rbrucecarter5 said:
KRBE concentrates on top-40 and omits most hip-hop, hot 95.7 plays top 40 and hip-hop with a more limited playlist. So a true top-40 like KRBE might do well in Dallas by omitting most hip-hop.
Let's make it perfectly clear - KRBE is not a true Top 40 - it's an Adult leaning CHR, as are most Cumulus-owned CHRs. KRBE thankfully hasn't gotten as Adult sounding as sister station Q-100 in Atlanta, but still. KRBE is late on records (especially Rhythmic hits) and leans on a lot of Recurrents. In fact, Cumulus CHRs are known throughout the industry to be very vanilla. This is 2009 and a CHR shouldnt be afraid to touch Hip Hop and Rhythmic hits yet that's exactly the mentality of most Cumulus CHRs thanks to Jan Jaffries. Females 18-34 who listen to CHR radio love the Rhythmic stuff, including Hip Hop. Hot 95.7 is much more of a true Top 40, targetting 18-34 year olds.
If KLIF were still a CHR today it would definitely play the big Hip Hop hits. Want proof? WAPE in Jacksonville and KDWB Minneapolis have both been around for over 40 years doing CHR. Neither of them have a problem playing Rhythmic titles.
Let's take a look at the hottest records in America:
http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/hot-100
Now let's take a look at the hottest records on CHR/Pop radio:
http://charts.bdsradio.com/bdsradiocharts/charts.aspx?formatid=1
Hot 95.7 Houston clearly plays more of the big titles, and is more relevant to the format.
As for Dallas, KHKS 106.1 Kiss FM is one of the best sounding CHR/Pop stations in the country. Great jocks, great music mix, etc. It will be VERY hard for Cumulus to come in and try to go up against them, especially since Cumulus CHR/Pop stations are never customized for their markets, and the music mix leaves a lot to be desired. No, the only chance Cumulus has here is to actually lean Rhythmic by either launching a true Rhythmic CHR, or with a Rhythmic leaning CHR/Pop station. Hot 92 Harrisburg and 95.7 The Vibe Kansas City are both owned by Cumulus and both are Rhythmic leaning CHR/Pop outlets. They're reminiscent of what 106.1 Kiss FM sounded like in the 90s, and as you may recall KHKS was very successful back then.
Also, a talk intensive CHR morning show going up against Kidd Kraddick on his home turf won't likely yield much success, unless a lot of resources and a big budget are put in place. So a music intensive Rhythmic leaning CHR/Pop outlet ala 97.1 Amp Radio Los Angeles should be the way to go, if this new station really wishes to lure 18-34 year olds.
