Hello. New member here though I'm not a big veteran radio junkie like many of the people who hang out here.
I grew up listening to B96 as a youth during the 1990s and continued listening until around 2003. I was a big fan of their dance-heavy sound growing up. To answer your question, B96 entered 1992 as the only major top 40 station in Chicago after the demise WYTZ "Z95/Hot 94.7" in October 1991. The same year, Q101 changed from Adult top 40/Hot AC to alternative, although the early months of alternative-era Q101 sounded more transitional based on what I read. No mainstream top top 40 station on a major frequency in the Chicago area wouldn't show up until the short-lived Big City Radio's Kiss-FM 92.7/92.5 in late 1998 (which in return would be replaced with Clear Channel/iHeart's Kiss FM 103.5 in January 2001). I always wanted to know what exact songs B96 (as well as some of those other classic Chicago radio stations from years gone by) have played. Thanks to
worldradiohistory site (formerly americanradiohistory.com), it was now possible. I viewed viewed every one of B96's reported surveys from that year (as well as the available ones 1982 to 2005 from Radio & Records, Billboard, or Airplay Monitor as many issues are available to read on worldradiohistory.com).
Roughly, the first half of 1992 surveys is what you expected to hear on B96: Tons of dance songs and plenty of rap/R&B with little rock crossovers. The 2nd half of the 1992, in comparison, the station sounded more broader with sprinkles of pop/rock & adult contemporary songs. Their PD at the time, Dave Shakes, thought the station sounded too repetitive in terms of music styles. B96 wanted to be more "mass-appeal" and not just a station known for playing dance/club music. I guess they also wanted to lure fans of recently-departed WYTZ as well. The station even self-acknowledges their "new sound" during bumpers and commercials as songs that their core audience (which mainly consisted of Latinos, rhythmic females, and clubheads) never expected to hear on the station. In that aircheck posted above, listen to how Gary Spears (whos also heard right before Alan Kabel) introduces "All I Want" by Toad the Wet Sprocket, the 2nd song played in that aircheck compared to the first song "Nu Nu" by Lidell Townsell, a dance/house record B96 was known for often playing. In another example, they introduced playing "Not Enough Time" by INXS as "different music". However, B96 had a reputation of playing pop/rock or "non-Rhythmic" crossovers months AFTER they had peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I was a child during this time but I do remember B96 playing Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway", not a song typically heard on a dance/rhythmic/Churban/crossover/street top 40 station during that time (that genre had several names). That said, I did not know they played Guns n Roses as rhythmic/dance stations tend to shy away from rock bands! B96 also played "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (I always knew Q101 played it but didn't know B96 played that one too). Despite B96's flirting with more "mass-appeal" pop records, the music/radio trade magazines (such as Billboard) and Nielsen (then known as Arbitron) still viewed B96 as a rhythmic/dance station and station never flipped back to mainstream after moving to the dance/rhythmic Top 40 panel in 1990. A lot of the recurrent/old school flashbacks they played (as heard on that aircheck) were on the dance/R&B side of pop and B96 still played a handful of house/techno/freestyle records that received very little airplay elsewhere. What mainstream top 40 stations were playing "Nu-Nu" or "Crazy" by Daisy Dee on heavy rotation during the early 1990s?
However, B96's attempts to broaden their playlists were short lived once 1993 soon began, as the station almost immediately reverted back to playing only dance, rap, and R&B songs . They played virtually none of the big pop/rock hit records of that year (such as "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors). As that year progressed, the station sounded more like WGCI as there weren't as many dance hits compared to years past and a boat load of R&B ballads and rap. By the final months of the year, Toad Cavanah (now B96's PD after Shakes left to accept the same position at rhythmic Top 40 KMEL in San Francisco) and Erik Bradley (who joined the station that year as the new MD) increased the amount of dance songs on rotation. Late 1993 to mid-1995 may had been the most "Dance-sounding" period of that B96's "Killer Bee/Party Radio" era (1989-1997). They started broadening again in the middle of 1995 (playing a select amount of pop rock, such as Hootie & the Blowfish's "Only Wanna Be With You" and "I'll Be There For You" by the Rembrandts aka the Friends theme song) but it didn't become more noticeable until late 1997. Compare B96's "
Best of 1997" year-end countdown to the station's "
Best of 1995" countdown from only two years prior. Almost like two different stations at times. Despite phasing out dance music starting at this time, they still positioned themselves as "Chicago's Dance Beat". Personally, the Jewel/Third Eyed Blind/Meredith Brooks/Shawn Colvin type records sounded out of place on B96, which otherwise leaned more towards R&B and hip hop. On a true mainstream pop station, those songs are fine but B96 had been known as a rather unique dance-leaning station up to that point. Teen pop (N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, etc.) was becoming big too but once that faded out by 2001, B96 played nothing but hip hop and R&B music and that would continue until late 2008, when the station shifted back to a more mainstream top 40 station.
Ratings-wise, B96 was almost always in the top 5 (usually top 3 behind urban WGCI-FM and news/talk WGN-AM) among all Chicago radio stations throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Parts of 1992, the station would occasionally be tied with country US99 (or at #4 behind that station). In the
Spring 1993 issue of R&R Ratings Report, B96 finished #4 behind WGN, WGCI, and US99 in the fall 92 Arbitron ratings. There was a rival ratings company called AccuRatings, which featured a few cities including Chicago. In their Winter 1993 ratings report, B96 finished 2nd, only to WGCI. (some of AccuRatings reports had B96 #1 among all Chicago radio stations) B96's only real ratings blunder was during 1995-1996 after firing Eddie & Jobo from morning in May 1994. Still, they finished no worse than #6 overall as the I assumed the rest of the station's lineup was still strongly competitive as nobody wanted to tune-in to the morning show replacements and the two factors balanced each other out.
There are several R&R ratings books on worldradiohistory.com
RADIO and RECORDS RATINGS REPORT: 90's and 00's ratings results
two articles about now-defunct Accuratings
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...BC-IDX/92-OCR/BC-1992-11-09-OCR-Page-0082.pdf
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...BC-IDX/93-OCR/BC-1993-01-04-OCR-Page-0057.pdf
Here's two other airchecks of B96 from 1992 to check out:
Unknown date (probably from May or June that year)
11/13/1992
Here's more information about B96 music-wise in 1992:
Page 11 of 9/25/1992 issue of Gavin
Page 39 of 10/16/1992 issue of R&R
Hope this helps!
