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The New Sound of Power 98.3

A ”New Sound?” The last they teased Phoenix with something new it was for a Drake concert. Plus I’m not sure they’ll go Rhythmic AC since 97.5/103.9 already has that format unless they’re eyeing “Fuego 106.7” as a target.
 
Apparently all on air staff has been furloughed...its downfall was hiring J Steele, he had no clue what he was doing from the start and hiring a social media influencer does not help at all!
 
According to RadioInsight...

The first songs on the new “Power 98.3” were:

  • Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
  • Rihanna – Rude Boy
  • Teddy Swims – Lose Control
  • Jeremih ft. 50 Cent – Down On Me
  • Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (That Thing)
In a market where The Bounce and Hot (Your sister station!!!) and to a lesser extent Mega already exist, you do this?? Granted, current hip hop isn't working but wow. I can't make any sense of this move.
 
Original story from Post #1 has been updated with info on the 4/29/2024 format switch from Rhythmic CHR to Rhythmic Hot AC:
radioinsight.com

KKFR Moves To Rhythmic Hot AC With Its “New Sound”

Desert Valley Media Group Rhythmic CHR "Power 98.3" KKFR Mayer/Phoenix and 96.1 K241BQ Fort McDowell AZ relaunched at noon today
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

Home - Power 98.3 (updated with new logo)
Listen Live: Power 98.3 & 96.1
Direct streaming address: >http://ais-sa1.streamon.fm/7856_96k.aac<

Since 12:18 PM MT (after the first 5 songs mentioned above):

Good Good - USHER, Summer Walker & 21 Savage - Aired 12:18 pm
Rock The Boat - Aaliyah - Aired 12:22 pm
Under The Influence - Chris Brown - Aired 12:26 pm
Jumpin', Jumpin' - Destiny's Child - Aired 12:30 pm
Saturn - SZA - Aired 12:33 pm
The Way You Move (feat. Sleepy Brown) - Outkast - Aired 12:36 pm
That's What I Like - Bruno Mars - Aired 12:40 pm
Water - Tyla - Aired 12:44 pm
Too Close - Next - Aired 12:47 pm
Spin Bout U - Drake & 21 Savage - Aired 12:51 pm
Adorn - Miguel - Aired 12:54 pm
Country Grammar (Hot Sh*t) - Nelly - Aired 12:58 pm
 
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The station Sounds pretty good, definitely r&b focused with some currents. We will have to wait and see if the gold tracks get tiresome after a bit. As far as Hot is concerned, looking at their playlist recently they have moved away from the Rythmic lean they launched with even the rhythm of the valley tag line is gone. They’ve added a lot of pop rock/alt gold and expanded the 80’s selections a bit. Looks like they’re in between KEZ and Mix, and having an identity crisis, again, so theres that.
 
beauduran said:
In a market where The Bounce and Hot (Your sister station!!!) and to a lesser extent Mega already exist, you do this?? Granted, current hip hop isn't working but wow. I can't make any sense of this move.
Click to expand...
Hot has seemingly shifted back to a more normal Hot AC presentation. Last six songs there were:
Kelly Clarkson - Since You've Been Gone
Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
TLC - Waterfalls
Harry Styles - As It Was
Jay Sean - Down
Lorde - Royals

I do wonder if something is going to happen at Hot next. Have nothing to base it on, just a hunch.

What I don't get is the NEW format on Power seems more in-line with the Dana Cortez Show than the former.

only1moore said:
So, Phoenix is left with no straight ahead Rhythmic format.

If only KZZP or KALV kept their Rhythmic formats…
Click to expand...
Don't you think there's a reason all of these stations have moved away from it?
 
DCS is more of a current hip hop format show...they do great in San Antonio on KBBT...this "new" power format draws more on a older but still somewhat young crowd...i think going away from a structured morning show format and just having a a talent in each daypart and sounding local will help out alot...i am sure they will move melissa to the night slot and put Lights out phoenix 10p-1a make sense with this format
 
lanceventa said:
Hot has seemingly shifted back to a more normal Hot AC presentation. Last six songs there were:
Kelly Clarkson - Since You've Been Gone
Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
TLC - Waterfalls
Harry Styles - As It Was
Jay Sean - Down
Lorde - Royals

I do wonder if something is going to happen at Hot next. Have nothing to base it on, just a hunch.

What I don't get is the NEW format on Power seems more in-line with the Dana Cortez Show than the former.


Don't you think there's a reason all of these stations have moved away from it?
Click to expand...
Maybe Rhythmic Top 40 is not a valuable format and that the owners would see it go away like Disco…
 
When looking at format opportunities and thinking within the constricted parameters of formats that are being run in the top 20 U.S. markets, it's really a stretch to think of something they could have done differently than this soft relaunch.

One could argue for a KDKB-style Mainstream Rock station but that could be fairly easily outflanked by full powered KDKB/KSLX.

On Rhythmic CHR or Hip-Hop/R&B, clearly Phoenix isn't the LA, Chicago or NYC market. And even in those markets the popularity of that format has taken an absolute nosedive from its levels of say 15 to 20 years ago. Look at similarly sized markets like Minneapolis and Seattle. From a commercial FM perspective, Seattle to my knowledge has no current hip-hop and Mpls. only has a translator (Hot 102.5).
 
Saladressing said:
On Rhythmic CHR or Hip-Hop/R&B, clearly Phoenix isn't the LA, Chicago or NYC market. And even in those markets the popularity of that format has taken an absolute nosedive from its levels of say 15 to 20 years ago. Look at similarly sized markets like Minneapolis and Seattle. From a commercial FM perspective, Seattle to my knowledge has no current hip-hop and Mpls. only has a translator (Hot 102.5).
Click to expand...
You are forgetting the influence of the roughly 1/3 of the Phoenix market that is Hispanic. It's not Minneapolis or Seattle in many respects.
 
Should we be expecting the next attempt at "refreshing" the station in September? I think that was the last time it was attempted with that whole Drake gimmick fiasco lol...
 
DavidEduardo said:
You are forgetting the influence of the roughly 1/3 of the Phoenix market that is Hispanic. It's not Minneapolis or Seattle in many respects.
Click to expand...
KKFR became a legitimate ratings contender instead of a distant third in the CHR race in the late 80s/early 90s when it adopted consultant Don Kelly’s strategy: superserve Hispanic 18-34 women to take advantage of diary weighting.

Sometimes in the early days of this approach that meant that they’d play something not rhythmic during the day because the song tested well with Hispanic women.

We’re in a PPM world now, but you still have to program the station for who lives in Phoenix.
 
I'm still scratching my head at the strategy here.

I guess the first question is "what heritage does Power 98.3 really have?"
After all, it's not Power 92, and let's be honest, the target demo for Power 98.3 wasn't alive for Power 92. Heck, my memories of Power 92 was all the music that Hot was playing when Steve Smith consulted them on Rhythmic AC before he passed.

I don't disagree with moving away from hip hop, but if the target is still 18-34 women, Return of the Mack was released 28 years ago.
 
johndavis said:
I'm still scratching my head at the strategy here.

I guess the first question is "what heritage does Power 98.3 really have?"
After all, it's not Power 92, and let's be honest, the target demo for Power 98.3 wasn't alive for Power 92. Heck, my memories of Power 92 was all the music that Hot was playing when Steve Smith consulted them on Rhythmic AC before he passed.

I don't disagree with moving away from hip hop, but if the target is still 18-34 women, Return of the Mack was released 28 years ago.
Click to expand...
I think they're looking at Bounce, and see that they have something over there (despite Candelaria's departure). I think what success that station has is because they aren't playing many, if any currents. And, there is a generation gap with hip-hop. Older Millennials who grew up on Power 92(.3) in the early 2000s don't really care for today's hip-hop music.
 
EricStein said:
I think they're looking at Bounce, and see that they have something over there (despite Candelaria's departure). I think what success that station has is because they aren't playing many, if any currents. And, there is a generation gap with hip-hop. Older Millennials who grew up on Power 92(.3) in the early 2000s don't really care for today's hip-hop music.
Click to expand...
You have a point there. The Power 92 I remember had Gina G, Living Joy, Deee-Lite, Angelina, Real McCoy, and Rozalla being played 24/7. Do you see their songs getting played elsewhere other than SiriusXM Utopia or on the apps? Like I said no one wants a Rhythmic or Dance station on a terrestrial signal anymore.
 
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