Has the soft rock radio stations changed the variety of music? (great songs, classic)

[Mopac1980]

Has the soft rock radio stations changed the variety of music?

I've been noticing they've been playing more upbeat pop music like Paula Abdul, Madonna, Prince and even some of the disco music on the soft rock stations and they rarely play the slower stuff like Chicago, Air Supply, Billy Joel, Elton John and Barry Manilow as often like they used to.

[KevK]

I don't really listen to commercial radio much. With an Ipod and Sirius in the house and car, no need to.

[SlickRick1]

I think alot of eighties type of music is now considered soft rock, just like it used to be a lot of songs in the Seventies like the carpenters, etc. I've noticed this to. I think they just added another decade now and maybe put on a few newer songs that seem soft.

All of the stuff that I grew up on is now Classic Rock.....That's strange to me.

[Jay F]

It is not your imagination, they have changed. I work in radio and can tell you the reason for the change. Soft rock stations (known as Adult Contemporary in the industry) target 25-54 year old females. They feel if they play the old mix of music their audience will be mostly 55+ which is difficult to sell to advertisers.

Personally I prefer the older mix, it is timeless wonderful music. You might enjoy this radio station out of Tampa Florida. They stream on the internet.

WDUV: Your Easy Connection online on wduv.com

[Mopac1980]

Originally Posted by Jay F

It is not your imagination, they have changed. I work in radio and can tell you the reason for the change. Soft rock stations (known as Adult Contemporary in the industry) target 25-54 year old females. They feel if they play the old mix of music their audience will be mostly 55+ which is difficult to sell to advertisers.

Personally I prefer the older mix, it is timeless wonderful music. You might enjoy this radio station out of Tampa Florida. They stream on the internet.

WDUV: Your Easy Connection online on wduv.com

I love the mellow rock songs from the 1970s to approximately 1982, to me that will always be the golden era of lite rock music, I thought many of the light rock songs from approximately 1983 onward got too upbeat and lacked the sensitivity of the lite rock songs from the earlier years.

[Mopac1980]

Originally Posted by Jay F

It is not your imagination, they have changed. I work in radio and can tell you the reason for the change. Soft rock stations (known as Adult Contemporary in the industry) target 25-54 year old females. They feel if they play the old mix of music their audience will be mostly 55+ which is difficult to sell to advertisers.

Personally I prefer the older mix, it is timeless wonderful music. You might enjoy this radio station out of Tampa Florida. They stream on the internet.

WDUV: Your Easy Connection online on wduv.com

Unfortunately I'm not able to get the audio on the station you've sent me but according to the playlist it does sound like a really good soft rock station, they play songs you wouldn't find elsewhere on an average soft rock station, I like how they focus just on the slower songs and they rarely play the upbeat pop songs like most soft rock stations do, this station almost reminds me of Soft Hits 105.3FM in Pasco, WA and sadly they've changed it to MIX 105.3FM it's now a soft adult contemporary station and a third of the songs they play are rather upbeat pop tunes and I don't like how one song they would play something like Air Supply's "All Out of Love" and then next they'll play Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", the station got more listeners when Soft Hits 105.3FM became MIX 105.3FM

[Jay F]

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

I love the mellow rock songs from the 1970s to approximately 1982, to me that will always be the golden era of lite rock music, I thought many of the light rock songs from approximately 1983 onward got too upbeat and lacked the sensitivity of the lite rock songs from the earlier years.

I couldn't agree more. That era was amazing for soft rock. What a shame that it get's so little airplay today. I could listen to it for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. One of my favorite artists of that genre is Bread, I am in awe of how good they were. I love it all, even the songs and artists people made fun of such as "Feelings" by Morris Albert. I could lis hundreds of more songs I like,

Out of curiosity are you familiar with "Last Song" by Edward Bear. It was a big hit in 1973 but never got any radio play after that. Another rare one I love is "Don't say you don't remember" by Beverly Bremers.

Maybe the music got less sensitive in the 80s because the culture started changing? There was certainly a backlash against sensitive males and as a result the whole culture got more masculine, more cynical, and less romantic..even the women. Compare how feminine Olivia Newton John sounded compared to a contemporary artist such as Pink (who get's played on soft rock stations! even if there is nothing soft about her).

[Mopac1980]

Originally Posted by Jay F

I couldn't agree more. That era was amazing for soft rock. What a shame that it get's so little airplay today. I could listen to it for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. One of my favorite artists of that genre is Bread, I am in awe of how good they were. I love it all, even the songs and artists people made fun of such as "Feelings" by Morris Albert. I could lis hundreds of more songs I like,

Out of curiosity are you familiar with "Last Song" by Edward Bear. It was a big hit in 1973 but never got any radio play after that. Another rare one I love is "Don't say you don't remember" by Beverly Bremers.

Maybe the music got less sensitive in the 80s because the culture started changing? There was certainly a backlash against sensitive males and as a result the whole culture got more masculine, more cynical, and less romantic..even the women. Compare how feminine Olivia Newton John sounded compared to a contemporary artist such as Pink (who get's played on soft rock stations! even if there is nothing soft about her).

Even though I'm born in 1980 I do remember Edward Bear's "Last Song" and Beverly Bremers' "Don't Say YOu Don't Remember", they're both great songs, I cannot believe that the artists like Pink, Gwen Stefani and even Madonna are getting played on the soft rock stations, I did notice the 1980s music got sensitive and they started focusing more on the image.

[Mopac1980]

Another rare song featured on that station you've sent me the link too is Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love With You", I consider it being one of the most beautiful love songs I've ever heard and you never come across that song on your average soft rock station, this station is definitely mellower than your average rock station which is nice.

[Jay F]

Originally Posted by Mopac1980

Another rare song featured on that station you've sent me the link too is Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love With You", I consider it being one of the most beautiful love songs I've ever heard and you never come across that song on your average soft rock station, this station is definitely mellower than your average rock station which is nice.

That's one of my favorites as well. It's one of the few Herb Alpert songs with vocals.

You might want to try the streaming audio on that site. It wasn't working yesterday but they fixed it. That station is the highest rated in Tampa-St Pete. It just goes to show people will listen to this wonderful music if it's available.