96.5 to Rhythmic Hot AC?

[Tomgsinger]

For the second time in a year, WTDY has shifted formats yet again. This time, it retains its branding and much of its playlist, but has dropped most of the pop rock product in favor of rhythmic product. A sample hour includes:
Bruno Mars That’s What I Like
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy
Post Malone Better Now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Imagine Dragons Thunder
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River
Cardi B I Like It
Ed Sheeran Shape of You
Rihanna S&M
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Marshmello Friends
Nelly Hot In Here
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be
Taylor Swift Delicate
Beyoncé Single Ladies

Thoughts?

 

[CTListener]

For the second time in a year, WTDY has shifted formats yet again. This time, it retains its branding and much of its playlist, but has dropped most of the pop rock product in favor of rhythmic product. A sample hour includes:
Bruno Mars That’s What I Like
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy
Post Malone Better Now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Imagine Dragons Thunder
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River
Cardi B I Like It
Ed Sheeran Shape of You
Rihanna S&M
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Marshmello Friends
Nelly Hot In Here
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be
Taylor Swift Delicate
Beyoncé Single Ladies

Thoughts?

Everybody's chasing the soccer moms -- who love to spend and are suckers for a good ad pitch. Perfect storm for the advertisers.

 

[davideduardo]

For the second time in a year, WTDY has shifted formats yet again. This time, it retains its branding and much of its playlist, but has dropped most of the pop rock product in favor of rhythmic product. A sample hour includes:
Bruno Mars That’s What I Like
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy
Post Malone Better Now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Imagine Dragons Thunder
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River
Cardi B I Like It
Ed Sheeran Shape of You
Rihanna S&M
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Marshmello Friends
Nelly Hot In Here
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be
Taylor Swift Delicate
Beyoncé Single Ladies

Thoughts?

It's the end of the summer, which is one of two times a year that stations prefer for music library testing. It sounds like the station discovered a trend among its listeners and adjusted for it.

 

[atthestars]

For the second time in a year, WTDY has shifted formats yet again. This time, it retains its branding and much of its playlist, but has dropped most of the pop rock product in favor of rhythmic product. A sample hour includes:
Bruno Mars That’s What I Like
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy
Post Malone Better Now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Imagine Dragons Thunder
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River
Cardi B I Like It
Ed Sheeran Shape of You
Rihanna S&M
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Marshmello Friends
Nelly Hot In Here
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be
Taylor Swift Delicate
Beyoncé Single Ladies

Thoughts?

At the moment, it just seems like a station pushing further towards CHR to keep themselves a safe distance from soon-to-be-sister and cash cow WBEB. They seem to straddle the CHR/Hot AC line right now, still giving spins to "Rock" acts like Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, and Portugal. The Man. Plus their spin totals (pushing 100x per week for their powers) would put them on the high end of the Hot AC average.

Hot AC has ALWAYS been tough in Philly. Before, WTDY was shifting around trying to take some of WBEB's listeners. Now they're shifting around to make sure they don't hurt their new sister.

 

[Tomgsinger]

At the moment, it just seems like a station pushing further towards CHR to keep themselves a safe distance from soon-to-be-sister and cash cow WBEB. They seem to straddle the CHR/Hot AC line right now, still giving spins to "Rock" acts like Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, and Portugal. The Man. Plus their spin totals (pushing 100x per week for their powers) would put them on the high end of the Hot AC average.

Hot AC has ALWAYS been tough in Philly. Before, WTDY was shifting around trying to take some of WBEB's listeners. Now they're shifting around to make sure they don't hurt their new sister.

Yeah, I thought about that as well. This must be the reason why WSTW focuses mostly on Wilmington?

 

[Miguelito]

For the second time in a year, WTDY has shifted formats yet again. This time, it retains its branding and much of its playlist, but has dropped most of the pop rock product in favor of rhythmic product. A sample hour includes:
Bruno Mars That’s What I Like
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy
Post Malone Better Now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Imagine Dragons Thunder
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River
Cardi B I Like It
Ed Sheeran Shape of You
Rihanna S&M
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Marshmello Friends
Nelly Hot In Here
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be
Taylor Swift Delicate
Beyoncé Single Ladies

Thoughts?

I was in an Uber for about 45 minutes yesterday and the driver actually had this station on. I was like "Wow! They're back to Rhythmic!" I can understand wanting to not compete with soon-to-be-sister More FM but these songs are on a whole bunch of other (mostly higher-rated) stations already. This feels like they're just trying to keep the lights on. (So does the name 96.5 TDY, in fact.)

 

[atthestars]

Yeah, I thought about that as well. This must be the reason why WSTW focuses mostly on Wilmington?

Nah. That's because their signal is a Wilmington signal. Yes, they can be heard decently though a lot of the Philly market, but overall, their signal isn't strong enough across the entire market to make it a profitable Philly station.

They make more money being the big fish in a small pond than by being a small fish in a big pond.

 

[DOB]

This is straight up adult chr, for the last 10 years chr has a more rhythmic texture so nothing is new here and even the hot acs are I guess by old school standards mostly rhythmic as well now. They are not a rhythmic hot ac, there are lots of songs that a station like ktu wont touch.

Bruno Mars That’s What I Like-hot ac and core artist
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy-hot ac
Post Malone Better Now-#1 at chr and gaining greatly at hot ac right now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You #1 hot ac song in the country
Imagine Dragons Thunder ***A song you would never hear on a rhythmic station NOT RHYTHMIC
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River-hot ac
Cardi B I Like It-THIS IS THE CHR CUT that makes them adult chr
Ed Sheeran Shape of You hot ac
Rihanna S&M hot ac
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood top 10 at hot ac now NOT RHYTHMIC
Marshmello Friends NOT A BIG HOT AC HIT, more a chr hit but many hot ac's had it in power
Nelly Hot In Here-hot ac...really think this is a hip hop song in 2018?lmao
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be-hot ac NOT RHYTHMIC
Taylor Swift Delicate hot ac NOT RHYTHMIC
Beyoncé Single Ladies hot ac


I could buy this as a chr in smaller markets but in Philly this still isn't chr and it certainly isn't rhythmic. This could be on the yellow brick road to chr, but probably for now a chance to see if this is out of WBEB's way enough while preventing a true hot ac competitor and also taking some from q102. Not only a flanker but can be packaged with WBEB even though it seems WBEB is already the #1 station for women 18-34 lol.

 

[Groove1670]

This is straight up adult chr, for the last 10 years chr has a more rhythmic texture so nothing is new here and even the hot acs are I guess by old school standards mostly rhythmic as well now. They are not a rhythmic hot ac, there are lots of songs that a station like ktu wont touch.

Bruno Mars That’s What I Like-hot ac and core artist
Cee Lo Green Forget Yoy-hot ac
Post Malone Better Now-#1 at chr and gaining greatly at hot ac right now
Maroon 5 Girls Like You #1 hot ac song in the country
Imagine Dragons Thunder ***A song you would never hear on a rhythmic station NOT RHYTHMIC
Justin Timberlake Cry Me a River-hot ac
Cardi B I Like It-THIS IS THE CHR CUT that makes them adult chr
Ed Sheeran Shape of You hot ac
Rihanna S&M hot ac
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood top 10 at hot ac now NOT RHYTHMIC
Marshmello Friends NOT A BIG HOT AC HIT, more a chr hit but many hot ac's had it in power
Nelly Hot In Here-hot ac...really think this is a hip hop song in 2018?lmao
Bebe Rexha Meant to Be-hot ac NOT RHYTHMIC
Taylor Swift Delicate hot ac NOT RHYTHMIC
Beyoncé Single Ladies hot ac


I could buy this as a chr in smaller markets but in Philly this still isn't chr and it certainly isn't rhythmic. This could be on the yellow brick road to chr, but probably for now a chance to see if this is out of WBEB's way enough while preventing a true hot ac competitor and also taking some from q102. Not only a flanker but can be packaged with WBEB even though it seems WBEB is already the #1 station for women 18-34 lol.

I call it Adult Rhythmic CHR. We run a similar format on our Meridian station. It has more recurent and gold based product than your Hot AC or Rhythmic CHR. CHR right now is a mess. This is basically a safe playlist to keep the mother daughter coaliton on the same station. November will be our 5th year running this format, and we have made slight changes depending on the direction the charts are trending.

 

[Tomgsinger]

Looks like a straight up CHR now.


Cardi B I Like It
NF Let You Down
Imagine Dragons Natural
Eminem Lose Yourself
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Marshmello Happier
Taylor Swift Delicate
Post Malone Better Now
Rihanna We Found Love
Lovelytheband Broken
Shawn Mendes In My Blood
Khalid Love Lies
Liam Payne Strip That Down
Selena Gomez Back to You
The Chainsmokers Don't Let Me Down
DJ Khalid No Brainer
Post Malone Psycho
Marshmello Happier
Natalie la Rose Somebody
Panic at the Disco High Hopes
The Chainsmokers Something Just Like This
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Luis Fonsi Despacito
Ariana Grande God is a Woman
Ed Sheeran Perfect
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Max Lights Down Low
Post Malone Better Now
Drake One Dance
Tyga Taste
G Eazy Him and I
Selena Gomez Back to You
Dua Lipa New Rules
Imagine Dragons Natural
Lauv I Like Me Better
Bazzi Beautiful

 

[atthestars]

Looks like a straight up CHR now.


Cardi B I Like It
NF Let You Down
Imagine Dragons Natural
Eminem Lose Yourself
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Marshmello Happier
Taylor Swift Delicate
Post Malone Better Now
Rihanna We Found Love
Lovelytheband Broken
Shawn Mendes In My Blood
Khalid Love Lies
Liam Payne Strip That Down
Selena Gomez Back to You
The Chainsmokers Don't Let Me Down
DJ Khalid No Brainer
Post Malone Psycho
Marshmello Happier
Natalie la Rose Somebody
Panic at the Disco High Hopes
The Chainsmokers Something Just Like This
Maroon 5 Girls Like You
Luis Fonsi Despacito
Ariana Grande God is a Woman
Ed Sheeran Perfect
5 Seconds of Summer Youngblood
Max Lights Down Low
Post Malone Better Now
Drake One Dance
Tyga Taste
G Eazy Him and I
Selena Gomez Back to You
Dua Lipa New Rules
Imagine Dragons Natural
Lauv I Like Me Better
Bazzi Beautiful

They've been straight up CHR since it was announced 101.1 was joining the cluster. They had flipped from AC to Rhythmic Hot AC... but have morphed into straight CHR as to not overlap with 101.1. Their top song gets played about 120 times per week... that's more than Q102.

 

[TheBigA]

However, they still report to the Mediabase Hot AC chart.

But their spin count looks more like a CHR.

 

[davideduardo]

They've been straight up CHR since it was announced 101.1 was joining the cluster. They had flipped from AC to Rhythmic Hot AC... but have morphed into straight CHR as to not overlap with 101.1. Their top song gets played about 120 times per week... that's more than Q102.

Even BDS calls this station Hot AC, listing it as "Adult Top 40" which is their definition for the format. It is not part of the Mainstream Top 40 panel. Hot AC is not always about rotations, but about what is and is not played vs. Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40 and Contemporary AC.

BDS looks at the panel stations quite often, but for the moment they still consider it to be Hot AC. Very hot on rotations, a bit less on the actual playlist.

WTDY has a bit lower percentage of currents than the average CHR, a bit more recurrent play and also a bit more gold play.

If they go any further in the percentage of currents, they should be reclassified as Mainstream Top 40... it's a rather fuzzy distinction at present.

 

[TheBigA]

If they go any further in the percentage of currents, they should be reclassified as Mainstream Top 40... it's a rather fuzzy distinction at present.

It's interesting to compare TDY's playlist with WNEW. TDY's heavy category gets over 100 spins a week, similar to CHR, while WNEW's is 50 a week.

 

[atthestars]

Even BDS calls this station Hot AC, listing it as "Adult Top 40" which is their definition for the format. It is not part of the Mainstream Top 40 panel. Hot AC is not always about rotations, but about what is and is not played vs. Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic Top 40 and Contemporary AC.

BDS looks at the panel stations quite often, but for the moment they still consider it to be Hot AC. Very hot on rotations, a bit less on the actual playlist.

WTDY has a bit lower percentage of currents than the average CHR, a bit more recurrent play and also a bit more gold play.

If they go any further in the percentage of currents, they should be reclassified as Mainstream Top 40... it's a rather fuzzy distinction at present.

Thank you! I was never 100% certain how they evaluated playlists to determine this

 

[gman72]

WTDY will move to the Mediabase Top 40 Panel at the beginning of November. They have been making a gradual transition over the past couple of months.

 

[davideduardo]

WTDY will move to the Mediabase Top 40 Panel at the beginning of November. They have been making a gradual transition over the past couple of months.

Interesting news. That helps us understand the combination of number of spins, percentage of currents and composition of the playlist that define each format.