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

[new_friends_gr]

OK, getting back to my original post, I understand the demo story.  Women who make up a large part of AC's demographic, have been listening to uptempo music on Top 40 stations and so you say, they don't want soft music on their AC station.

So I guess my question is more about psychology than demographics.  Why is this generation the first generation that doesn't want soft music in their lives?  Lots of people in past generations who grew up with uptempo Top 40 radio in their teens moved to Soft AC as they got older.  Why not this generation? 

And what happened to this generation that they also can't make the transition to Smooth Jazz or Classical music either?  When past generations got a little older, they found new musical genres to explore that were not as uptempo as the music they liked in their teens.  There were commercial Classical stations in all the big cities (two in NYC, Chicago and SF) that have died over the last few years.  Our parents were happy to have big orchestras re-interpret the hits in a softer fashion, and that was the Easy Listening or Beautiful format that also had many successful stations in each market till about 20 years ago. 

How did Smooth Jazz die?  I don't think many of those people born in the 50s and 60s grew up with any special affinity for Jazz, yet they embraced the Smooth Jazz format in many markets.  So why are those born in the 70s and later not interested as they get older in trying a musical style different from what they were listening to in their teens? 

Easy Listening, Classical, Jazz... why did past generations switch to these stations as they aged but today's Generation X won't do it?

You raise a very good question here. (I saw a similar question that was recently posted in the Chicago forum and gave a response there as well.)

My guess is that this generation is so ADD and is completely addicted to the notion of having everything now. Technology is rampant, and people cannot focus their attention on anything for any reasonable length of time. People get bored easily and have no tolerance for soft music. It's very sad.

Regarding Easy Listening, Classical, and Jazz... I think the reason Generation X won't switch is because that kind of music was already falling out of favor with their parents who grew up in the '60s and '70s. Those formats were probably very popular in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, but then rock & roll became huge and the parents of the Gen X'ers wanted to listen to that instead. Those tastes then were passed along to the kids (Gen X'ers).

The whole thing makes me sick. I really enjoy my Top 40 music, but there are LOTS of times when I really crave softer music. At work I stream a Soft AC station out of Miami (WFEZ) and absolutely love it. It keeps me sane and is not "sleepy" at all.

[imhomerjay]

Yes, because shifting tastes over generations is clearly connected to ADD.

[Gregg]

Well, you make a joke but what is your answer to the question?

So why did our parents, grandparents and great grandparents go from whatever was trendy in their youth (Disco, Elvis, Sinatra, Bing Crosby) to eventually supporting Easy Listening, Smooth Jazz and Classical formats that might challenge them and expand their musical horizons?  But this generation won't?   How could NYC, Chicago and San Francisco support TWO commercial classical stations, and other markets from LA to Miami to Kansas City could support one, for decades and decades, but they're all gone now? 

What's different about THIS generation?  Maybe it is a form of ADD.  Maybe this generation won't put in the time to learn and appreciate Classical or Jazz or other Adult music forms, as past generations did?



Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[new_friends_gr]

Maybe this generation won't put in the time to learn and appreciate Classical or Jazz or other Adult music forms, as past generations did?

I'd say that's a pretty good theory. For the most part, if the music doesn't make young people want to dance/party/whatever, they are not interested. :-(

[semoochie]

It's not much of a stretch to go from Crosby or Sinatra to Easy Listening and that format has been mostly gone since the Sinatra fans got too old for advertisers.  Baby boomers may be willing to listen to Soft Rock but we grew up with it, as part of the diet.  The other thing is that in the pre-rock era, the song was what was important.  There would be many, many renditions of the same song and Easy Listening fit right in with that.  If you want anyone to listen, who grew up within the last 60 years, you'd better play the hit version.

[imhomerjay]

Welcome to the modern era, where many more music platforms exist. Lack of classical on traditional, terrestrial radio, for one example, is not the death knell--it lives on in more hospitable formats.

Tastes simply change, they have for a long time and will continue to do so. One young generation rebels against what came before--Elvis was once the work of the devil, then he became old fogey music. Nothing terribly new there, nor that ultra soft stuff moved on to become a niche better served by digital platforms where demo considerations are less important.

[vchimpanzee]

Well, you make a joke but what is your answer to the question?

So why did our parents, grandparents and great grandparents go from whatever was trendy in their youth (Disco, Elvis, Sinatra, Bing Crosby)

I still like disco, Elvis, Sinatra and Bing Crosby and still hear them on one radio station that I like. Okay, not so much Bing, except at Christmas, and not really all that much disco. But Elvis and Sinatra were both on there this morning.

[vchimpanzee]

Maybe this generation won't put in the time to learn and appreciate Classical or Jazz or other Adult music forms, as past generations did?

I'd say that's a pretty good theory. For the most part, if the music doesn't make young people want to dance/party/whatever, they are not interested. :-(

Among the songs I like, there's lots of dance/party music.

"Sing Sing Sing" by Benny Goodman, for example. There's a station in Charlotte, NC that plays it, or has. You should hear the "album" version. Back in the day, teens loved him.

"Leapfrog" by Les Brown was played at the dance in "The Nutty Professor".  The kids seemed to like that one.

Not so many years ago, Brian Setzer did "Jump, Jive and Wail".  I can remember the Olsen Twins being in a family sitcom when kids liked that style of music.

[imhomerjay]

Meanwhile back on planet Earth there's a thing called research, not random anecdotes from well outside the target audience.

[oldies76]

Meanwhile back on planet Earth there's a thing called research, not random anecdotes from well outside the target audience.

And there's vast proof that many kids today, really like what their parents enjoyed (late 60's, 70's and 80's) and what their grandparents even enjoyed (50's and 60's)....so all isn't lost....at all.