Please Explain The Logic to "No Soft Music on AC Anymore"

[vchimpanzee]

It used to be "relaxing, stress free" were AC benefits. Apparently not anymore.

And yet they continue to try to claim that's exactly what they are.

[vchimpanzee]

There are always Internet alternatives.....

cd

Not everyone has it, or if they do it's not fast enough or they don't have sound.

And what about cars?

[borderblaster]

The beautiful music stations of the 80s that evolved to soft A/C kept the "soft, relaxing" part, but that never meant that ALL A/C's were soft, or defined by being soft and relaxing. A/C didnt play the extremes of rock, hip hop or whatever but still could be quite uptempo.

[vchimpanzee]

The beautiful music stations of the 80s that evolved to soft A/C kept the "soft, relaxing" part, but that never meant that ALL A/C's were soft, or defined by being soft and relaxing. A/C didnt play the extremes of rock, hip hop or whatever but still could be quite uptempo.

That was true but with the few exceptions of WLYF, WFEZ and WDUV and maybe others, they're not soft.

[vchimpanzee]

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=204647.0
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=202201.0
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=193633.0

[imhomerjay]

It used to be "relaxing, stress free" were AC benefits. Apparently not anymore.

And yet they continue to try to claim that's exactly what they are.

Perhaps because what is relaxing and stress free to the actual target audience includes peppy tunes.

There are always Internet alternatives.....

cd

Not everyone has it, or if they do it's not fast enough or they don't have sound.

And what about cars?

Plug an iPod into the car's system. It isn't the stations' obligation to cater to whatever minuscule fraction of the audience lives in 1998.

[atlantaboy]

"Was "Rolling in the Deep" soft?  Not really. 

Guys, what current songs on the CHR or Hot AC chart do you consider "soft" enough for AC to play?  If you're looking for ballads, there are extremely few on the charts, and it's been this way since the 90s.

You're trying to feed a format with songs that just aren't there.

AC needs to be "Contemporary", and the well of soft, contemporary hits is basically empty (with maybe just a couple of exceptions).  You can't feed the AC format with soft classics from the 70s, because then the format wouldn't be Adult Contemporary.

[imhomerjay]

When did Diamond and Striesand suddenly become not contemporary?   

Seriously, though, that's precisely the point. The audience has spoken about what it wants, and stations are generally responding. Yet a handful of people cling to some antiquated notion of what AC is supposed to be because it was that way once upon a time.  Country changes. Rock changes. Pop changes. Yet AC is supposed to remain living in the last millenium? 

[firepoint525]

It used to be "relaxing, stress free" were AC benefits. Apparently not anymore.

And yet they continue to try to claim that's exactly what they are.

The AC here used to claim to be "family friendly" (maybe they still occasionally do), but I notice that they have moved away from that (slowly) in recent years. 

[firepoint525]

The beautiful music stations of the 80s that evolved to soft A/C kept the "soft, relaxing" part, but that never meant that ALL A/C's were soft, or defined by being soft and relaxing. A/C didnt play the extremes of rock, hip hop or whatever but still could be quite uptempo.

Yeah, the "easy listening, beautiful music" stations slowly began to fall out of favor in the early '90s.  What is amusing to me is that that music was sometimes called "elevator music."  If I ever programmed a station with what I heard on elevators, it would be all dead air all the time because that was all that I ever heard on elevators!