I was recently in Fresno California which very much reminds me of a big Yakima. I was listening to B95 , a rhythm station that is #1 in the market. It actually shocked me how different their music is compared to Hot 99.7 in Yakima where I live. My impression is 5 or 10 years ago they shared 90% of the same music and now it has to be 40% or even 33%.
The difference is B95 is a lot more hip hop and Hot is a lot more pop. Hot plays a ton of boy band sounding music that B95 doesn't play at all. B95 is playing Travis Scott "Meltdown" and "I Know" in heavy rotations while I haven't heard them at all on Hot (although I'm not an extremely heavy listener, it's one of the stations I listen to in the car). This is a real change as Hot 99.7 played all the previous Travis Scott hits and played them a lot. Other songs B95 plays a lot that I haven't heard on Hot are Drake/J Cole "First Person Shooter" and Cardi Bs Bongo song. A hip hop song (I guess it's hip hop) that Hot 99.7 plays that B95 doesn't is Post Malone's" Chemical" they probably figure he's yesterday's news.
Another change I noticed is Hot 99.7 now plays a lot more gold/throwbacks. Lots of popish stuff from a decade ago like Black Eyed Peas. B95 plays less gold and when they do once against its more likely to be hip hop, for example Too Short "Shake That Monkey" is ome of their most played throwbacks.
I wonder if Stephens Media group is forcing Hot to be more conservative with their music or if this is just want they think Yakima wants? Or perhaps nothing has changed at all? That's entirely possible, they have always played plenty of rhythmic leaning pop...the difference I notice is less hip hop.
For my personal tastes (which don't really matter as I'm old white guy that neither of these stations are targeting) I prefer the hip hop heavy mix on B95. If I want to hear pop I would rather listen to KFFM, which plays a great mix of pop, than a watered down rhythmic. Don't get me wrong though I still appreciate a market as small as Yakima has any kind of rhythmic station at all. Hot will most definitely stay as one of my preset's.
The difference is B95 is a lot more hip hop and Hot is a lot more pop. Hot plays a ton of boy band sounding music that B95 doesn't play at all. B95 is playing Travis Scott "Meltdown" and "I Know" in heavy rotations while I haven't heard them at all on Hot (although I'm not an extremely heavy listener, it's one of the stations I listen to in the car). This is a real change as Hot 99.7 played all the previous Travis Scott hits and played them a lot. Other songs B95 plays a lot that I haven't heard on Hot are Drake/J Cole "First Person Shooter" and Cardi Bs Bongo song. A hip hop song (I guess it's hip hop) that Hot 99.7 plays that B95 doesn't is Post Malone's" Chemical" they probably figure he's yesterday's news.
Another change I noticed is Hot 99.7 now plays a lot more gold/throwbacks. Lots of popish stuff from a decade ago like Black Eyed Peas. B95 plays less gold and when they do once against its more likely to be hip hop, for example Too Short "Shake That Monkey" is ome of their most played throwbacks.
I wonder if Stephens Media group is forcing Hot to be more conservative with their music or if this is just want they think Yakima wants? Or perhaps nothing has changed at all? That's entirely possible, they have always played plenty of rhythmic leaning pop...the difference I notice is less hip hop.
For my personal tastes (which don't really matter as I'm old white guy that neither of these stations are targeting) I prefer the hip hop heavy mix on B95. If I want to hear pop I would rather listen to KFFM, which plays a great mix of pop, than a watered down rhythmic. Don't get me wrong though I still appreciate a market as small as Yakima has any kind of rhythmic station at all. Hot will most definitely stay as one of my preset's.