of 1975
> to adopt this format) when the songs were the softer songs
> recorded by artists who could be played on rock radio - The
> Eagles, Elton John, Beatles, etc. Today the music isn't
> usually that "soft" and very little is "rock", mostly pop or
> crossover country or r&b. Is "soft rock" just a marketable
> name that really means nothing anymore as far as the actual
> music?
> If the target audience is tested, do they say they like
> "soft rock" or "adult contemporary" or something else?

To me, the term 'soft' or 'light' rock is an oxymoron which has no business being used together for the reasons you stated. Such stations these days are just plain pop to my ears, the modern equivalent of, say, a Top 40 station from the 70s... contemporary hits and golden oldies.

> > Many adult contemporary stations market themselves as
> "soft
> > rock". This came out of the mid-'70's (I would place
> Magic
> > 103 in Philadelphia as one of the first in the fall of
> 1975
> > to adopt this format) when the songs were the softer songs
>
> > recorded by artists who could be played on rock radio -
> The
> > Eagles, Elton John, Beatles, etc. Today the music isn't
> > usually that "soft" and very little is "rock", mostly pop
> or
> > crossover country or r&b. Is "soft rock" just a
> marketable
> > name that really means nothing anymore as far as the
> actual
> > music?
> > If the target audience is tested, do they say they like
> > "soft rock" or "adult contemporary" or something else?
>
> To me, the term 'soft' or 'light' rock is an oxymoron which
> has no business being used together for the reasons you
> stated. Such stations these days are just plain pop to my
> ears, the modern equivalent of, say, a Top 40 station from
> the 70s... contemporary hits and golden oldies.

And the ironic part of this is that most AC stations are supposed to target 25-54 females, working women mostly.

Old-School Soft A/C

Soft A/C, as you all know, was the more-modern cousin to Beautiful Music/Easy Listening. I know I am a little biased in this, but if I were programming a commercial Soft A/C station, I would position it using words like, 'Soft, Easy, Relaxing, Refreshing..." These are terms, that for the most part, have not been used on most commercial radio formats for years. However, with AC being so fragmented (Hot, Modern, AC/Oldies, AC/80's, Soft), I STILL believe that Soft A/C stations SHOULD be the soft-serve of AC. Soft AC stations spinning Britney Spears to No Doubt are not living up to their name. Every radio station can't be upbeat, hip, modern, etc. I'm not saying that soft AC's neccessarily need to blend MOR and loads of Manilow tunes (like 'DUV or my station, WZRU-FM), but it should not sound just like a mainstream AC. Check out the playlist of Sunny93.9 in Raleigh (Clear Channel Soft AC), the check out the playlist of your local AC station. Sunny, and others like it, may be a little more gold-based...but, they still sound ALOT like mainstream AC to me. To end this rambling...I think Soft AC should go back to it's roots, or at least, closer to it's roots.

Many adult contemporary stations market themselves as
> "soft
> > rock". This came out of the mid-'70's (I would place
> Magic
> > 103 in Philadelphia as one of the first in the fall of
> 1975
> > to adopt this format) when the songs were the softer songs
>
> > recorded by artists who could be played on rock radio -
> The
> > Eagles, Elton John, Beatles, etc. Today the music isn't
> > usually that "soft" and very little is "rock", mostly pop
> or
> > crossover country or r&b. Is "soft rock" just a
> marketable
> > name that really means nothing anymore as far as the
> actual
> > music?
> > If the target audience is tested, do they say they like
> > "soft rock" or "adult contemporary" or something else?
>
> To me, the term 'soft' or 'light' rock is an oxymoron which
> has no business being used together for the reasons you
> stated. Such stations these days are just plain pop to my
> ears, the modern equivalent of, say, a Top 40 station from
> the 70s... contemporary hits and golden oldies.
>

John1 said:

Many adult contemporary stations market themselves as "soft rock". This came out of the mid-'70's (I would place Magic 103 in Philadelphia as one of the first in the fall of 1975 to adopt this format) when the songs were the softer songs recorded by artists who could be played on rock radio - The Eagles, Elton John, Beatles, etc. Today the music isn't usually that "soft" and very little is "rock", mostly pop or crossover country or r&b. Is "soft rock" just a marketable name that really means nothing anymore as far as the actual music?
If the target audience is tested, do they say they like "soft rock" or "adult contemporary" or something else?

Click to expand...

Most people I know aren't really familiar with the term "adult contemporary" and refer to such stations as "soft rock".

Music Lover said:

Most people I know aren't really familiar with the term "adult contemporary" and refer to such stations as "soft rock".

Click to expand...

That's always a problem with communication between the suits who run radio and the listeners. Insider jargon is how those on the inside freeze out those on the outside of their little clique. That's a common problem in many, many industries.

I've heard people call a station like WDUV in Tampa easy listening.

This is a new Soft AC station that just started streaming recently. It's called Easy Hits: http://www.softrockradio.net/easyhits.html

This is the link for the sister station, Soft Rock Radio: http://www.softrockradio.net/

I noticed on the sister station's page, that Soft Rock Radio is classified as Soft Rock and Easy Hits is classified as Soft Pop. The explanation for the difference is mentioned on the Easy Hits page. The Easy Hits station plays classic soft rock but also includes artists artists with more of a pop feel.

DavidEduardo said:

It is now much more contemporary than during its first 15 years. It's a traditional / conservative AC now, without the geezer songs. They have been #1 for 16 years in 12+ but always 15th or so in revenue... the audience was too, too old. So they have followed what sister station WFEZ in Miami has learned to make the format much more appealing to folks under 55.

Click to expand...

This is an instrumental easy listening station I listen to online: http://thebreez.com/. Soft vocals they've played have been 50s and 60s up through the 80s. Last night, I heard No Matter What (Boyzone) on the station. First time I've heard a boy band on there.