2010s music on WIAD

[victorres43]

The core of a healthy Classic Hits station is 35-54, so I was moreso referring to the average age of the non-Hispanic whites in Houston possibly being lower than other markets, which may be why the market can't support a "pure" Classic Hits station that is heavy on the 1980s (regardless of whether it's pop leaning, rock leaning, or more of a balance) and why KKHH has gone with a playlist that is much more agressive with 1990s music than the typical Classic Hits station. This could also be a factor as to why Atlanta doesn't even have an Adult Hits station, let alone a Classic Hits station.

KOLA in the Inland Empire has some similarities to KKHH, given that it too plays a lot of 90s (and even beyond) for a Classic Hits station. It is more to go a different direction than KRTH, however. I cannot say if the white median age is lower in this Latino-majority market.

WLS-FM in Chicago leans towards rock music, but the median age among whites isn't particularly low. WLS-FM's musical direction can be attributed to the rock lean of the WLS of old and possibly the distaste of disco/dance music among some listeners. Also, WJJK in Indianapolis and, to a certain extent, WOMC in Detroit have a rock lean, but Indianapolis and Detroit aren't known to have a particularly youthful population.

As for Atlanta, note that Atlanta lacked a mainstream Top 40 from 1992 to 1999, and Star 94 was successful as a result of its Adult direction. In addition, Q100 feared Star 94's success during the late 2000s and went with an Adult direction, away from its Mainstream approach in 2001-2005. So Atlanta not having a [full-powered] Classic Hits or even an Adult Hits is likely attributed to non-urban listeners, at least those within the 35-54 demographic, not caring for rhythmic-oriented music.

 

[101tm]

WLS-FM in Chicago leans towards rock music, but the median age among whites isn't particularly low. WLS-FM's musical direction can be attributed to the rock lean of the WLS of old and possibly the distaste of disco/dance music among some listeners. Also, WJJK in Indianapolis and, to a certain extent, WOMC in Detroit have a rock lean, but Indianapolis and Detroit aren't known to have a particularly youthful population.

WOMC has a rock lean (they play stuff like Led Zep and more AC/DC), but they still play rhythmic/pop stuff like Whitney Houston, Madonna, Bananarama etc and have a “pop” image with jingles and the like. The music favors rock, but I don’t feel they really exclude many hits from the time period they cover. I consider WIAD to be ever so slightly rock leaning, but not as much as WOMC or the “new” WOGL.

WLS-FM has never been an extremely good classic hits station. They lean slightly older than Audacy’s classic hits stations, as does WJJK (who still rolls an early 70s track once an hour or so and still includes some late 60s rock). WLS-FM shifted to rock more when WLUP went away to try to keep some listeners from defecting over to Hubbard’s 97.1 The Drive. However, WLS-FM still has their toes dipped in *enough* with Cyndi Lauper, a couple Madonna songs, a couple disco songs, etc to keep it in the mainstream classic hits column.

WGRR in Cincinnati is an awesome Cumulus classic hits station that imo sounds way better than any of Audacy’s classic hits stations, but that’s my personal taste. KCMO in Kansas City is a close second, a very nice balanced playlist. Again this is just my personal taste. Cumulus has 3 classic hits stations in SC, WOMG in Columbia and WIWF in Charleston sound like WLS-FM while WSYN in Myrtle Beach sounds like WGRR.

The age thing…is Houston’s non-Hispanic white population significantly younger than where Audacy has had success with mainstream classic hits (well, in the past) in Dallas and Phoenix? Cox with KOMO in San Antonio?

 

[victorres43]

The age thing…is Houston’s non-Hispanic white population significantly younger than where Audacy has had success with mainstream classic hits (well, in the past) in Dallas and Phoenix? Cox with KOMO in San Antonio?

Looking at select predominantly white areas in the Houston metro...

Median age for The Woodlands: 40.4 years
Median age for Cinco Ranch: 40.6 years
Median age for Tomball: 38 years
Median age for Bellaire: 45.4 years
Median age for West University Place: 42.1 years
Median age for Friendswood: 39.4 years
Median age for Deer Park: 35.5 years

Comparing to select areas in Southern California that are at least plurality white...

Median age for Santa Monica: 40.1 years
Median age for West Hollywood: 38.7 years
Median age for Beverly Hills: 44.8 years
Median age for Burbank: 39.8 years
Median age for Huntington Beach: 42.4 years
Median age for San Clemente: 44.3 years

The median age for SoCal whites is not exactly a night-and-day difference compared to the median age for Houston whites.

 

[101tm]

That’s what I thought. It’s slightly lower, but it’s not significantly lower to a point where if you put something like KRTH on the air, it’s be an instant flop because of a “young” market. I know KRTH has done well with Hispanics, but I would guess it’s doing well with non-Hispanic whites as well.

Ironically, I believe 95.7 The Spot was the or one of the last couple of new stations the former CBS Radio launched.

 

[jt99]

KOLA in the Inland Empire has some similarities to KKHH, given that it too plays a lot of 90s (and even beyond) for a Classic Hits station. It is more to go a different direction than KRTH, however. I cannot say if the white median age is lower in this Latino-majority market.

WLS-FM in Chicago leans towards rock music, but the median age among whites isn't particularly low. WLS-FM's musical direction can be attributed to the rock lean of the WLS of old and possibly the distaste of disco/dance music among some listeners. Also, WJJK in Indianapolis and, to a certain extent, WOMC in Detroit have a rock lean, but Indianapolis and Detroit aren't known to have a particularly youthful population.

As for Atlanta, note that Atlanta lacked a mainstream Top 40 from 1992 to 1999, and Star 94 was successful as a result of its Adult direction. In addition, Q100 feared Star 94's success during the late 2000s and went with an Adult direction, away from its Mainstream approach in 2001-2005. So Atlanta not having a [full-powered] Classic Hits or even an Adult Hits is likely attributed to non-urban listeners, at least those within the 35-54 demographic, not caring for rhythmic-oriented music.

Chicago is an interesting market. It seems like it was more of a rock market during the 1970s and 1980s (which WLS-FM reflects), but went more Rhythmic during the 1990s with the domination of WBBM-FM. I'm not as familiar with Detroit, so I don't know as much about what was going on there during the 1990s, but WKQI was able to succeed with a Top 40 approach that was nearly all Rhythmic during the 2000s, although Active Rock WRIF is still a top performer there. Top 40 did well in Atlanta during the 1980s, but even WSB-FM isn't playing much music from the decade, so it's clear Atlanta is not as receptive to music from that decade for whatever reason (possibly age?). Adult Hits stations are more often than not Rock friendly and are more adventurous with music past the 1980s, so I think an Adult Hits station that plays a lot of the alternative and pop rock that made WSTR a hit in the 1990s could do very well.

That’s what I thought. It’s slightly lower, but it’s not significantly lower to a point where if you put something like KRTH on the air, it’s be an instant flop because of a “young” market. I know KRTH has done well with Hispanics, but I would guess it’s doing well with non-Hispanic whites as well.

Ironically, I believe 95.7 The Spot was the or one of the last couple of new stations the former CBS Radio launched.

The song selection on KKHH from a March 2017 aircheck I found on YouTube seemed very much like that of a typical Classic Hits station, and they did very well out of the gate 25-54. The 18-49 performance lagged a bit, so it is possible Audacy/Entercom added more 1990s music once they acquired it from CBS Radio because they wanted a younger audience.

 

[101tm]

Something funny that I believe I said in the WOGL thread on the Philly board - I (and others) used to, for whatever reason, consider then-CBS Radio’s classic hits stations to be their strongest format as far as sound and the gold standard for the format. Now, when I listen to them I hear next to no personality, extremely tight playlists, and pretty much the same songs across the board on them. A few, like SunnyFM in Orlando and CBS-FM still maintain some personality to a degree.

However, these days iHeart has the better sounding classic hits stations in larger markets. They tend to have more variety on the pop side, they have jingles and more personality, they play 90s but still play more 70s (other than “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Carry On Wayward Son”, and “Dreams” multiple times a day) and the jocks, even if voicetracked are better. KOSF in San Francisco, WRIT in Milwaukee, KLTH in Portland, and KJR/KJEB in Seattle are a few examples. So much more energy.

Chicago is an interesting market. It seems like it was more of a rock market during the 1970s and 1980s (which WLS-FM reflects), but went more Rhythmic during the 1990s with the domination of WBBM-FM. I'm not as familiar with Detroit, so I don't know as much about what was going on there during the 1990s, but WKQI was able to succeed with a Top 40 approach that was nearly all Rhythmic during the 2000s, although Active Rock WRIF is still a top performer there. Top 40 did well in Atlanta during the 1980s, but even WSB-FM isn't playing much music from the decade, so it's clear Atlanta is not as receptive to music from that decade for whatever reason (possibly age?). Adult Hits stations are more often than not Rock friendly and are more adventurous with music past the 1980s, so I think an Adult Hits station that plays a lot of the alternative and pop rock that made WSTR a hit in the 1990s could do very well.

Atlanta is a strange market. Their urban offerings are solid, but the rest is strange. They have a semi-classic rock station with WSRV, a very unique format with WSTR, an AC that almost sounds like Hot AC (WSB-FM which has dropped all 80s except a few per day now) and an all over the place rock station (WNNX). Even DC with its limited signals has way better variety - a mainstream AC, classic hits, true classic rock, alternative. All I can think is Atlanta has a lot of operators and the major ones there only own a few stations each (Cox, Cumulus, and Audacy) and iHeart is weak in Atlanta overall.