There are several Christian formats depending on how preachy you want to go or how rock you want to go.
Mediabase tracks Christian AC, Christian Hot AC, Christian Rock, and Gospel.
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Z100 as an Alternative Station
- Thread starter ScottBurns
- Start date
There are several Christian formats depending on how preachy you want to go or how rock you want to go.
Mediabase tracks Christian AC, Christian Hot AC, Christian Rock, and Gospel.
The Highway is one of the Sirius channels that reports to the Mediabase chart. So yes, airplay on The Highway has an effect on the Country Airplay chart, and that could influence FM airplay.
A lot of groups are saying they break new artists and songs. iHeart has a program that does it, so does Audacy, so does Apple music.
I'm sure there is an audience for Air1. If I were to listen to Christian music radio, then I would listen to Air1 because they play the familiar worship songs that I have sung along to while watching contemporary worship services.
I was mostly thinking along the lines of how well formats are able to match with their streaming charts. This one seemed to do quite well. That said at the time they put it on the air 4 years back, it wasn't really a typical radio format and the playlist was all over the place. Now they have a good match up with their overall genre's streaming chart. At least within the Top-40.
I wonder if this would even be remotely possible with other formats
I wonder if this would even be remotely possible with other formats
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BBN and Joy FM for me.
Whoops. Never mind. Joy FM happens to be doing something that sounds like contemporary worship right now. Well, I have heard good songs there.
Christian Top-40 (Or Hot AC) has pretty much disappeared into thin air in the last few years. Labels are not pushing the music as much anymore. It was always secondary to AC to begin with. Within the last decade, younger listeners seem to be listening to more Contemporary Worship rather than the rock or pop. That's why it's so big on the streaming charts. Some of the AC stations play some of it, but they still focus more on the AC. Thus Air1. But rarely do I see a streaming chart's biggest 30 or so songs almost perfectly match what is playing on a radio network or station, that's why I brought it up here since we were talking about changing habits. I hope I didn't go too far off topic. I was just wondering if that would ever happen more on other formats.
I lived through this era and can confirm that Z100 was VERY alternative sounding from 93-96. Technically, the majority of the titles they played did eventually chart in the higher reaches of the CHR chart but they also played some songs that were alternative only (Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, Pearl Jam deep cuts, etc). They were one of the stations that aired Pearl Jam's show from Atlanta live in April of 94. In reality, they essentially mirrored MTV at the time minus the hardcore rap or metal and the station sounded pretty great. As my tastes leaned more alternative, I ended up jumping ship and went to K-Rock in 96 (Q104.3 was also great at the time but that station did terribly ratings-wise).
Fun fact but the first Jingle Ball they did in 94 was almost all alternative acts with Green Day, Hole, Weezer, Sheryl Crow, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Pansy Division with a side order of, um, Bon Jovi.
Fun fact but the first Jingle Ball they did in 94 was almost all alternative acts with Green Day, Hole, Weezer, Sheryl Crow, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Pansy Division with a side order of, um, Bon Jovi.
I forgot that Sheryl Crow was once considered Alternative.
Sheryl Crow, Jewel, No Doubt, Sarah McLachlan, etc were all considered Alternative. When the music started getting heavier, Modern AC was created to give an in between. That format peaked in the late 90s. It was very prominent in the Midwest
I remember Jewel was on an alternative station in Florence SC singing "Who Will Save Your Soul". That sounds right.
Sheryl's "All I Wanna Do" has a great steel guitar. That's a country instrument.
And she's been showing up on country music awards shows.
She also had that song with Kid Rock that charted on the country charts.
A lot of artists who started either on Hot AC, Pop or Alternative tried to do Country. Country allowed for the guitars and solo vocalists while pop was not allowing anything that wasn't synth.
Obviously Jewel, Sheryl Crow. Edwin McCain. Pink recently did some Country. The most notable is Darius Rucker (Hootie & The Blowfish) Sheryl Crow can be heard on K-LOVE (She did a duet with TobyMac) Both genres are based in Nashville, so if anybody shows up there and does something, you might hear them on either genre at some point. Jordin Sparks who got her start on Pop now has a duet on that format as well. They're trying to push it to AC now
A lot of the alternative acts in the mid-90's eventually made their way over to Hot AC when alternative stations started getting harder. One of the most frustrating aspects of having K-Rock being the sole "alternative" station is when they started transitioning to an active rock hybrid in late 97 and often didn't even play 30% of the charting alternative cuts.
R&R Ratings summaries https://worldradiohistory.com/Ratings-Directories.htm
Duncan's American Radio https://worldradiohistory.com/Duncan-American-Radio-Issue-Guide.htm
It's his 52nd birthday today.
So glad to this post. I have some recordings I have collected over the years from this era and would love to share with anyone.
I am a huge fan of this era for Z100 92-96 as I was in high school and those years are special. The alternative mainstream music really started to show up in 91, a few seeds of alternative hits from REM, U2, Jesus Jones, Depeche Mode, etc. I believe there was a mainstream appetite for a change in pop music especially with the scandals of Milli Vanilli and New Kids on the Block lip syncing during live shows. The stale sound of the hair bands. We all know when Nirvana broke through it changed the landscape of pop and rock music. As a huge listener of the station in those days they did mix in pop, dance, pop rock and some alternative songs, not being charted on their playlists in 92/early 93.
From what I read ratings declined as CHR stations were fading in 92 so a drastic change needed to happen as pop culture was changing with the times. In 93, the station went in an Alt direction and did play some pop and dance songs. You didn't hear any ballads or R&B, some hip hip pop songs were played. The imaging was awesome, and edgy, gone were the days of the flame throwing-hot rocking Z sound. Their core artists were now PJ, U2, STP, Aerosmith, Nirvana and still played the likes of Bon Jovi and Madonna which they were loyal to these artists during that transition. In between the current songs, they played some 80s modern rock and dance songs. A nice blend, and some say the roots of a JACK FM sound. Critics say it was the worst time for the station but they did win Rolling Stone Radio Station of the year in 1995, not a bad award to have for a worst time! The era peaked in 96 but soon faded. The station didnt really sound that together as far as a format got in its own way. '
In my opinion, it was the right music at the right time for the station as they mirrored the MTV sound. You didnt see boy bands or bubble gum pop on MTV during that time. It wasn't until late 96 when the station changed back to CHR as music started to change and stations around NYC flipped their formats. I don't understand why the Z100 DJs would apologize for changing their sound back to CHR, the Alt music carried the station those years. To sum it up, it was a alot of small things that came together for this era to have the success it did. Kudos to Z100 for having the balls to make a change in the early 90s, and it worked very well!
I am a huge fan of this era for Z100 92-96 as I was in high school and those years are special. The alternative mainstream music really started to show up in 91, a few seeds of alternative hits from REM, U2, Jesus Jones, Depeche Mode, etc. I believe there was a mainstream appetite for a change in pop music especially with the scandals of Milli Vanilli and New Kids on the Block lip syncing during live shows. The stale sound of the hair bands. We all know when Nirvana broke through it changed the landscape of pop and rock music. As a huge listener of the station in those days they did mix in pop, dance, pop rock and some alternative songs, not being charted on their playlists in 92/early 93.
From what I read ratings declined as CHR stations were fading in 92 so a drastic change needed to happen as pop culture was changing with the times. In 93, the station went in an Alt direction and did play some pop and dance songs. You didn't hear any ballads or R&B, some hip hip pop songs were played. The imaging was awesome, and edgy, gone were the days of the flame throwing-hot rocking Z sound. Their core artists were now PJ, U2, STP, Aerosmith, Nirvana and still played the likes of Bon Jovi and Madonna which they were loyal to these artists during that transition. In between the current songs, they played some 80s modern rock and dance songs. A nice blend, and some say the roots of a JACK FM sound. Critics say it was the worst time for the station but they did win Rolling Stone Radio Station of the year in 1995, not a bad award to have for a worst time! The era peaked in 96 but soon faded. The station didnt really sound that together as far as a format got in its own way. '
In my opinion, it was the right music at the right time for the station as they mirrored the MTV sound. You didnt see boy bands or bubble gum pop on MTV during that time. It wasn't until late 96 when the station changed back to CHR as music started to change and stations around NYC flipped their formats. I don't understand why the Z100 DJs would apologize for changing their sound back to CHR, the Alt music carried the station those years. To sum it up, it was a alot of small things that came together for this era to have the success it did. Kudos to Z100 for having the balls to make a change in the early 90s, and it worked very well!
KKFR, Power 92 in Phoenix, AZ back in early 1994 waa an Alternative leaning CHR. I remember hearing Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and "Daughter", "No Rain" by Blind Melon, "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms and The Crash Test Dummies and etc. just to name a few along with Pop hits from Madonna, Janet Jackson, Brandy, Ini Kamoze, etc. I remember their ratings tanked when they switched to that Alternative leaning CHR format then later they dumped it for a Dance leaning CHR and the ratings went back up.
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