March PPM's

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Almost. Except that while Hot Hits sometimes mixed the order of the songs, Electric was a repetitive countdown, always in the exact order for a week at a time and calling each song “Electric current [insert number here].” The variety came from the occasional song about to break into the countdown (electric charger because….electric everything) and where in the top 20 they would start the countdown again after playing number one. Maybe number 13. Maybe number 8. Maybe 19 etc.

Broadly the style was the same. Lots of jingles, quick talk breaks, high energy (no pun intended).

 

[Miguelito]

Wow. So, they tried to build a station to compete with 98.1 by literally doubling down on the thing everyone made fun of 98.1 for. And it lasted less than a year. Go figure. 😂

 

[davideduardo]

Almost. Except that while Hot Hits sometimes mixed the order of the songs, Electric was a repetitive countdown, always in the exact order for a week at a time and calling each song “Electric current [insert number here].” The variety came from the occasional song about to break into the countdown (electric charger because….electric everything) and where in the top 20 they would start the countdown again after playing number one. Maybe number 13. Maybe number 8. Maybe 19 etc.

That is awful programming. Top 40 / CHR "experts" in the generation after Mike Joseph felt that, at any one time, there were about 17 or 18 true, real, solid hits. The rest were too new or just would never become truly big.

So if you play the #1 song and then play #40, #39, #38 and so on, you will spend an hour and a half or more out of every 3 hours playing mostly songs that will stiff out.

This is why stations that know how to do a hit based format will do things like sandwiching a new song between a power and a strong recurrent.... you create the feel with listeners that "the next song is one I'll like" and you only do that by making sure it is true.

 

[Miguelito]

This is why stations that know how to do a hit based format will do things like sandwiching a new song between a power and a strong recurrent.... you create the feel with listeners that "the next song is one I'll like" and you only do that by making sure it is true.

I gotta ask. Nowadays, how many people sit through an unfamiliar, new song because they're thinking "the next song is one I'll like"? I'm not arguing what you're saying; I'm just asking whether that sort of brand loyalty exists in 2026, where terrestrial radio is concerned.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

That is awful programming. Top 40 / CHR "experts" in the generation after Mike Joseph felt that, at any one time, there were about 17 or 18 true, real, solid hits. The rest were too new or just would never become truly big.

So if you play the #1 song and then play #40, #39, #38 and so on, you will spend an hour and a half or more out of every 3 hours playing mostly songs that will stiff out.

This is why stations that know how to do a hit based format will do things like sandwiching a new song between a power and a strong recurrent.... you create the feel with listeners that "the next song is one I'll like" and you only do that by making sure it is true.

Oh they never went down that far. 20 was probably as deep as it ever went, and that was less common than restarting somewhere near 10-15, give or take. It was more comical to know that, unless it was broken up for a rising song, you would always, always (for the week) hear let’s say Madonna after Prince and never a change to that sequence. And the constant reference to its position. Hot Hits was repetitive, obviously, but as much as the DJs stuck to the script (figuratively) in intros and outros, they didn’t have to refer to every single song as an Electric Current number. And always refer to the next host coming up as being in the electric chair (there is such as thing as taking the puns to extremes).

And it’s not to pick on Mike Joseph. He earned his status in the history books with his programming. This was just not his best one, perhaps the wrong approach to double down when the trend was the opposite direction—and the new owners kind of proved that point when Eagle…um…started to fly.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I gotta ask. Nowadays, how many people sit through an unfamiliar, new song because they're thinking "the next song is one I'll like"? I'm not arguing what you're saying; I'm just asking whether that sort of brand loyalty exists in 2026, where terrestrial radio is concerned.

Intriguing question. It’s one thing if it’s an established familiar artist with a new song. Though perhaps some more of the discovery factor is enabled by social media. By the time it reaches mainstream radio airplay in 2026, is it more likely the audience has been exposed to at least some of the song than 1986?

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Wow. So, they tried to build a station to compete with 98.1 by literally doubling down on the thing everyone made fun of 98.1 for. And it lasted less than a year. Go figure. 😂

Yeah…the last gasps for owners who just never got it to click. Eagle was perhaps as much a recipient of good timing as good programming. 98 was starting to flounder. Eagle took the more “adult” approach. Put the two together and they had a relatively quick success.

 

[luperm]

Almost. Except that while Hot Hits sometimes mixed the order of the songs, Electric was a repetitive countdown, always in the exact order for a week at a time and calling each song “Electric current [insert number here].” The variety came from the occasional song about to break into the countdown (electric charger because….electric everything) and where in the top 20 they would start the countdown again after playing number one. Maybe number 13. Maybe number 8. Maybe 19 etc.

Broadly the style was the same. Lots of jingles, quick talk breaks, high energy (no pun intended).

Reminds me of the old "96X" down in Miami which, for a brief time in the mid-1980s, played the top 16 songs over and over again. It was weird.

 

[Radio Wreck]

Reminds me of the old "96X" down in Miami which, for a brief time in the mid-1980s, played the top 16 songs over and over again. It was weird.

That’s pretty bad. The only upside I suppose was they never had to have more than about 30 carts hanging on the rack at one time (including commercials, sweepers, and ID’s)

 

[Larry]

I gotta ask. Nowadays, how many people sit through an unfamiliar, new song because they're thinking "the next song is one I'll like"? I'm not arguing what you're saying; I'm just asking whether that sort of brand loyalty exists in 2026, where terrestrial radio is concerned.

I think if you are driving you switch it immediately (assuming there is another radio station you like to switch to.). If you are at work or home and have the radio on in the background while you are doing something else then you don’t change the station.

 

[HGN2001]