Why did AC stop being soft?

I just found out today WLYF recently updated their playlist. Along with the addition of more edgy tracks, it seems like a lot of the good slow tracks that got dropped from the last 1-5 years playlist update made a come back like "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)", "If You Asked Me To", "Holding Back The Years", "Love Is", "Turn Your Love Around", etc. I also noticed they nearly eliminated 70s completely.

One surprising track WLYF also included in this playlist update is "Livin' On A Prayer". We just talked about this on this thread.

andrewduong77 said:

I also noticed they nearly eliminated 70s completely.

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Let me take that statement back. Perhaps, it's more appropriate for me to claim that WLYF is playing fewer 70s tracks than last year. Although I noticed they re-added some 70s tracks like "Come To Me", "Got To Be Real", "Layla", etc. that they used to air 2-5 years ago.

Putting aside 70s, I really like WLYF presentation in their playlist update this year. It's better than last year playlist update and 2014 playlist update. They re-added a lot of charming 80s and 90s tracks that they used to air in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 in addition to some edgy tracks.

andrewduong77 said:

Let me take that statement back. Perhaps, it's more appropriate for me to claim that WLYF is playing fewer 70s tracks than last year. Although I noticed they re-added some 70s tracks like "Come To Me", "Got To Be Real", "Layla", etc. that they used to air 2-5 years ago.

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On a station as conservative as WLYF was, wouldn't "Layla" have been the version from the 90s? The 70s version I have heard on an AC station but this was one that also played "Workin' for the Weekend" on Friday afternoon. I am referring to WTFM Kingsport, Tenn., which at one time was AC but not soft. Then it was soft some years later.

vchimpanzee said:

wouldn't "Layla" have been the version from the 90s?

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Yes, it was my mistake. The "Layla" version of Eric Clapton is actually from the 90s, not 70s. Back when I was in high school and community college, I even thought "Tears In Heaven" and "Have I Told You Lately" was from the 70s, but it was actually from the 90s.

I have a question:

After over 200 posts, do any of you have the answer to the thread's original question, or are we now debating the pros and cons of softer AC formats? Because if the latter, you might be better served with a separate thread, appropriately titled, rather than continuing with a now-misnamed one.

andrewduong77 said:

Yes, it was my mistake. The "Layla" version of Eric Clapton is actually from the 90s, not 70s. Back when I was in high school and community college, I even thought "Tears In Heaven" and "Have I Told You Lately" was from the 70s, but it was actually from the 90s.

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"Tears In Heaven" was written by Eric Clapton about his young child, who fell from the window of his highrise. It was talked about a lot at the time.

K.M. Richards said:

I have a question:

After over 200 posts, do any of you have the answer to the thread's original question, or are we now debating the pros and cons of softer AC formats? Because if the latter, you might be better served with a separate thread, appropriately titled, rather than continuing with a now-misnamed one.

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Michael comes closest in this thread to answering the question. There was a clear and concise answer in(I believe)the LA board once and I'm thinking that was Michael as well: Some history might help here.

When Adult Contemporary was first developed in the late 60s, it was largely a Top 40 playlist, minus the five or six hardest records of the week, with gold (oldies) that went back a bit further than the typical Top 40. Stations like WGAR, Cleveland and KFMB-AM, San Diego weren't soft. The format did very well, siphoning off young adults from Top 40. If anything, AC stations tended to skew a bit male, often also being the stations with the carriage rights for the local pro sports teams.

The soft approach was largely the invention of Jhani Kaye, who was programming KOST-FM, Los Angeles in 1983. He was faced with the challenge of taking a beautiful music station contemporary, so he went very soft and very emotional. It was one of the first stations to play almost entirely love songs. And it was a huge hit with 40-year-old women, which made it a 25-54 powerhouse.

KOST's success spawned imitators, to the point that Adult Contemporary became synonymous with "soft". But it was simply a phase of the format, which had established itself over the 15 years previous by playing (most of) the hits in a (slightly) more adult fashion than Top 40.

31 years have passed since Jhani took KOST down that road. The original audience is now 70. Today's 40-year old woman was born in 1974, graduated high school in 1992 and college in 1996. The old "soft" AC is irrelevant to her.

Jhani didn't prove that soft music was the answer for the format for all time. He proved that soft music was the answer for women born in the early-mid 1940s.

In the intervening time, male listeners have moved on (Classic Rock and even Active Rock do very well among men 25-54 and even older), so AC remains a female-heavy format. But Adult Contemporary is whatever the 40-year-old women of the moment want to hear. Right now, that's Pharrell Williams, Maroon 5 and Pink.

Thanks for that repost, 'moochie.

I'd like all of the debaters to especially read and re-read the last two paragraphs.

AC was never going to be "soft" forever. That was a specific solution to a specific station (transitioning from Beautiful Music) and correcting a demographic anomaly (AC being a male listener-heavy format) at a specific time (the mid-1980s). As it became successful and the subsequent consolidation of station ownership made different "flavors" of every format a necessity to keep co-owned stations from cannibalizing each others' audiences while still being sold as a combo to advertisers, Soft AC became prevalent. As the audience has moved on over the years, that approach has become less successful and so AC is programming to its core audience ... 25 to 54 women. That means, as was said above, if a song or artist appeals to a 40-year-old female, that's a core AC song or artist.

There. Six pages later, question is answered. No need for further debate.

Okay?

I would disagree with the idea that soft AC began with KOST in 1983.

It was 1981 when Charlotte NC got a new easy listening station (the station was nearby and didn't actually move anything but its tower, but the signal was stronger), WLVV Love 97, which commercials called "Mellow radio". While I never heard it in this version, I heard that it was one third instrumental, one third soft vocals and one third regular vocals. By the time I heard it when I was in college, it was a conventional soft AC. I had heard similar music, which was also soft but not quite that soft, on a station in the area that had gone to full power around the same time WLVV did. Then the beautiful music station changed to mostly vocals late in 1982, still calling itself EZ-104. The soft AC which was not as soft as the other two saw a golden opportunity and took over beautiful music. Greensboro got an AC a few months later and at first, it too was soft.

Several years later, Greensboro and Raleigh both lost their beautiful music station as "Format 41" debuted in both markets with a very soft vocal-based sound. Charlotte followed after that, though those other two markets had replacement beautiful music stations, and Charlotte eventually did. Except in Raleigh, those replacement beautiful music stations ended up with vocal-based formats, but in all three markets, "AM Only" (even softer than AC) on AM was the next big thing. Raleigh's beautiful music station went urban but was replaced with a station which started out with regular beautiful music and went smooth jazz. The Charlotte station which was in the middle went "churban", while the one in Greensboro went soft AC and the regular AC went more mainstream (that happened in Charlotte too). The "soft" station in Raleigh went kind of nuts. The newspaper reporter liked it but listeners wondered what was going on.

I didn't hear a station ID so I'm only guessing, but at a convenience store yesterday, I heard what I believe to be one of those AC stations that is no longer soft. I did hear the new style of music when I came back inside after my car would not hold $20 worth of gas, meaning I had to make sure I was only charged for the gas I purchased. They tell me I was. But when I first used my credit card and told them $20, Adele or someone sounding like her (not likely) was playing, followed by "True" by Spandau Ballet. Now "True" was a nice and unexpected surprise. I was actually listening to classic country in the car.

What does your gas pumping have to do with anything related to the topic?

Bob Eubanks said:

What does your gas pumping have to do with anything related to the topic?

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Maybe because back when AC was really soft, you'd never have to worry whether your car could hold $20 worth of gas? Or because the effort of nearly pumping $20 worth of gas, then getting assurances from the cashier, caused vchimp to miss a key portion of the Adele-but-probably-not song that could have revealed the artist's true identity? Who knows?

Oh, and "True" was a staple of AC radio in the '90s and early '00s. It seemed to always be playing when I'd go to the dentist -- a mind-blowing song to hear while under nitrous, I guarantee you!

vchimpanzee said:

I would disagree with the idea that soft AC began with KOST in 1983.

It was 1981 when Charlotte NC got a new easy listening station (the station was nearby and didn't actually move anything but its tower, but the signal was stronger), WLVV Love 97, which commercials called "Mellow radio". While I never heard it in this version, I heard that it was one third instrumental, one third soft vocals and one third regular vocals. By the time I heard it when I was in college, it was a conventional soft AC. I had heard similar music, which was also soft but not quite that soft, on a station in the area that had gone to full power around the same time WLVV did. Then the beautiful music station changed to mostly vocals late in 1982, still calling itself EZ-104. The soft AC which was not as soft as the other two saw a golden opportunity and took over beautiful music. Greensboro got an AC a few months later and at first, it too was soft.

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Within the industry, stations that gradually evolved from Beautiful Music were not considered true AC stations until they were 100% original version hit songs. KOST literally hard-switched at midnight on November 15, 1982 from BM to AC.

Therefore, going by industry definitions, I disagree with your disagreement.

K.M. Richards said:

Thanks for that repost, 'moochie.

I'd like all of the debaters to especially read and re-read the last two paragraphs.

AC was never going to be "soft" forever. That was a specific solution to a specific station (transitioning from Beautiful Music) and correcting a demographic anomaly (AC being a male listener-heavy format) at a specific time (the mid-1980s). As it became successful and the subsequent consolidation of station ownership made different "flavors" of every format a necessity to keep co-owned stations from cannibalizing each others' audiences while still being sold as a combo to advertisers, Soft AC became prevalent. As the audience has moved on over the years, that approach has become less successful and so AC is programming to its core audience ... 25 to 54 women. That means, as was said above, if a song or artist appeals to a 40-year-old female, that's a core AC song or artist.

There. Six pages later, question is answered. No need for further debate.

Okay?

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Hmmm...I don't know about that. What says a Soft AC approach would not work today with more contemporary artists involved? While there was at one point a "rhythmic boom," that has died down and I think there is definitely an audience for a modern-day version of soft rock stations.

See, this is how these threads go around and around in circles.

1. Poster #1 (radio fan) asks a question, cites past examples.
2. Poster #2 (another fan) jumps on bandwagon because what #1 said fits their personal tastes.
3. Subsequent posters cite their own anecdotal "evidence" that what #1 said will work.
4. Eventually poster #9 or #10 says "isn't it a shame the radio industry doesn't pay attention to us actual listeners who know better than they do."
5. If we haven't already by this point, David E., Big A, Mike Hagerty or myself will try to start answering questions.
6. At least one follow-up post will say that we're wrong.
7. One or more of us will explain where the flaws are in the proposed concept.
8. The poster who said we were wrong will tell us we still are, and will either refute the methodology or accuse us of introducing personal bias to the process.
9. At least one subsequent post will side with that person and accuse us of putting down people who don't agree with us.
10. By this time, Frank has probably been asked by both sides to look at the thread.
11. The "anecdotal evidence" posters repeat themselves because saying it all again will make them right.
12. David, A, Mike and myself return -- having hoped in vain that the matter was resolved while we were off somewhere else -- and try to again explain whatever points were overlooked by those who zealously defend their format idea even though someone coming in from the outside would liken it to pushing a rope uphill.
13. The OP restates his original idea, we loop back to step 3.

Apply, rinse, repeat.

K.M. Richards said:

See, this is how these threads go around and around in circles.

1. Poster #1 (radio fan) asks a question, cites past examples.
2. Poster #2 (another fan) jumps on bandwagon because what #1 said fits their personal tastes.
3. Subsequent posters cite their own anecdotal "evidence" that what #1 said will work.
4. Eventually poster #9 or #10 says "isn't it a shame the radio industry doesn't pay attention to us actual listeners who know better than they do."
5. If we haven't already by this point, David E., Big A, Mike Hagerty or myself will try to start answering questions.
6. At least one follow-up post will say that we're wrong.
7. One or more of us will explain where the flaws are in the proposed concept.
8. The poster who said we were wrong will tell us we still are, and will either refute the methodology or accuse us of introducing personal bias to the process.
9. At least one subsequent post will side with that person and accuse us of putting down people who don't agree with us.
10. By this time, Frank has probably been asked by both sides to look at the thread.
11. The "anecdotal evidence" posters repeat themselves because saying it all again will make them right.
12. David, A, Mike and myself return -- having hoped in vain that the matter was resolved while we were off somewhere else -- and try to again explain whatever points were overlooked by those who zealously defend their format idea even though someone coming in from the outside would liken it to pushing a rope uphill.
13. The OP restates his original idea, we loop back to step 3.

Apply, rinse, repeat.

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You left out the part where if one of the four of you doesn't explain it, people will believe the unfounded other side, in which case, it comes down to a moral responsibility!

Man, isn't that the truth.

semoochie said:

You left out the part where if one of the four of you doesn't explain it, people will believe the unfounded other side, in which case, it comes down to a moral responsibility!

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The only reason I even bother is the worry that sometime in the future, someone will unearth this stuff, read the ignorance and believe it. On the "other board" right now, someone banned here has turned Ron Jacobs' bio into a second-guessing of his "no two R&B records in a row" policy at KHJ from 1965-69. 47 to 51 years ago! Jacobs took KHJ from worst to first, wound up with double the numbers KFWB or KRLA had when they were number one, and some guy with.....let's see.....carry the three.....ZERO experience in radio thinks Jacobs was wrong.

Thanks for understanding, Semoochie!

K.M. Richards said:

Within the industry, stations that gradually evolved from Beautiful Music were not considered true AC stations until they were 100% original version hit songs. KOST literally hard-switched at midnight on November 15, 1982 from BM to AC.

Therefore, going by industry definitions, I disagree with your disagreement.

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I never said any of these vocal-based stations other than possibly the early version of WLVV were anything but original version hit songs.