99.5 HD2/106.1 Caught In A "Breeze"

https://www.iheart.com/live/the-breeze-8143/

Now Iheart has released a national edition of “the Breeze”

tim131 wrote:

Guys…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.

tim131 wrote:

Guys…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.

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To 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?”

I’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.

Its 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.