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KOLA FM

Do you happen to know what song was played the MOST on Classic Hits radio in 2021? My guess would be Journey " Don't Stop Believing".

And what artist got the most airplay in 2021? My guess would be Michael Jackson, considering how huge he was in the 80's.
Wasn't it Bill Clinton's campaign song?
 
I was listening to this station on TuneIn a while back after being recommended similar stations after listening to K-Earth. It was definitely interesting to hear 90’s music and even early 2000’s songs along side 70’s & 80’s classics. They also played some classic hits that I wouldn’t normally hear on other classic hits stations like Elton John’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

If the 80’s remain popular I can see other stations evolving to a similar format, heavy on 80’s, maybe some 90’s, and then early 00’s thrown into the mix. Similar to a variety hits format like Jack FM which kind of does this in some markets already.
 
If the 80’s remain popular I can see other stations evolving to a similar format, heavy on 80’s, maybe some 90’s, and then early 00’s thrown into the mix. Similar to a variety hits format like Jack FM which kind of does this in some markets already.
Based on my own experiences with programming that decade as a Classic Hits format, I think that's going to be the center of the universe in that format for quite some time, as it appears to attract 18-34s in almost as high a quantity as it does 35-54s.

Given that the concern among CH stations is finding the "right" 90s titles to add going forward, I think it's going to be a market-by-market decision. Some will go more Rhythmic, others more early Alternative, some more Active Rock, and others more Mainstream CHR in their choices, based on the dominant listener preferences in current music. That's practically the only logical way to do it.

As I said previously, I believe KOLA has a higher percentage of 90s songs as a counter-programming move to KRTH's strong signal in the IE, and that type of situation isn't going to be the case in most markets. So -- especially with 1982-84 being the median point in Classic Hits just about everywhere (including KOLA!) -- most stations are going to stay in that comfort zone for as long as they can.
 
As I said previously, I believe KOLA has a higher percentage of 90s songs as a counter-programming move to KRTH's strong signal in the IE, and that type of situation isn't going to be the case in most markets. So -- especially with 1982-84 being the median point in Classic Hits just about everywhere (including KOLA!) -- most stations are going to stay in that comfort zone for as long as they can.
What a lot of people do not knot know is that KRTH has as good a signal in the Inland Empire as KOLA (As do all the LA stations that are on Wilson). On the other hand, there are only a couple of IE stations that even cover that whole market: the two in English are KOLA and KFRG (with KGGI coming close, but not being perfect).

So any local station in that market is competing with many, many LA stations which have signals that are equal to or much better than the local IE stations.
 
Based on my own experiences with programming that decade as a Classic Hits format, I think that's going to be the center of the universe in that format for quite some time, as it appears to attract 18-34s in almost as high a quantity as it does 35-54s.

Given that the concern among CH stations is finding the "right" 90s titles to add going forward, I think it's going to be a market-by-market decision. Some will go more Rhythmic, others more early Alternative, some more Active Rock, and others more Mainstream CHR in their choices, based on the dominant listener preferences in current music. That's practically the only logical way to do it.

As I said previously, I believe KOLA has a higher percentage of 90s songs as a counter-programming move to KRTH's strong signal in the IE, and that type of situation isn't going to be the case in most markets. So -- especially with 1982-84 being the median point in Classic Hits just about everywhere (including KOLA!) -- most stations are going to stay in that comfort zone for as long as they can.
I didn't know the number of 18-34 listeners to Classic Hits was that high. A large percentage I figured, but almost half! That is very good news for the stations programming the format. The number is high enough, that if over time it drops off a little bit, they can still hang on to the current 80's based Classic Hits for a very long time. The future for this format is much brighter than I realized.
 
What a lot of people do not know is that KRTH has as good a signal in the Inland Empire as KOLA (As do all the LA stations that are on Wilson).
Speaking of signals, I find it curious that KSCA 101.9 does very well in the IE book. They're one of the lowest-power stations on Mt. Wilson. In 6+ for the past several books, they've had higher IE ratings than competitor KLVE -- which has a much better signal overall.
 
I didn't know the number of 18-34 listeners to Classic Hits was that high. A large percentage I figured, but almost half! That is very good news for the stations programming the format. The number is high enough, that if over time it drops off a little bit, they can still hang on to the current 80's based Classic Hits for a very long time. The future for this format is much brighter than I realized.
80’s nostalgia has been around for a very long time probably since the early 00’s from what I can remember. It doesn’t surprise me that younger listeners have fond memories of 80’s music and still want to listen to some those songs or even discover some new ones from that decade. You hear 80’s music in tv shows, movies, videos games, commercials, and even on social media more than you hear some 90’s & 00’s songs these days. Also advertisers are probably liking the younger audience of 18-34 year olds.

Around this time 20 years ago oldies began to transition into classic hits and stations started playing less 60’s and more 70’s, 10 years ago they started playing more 80’s when advertisers began to see that their audience was aging. Doesn’t seem to be the case here as the audience has gotten younger, so looks like classic hits stations like KOLA will have the 80’s around for a while.
 
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Speaking of signals, I find it curious that KSCA 101.9 does very well in the IE book. They're one of the lowest-power stations on Mt. Wilson. In 6+ for the past several books, they've had higher IE ratings than competitor KLVE -- which has a much better signal overall.
As I said, the signal in San Berdoo is just as good as the signal in Long Beach for those Wilson stations.

KLVE and KSCA are not competitors. They were designed to complement each other.

In any case, the meter panel in LA is so screwed up that forming conclusions based on the last few months is dangerous.
 
I didn't know the number of 18-34 listeners to Classic Hits was that high. A large percentage I figured, but almost half! That is very good news for the stations programming the format. The number is high enough, that if over time it drops off a little bit, they can still hang on to the current 80's based Classic Hits for a very long time. The future for this format is much brighter than I realized.
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insig...he-dial-to-classic-hits-as-the-summer-starts/

This article from 2016 shows that the format had a 3.9 18-34 share and a 4.8 25-54 share in May 2016. I would certainly be interested to see how much the shares for Classic Hits have improved in both demos since then, especially 18-34, as we have stations like KRTH and WROR-FM constantly in the top 5 (and ocassionally even being #1) in that demo, along with KQQL in Minneapolis-St. Paul having been #1 18-34 with double digit shares for two straight books this past fall, which is definitely a new development that wasn't happening 6 years ago.
 
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insig...he-dial-to-classic-hits-as-the-summer-starts/

This article from 2016 shows that the format had a 3.9 18-34 share and a 4.8 25-54 share in May 2016. I would certainly be interested to see how much the shares for Classic Hits have improved in both demos since then, especially 18-34, as we have stations like KRTH and WROR-FM constantly in the top 5 (and ocassionally even being #1) in that demo, along with KQQL in Minneapolis-St. Paul having been #1 18-34 with double digit shares for two straight books this past fall, which is definitely a new development that wasn't happening 6 years ago.
Once the supply chains improve and Nielsen gets more meters back into the field, it will be interesting to see if those demographic abnormalities continue.
 
Once the supply chains improve and Nielsen gets more meters back into the field, it will be interesting to see if those demographic abnormalities continue.
I'm not sure how long the PPM supply shortage has been going on, but looking back at older PPM Analysis articles from AllAccess shows that KRTH has consistently been top 5 (or very close to it) in 18-34 dating back to Summer 2018, although the shortage could possibly explain what was going on with KQQL in 18-34 during the September and October 2021 books.
 
I'm not sure how long the PPM supply shortage has been going on, but looking back at older PPM Analysis articles from AllAccess shows that KRTH has consistently been top 5 (or very close to it) in 18-34 dating back to Summer 2018, although the shortage could possibly explain what was going on with KQQL in 18-34 during the September and October 2021 books.
Remember, the PPM registers "hearing" and not "listening". In many cases, demographic oddities are due to people with PPMs hearing stations another person has selected. This ranges from kids in mom's car to employees at a business who have to hear the station the boss or owner selects.

Advertisers don't care how their message gets to consumers, so the distinction between listening and hearing is not particularly relevant.
 
Speaking of signals, I find it curious that KSCA 101.9 does very well in the IE book. They're one of the lowest-power stations on Mt. Wilson. In 6+ for the past several books, they've had higher IE ratings than competitor KLVE -- which has a much better signal overall.
At 4.8 kW KSCA isn't really that low. Back in the day, when "KUTE 102" was on Flint Peak they had a whopping 82 kW - way above the
Class B standard of 50 kW at 500 ft HAAT. Flint peak HAAT is somewhere around 1100 ft. When they applied to relocate to Mt. Wilson the FCC said that even though they were currently grandfathered as a "Super Power" Class B facility they would have to down grade to standard Class B and reduce power to just above 600 Watts. The same power as KPCC is running today. KUTE 102 went ahead and relocated, as the sale to Gene Autry and Co. was apparently dependent on the move. Coverage was abysmal. Eventually though they were allowed to increase power first to 2.4 kW and then later to 4.8 kW which is what it is today and theoretically nearly triples their original Mt Wilson coverage radius.
 
They played just like a pill by pink today. I think the term mainstream classic hits should apply here. Just my opinion
 
They played just like a pill by pink today. I think the term mainstream classic hits should apply here. Just my opinion
There is no such format descriptor as "Mainstream Classic Hits".
 
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