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Hot AC
- Thread starter JH_Radio
- Start date
Doesn’t work is a fairly vague term. Generally, there just wasn’t successful competition against 101 for a long time. They were able to adapt and fend off competition from any side.
And you didn’t exactly have heavily promoted competitors.
And you didn’t exactly have heavily promoted competitors.
Yeah, there's no one major reason why Hot AC has never succeeded in Philly.
Sure, 101.1 has always adapted quickly and spent a ton of money to beat back any possible competitor.
Star 104.5 was always morphing between straight ahead Hot AC, or mixing in a Rhythmic edge and couldn't stay consistent.
Max 95.7 I thought had the best chance and was making a little headway, but got blown up for a different fad format.
Mix 95.7 was just a trainwreck and no one knew what to do with that.
Now 97.5 had like 4 flavors of format in the year it was around before it was blown up for the Fanatic.
Mix 106 had a decent life, but iHeart never promoted it that hard, and it was blown up for again, a fad format.
Today's 96.5 made some in-roads against B101, but got morphed into CHR when Entercom acquired B101 and didn't want to compete against themselves.
Plus you have fringe stations like 93.7 WSTW, Y102, and even for a time, 94.5 PST pulling some audience in the format.
Companies will try the format and have some success, but it's just tough in Philly. And at this point, iHeart already tried it and seems set in the formats they have, Entercom won't do anything to pull from cash cow B101.1, Beasley seems solid with all their stations, and Radio One just doesn't do that format unless it's station they bought/acquired that already does the format well
Sure, 101.1 has always adapted quickly and spent a ton of money to beat back any possible competitor.
Star 104.5 was always morphing between straight ahead Hot AC, or mixing in a Rhythmic edge and couldn't stay consistent.
Max 95.7 I thought had the best chance and was making a little headway, but got blown up for a different fad format.
Mix 95.7 was just a trainwreck and no one knew what to do with that.
Now 97.5 had like 4 flavors of format in the year it was around before it was blown up for the Fanatic.
Mix 106 had a decent life, but iHeart never promoted it that hard, and it was blown up for again, a fad format.
Today's 96.5 made some in-roads against B101, but got morphed into CHR when Entercom acquired B101 and didn't want to compete against themselves.
Plus you have fringe stations like 93.7 WSTW, Y102, and even for a time, 94.5 PST pulling some audience in the format.
Companies will try the format and have some success, but it's just tough in Philly. And at this point, iHeart already tried it and seems set in the formats they have, Entercom won't do anything to pull from cash cow B101.1, Beasley seems solid with all their stations, and Radio One just doesn't do that format unless it's station they bought/acquired that already does the format well
Indeed. If you come into something without a long term commitment, plan and resources, you’re going to fail. A number of other formats that have had varying degrees of success in one place fail in another. Lots of reasons that can go beyond some “City X just won’t choose it.”
I think Max had perhaps the best shot to stake out a spot, but hey, jammin’ looked more enticing. So it goes.
I think Max had perhaps the best shot to stake out a spot, but hey, jammin’ looked more enticing. So it goes.
Mainstream AC sounds pretty much like what Hot AC was in past decades so that might be part of why Hot AC doesn't work: The Mainstream AC's are kinda doing it already. And I know there are plenty of songs not shared by Top 40 and Mainstream AC...but are there enough to make a whole station that people would listen to? That audience is probably being served very well by flipping between two stations they already know and love: Q102 and B101.1. As long as those stations are on the air, I can't imagine a Hot AC ever being a long-term success in Philly.
The point spends most of its short life doing 80s then with no budget to back it up abruptly tries morphing before quickly throwing on the towel. They’re just another verse of the same song.
Rockin hits! Rock AC to start I think. Before they became whatever they were at the end.
im Surprised KOST and KBIG in los angles can both be owned by iheart and co-exist at the same time
They are two separate formats, and together with KOST are the famous "wall of women" that insures that they will be on every "adult" and "Women" in all the sales ages. The three are almost always in the top 5 in 25-54.
Why? WMGK and WMMR do quite nicely forming a rock block.
iHeart employs a similar strategy in Dallas with a CHR, Hot AC, and AC. Audacy has AC and Hot AC in Boston. And perhaps the closest, in NYC, is the cluster with Z100, the CHR leaning KTU, and Lite FM.
It seems like Hot AC does well everywhere but philly. San Francisco has both ALICE 97.3 and Star 101.3
And certainly San Francisco and Philadelphia share few similarities. (No "brotherly love" jokes, please.) Not as few as, say, Tulsa or Billings and SF, but few enough to render true comparisons impossible.
Demographics and the overall market landscape, and timing of formats’ boom and bust cycles. “It works everywhere” is way too broad. It’s of course literally untrue, but even figuratively untrue.
WSTW is CHR Pop.
Y 102 in Reading is not Hot A/C they are Variety hits if anything. They once played Gavin DeGraw into AC/DC.
WSTW charts to all Hot AC panels, not CHR. And based on the number of Golds they mix in, they definitely fit the Hot AC mold.
Y102 has always been an anomaly. Like B101 in Philly, Y102 has always morphed to fend off competitors and fit the market. They were CHR sometimes, they were basically adult hits with a few newer tracks mixed in when 107.5 Frank FM existed. Some would argue with how they can lean on the 80s, they should be AC. But based on their playlist rotation, the currents they play etc. they're Hot AC, and chart that way too.
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