Keep in mind that both Nirvana and Pearl Jam had Top 40 hits in the early 90s that were played on KIIS and American Top 40.
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KRTH now playing rap music.
- Thread starter 34james
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Keep in mind that both Nirvana and Pearl Jam had Top 40 hits in the early 90s that were played on KIIS and American Top 40.
Same principle as to the hip-hop songs that they are playing.
I was surprised to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the KIIS playlist in 1999.
"Scar Tissue"? Top ten. Four-times platinum album that just happens to be called "Californication". How does an L.A. PD resist?
What's even more surprising, and wonderful, is that the Chili Peppers are still going strong! Check out "Dark Necessities" from 2016...Flea is killing it on bass and Anthony Kiedis is still shirtless, LOL.
There track THE DRUMMER from there latest album is dope.
It sure seems that way. I wouldn't even consider them classic hits as much. As Mr. Hagerty mentioned, they are sampling playlists from KROQ and KPWR. I would not consider music from those stations to be in the classic hits realm, as say, true charted hits played on KIIS 102.7.
KRTH's music was always derived from local radio surveys in L.A, which had hits played on Top 40, hit radio stations. To venture away from that and instead, play music or unfamiliar album cuts that are more popular on rock and hip hop formatted stations takes away what KRTH was known for musically over time. I don't agree with their move. KRTH to me, does not sound like the "K-Earth 101" we've always known. Instead they should focus their playlists on music that was popular on KIIS-FM in years past.
But with the influence of Power 106's music on KRTH as you mentioned, this could be a reality, considering how much hip hop has blossomed since the "California Love" and "Gangsta's Paradise" era. Think of all the hip hop and trap music released in the last 10-20 years. A lot of those could end up on KRTH in the future, which is unfortunate.
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Have you looked at the KIIS playlists from the 90s? I have. You'd be surprised what they played.
That is a way over exaggeration. Half of Krth is hip-hop. That's a leap. When did the number two what two hip hop songs being played become half of a playlist?
I haven't, but I sure remember them playing the Real McCoy and No Mercy to death in the mid 90's. I don't believe KRTH has touched those two hits songs yet. "Run Away" and "Another Night". KIIS has some mild hop hop in there. "This is How We Do It" would be a good example, but not as heavy as KPWR's hip hop.
A lot of early 90’s rap samples 70’s disco and early 80’s R&B music so I can see how some songs would fit into the classic hits format. Even Puffy or P Diddy’s “I’ll be Missing You” has a heavy sample of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” so it wouldn’t be odd to hear it on a classic hits like KRTH. I don’t think classic hits stations will go full on gangster rap but they’ll definitely play the billboard hits that most people know.
One song I can definitely see being added to classic hit’s playlist is The Fugee’s remake of Killing Me Softly. I guess this is how people reacted years ago when disco was being added to the classic hits format now it’s strange to not hear it on some stations.
I live in San Antonio we had 2 classic rap stations and both of them failed, but our classic hits station KONO 101.1 has played some rap in the past. Mainly Salt N Papa’s Push It, U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer, Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice and there’s a few rap songs from the 1980’s that are on played on AT40 reruns. Currently classic hip hop can be heard on Vibe 107.5.
One song I can definitely see being added to classic hit’s playlist is The Fugee’s remake of Killing Me Softly. I guess this is how people reacted years ago when disco was being added to the classic hits format now it’s strange to not hear it on some stations.
I live in San Antonio we had 2 classic rap stations and both of them failed, but our classic hits station KONO 101.1 has played some rap in the past. Mainly Salt N Papa’s Push It, U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer, Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice and there’s a few rap songs from the 1980’s that are on played on AT40 reruns. Currently classic hip hop can be heard on Vibe 107.5.
They are not "sampling" anyone's playlist. They are reflecting, in what they play, the big LA hits that more often than not came from those two stations.
In LA, and based on cume, those two stations were extremely important in determining the hits in LA.
Just as important, but not any greater importance.
No, KRTH's music was determined by testing songs from a certain range of years against their prospective audience. That means any English language station that played currents including, even, country crossovers.
Then, of course, if the songs did not test they did not get played.
KRTH does not care about what it "was" known for. They care about the kind of "classic hits" that the largest group of potential listeners in LA want to hear... today.
But their PD, their GM, their corporate owners are thrilled by the ratings and the billings. They don't care if someone in another state "agrees" or not.
And LA does not look like, behave like, speak like, act like the LA that you seem to know from decades ago. KRTH is not a museum. It is an active station that plays older songs that today's majority of 35-54 year olds want to hear.
And drop like the proverbial "lead balloon" out of the top 10.
l will point out that KIIS is at its lowest point in decades, and part of the reason is that they can't find mass appeal gold that fits in with the current crop of pop that they play. So what KRTH does is pick the most mass appeal songs from a variety of stations, knowing that the average listener in this market uses about 6 different ones in the course of a normal week and thus has been exposed to a number of formats.
But didn't Amp 97.1 going away helped kiis. I would think it has being a direct competitor?
Not really. As I said in another post today, the average LA listener hears 6 stations each week. So if there is one less CHR, they will just listen more to all their other preferred stations and it is not likely that KIIS will be the sole beneficiary... in fact, it may not have benefited at all.
Top 40/CHR stations are down across the board pretty much.
Sounds like KRTH has become a multi genre station for its newer audience. Your response sums it up. Or in other words, K-Earth has become the sum of various stations around L.A and bagging them up under one format, classic hits.
No, not at all. The "genre" it plays is "LA Hit Music". Period.
As BigA has nicely said before, there are no Format Police and the FCC does not regulate playlists. KRTH has simply realized that LA is not Topeka or Denver and not even Fresno or Sacramento. They erased the arbitrary format "lines" and play the songs that a big group of LA listeners likes.
In LA it cumes roughly 2.2 million persons. In the various books where it "shows" it reaches nearly 2.5 million in total.
And in LA, that itself is the local version of the classic hits format.
Before the PPM, we only had 7-day snapshots of listener usage of individual stations. Now we know that most people have several favorite stations, and they listen more or less to each one in cycles of behaviour. So the end result is that a classic hits station is an amalgamation of "favorite songs" harvested from multiple station playlists.
But while the songs may be harvested from different station's playlists when the songs were currents, to the KRTH listener today, those are "all my favorite songs".
Remember, we don't run museums. We program what listeners want to hear today.
(There is a reason why I italicized the word "today" for emphasis.)
I was thinking the opposite; that they can't find mass appeal current hits that fit in with the gold they play. Most of their gold consists of songs that were huge in LA over the past 20 years or so.
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