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New Concept: Retro CHR - The New K-Hits 96.5 Little Rock

C

CHRles

What a stroke of luck! I'm in Central Arkansas this weekend, and just the other day Hip Hop outlet Hot 96.5 flipped formats to what would be labelled as Gold-based CHR, or what I see as Retro CHR.
Many Hot ACs claim to play the best of the 80s, 90s, and today, but this station does it right, CHR style!
Oh yes, you'll hear Journey's "Open Arms" into Warren G's "Regulate", Third Eye Blind's "Jumper" into Old Dirty Bastard's "Got Your Money", and the Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" into Nelly's "Shake Ya Tailfeather".
Now before someone like Roger That jumps in here claiming it'll never work you may want to keep this in mind - walk into some of the most popular bars around the country that cater to the middle class and this is what you'll hear - Pop, Rock, and Rhythmic hits from the past few decades all mixed in together. It turns out that women in their 30s want to listen to more than just a steady diet of Rob Thomas and Alanis.
KHTE is even going so far as to now billing itself as Little Rock's number one hit music station. The music mix appears to be 40 percent from the 2 K, 40 percent from the 90s, and 20 percent from the 80s. I like the fact that they don't limit themselves to just one decade, and they'll obviously be able to keep adding records that are hot on the CHR Recurrent chart, or have moved to Gold rotation.

K-Hits website hasn't been updated yet, but if you click on the listen live button, or go to yes.com you'll see exactly what I'm talking about:
http://www.hot965.com/

Enjoy, cuz I know I will 8)
 
Hmm interesting format. It kind of reminds me of "Jack-FM" about 10 years younger. The only problem I see is the burn factor. Third Eye Bland, Matchbox 20, Counting Crows, etc have just been pounded to death over the last 15 years. I can't see anyone getting a thrill out of hearing "Jumper" one more time. I think this is a format I would check out for about 15 minutes and then move on

Personally, from looking from the yes.com logs from before today, I like the hip hop format they used to have!
 
There is huge burn in a format like this. It sounds like a mash-up of several different formats, and compromise doesn't make anybody happy. The thing with Hot AC is that you know that if there's a song on that you don't like, the next one will probably be one that you do know and like. With an anything-goes format like this, how can anybody make that guarantee? Sounds like something that would work well on Sirius-XM, but not in a terrestrial market. Good luck to them.
 
I personally thought they were a good rhythmic in the past.... Im interested in this new format very much though.... There are 2 stations near my girlfriends house in Hillsville virginia with this same exact format but a bit more current based.;... One is called J-104.5,, Todays best music,Todays best variety,,,, Its somewhere in West virginia but its 93,000 watts strong and only 42 miles from my sweethearts house. The other is z 103Ppoint5 in marion or bristol va... both play 80s through today and include rap and dance music... Kudos to K-hits even though I liked the rhythmic format, its something new......
 
J-104 is in Bluefield. Checking radio-locator, they're 93,000 watts horizontal, 62,000 vertical. Looks like a fairly successfull, yet automated, station.
 
Okay, seems none of you guys have listened to this station yet, LOL.
I don't think it's a Pop based Hot AC. They've played Juvenile's "Back That Thang Up", Dr. Dre's "Nothing But A G Thang", Ice Cube's "You Can Do It", Bubba Sparxx "Ms. New Booty", Ying Yang Twins "Salt Shaker", "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx N Effect, and other Hip Hop hits that even many CHRs were afraid to touch back when they were huge. They also play some 80s Hard Rock like Bon Jovi and Joan Jett, "Cryin" by Aerosmith, "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, Crossfade's "Cold", or "Hard To Handle" by the Black Crowes which is hardly a staple on most Hot ACs. They play pure Pop like Inoj's "Love You Down", Christian Aguilera "What A Girl Wants", Mark Morrison "Return of the Mack". Dance from DJ Sammy ("Heaven) or from Dirty Vegas "(Days Go By"). R&B records like Blaque's "808", Beyonce's "Check On It", 112 "Peaches & Cream", Jagged Edge "Let's Get Married", Sean Paul's "We Be Burnin". Even retro Hip Hop like the awesome "It Takes Two" by Rob Base or "Push It" by Salt N Pepa.
So you can hear R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" in the same hour as Jay Z's "Can I Get A", or Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", TLC's "Waterfalls", and Dr. Dre's "The Next Episode".
So you're definitely not talking about a station where there's going to be a high burn factor with regards to Modern AC.

I don't know if it's comparable to J-104.5 as that station seems more like a traditional Hot AC. Z-103.5 Marion plays a good amount of Currents, right? The new K-Hits 96.5 doesn't play any currents.

Come on guys, give this station a listen before you criticize it.
 
I didnt critisize it and I have listened to it and I do like it... J-104.5 is similar kinda to z99.5 in Indianapolis,,,,, basically a hot ac that plays some rhythmic,,, and yeah... z-103.5 is basically a retro friendly chr.

I wish one of Indianapolises under performers like AAA WTTS would go this route.. I like the new K-Hits,,, Im not knocking it at all.... so far I hope it succeeds. Its about time someone put a new chrish format on air in the U.S...........
 
None of you guys posting must not live in the Little Rock area. The new station K-Hits sucks majorly! No current hits and a mixed bag of old hits won't last in today's era of Mp3, Ipods, satellite radio, and everything else current. My friends, my younger sister, & her classmates that attend UCA thought that the programming was hilarious over the weekend. K-Hits was nicknamed K-S#@ts in the Conway area. It's sad too because Hot 96.5 was a great station 2002-2005, and then it went to pieces. I remember listening to Baby-Boy, TT, Sonta Jean & partying with the Hot 96.5 staff on the weekends. Little Rock is now the poster-city for music downloads, because if you want to hear today's great music you won't hear it on the radio! (lol) Sad but true. R.I.P. Hot 96.5 2002-2005 You will be forever missed!
 
Hah! Just what I thought. None of you guys on this board even live in Arkansas. No wonder this format appeals to you! Maybe in Tennessee, the midwest, and even Alabama this format might work, but this won't last long here. Crain Media can waste their time playing around with the station, but while they're doing that, everyone will be weaning themselves off of Little Rock-radio altogether. it's apparent that they don't have a clue and they keep listening to people who don't live in the city for advice. I just bought a new Mp3 player from Wal-Mart over the weekend that can hook-up to my car stereo just for this reason.
 
I'd hate to break it to ya, but there's nothing too unique about Little Rock as a market for you to say that we don't get LR. I was just there this weekend - not just in the city, but also in the burbs. North Little Rock is ghetto, but they're doing a pretty good job of trying to revitalize its downtown...kind of like East Nashville. Conway is the wealthy suburb with a nice walkable downtown full of upscale shops and restaurants...kind of like the Nashville suburb of Franklin.
Anyways, if Hot 96.5 was your favorite radio station then of course you're not going to be a big fan of this new format. LR's primary Urban station has always been Power 92. Over the weekend they were cleverly taking shots at their new rival Streets 101 by saying that Power 92 is your official static-free number one station for Hip Hop and R&B.
I'd also really hate to break it to you, but a lot of people who have purchased an MP3 Player still listen to the radio. I have a Zune (that I bought at Target since I can't stand Wal-Mart), which I can easily hook up to my Mazda. I enjoyed it tremendously during part of my road trip, I sometimes enjoy it on my way to work, and I especially enjoying it whilst working out at the gym. I also listen to various radio stations online, as well as to internet-only stations. None of this takes away from the fact that the new K-Hits 96.5 is a new radio station, using a new concept. That's what this industry (the radio industry) needs! Some new ideas, and new takes on existing formats. Obviously Hot 96.5 wasn't performing too well financially so a new more format was launched. This happens all the time, and is not unique to Little Rock.
 
The reason that you see nothing unique about Little Rock as far as radio goes is because you are going by your individual tastes and experiences, but not actually living here. The same mistakes in logic, radio-wise, are the same mistakes that Archway and Crain Media have made, thus destroying great radio stations. You can look it up in Arkansas Business, the stations that were grouped with 96.5 were valued at more than $10 million when Archway bought them, and then they were sold to Crain Media 5yrs later for $4 million. That's a huge loss in investment by most accounts.

Little Rock is a different, unique city when it comes to radio and entertainment. It may look like Nashville and have suburbs like other states, but the entertainment scene and how it is valued here is unlike most cities in this region, if not the entire country. That's why so many radio stations, event promoters, franchise establishements come here and fail. What Hot 96.5 had in 2002-2005 brought major revenue to this city by way of concerts, advertisement & promotions, & other events. Little Rock barely has concerts nowe, unless they are country or pop oriented, and they're still aren't many of them.

As far as 92.3 taking shots at 101.1 being static-free, that's the same thing they used to say about Hot 96.5. And as far as the city was concerned, Hot 96.5 2002-2005 was the leading station, even with static and sometimes going off-air. The music was a nice urban CHR mix and the listeners were about 50% white and black. Maybe that's what scared the state & media companies, cohesion and people coming together. I'm white & I'm not going to listen to K-Hits, nor do I like the ghettoness of Power 92 and the unscrupulous way they conduct their business.


i
 
In closing, I say what I say as an Arkansas native, a business-owner, an avid traveler, and a lover of entertainment and music. You can take it as you wish... I'm just saying...
 
What makes a market unique in general is not its randio landscape, but its people, and its offerings. Miami or San Francisco are excellent examples of that.
You mention a love of live music. Come on now, as if Nashville, or even Memphis (a mere 2 hour drive from LR) don't offer that. Speaking of Memphis, they too have a Hip Hop station that's heavily customzied for its market with a limited signal - Hot 107.1. Atlanta's got Hot 107.9 (formerly Hot 97.5), and both KXHT Memphis and WHTA Atlanta are well known for representin the Dirth South sound. They do well with younger demos. K-97, with its amazing signal, is still the dominant Urban in Memphis. Same is true in Atlanta for V-103.

You also mentioned how the value of a radio station has gone down. The value of a lot of radio stations has been going down - it's got a lot more to do with the economy then just with station owners screwing up. The value of a lot of stations was inflated, in similar fashion to what you saw with the real estate bubble.
Now let's tie all that in together. You've got a weak economy, and you've got a radio station that appeals largely to younger listeners. So what unfortunately ends up happening in this situation is that some stations go dark, or flip to other formats that have more Adult appeal.

You may not remember this but in the early 90s a lot of successful CHRs and some Crossover/Rhythmic/Dance CHRs bailed on the format. Many of them flipped to Country or Hot A/C. It wasn't just b/c the music became more edgy and thus polarizing (stations lost some of their adult listeners). No, it was largely b/c their revenues went down while there were problems with the national economy, and especially with the radio industry. About 50 percent of all radio stations were in the red back then. This brought on panic to station owners and PDs who took many of the country's popular stations with 12-24 year olds, and tweaked the format older, or bailed on the format altogether.
I believe the only CHR Little Rock had at the time was K-Kick 104 (KKYK), and its Urban station was much more musically conservative (which was the case in many Southern markets, including 92 Q in Nashville).
 
I hate to be so quick to judge, but so far I do not like K-Hits 96.5. I was going to listen to the Steve Harvey Morning Show on friday, but when I turned to the station, they were playing "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield. I called the station and they said that at 12:00 A.M. Friday morning, they changed the format, needless to say I was pretty mad friday morning. They play some urban songs, but they are all old songs that nobody wants to hear. I'll admit 96.5 never beat 92.3 in the ratings, but it wasn't so bad they had to change the format. Little Rock already doesn't have that many urban stations as it is, and the one of the few that we did have just went out the window. Now all we have is KIPR 92.3, KOKY 102.1, that new station KWBF 101.1, and what few Memphis stations your radio can pick up. Personally, I hope they switch back soon.
 
First of all welcome to the board to both Lyndzee and to mcbrideatl.
Just out of curiosity, do either of you listen much to the CHR radio? After all, this is the CHR/Pop board.
Looking at the latest ratings for Little Rock, Hot 96.5 was down to a 3.5 share, well below the 5.6 share posted by Power 92.3, and even further below the 6.5 share posted by Alice 107.7. KHTE merely ranked 12th overall in Little Rock, and Hip Hop stations that post these kinds of numbers and figures are prone to see a format change.
I don't know if this new Retro CHR format will succeed or even last, but I seriously doubt you'll see 96.5 revert back to a Hip Hop station anytime soon.
 
My opinion on this format is it's a good attempt at a Jack-FM targetted at Gen-X/Y instead of baby boomers, bit there are two major problems with it. First, it's about 10 years too early as many of these songs are still in rotation on mainstream CHRs and have not yet developed that nostalgia that 70s and 80s music has for the boomers. Second, most people in this generation will turn to their iPods, Internet radio, or something like XM when they want to hear this stuff. I hope it's fails. What Little Rock needs is a real AC station or a purely dance music station.
 
CHRles said:
You may not remember this but in the early 90s a lot of successful CHRs and some Crossover/Rhythmic/Dance CHRs bailed on the format. Many of them flipped to Country or Hot A/C. It wasn't just b/c the music became more edgy and thus polarizing (stations lost some of their adult listeners). No, it was largely b/c their revenues went down while there were problems with the national economy, and especially with the radio industry. About 50 percent of all radio stations were in the red back then. This brought on panic to station owners and PDs who took many of the country's popular stations with 12-24 year olds, and tweaked the format older, or bailed on the format altogether.
I believe the only CHR Little Rock had at the time was K-Kick 104 (KKYK), and its Urban station was much more musically conservative (which was the case in many Southern markets, including 92 Q in Nashville).
Click to expand...

...Trying to jog my memory on the scene back then. KZOU and KKYK were head to head CHRs up until about 1991 when KZOU became went to a more AC direction with B 98.5. KKYK had a brief stint as an adult CHR in 1992 before going rock 40 around 1993. That didn't last long either. Little Rock went several years in the 90s without a true CHR until KESR(Star 102.1) and KQAR(Q100) signed on.

bchristi said:
My opinion on this format is it's a good attempt at a Jack-FM targetted at Gen-X/Y instead of baby boomers, bit there are two major problems with it. First, it's about 10 years too early as many of these songs are still in rotation on mainstream CHRs and have not yet developed that nostalgia that 70s and 80s music has for the boomers. Second, most people in this generation will turn to their iPods, Internet radio, or something like XM when they want to hear this stuff. I hope it's fails. What Little Rock needs is a real AC station or a purely dance music station.
Click to expand...

Dance? As much I would like to see that happen, it has been tried and failed this decade in Chicago, Dallas and San Antonio. No way that would work in Little Rock. An AC that was a little softer than B 98.5? Maybe I could see that. Will this retro CHR station last more than 3 years? As much as I love the playlist, I doubt it. Will we suddenly see a national trend modeled from this station? Probably not. But it is nice to see someone think outside of the box, something sorely lacking with the "McDonaldization" going on with radio today. I agree with you that it is a little ahead of its time and if "Jack"/Adult Hits stations are still around in 10-15 years, this is what they should sound like.
 
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