KDHT - Hot 107.1 Denver is NOW Denver's Dance Station

[saradio1]

Here's a interesting blog from Sean Ross @ Radio-Info-

http://www.radio-info.com/programmi...-Ross_On_Radio_April_03_2012&utm_medium=email

 

[TonySantiago]

Actually, go on the New York board....good argument going on in there

 

[retrodells]

Denver's Dance Station will fail.
Why?

The station is too hard on techno and club remixes of "unknown" artists/music to mainstream USA listeners.
The station sounds like a continues club mix that gives a person a headache after awhile.
This is almost ALWAYS the downfall of a "dance station" in America.

The only way a dance station in this country is going to be successful will be with a "dance hits" format. period. guaranteed.
This is proven by: Energy 927/5 Chicago (which would still be onair if had not been sold off)
103.5 KTU in NYC
Z103.5 Toronto

Energy 98 went to Pheonix with the Dance Hits format - on a very aweful signal and a market that wasn't app for dance. It also was then sold off.

Mike O and Energy 98 streams online are the most listened to dance hits station in the world because they are just that "dance hits" and people can listen to them
like any other hits/chr station.

I have listened to hours of Hot107 online since it came on - and honestly, if MAX radio plans to make this rimshot station listenable - they have a ways to go. The songs are too long, too techno, too radical clubby, and the presentation is just pretty bad. The British accent voice overs are also going to kill the station.

The problem with "pure" dance radio stations/format in this country is just this:
1) USA population has been fed the rap/rock CHR hits for the past almost 20 years.
2) USA population relates "pure dance" as a listening track to dance to when you go out
3) USA population relates "pure dance" with the GLBT community

Good news is that Dance Hits are crossing over lately, finally, in the past two years on CHR radio. You have Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry ect... that have brought "Dance Hits" to mainstream CHR and it has caught on nicely pushing CHR stations a little more towards dancy hits than all the rap hits we were hearing mainly on CHR.

Again, if Dance is going to work in this country it is going to have to presented RIGHT. A CHR/Dance Hits station like KTU, Energy 927/5 and Z103.5 (and Energy 98 online) present dance in a CHR fun easy speed and familiar CHR sound.

Denver's Hot107 has in completely wrong and is DOA on arrival. Sorry, hate to say it because I love dance - but this station is REALLY bad. Headache bad. :-\

 

[2Son]

Denver's Dance Station will fail.
Why?

The station is too hard on techno and club remixes of "unknown" artists/music to mainstream USA listeners.
The station sounds like a continues club mix that gives a person a headache after awhile.
This is almost ALWAYS the downfall of a "dance station" in America.

The only way a dance station in this country is going to be successful will be with a "dance hits" format. period. guaranteed.
This is proven by: Energy 927/5 Chicago (which would still be onair if had not been sold off)
103.5 KTU in NYC
Z103.5 Toronto

Energy 98 went to Pheonix with the Dance Hits format - on a very aweful signal and a market that wasn't app for dance. It also was then sold off.

Mike O and Energy 98 streams online are the most listened to dance hits station in the world because they are just that "dance hits" and people can listen to them
like any other hits/chr station.

I have listened to hours of Hot107 online since it came on - and honestly, if MAX radio plans to make this rimshot station listenable - they have a ways to go. The songs are too long, too techno, too radical clubby, and the presentation is just pretty bad. The British accent voice overs are also going to kill the station.

The problem with "pure" dance radio stations/format in this country is just this:
1) USA population has been fed the rap/rock CHR hits for the past almost 20 years.
2) USA population relates "pure dance" as a listening track to dance to when you go out
3) USA population relates "pure dance" with the GLBT community

Good news is that Dance Hits are crossing over lately, finally, in the past two years on CHR radio. You have Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry ect... that have brought "Dance Hits" to mainstream CHR and it has caught on nicely pushing CHR stations a little more towards dancy hits than all the rap hits we were hearing mainly on CHR.

Again, if Dance is going to work in this country it is going to have to presented RIGHT. A CHR/Dance Hits station like KTU, Energy 927/5 and Z103.5 (and Energy 98 online) present dance in a CHR fun easy speed and familiar CHR sound.

Denver's Hot107 has in completely wrong and is DOA on arrival. Sorry, hate to say it because I love dance - but this station is REALLY bad. Headache bad. :-\

Let me correct you.

Energy 98 did not come to Phoenix with a dance hits format. KNRJ (Energy 92.7/101.1) already existed and although Mike's attempt to improve the station (which started nearly two years AFTER KNRJ debuted) had its pluses, it really did not have much of an effect on the ratings for the station as he was let go a year later; however, I am sure the exposure subsequently helped his Energy 98 as his website redirected people to the KNRJ website while he was with KNRJ. I believe the low ratings had more to do with the bad signal, NOT the fact that the Phoenix market could not take to dance music. If you know anything about the Phoenix radio market, you would know that there have been several stations throughout the years that at one time or another have leaned dance, including KZZP, Power 92, KPTY, Markus Schulz's Edge Factor on KEDJ, KISS FM, etc...

In a time when all types of radio stations flip to different formats frequently, KNRJ remained on the air as a dance format in Phoenix on a bad signal for 6.5 years. I do not consider that to be a failure. I consider it a miracle.

 

[Alan_Freed]

If you know anything about the Phoenix radio market, you would know that there have been several stations throughout the years that at one time or another have leaned dance, including KZZP, Power 92, KPTY, Markus Schulz's Edge Factor on KEDJ, KISS FM, etc...

Correct. And Beat Radio in 1998 on 740AM, not exactly the best signal in the city. Still, as brief as it was (unrelated to ratings), Phoenix was, in terms of response, one of the top three markets of the 10 we were in. Since this thread is about Denver, I'll add that Denver was another of our top three.

 

[DJ_Perry]

Too funny, Energy 98 brought to Phx? LOL, good one. We were here long before them...

I won't add to that, except for the fact that KNRJ is no where close to "98" on any of the frequecies it has or did have. Nor was it "sold off," they are STILL on the air under same management playing Hip Hop. 2son put it quite well.

BTW Alan, I LOVED Beat Radio on 740, I was a loyal listener and learned much music that I still use today on my streams / shows.

 

[nd2023]

MikeO's pirate station was on 98.1, hence the name Energy 98. It stuck around even after the pirate station went off the air.

 

[DJ_Perry]

Maybe in Oregon, not in Phx

 

[Alan_Freed]

BTW Alan, I LOVED Beat Radio on 740, I was a loyal listener and learned much music that I still use today on my streams / shows.

Thanks, Perry, that's really cool to hear. Phoenix and Denver were solid supporters. I still play some of that era's gold on http://ShoutDRIVE.com.

 

[retrodells]

KNRJ (Energy 92.7/101.1) already existed and although Mike's attempt to improve the station (which started nearly two years AFTER KNRJ debuted) had its pluses, it really did not have much of an effect on the ratings for the station as he was let go a year later; however, I am sure the exposure subsequently helped his Energy 98 as his website redirected people to the KNRJ website while he was with KNRJ.

This is correct.

I should have said that MikeO brought his Energy 98 (internet radio) programming to Phoenix to help improve the KNRJ ratings. KNRJ was playing almost the same format Hot107 Denver is now. KNRJ's dance music product included house, Trance, and club music, as well as remixes of pop and R&B hits. It lasted from June 2002-October 2007. MikeO's programming was for one year near the demise of the dance format. The signal of KNRJ still remains a difficult challenge. It still remains the lowest FM rated station in Phoenix / as well as in Flagstaff where it has a better signal. KNRJ as a dance format had a share bump with the highest ratings under MikeO's programming - but not much more was possible on that signal. KNRJ heavily targeted (probably the most of any dance format radio station) the GLBT community. Their website was like visiting gay pride everyday (and I am not hating there - I am gay).

 

[2Son]

KNRJ (Energy 92.7/101.1) already existed and although Mike's attempt to improve the station (which started nearly two years AFTER KNRJ debuted) had its pluses, it really did not have much of an effect on the ratings for the station as he was let go a year later; however, I am sure the exposure subsequently helped his Energy 98 as his website redirected people to the KNRJ website while he was with KNRJ.

This is correct.

I should have said that MikeO brought his Energy 98 (internet radio) programming to Phoenix to help improve the KNRJ ratings. KNRJ was playing almost the same format Hot107 Denver is now. KNRJ's dance music product included house, Trance, and club music, as well as remixes of pop and R&B hits. It lasted from June 2002-October 2007. MikeO's programming was for one year near the demise of the dance format. The signal of KNRJ still remains a difficult challenge. It still remains the lowest FM rated station in Phoenix / as well as in Flagstaff where it has a better signal. KNRJ as a dance format had a share bump with the highest ratings under MikeO's programming - but not much more was possible on that signal. KNRJ heavily targeted (probably the most of any dance format radio station) the GLBT community. Their website was like visiting gay pride everyday (and I am not hating there - I am gay).

KNRJ still existed for another almost 3.5 years after Mike was let go from the station, not near the demise of the station (Summer 2005 is when Mike left - the station ended on Halloween 2008). KNRJ was gay-friendly, but if I remember correctly, KNGY San Francisco was probably just as, if not more gay-friendly.

 

[DJ_Perry]

KNRJ's dance music product included house, Trance, and club music, as well as remixes of pop and R&B hits.

Sounds like somebody has been reading too much wikipedia

It lasted from June 2002-October 2007.

Wrong again...it was October 2008

The signal of KNRJ still remains a difficult challenge. It still remains the lowest FM rated station in Phoenix / as well as in Flagstaff where it has a better signal.

I don't know where you get your information from, but KNRJ just had a signal upgrade. They are now at Camp Verde which gets good coverage in the valley. They were never in Flagstaff (with the exception of a 10 watt repeater on 106.3), they were in Payson up until last March. The ratings have still been low with the Hip Hop format, but its not the lowest in the valley, LOL. I believe they had a full 1 share a couple of books back.

KNRJ as a dance format had a share bump with the highest ratings under MikeO's programming - but not much more was possible on that signal.

Once again you are mistaken. The highest rating KNRJ had under Energy was a .8. This was before Mike. We sunk to a .4 after his adjustments.

 

[Brian_1055]

Denver's Dance Station will fail.
Why?

The station is too hard on techno and club remixes of "unknown" artists/music to mainstream USA listeners.
The station sounds like a continues club mix that gives a person a headache after awhile.
This is almost ALWAYS the downfall of a "dance station" in America.

The only way a dance station in this country is going to be successful will be with a "dance hits" format. period. guaranteed.

First off let me say, congrats to Denver for their new dance station. Now to the quote above... really good points that I wish dance stations would think about when deciding what to play. Having worked at KLNA Power 105.5 in Sac from 2000-2001, and seeing its evolution/changes along the way, I can tell you that many of the points you make are true. A few things that I think should be emphasized when putting up a dance station on FM...

1. Make sure you have radio edits (get rid of the DJ intro's of the songs that have them).

2. Don't go too underground with the music selection (and be careful about using the very small but very vocal hardcore/underground dance fans who call the station to determine your dance music selections). I remember when we would play some drum and bass, or something underground, and the phones would seem to light up. But it was many of the same people of a small group who are very into the music. I saw our station take a hit during one of those phases when we went a little more underground. When we were fairly mainstream (and I'm talking (at the time) tracks such as those by Alice Deejay, Sonique, Gigi D'Agostino, etc.) we were pulling a lot of listeners from KSFM 102.5 and KDND 107.9. BTW, we were able to keep the more hardcore dance fans happy as we went a little deeper in the MIXSHOWS.

3. I agree with not making it sound like a continuous mix. Don't go house-house-house, or techno-techno-techno, or trance-trance-trance. A good mixture of house, trance, freestyle, etc worked well for us. As much of a fan as I am of dance music (i.e more than just the casual radio listener), sometimes even I need a break from the monotony I hear with some dance music.

4. Program locally. Another area where major work is/has been needed with dance stations. If you are playing some recurrents, classics, etc, know what dance songs got airplay in the market. Familiarity here and there is definitely needed. Know what types of dance works/was played there. If in New York, San Francisco, Miami, def include a little freestyle. If in an area with high % of hispanics, include some latin house, etc.

5. Although kind of tied into the points made above... program for the radio! Don't program for the club or something else. What works in the club can often bomb on the radio. Some dance music won't work at all on the radio, but might get people jumpin' and fist pumpin' in the Vegas pool parties. Being a frequent visitor to Vegas, I can tell you that 98% of the stuff the big name DJ's play at the pool parties won't work on radio. Which leads to another thing programmers must be careful of... (not relying on the big name DJ's to tell you which music is hot). Sometimes people get caught in that because those DJ's have big followings and decent CD sales. But much of what they play is not suitable for radio and your average listener (although this may be evolving as of late with DJ's hooking up with mainstream r&b/rap/pop artists).

With the above taken into account you could have a decent performing station, especially now, with the only limiting factor being that we always seem to have a bad signal :'(

 

[retrodells]

My points exactly.

Sounds like there is a lot of bitter posters out there that got bumped when Energy Arizona tried to revive itself.

I never said Energy AZ was IN Flagstaff - only it had a better signal there than Phoenix THEN - due to a recent upgrade (which I am taking is true) I guess this has changed the winds. Hoever, it is doing nothing for recent numbers.

Yes, I posted that one line exactly from Wiki - necause it was exactly true.

Energy AZ was nothing NOTHING like Energy 927/5 Chicago.

as said above... Hot 107 sounds like one continuous nightclub mix, trance, remixes and unknowns. Add in a british sweeper. This will fail.

Last point... The only reason most of these stations are able to give this format a try is that most are on rimshots (AZ, Denver and even Chicago) and want to
try to bring in a format the dance audience will tweek to hear. Most are independent or small owners. As well as the fact that most survive longer than large corporate format trys.

I applaud the stations for trying the format - don't get me wrong. I love dance music.

 

[2Son]

My points exactly.

Sounds like there is a lot of bitter posters out there that got bumped when Energy Arizona tried to revive itself.

I never said Energy AZ was IN Flagstaff - only it had a better signal there than Phoenix THEN - due to a recent upgrade (which I am taking is true) I guess this has changed the winds. Hoever, it is doing nothing for recent numbers.

Yes, I posted that one line exactly from Wiki - necause it was exactly true.

Energy AZ was nothing NOTHING like Energy 927/5 Chicago.

as said above... Hot 107 sounds like one continuous nightclub mix, trance, remixes and unknowns. Add in a british sweeper. This will fail.

Last point... The only reason most of these stations are able to give this format a try is that most are on rimshots (AZ, Denver and even Chicago) and want to
try to bring in a format the dance audience will tweek to hear. Most are independent or small owners. As well as the fact that most survive longer than large corporate format trys.

I applaud the stations for trying the format - don't get me wrong. I love dance music.

Bitter? OK, I will try to be as polite as possible.

First and foremost, there is no reason to generalize people on this board because your info was incorrect. If you are going to make statements and present them as "facts", do some research first.

Secondly, there is no reason to be overly dramatic about the differences between EnergyAZ and Energy 92.7 & 5. The fact is that Chris Shebel programmed/consulted both of these stations at one point. I personally do not see the reasoning for blasting one in favor of another when both were there (along with many others) to inspire the dance listeners...and I'll say it again. KNRJ last for 6.5 YEARS as a dance music outlet. Let's try celebrating that fact rather than finding ways to criticize it.

 

[Saladressing]

Energy 927&5 AND Energy Arizona were both awesome stations!

 

[justthenumbers]

I thought Energy 92.7/101.1 (a.k.a. Energy Arizona) sounded its best in the early days, when its tagline was simply "Arizona's Dance Radio". Looking back on it, it was probably the most "mainstream" sounding flavor of dance they attempted -- and I'm pretty sure this is when they achieved their peak with the 0.8.

I remember tuning in one day sometime in 2004 and the station sounded noticeably different. The songs just weren't as familiar. This also might have been when they switched the tagline to "Arizona's Dance Authority."

 

[DJ_Perry]

Wow, I just love new posters. First of all, I am the ONLY one in this conversation that worked there....so there are NO bitter posters that got bumped, as I was there on the last day, and also continued with the format change (which is much of my library as well).

If you admit you copied that line from wikipedia, perhaps you should have read the Whole thing, as you would have been more informed.

To say we were nothing like Energy Chicago, it just shows your ignorance. We started out EXACTLY like that station. Chris Shebel created a clone and was the PD for both stations. Which also explains why we sounded best then. After the changes and slogan swaps, thats when we went downhill, but at this time, Energy Chicago was gone so there was no comparison.

Also, Energy never came in better in Flagstaff. It came in best in Payson, as that's where 101.1 WAS located from until recently (another fact in the wikipedia article you overlooked).

Nobody is bitter here, it's simply comical to see fiction made up of facts that I lived through.

 

[retrodells]

Ok ??? :

"as for KNRJ last for 6.5 YEARS as a dance music outlet."

do dah do dah. No ratings = no money. No ratings = no listeners. And return to my first post.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

Getting back to the topic of DENVER's Dance...

Kudos and COOL that they have the "DHT" (Calls)
and they can maybe bring in the group DHT for
the annual Hot-Summer Concert they set up...

<>
As the promotional side of my mind grinds it gears,
what will HELP ::::::: the Denver Broncos
cheerleaders (for example) endorsing the radio station
as the "Official workout channel"

And, maybe the Colorado AV's, can sponsor a
"Hot as 107.1, Cool as Ice" night... and let
the station take over the arena during the game...

And, being in Denver - they can always get the
"free money" from the Vegas ad campaigns...lol.

Good Luck, kDHT - hott 107/1 FM -
hope u stay around for a while!!!

(one other thing) be cool is for the US Audience:

say, when a LIVE (voice talent DJ) is doing an
air-shift, give a quick description of the song/track
and say [without being a dork about it] this
house-driven anthem, for the clubbers know was big
in (say, March) and now we are moving forward to play it...."

(example)
"....new flo rida on hot 107..and yes, that is the same Sia,
from the solo career..."

this way you don't insult the overly critical [haters]/posers that have
to win the arm race..lol. the Guys that say you first played it
in march - well, I played it during the holidays, or 5-summers ago
[ I always say, thank u for playing it first, im playing it now!]
-