Dance-friendly Rhythmic CHR from the 90's

[DJ_Perry]

The post about KHFI & B93 playing the dancier alternative reminds me of a similar approach that Y95 in Phoenix tried in late 1992/early 1993. They were Hot AC-leaning during the day, but nights seemed to consist mostly of hip-hop and songs from artists like Soup Dragons, Sunscreem, Stereo MCs, Erasure, Smart E's, Utah Saints, Cause n Effect, Machine in Motion, etc.

God I loved Y95 during this period. They ran Hot Mix on the weekends which was Markus Schulz at the time, and the show seemed custom, as it was very alternative and rhythmic at the same time. After Midnight it was all house / techno (got quite a few recordings too)!

 

[nightfly61]

88-90 WRQN, Bowling Green/Toledo was pretty hot & knew how to spice up the weekend. Some tracks they'd Mickey Mouse too much. I remember driving into B.G hearing E.C's "Hungry Eyes" & that chopped down edit of Aerosmith's "Angel" both almost sounding like the chipmunks they upped it so much...over the weekend they'd keep it pretty hot...
The best station of the early '90's was WHYT, Detroit, "96.3 Jamz" (formerly "Power 96")...especially "Fogel in the afternoon", Lisa Lisa(Ghetto Booty)...the Party Princesses' Hip Hop Explosion evenings & Bo the Jammer(Bo Jackson's) "Slammin' Jam of the night...

They were playing Tag Team's "Whoomp! There it is" & "U Go Girl" before anyone else in Detroit...
Sagat-Funk Dat
Sally Got a One Track Mind-Diamond D
If I Had No Loot/Feels Good/Anniversary-Tony Toni Tone
The Perculator
Doo Doo Brown
Hip Hop Hooray-NBN
Electric Relaxation-A Tribe Called Quest
Born to Breed-Monie Love
U.N.I.T.Y & Just Another Day-Queen Latifah
Dazey Dunk-Deuce
Donkey Butt-12 Gauge
Divine Thing-Soup Dragons
Rhythm is a Dancer/The Power-Snap
The Rebirth of Slick-Digable Planets
You Better Work-Rupaul
Love Comre Down-Evelyn King
Rapper's Delight-SH Gang
Detroit Hustle-Stevie Wonder
Sending All My Love-Linear
Yolanda-Essential
Hustlin' Hoochie-Smiley
...and in the daytime...Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, The Heights, etc. Nicely dayparted station. It took a nosedive when they went Alternative to compete w/ 89X out of Windsor. I believe 96.3FM is now your average old stale, watered down HotAC playing the same old Morrissette, Crow, Collective Soul & Creed. zzzzzzzzzzz

 

[justthenumbers]

God I loved Y95 during this period. They ran Hot Mix on the weekends which was Markus Schulz at the time, and the show seemed custom, as it was very alternative and rhythmic at the same time. After Midnight it was all house / techno (got quite a few recordings too)!

If you can post those recordings online, I'd love to hear 'em! Or, if you're interested, let's discuss an aircheck trade...e-mail me at [email protected]

I remember the evening jock -- who called himself "Kozman" (not sure if that was the right spelling) -- would refer to his show as "The Underground". Very cool stuff!

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I remember the 96.3 in Detroit,, it was a good Dance friendly Rhythmic, both as Power 96 and Y-96 and during that time 97.9 WJAB,, I think the calls where was also playing dance-house in rotation,,, KQKI was still an AC and I dont recall what DRQ was doing at the time,, they had the DRQ calls, but they werent Dance or CHR yet? I didnt make many trips to Detroit, so My memories are moderate at best.

 

[2Son]

The post about KHFI & B93 playing the dancier alternative reminds me of a similar approach that Y95 in Phoenix tried in late 1992/early 1993. They were Hot AC-leaning during the day, but nights seemed to consist mostly of hip-hop and songs from artists like Soup Dragons, Sunscreem, Stereo MCs, Erasure, Smart E's, Utah Saints, Cause n Effect, Machine in Motion, etc.

It didn't last long...Y95 went back to being pretty much a straight ahead (but very unfocused) Mainstream CHR in March 1993, before throwing in the towel for good on 9/2/93.

Wasn't the B93 in the Odessa-Midland, TX market a dance-friendly Rhythmic CHR in the late 90's/early 2000's? I remember listening to their Webstream and really liking the station, but I don't remember very many details beyond that.

I like to think of KHFI (at that time) as the little jewel that didn't get enough recognition. Coming from Chicago, I used to think of B96 as the best CHR I had heard, but after listening to KHFI at that time, when I would visit Chicago, I was actually slightly bored of B96. B93 in Austin was pretty great as well. I wish I had some airchecks from KNRJ when it was Energy 96.5 (at that time) in Houston. Houston had some great stations at that time as well (93Q, Energy, Power 104). It is very sad that KHFI and many stations fell backwards in time or regressed as a result of CC and other buyouts.

 

[CHRles]

When was WHYT 96.3 in Detroit known as Y96?
I know they were billing themselves as Power 96 in the 80s whereas WKQI was known as Z-95.5. They were adult friendly, and generally held out on playing Hip Hop titles. Things changed in the late 80s when 99.5 became known as The Fox, first leaning on Rock and Hard Rock hits (similar to WIOG up in Saginaw). Power 96 in turn stopped leaning Rhythmic, and became a more broad-based CHR (that still played both Rap, as well as Hard rock hits in all dayparts), and 95.5 went more adult then ever as Q-95.5.
93.1 DRQ was Detroit's legendary Disco station, and was around until the mid 80s (look for a bus billboard in the movie Beverly Hills Cop). It came back shortly after the success of 103.5 KTU in New York. Q-95.5 was moving back towards CHR territory at the time, but decided to move back towards Adult CHR in light of DRQ. By the late 90s both Q-95.5 and DRQ became full blown CHR/Pop stations. It's a shame DRQ ditched CHR as it sounded great, and also kept 95.5 (now known as Channel 95-5) from leaning too Rhythmic.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Yeah DRQ, was only Dance until maybe 98-99 and before they went mainstream they went Rhythmic hip Hop, with just a few Dance titles, like Whitney Houston-Its not right, but its okay.. Yeah by like 2000 both stations, Q95.5 and DRQ were both full blown CHRs, and 96.3 at the time was Planet 96.3 with an Adult friendly Alternative format, and I think 105.1 The Edge had already dumped Alternative, leaving 89-x as the only alternative in the metro... 96.3 is still kinda a Modern AC but I forgot what they are called now. I think your right about power 96,,, I was thinking Y-96 because of the calls, but I know they had the CHANNEL X format for awhile,,, lots of Modern ROCK, and Rap and Dance without the in between POP Stuff,, it was a one of a kind type of station that I doubt many people remember,, I know KUBE in Seattle was called Channel X for awhile too, not sure who else tryed this format.

 

[nightfly61]

I remember the 96.3 in Detroit,, it was a good Dance friendly Rhythmic, both as Power 96 and Y-96 and during that time 97.9 WJAB,, I think the calls where was also playing dance-house in rotation,,, KQKI was still an AC and I dont recall what DRQ was doing at the time,, they had the DRQ calls, but they werent Dance or CHR yet? I didnt make many trips to Detroit, so My memories are moderate at best.

That was WJLB. I got a kick out of 96.3's "Stop the violence" campaign with the "Wayne County Gun Bounty" where if you took your gun in they'd give you cash for it...then after the "Stop the Violence" promo ended it would segue into "Slam" by Onyx with the lyrics "I'll just hit you in the face"...or Dre Day where he speaks of "If you wanna step up & get your cranium cracked, step on up" ...back then 102.7 out of Dearborn was Z-Rock.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Anybody know what happened to Max-a-million and Fun Factory? Anybody know if any stations in other states ever played "it's all about me" by Dance Hall Divas and "no regular thing" by Ovis?

 

[justthenumbers]

Anybody know if any stations in other states ever played "it's all about me" by Dance Hall Divas and "no regular thing" by Ovis?

When you say "any stations in other states", I assume you mean that Power 92 played these? (And I know for sure that they did...just clarifying what you're asking!)

At any rate, what a flashback...especially the Ovis song! I thought I was the only person around who remembered these songs!

 

[Wildstyle K]

My favorite Y95 song - "she ain't worth it" Glenn Medieros and later on in life I began to realize how much I never forgot "I don't want to fall in love" by Jane Child. I remember hearing "dangerous" by the Jets from somewhere and "girls night out" was a good song I liked then forgot about for a long time until a few years ago it popped back into my mind randomly. It took a while to find out who sang it, but someone during the Sunday Old School show on Power 92 in 2003 knew it.

There was one song I never figured out from Star*94 in Atlanta, and the lyrics were "It's the right time to fall in love, It's the right time to fall in loooove" and another part was "Jammin' slammin to the pumped up funk". It was only played during some live club broadcast that they had going for a short while. This was around or shortly after the Technotronic days, when UB40, Fine Young Cannibles, Annie Lennox and Martin page made hits.

I also remember Star*94 being very friendly towards "right beside you" by Sophie B Hawkins, while Power got it late and really only played it after 12 or 1am. I never got why. Candlebox, Yaz, and Gyn Blossoms were big on Power, while only one of those made it into Atlanta's Star*94. I requested "hey jealousy" repeatedly and never would they play it in Atlanta. Finally about two years later they added it on Star*94 when I was already about to transition towards the Lina Santiago sound of music. Of course in Atlanta, the only place I could get that sound was on Rick Dees, which I listened to religiously just for the chance of hearing certain dance songs they would never play regularly. The Jocelyn Enriquez and late 90's freestyle sound finally made it to Atlanta around 2001... because new stations with live club broadcasts emerged. Both stations have already changed since then.

 

[2Son]

One of the best Rhythmic CHRs of the 1990's was KKFR "Power 92" in Phoenix. They played a very balanced mix of dance, R&B, and rhythmic pop, including some gold selections.

I have uploaded one of my Power 92 airchecks to Youtube:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8fl3GqrhHc
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IkAHKhP2Ic
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEc-j2Ji2p4
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-OrqQSc8n0
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNTItKCp79A
Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw6a5qqVfRE
Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLOd96HT1Y
Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2SKGdAGKQI
Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhmriB_fl5I

This was recorded over Thanksgiving weekend 1995 (listening to the phone conversation about preparing for Thanksgiving dinner in Part 4, it sounds like I recorded it late night Wednesday 11-22-95/early morning Thursday 11-23-95). The on-air personality is Roxanne Steele, who left Power 92 around 1997 (I think) for Chicago's B96 -- she was there until just recently, I believe. I love her voice!

I loved everything about Power 92 at this time - from the music to the personalities to the ReelWorld jingles to the music beds to the voice of the station. Even the commercials tended to be dance-friendly (listen to the stopset in Part 4 to hear what I mean!)

At the start of the 90's, Power 92 had a sound similar to Power 106 LA/Hot 97 NY. But, shortly after KOY-FM (Y95) dropped out of the Mainstream CHR format (9/2/93), Power began phasing in non-rhythmic songs, such as: Bryan Adams "Please Forgive Me", Meatloaf "Anything for Love" (sorry if that's not the correct title), and Duran Duran "Come Undone". I think they were even playing Beavis & Butthead "Come to Butthead"

Then, on 12/16/93, they flipped to Mainstream CHR with a rock lean. Their numbers dropped quickly. They began phasing in more dance and R&B by the Fall of 1994, and by the Fall of 1995, all of the non-rhythmic product had been phased out, resulting in what you hear on the aircheck. (And if I'm not mistaken, Power had their highest-ever 12+ numbers with this approach - something like a 7 share!)

There was very little hip-hop on the station at this time, which made it different from several other Rhythmics at the time. In retrospect, if Power 92 had played more hip-hop in the mid-90's, it might have discouraged competitor "The New 103.9, Arizona's Party Station" (KBZR/KPTY) from signing on in October 1996 with a hip-hop friendly format. Or, at the very least, KBZR/KPTY may not have been as much of a thorn in Power 92's side if Power had been more hip-hop friendly.

The New 103.9 was enough of a pest to force KKFR to go all hip-hop/R&B in June 1997, making Power 92 once again sound similar to Power 106 & Hot 97.

Another song that reminds me of Power 92 during this time was "Girl In My Eyes" by Giovanni.

 

[justthenumbers]

]Another song that reminds me of Power 92 during this time was "Girl In My Eyes" by Giovanni.

Wow! I almost forgot about that song. Had not heard it in years until I found it on Youtube a minute ago!

 

[nightfly61]

2 To Make it Right-Seduction
N2Deep-Back To The Hotel
Rumpshaker-Wrecks & Effect
Piece of My Heart-Tara Kemp
Wishing On a Star-Cover Girls
Can't Stop-After 7
Down With The King-Run D.M.C
Connected-Stereo M.C's
Rollin'-Young M.C
Everything's Gonna Be Alright-Father M.C
Gold Diggin' Girls-M.C Nasty & D.J Freaky Fred
My Cadillac-M.C Nasty & D.J Freaky Fred
Oochie Coochie(la la la)-M.C Brains
Pop Goes The Weasel-M.C Serch
Girl I've Been Hurt-Snow
Da Dip-Freak Nasty Ho
My Baby Daddy- B Rock & The Biz
Somethin' to Ride To-Conscious Daughters
Old Times Sake-Sweet Sable
Back & Forth-Aaliyah
Back in The Day-Ahmaad
You Know How We Do It-Ice Cube
Check Yourself-Ice Cube
It Was A Good Day-Ice Cube
Slam-Onyx
Jump Around-House Of Pain
I wanna Be With You-Fun Factory
Close To You-Fun Factory
Shy Guy-Diana King
Electric Relaxation-A Tribe Called Quest
Get It Together-A Tribe Called Quest
Award Tour-A Tribe Called Quest
Intergalactic-Beastie Boys
Where It's At-Beck
Don't Walk Away-Jade
Every Day of the Week-SWV
Right Here-SWV
Work-Rupaul
Dre Day
What's My Name
Gin & Juice-Dre & Snoop
Happy Days-Silk
Real Love-Mary J Blige
What's The 411-Mary J. Blige
Sweet Thing-Mary J. Blige
I Got A Man-Positive K.
Sex Me
Your Body's Callin
Bump & Grind-R. Kelly
Jerk Out-The Time
Crazy-The Boys
Dial My Heart-The Boys
Hit Me Off-New Edition
Feels Good
If I Had No Loot-Toni! Tony!Tone!
Born To Breed-Monie Love
Daisey Duks-Deuce
Donkey Butt-12 Gauge
Whoomp! There it is-Tag Team
Hoot there it is-95 South
Can We Rock(What's Up Doc) Shaq & Fuschnickens
Shamrocks & Shenanigans-House Of Pain
The Rebirth Of Slick-Digable Planets
U.N.I.T.Y/Just Another Day-Queen Latifah
Ditty-Paperboy
MotownPhilly-Boyz 2 Men
1,2,3,4/Fantastic Voyage-Coolio
Knockin Boots-Candyman
Knockin Da Boots-H-Town
Freak Me-Silk
Let Me Clear My Throat-D.J Kool
Lucas with the Lid Off-Lucas
Around The Way Girl
Mama Said Knock You Out
Doin' It
Loungin'-L.L Cool J
I'm So Into You-
Downtown-SWV
...just a few heard in heavy rotation on Detroit's 96 point 3 Jamz!!!

 

[Wildstyle K]

It was nice listening to the Power 92 flashbacks of '95, but I'd really like to hear what was going on in '96. That was one of the best times. I noticed one of my past favorites "crimson & clover" by Spanish Fly never played, and I don't think I heard Le Click on the YouTube flashback either. Definitely no Yaki-Da action going on either.

1995-1997 were some of the best years for not only Power 92, but also 99.1 KGGI with Dj Lynwood, 102.7 KIIS F.M. Club KIIS, B100.3 Los Angeles, Power 106 La's Party Station and their Power Workout and holiday mixes along with the Sunday night old school and Rock N Hip Hop, 103.1 Groove Radio (where I first heard Mon A Q and also got introduced to Devone's "devotion" and certain remixes of "where do you go". Jammin Z90 was good as well but I could hardly pick it up where I was. One time when I came to Cali, they were all mostly urban sounding, but you could tell they did flirt with their rhythmic side whenever they did their old school noon mix by some of the things they played. Then I go back to Cali later and they are throwing in all kinds of stuff by Angelina, Jocelyn Enriquez, Pure Harmony, La Rissa, Sonique...etc for a Labor Day Mix weekend that took place in 2000... or was it Memorial Day Weekend? Those were all great stations, but it has all changed since then. I remember how I used to look forward to going to L.A. whenever my mom went, and my excitement was based purely on the radio stations. I discovered "I fell in love" by Rockell and "what goes around comes around" by Jean in Cali. I also discovered the remixes of "sweet dreams" by Safe-t Groove on 99.1 KGGI and "funky melody" by Stevie B on one of the Spanish stations that were also mixing while everyone else was mixing for the Christmas holidays all through December 2006. Those were the days!!! "The summer is magic" by Playahitti was another one I loved from that spanish station as well. If I could go back to those days right now, I would. I miss those days. Power 92 was just a brief preview of all that was going on in
California back in those days. It wasn't until 103.9 came around and spiced things up a bit with some of their mixes, but even then it never beat all those stations that jumped into action party style every time a big Holiday came around. Today? Good luck finding anything to get you hyped up for your Holiday. Maybe with this evolution in music, new generations popping up, and the hope for things to change, someday all this excitement may return. Hopefully Power 106 is an innovator and a new trend is just about to begin. Most things that happen in life always have to start somewhere first. This is how all these phases in music have come to pass in the first place. 2018, what will things sound like? What would the top hits be? Today's music would be in the old school at noon, ...if this tradition of doing old school at noon and Sunday's still holds.... but who will determine when noon is if radio is spread across the timezones or is all internet?

 

[CHRles]

KDM, what the hell are you talking about? Pheonix had, until very recently, a true Dance station. It wasnt a decade ago, it was last month, LOL.

 

[justthenumbers]

It was nice listening to the Power 92 flashbacks of '95, but I'd really like to hear what was going on in '96. That was one of the best times. I noticed one of my past favorites "crimson & clover" by Spanish Fly never played, and I don't think I heard Le Click on the YouTube flashback either. Definitely no Yaki-Da action going on either.

As far as I can remember, Power 92 never played "Crimson & Clover", but they did feature SF Spanish Fly's "I Can See" on mixshows in 1997.

With Le Click, they never played "Call Me", but "Tonight is the Night" was on the playlist (more in 1995 rather than 1996/1997).

Yaki-da "I Saw You Dancing" was another one from 1995...don't think they played it as a recurrent after that.

I'll go through my collection and see if I have any unscoped (uninterrupted) Power 92 airchecks from 1996. (I have plenty of Power 92 "mixtapes" for sure!)

 

[Wildstyle K]

I wasn't here for the "I can see" being played on their regular playlist, but I remember "crimson& clover" from 1995 or before getting quite a bit of play. As far as "I can see", I heard that one on 103.9 during mixshows. I also requested "In a dream" by Jossette after I got home from school that they eventually put it in the regular playlist for a very brief amount of time - maybe at the most two weeks. It was always played around 3pm, right when I got home from school. There was this other song I never figured out who it was by that aid "it comes to the two and three and one" repetitively that I hear first in California mixshows before I heard 103.9 use it.

I wonder if "summertime summertime" by Corina and "I can't get you out of my mind" was ever played on Power? They changed to hip hop right before I returned to Phoenix for good - within the same month I believe.

 

[justthenumbers]

I wonder if "summertime summertime" by Corina and "I can't get you out of my mind" was ever played on Power? They changed to hip hop right before I returned to Phoenix for good - within the same month I believe.

In the mid 90's, I recall hearing "Summertime Summertime" (Nocera) on Power only during their "Top 500" type countdowns on Memorial/Labor Day weekend. It might have been played on the station when the song was new (what year was that, anyway?), or perhaps in the early 90's on old school specialty programs or mix shows.

Don't think "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" (Li'l Suzy) was ever on Power, but it was definitely on The New 103.9. In July '97, I remember attending a free concert (somewhere on the West-siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide) put on by 103.9 that featured Li'l Suzy (along with, I think, Nastyboy Klick and 98 Degrees -- can't remember who else was there.)

 

[Wildstyle K]

Actually I'd like to hear the sound audio of Power from late 96 into 97. Amy Tori and I were listening to the other ones back on Wednesday, early in the morning..

Summertime summertime by Corina (both spanish and english versions) was the best song Lil Jon has ever been involved with, at least in my opinion.. Mostly the one without the electro sound. Freak a lil Sumpt'n was good too. It had a lot of good melody in it instead of the typical dry beats and bass that most Atlanta booty bass had. Another Lil Jon remix that was good was "Play at your own risk" that probably could have been on SoSo Def Bass Allstars 4, if J.D. and whoever else was involved with that project got through with it. Was "a little bit of ecstasy" ever played on Power at any point? I remember "do you miss me" being played once during the Power Party, but I never really learned about Jocelyn until I went to California and discovered what she was really all about. They only played the first two verses of "do you miss me" during the Power Party mix then cut to commercials.

If 103.9 were still around today, I wonder if they'd still be dance friendly, or would they sound like 101.5 JamZ? And I really have to wonder if all these stations we have today will all survive as they are now? Are there enough listeners for each (rhythmic format) to keep, even if they are spread out thin?

And I also wonder, during a hurricane, do radio stations keep playing music after people evacuate? And what do they do after the storm, for instance, Louisiana? Do they go back to playing commercials along with music right after the storm has passed?