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Hot ACs Evolving To CHRs

C

CHRles

So we all know stations like Q-102 Cincy, Mix 106.5 Baltimore, and Q-98 Fayetteville have been straddling the lines between Hot AC and CHR/Pop for years.

Recently, CBS-owned Star 100.7 has been added to the list. They've just added Wiz Khalifa's "Roll Up" to rotation.
In fact, a number of CBS Radio Hot ACs are gearing up for a possible move to the CHR/Pop panel. Check out the playlists of Mix 96.5 Houston, Q-104 Cleveland, and especially Y-98 St. Louis.

Mix 96.5 was one of the stations that really catapulted the Hot AC format in the early 90s, and for the longest time its distinctive sound was Pop/Rock or Modern AC music. Yet just outside its Top 10 are songs like "S&M" by Rhianna, and Britney's "Till The World Ends". The Black Eyed Peas have just been added with 27 spins for "Just Can't Get Enough". Similar moves have been spotted at Hartford's 96 TIC.

Okay, you're saying, big deal - a lot of Hot ACs are playing those songs. Then how about the recent changes at Y-98, which flirted with Rhythmic Pop last year, and is now starting to do it again.
The BEP's "Just Can't Get Enough" just increased from 5 to 42 spins on Y-98, Jessie J from no spins to 42 as well. Ke$ha's "Blow debuts with 32 spins, Usher's "More" more than doubles its spins from 16 to 34. Also added are Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory", Jennifer Lopez "On The Floor", "S&M" by Rhianna, and even Martin Solveig's "Hello" with 18 spins.

But it's not just CBS owned stations that are changing. Kelly 95.3 Bakersfield is playing Nicky Minaj's "Moment 4 Life", New Boyz "Back Seat", and even Dr. Dre's "I Need A Doctor". They're also playing Mike Posner's "Bow Chicka Wow", and Jeremih's "Down On Me".

Also, WCDA Your 106.3 Lexington is rumored to be going Top 40. They just added a number of Rhythmic/Pop hits recently.

WPST Trenton is also moving back from Hot AC to its heritage format, CHR.
 
Star 100.7 has pretty much been a CHR in my opinion for quite a while.

However, CBS seems to be the king of not reporting to the panel they should....the Fresh stations, except for KEZK, are technically Hot AC (they want to report them as AC), Mix 106.5/Star100.7 have been CHR sounding for a long time and are still reported as Hot AC, etc. Same for Q102 and they aren't CBS. I don't expect them to ever be moved to a different panel, but they definitely should be. Seems like CBS is wanting to get away from the Hot AC format for some reason.

Y98 is probably going in a CHR direction because since sister KEZK 102.5 rebranded as Fresh, they are a little more Hot AC sounding so there was probably a lot of overlap. I'd consider them CHR.
 
CHRles said:
Mix 96.5 was one of the stations that really catapulted the Hot AC format in the early 90s, and for the longest time its distinctive sound was Pop/Rock or Modern AC music. Yet just outside its Top 10 are songs like "S&M" by Rhianna, and Britney's "Till The World Ends". The Black Eyed Peas have just been added with 27 spins for "Just Can't Get Enough".
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I'm not so sure about KHMX going Top 40, unless sister station KKHH goes Rhythmic. That I'd like to see.
 
CHRles said:
Kelly 95.3 Bakersfield is playing Nicky Minaj's "Moment 4 Life", New Boyz "Back Seat", and even Dr. Dre's "I Need A Doctor". They're also playing Mike Posner's "Bow Chicka Wow", and Jeremih's "Down On Me".
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They've gotta be dayparting, cause they're also playing Marc Broussard, Fitz & The Tantrums, and Matt Hires

As far as all the CBS stations, I'm definitely not surprised - Mix/Baltimore is doing really well, so I'm sure they're looking at other stations to turn in that direction - the impression I get though is that as long as they keep playing Lifehouse, Parachute, Andy Grammer, etc., they're gonna stay on the HAC panel (no matter how many CHR tracks they add)
 
atlantaboy said:
As far as all the CBS stations, I'm definitely not surprised - Mix/Baltimore is doing really well, so I'm sure they're looking at other stations to turn in that direction - the impression I get though is that as long as they keep playing Lifehouse, Parachute, Andy Grammer, etc., they're gonna stay on the HAC panel (no matter how many CHR tracks they add)
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Agree. CBS is never going to change what these stations report as on their own.

WOMX/Orlando (CBS) is still Hot AC, but they're fairly successful. They're playing some rhythmic stuff also.
 
There's a big difference between playing some Rhythmic, and playing a good chunk of current Rhythmic/Pop hits. A lot of Hot ACs have in their Top 20s Rhythmic/Pop records that have been Recurrents at CHR/Pop for ages now.
The Hot ACs that jump on Rhythmic/Pop early, are playing a good amount of them, or are starting to play some Hip Hop hits that are big on CHR/Pop but not on Hot AC are the ones this thread is dedicated to.
As for Hot 95.7 and Mix 96.5 Houston, CBS Radio might be trying to sqeeze rival 104 KRBE from both ends of the Top 40 spectrum. This is somewhat similar to what we're seeing in Detroit where Channel 95-5 and 106.7 The Beat are both Clear Channel properties, and both are in competition with 98.7 Amp Radio.
 
In many markets, where owners have more than one station/format in the market, it makes sense to "straddle" formats to try to capture as many listeners as possible.

Case in point, St. Louis, where KEZK is now Fresh and leans a little more Hot AC than AC. Y98 has to compensate by moving a little more rhythmic than a "traditional" Hot AC.

PPM is showing that some of the old beliefs about demographics were a little skewed, though, and KEZK and Y98 can both better capitalize at holding on to women 25 to 54 by essentially covering 3 formats (AC, Hot AC and CHR) with 2 stations. They'll essentially build a wall against competition from taking these listeners, as their competition like KSLZ, skews much more rhythmic on the CHR side and appeals to a younger audience.

It only becomes a problem when the station is executed poorly and the station comes across as unfocused. In regards to this topic, though, many of the rhythmic hits receiving airplay at Hot AC are "light rhythmic" if you will and appeal to women 25 to 54. Even Wiz Khalifa "Roll Up" isn't a gangsta rap song, and would fit onto most Hot ACs. Times, they have definitely changed....
 
atlantaboy said:
justpassingthough said:
Even Wiz Khalifa "Roll Up" isn't a gangsta rap song, and would fit onto most Hot ACs. Times, they have definitely changed....
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Ehhh...I don't think so lol
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Agreed.

Also, if these stations are playing the rap versions of songs, that also makes them CHR to me. Most Hot AC's omit the raps.
 
Y98/St. Louis is definitely Hot AC. They always play the no-rap edits and rarely include anything outside of the Hot AC chart. Z107 has been more "lite" for a year now, playing Coldplay and Train, ignoring more rhythmic tracks. Z is horrible anyway as they only have one local daypart. Rhythmic Hot 104 is more of a straight Urban. I keep wishing we'd get a decent CHR here. Meanwhile, WXAJ/Springfield is my first choice.
 
WHAT?!? You'll listen to WXAJ over KSLZ? Dude, XAJ is a disaster of a radio station.

In regard to the comment about Star 100.7 playing Roll Up, don't forget that Wiz is from Pittsburgh. That factor, along with the previously pointed out part about Roll Up being pretty soft as a rap song, makes it a logical addition to the WBZZ playlist.
 
Skim said:
Z107 has been more "lite" for a year now, playing Coldplay and Train, ignoring more rhythmic tracks. Z is horrible anyway as they only have one local daypart.
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Z-107.7 is the STL's highest cuming station with 800,000, is consistently one of the top rated stations in town, and is the most successful CHR in St. Louis since at least the mid 80s.
From 1 PM to 11 PM they're live and local to the best of my knowledge. MJ's syndicated morning show from 93.3 FLZ has been airing on Z pretty much from day one of the station's launch, and has been very successful.
With regards to the music mix, their Top 10 is pretty much in sync with the Top 10 on the national CHR/Pop charts. They're also early on some records. Martin Solveig is just outside the Top 10, so is Katy Perry's "Last Night", Jason Derulo is nearly Top 20 with "Don't Wanna Go Home"
The Coldplay and Train recurrents they're playing are legitimate hits, are probably there for balance, and test well with the station's female target audience.
 
CHRles, we've been over this one. The only local daypart is Curt Copeland afternoons. Evenings are V/T from out of market. Z barely played Coldplay and Train until last year; Clocks received only marginal airplay in 2003. Lack of competition explains their ratings. Frankly, most of Clear Channel's stations outside of the largest markets are so heavily tracked/syndicated as to be absurd, and Cumulus is going that way too.
 
Skim said:
CHRles, we've been over this one. The only local daypart is Curt Copeland afternoons. Evenings are V/T from out of market. Z barely played Coldplay and Train until last year; Clocks received only marginal airplay in 2003. Lack of competition explains their ratings. Frankly, most of Clear Channel's stations outside of the largest markets are so heavily tracked/syndicated as to be absurd, and Cumulus is going that way too.
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A lot of Clear Channel CHR's outside of larger markets tend to syndicate morning shows from other markets. A lot of times they're tricky- they aren't always big morning shows like Elvis Duran - sometimes they're shows like MJ from Tampa, Bobby Bones from Austin, Ace & TJ from Charlotte, etc. They may track afternoons and have live mid-days and nights (when talent is likely the cheapest). That's just what I've gathered.

Cumulus pipes Billy Bush in from KBIG to all of their CHR's at night. They tend to voicetrack mid-days a lot and have syndicated mornings (even in larger markets).
 
I've noticed a trend of Clear Channel with only local afternoons, regardless of format. Most of its St. Louis stations are this way. Cumulus is now syndicating many of its CHR middays with Rick Dees.
 
Harrisburg's WHKF (CC Kiss station) is syndicated with the morning show from WNCI (never understood that move, why not Elvis Duran?). They are live and local in the afternoon, nights and weekends (even the overnight weekend shift!). Its competitor, WWKL (Cumulus), is the exact opposite. They are live and local in the mornings and middays, but are an automated jukebox at night and during the weekend.
 
I think a lot of times they don't want national morning shows like Elvis Duran because something like the NCI morning show may feel more local. I have no idea.
 
Dave & Jimmy from WNCI were rolled out before Elvis went into syndication. I believe Elvis started with Miami and Philadelphia. D&J added Harrisburg, Dayton, Louisville, Lexington, Youngstown and Albany. They've since lost 3 of those markets. I'm sure it's up to the stations' individual PD's. Michael McCoy was also at WNCI at the time, and had previously spent time at WHKF.
 
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