RadioInsight Community › Forums › Midwest › Cleveland › 99.5 HD2/106.1 Caught In A "Breeze"
This topic contains 20 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Crazy Monkey 1 month, 1 week ago.
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November 17, 2018 at 11:40 am #184478
WGAR’s HD2 subchannel has switched from Classic Country to Soft Adult Contemporary identifying as “The Breeze,” which is popping up on stations all over the United States.
W291BV 106.1 is also now simulcasting the “Breeze” format with W266CJ 101.1 and W269BS 101.7 both now simulcasting WGAR’s main 99.5 signal instead of its previous HD2 format.
“The Breeze” is also reportedly heading to Canton, likely on WHOF.
November 17, 2018 at 7:07 pm #184483Note the Iheart edition of The Breeze has been around since 2016 if you count the first station San Francisco’s 98.1 KISQ-FM.
But the other Iheart Owned stations that have been renamed as “The Breeze” recently its success is yet to be known given the flips has just took place last week and other stations yet to be revealed if Iheart is going to make “The Breeze” a national brand for their AC Stations.
November 17, 2018 at 11:23 pm #184487https://www.iheart.com/live/the-breeze-8143/
Now Iheart has released a national edition of “the Breeze”
November 18, 2018 at 9:44 am #184493Guys…Is this new Breeze format Soft AC or Soft Classic hits?
A look at the music log for the new one in Detroit found Aha’s “Take On Me”. That song is imho NOT soft Ac…it’s mainstream CHR/top 40. Train wreck, and not in a good way.
November 18, 2018 at 12:14 pm #184495Guys…Is this new Breeze format Soft AC or Soft Classic hits?
A look at the music log for the new one in Detroit found Aha’s “Take On Me”. That song is imho NOT soft Ac…it’s mainstream CHR/top 40. Train wreck, and not in a good way.
You’re not the only one who has noticed the less-than-optimal music segues. Someone else on the mighty Book of Faces heard “What a Girl Wants” followed by “Queen of Hearts” on 106.1. Good grief.
Soft rock is still a viable format… but this ain’t it. This is “Jammin Oldies” all over again.
Recorded in Ultra Stereo, the ultimately superior cousin to Normal Stereo!
November 18, 2018 at 12:33 pm #184496https://www.iheart.com/live/the-breeze-8143/
Now Iheart has released a national edition of “the Breeze”
Which is the main music log most of these “new” stations are using. Chances are good that this “national” stream is relaying an HD subchannel somewhere.
Recorded in Ultra Stereo, the ultimately superior cousin to Normal Stereo!
November 18, 2018 at 1:12 pm #184497Guys…Is this new Breeze format Soft AC or Soft Classic hits? A look at the music log for the new one in Detroit found Aha’s “Take On Me”. That song is imho NOT soft Ac…it’s mainstream CHR/top 40. Train wreck, and not in a good way.
San Francisco’s KISQ Yes the Iheart owned station that Started “The Breeze” and is spreading to other Iheart owned stations have used performers like Maroon 5 and Adele on their playlists and have gone in the the direction of mainstream AC.November 18, 2018 at 1:23 pm #184498Also in the music sweep I heard last week on Detroit’s 98.7 Breeze with Ah’s “Take On Me” was “Fallin’ In Love” (Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Reynolds)….a truly soft classic hits 70’s tune. The two together sounded ridiculous. Those 2 never, ever belong on the same station, IMHO.
I truly believe real soft classic hits of the 70’s & 80’s might be a nice niche format. What, women 45-64? 45+ women? At least it might get people back to radio. But, who knows…maybe it’s too late.
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This reply was modified 3 months ago by
tim131.
November 18, 2018 at 2:00 pm #184500To be fair, Sean Ross has pointed out in his series of columns with this “format boom” that some songs, especially “Take on Me” and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” are included in playlists despite the tempo mismatch because they are seen as universal and safe. And those songs are AC and classic hits staples just because of their age and familiarity. (I disagree with including the former, the latter… ehh… “Alive and Kicking” would be a better choice, even with the mismatched tempo remaining the same on either Simple Minds track. Neither artist should be considered as “soft rock” in any form unless the station is doing a “flashback” or “throwback” weekend like WDOK used to do pre-“New/Star 102.”)
That being said, the inclusion of a song like “What a Girl Wants” makes absolutely no sense. It’s too up-tempo and nowhere near as universal and familiar to the ear. Yes, MOR and soft rock stations played rock/pop artists back in the day, but those artists had ballads and softer songs that gained accessibility to those audiences (think “Yesterday” and “Michelle” by the Beatles, “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, “That’s All” by Genesis, or “I Want to Know What Love Is” by Foreigner).
If you really want to play Christina Aguilera, why not “Beautiful?”
Recorded in Ultra Stereo, the ultimately superior cousin to Normal Stereo!
November 18, 2018 at 4:27 pm #184501In looking at some sample “Breeze” hours, half of the songs can be heard multiple times a day between The Lake and Majic. The other half I don’t want to hear to begin with. As a fan of Classic Hits and modern day Mainstream AC, I really have no interest in whatever format this is.
November 19, 2018 at 10:28 am #184531I’ll echo many previous comments here. I’m not too impressed with iHeart’s playlists on these niche stations. It seems that the definition of soft adult contemporary is not what it used to be. But then again, they’re just appealing to the least common denominator. The good songs, sadly, have long been forgotten.
November 22, 2018 at 10:44 am #184561The radio industry continues to shoot itself in the foot with strange music mixes, way/way/way/way too many spots in commercial sets; too many self-serving promos and unnecessary clutter. I don’t care if they think they’re playing the Nielsen/ARB quarter-hour game…what’s happened is radio stations in 2018 are overly predictable, spot & clutter-loaded jukeboxes. Yeech!
Of course you have to play “hits”, but the same 200-300 library tunes that are, what? 35, 40, 50 years old? Over and over and over and over & 20+ commercials/promos per hour? Are they insane?????
November 27, 2018 at 9:18 am #184601Its unfortunate how even on the digital sub-channel portion of the dial these radio stations seemingly refuse to do anything that deviates too far from what has become the norm. We need more Adele and Maroon 5 songs on the radio like I need a hole in my head.
I think it would have been way cooler if a station like The Breeze was set-up more as a soft AC that plucked Top 40 songs from the early 1980s through the early 1990s. Check those charts and you’ll find they are littered with songs that were all over the radio back in the day, but are rarely heard on terrestrial or satellite stations in 2018. I’d imagine these lost hits would be both recognizable and refreshing to a lot of people who are in their mid to late 40s and older.
December 12, 2018 at 12:03 am #184791Honestly, I had a feeling something was up when they were still relaying WGAR-HD2 instead of switching to WAKS-HD2 as their primary source.
WGAR-HD2 is probably still relaying The Breeze, but people are likely going to be listening to the iHeart national stream on the app by a 1,000,000 to 1 margin… or until iHeart builds out both remaining relays for WGAR’s analog/HD1: 101.1 Beechwood and 101.7 Hickley.
Recorded in Ultra Stereo, the ultimately superior cousin to Normal Stereo!
December 29, 2018 at 11:23 am #184958Honestly, I had a feeling something was up when they were still relaying WGAR-HD2 instead of switching to WAKS-HD2 as their primary source. WGAR-HD2 is probably still relaying The Breeze, but people are likely going to be listening to the iHeart national stream on the app by a 1,000,000 to 1 margin… or until iHeart builds out both remaining relays for WGAR’s analog/HD1: 101.1 Beechwood and 101.7 Hickley.
Could 101.1 or 101.7 file a CP to improve coverage for Cleveland proper for The Breeze if they picked it up? -
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