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Seattle-Tacoma Radio Ratings: April 2023
- Thread starter pjc1961
- Start date
While I agree with that statement, it seems like Hot AC is going through a bit of an identity crisis or something like that at the moment. New Orleans and Philadelphia have never been able to sustain one, and Washington DC hasn't had one since Mix flipped out of the format a few years ago. It's still unclear whether Buffalo will have one after Star flips.
Yeah, it does seem that Hot AC is struggling in some areas right now.
In Seattle, it doesn't seem like Star really has enough of a current playlist to qualify as Hot AC at all. While All Access still lists it under Hot AC, they also show a current/recurrent playlist consisting of a whopping 22 songs (which is an increase from recent weeks), with their most played songs getting 23 spins each last week. It seems more like it is positioned between AC and Hot AC.
And they're not the only one. In Dallas/Fort Worth, our "Hot AC" station has drastically cut back on its currents and recurrents (just 16, not counting the songs that are getting a single play from what I'm guessing is weekend specialty programming). But at least they're playing them a bit more often (48x in the week) than Star is...
In Seattle, it doesn't seem like Star really has enough of a current playlist to qualify as Hot AC at all. While All Access still lists it under Hot AC, they also show a current/recurrent playlist consisting of a whopping 22 songs (which is an increase from recent weeks), with their most played songs getting 23 spins each last week. It seems more like it is positioned between AC and Hot AC.
And they're not the only one. In Dallas/Fort Worth, our "Hot AC" station has drastically cut back on its currents and recurrents (just 16, not counting the songs that are getting a single play from what I'm guessing is weekend specialty programming). But at least they're playing them a bit more often (48x in the week) than Star is...
A format that is a subset of both AC and CHR is going to be dependent on crossover material. So if the available currents are too AC or too rock or hip-hop flavored, they will have to reduce the total number of currents, perhaps increasing recurrent or power gold play in the meantime.
One of the most common Hot AC techniques is to eliminate powers while the dearth of good new stuff lasts, while keeping songs that would go to recurrent in the current category a bit longer.
I would think there would be a good opening for a HOT-AC in Seattle. HOT-AC performed well here for years and there are good HOT-AC stations that do well along the West Coast in key demos in Vancouver, Portland, SF and LA. KSTP and KBIG are dominant 25-54 in Minneapolis and LA. Just not sure which frequency might consider it? 93.3 seems committed to Sports, 98.7 just started in AAA and 101.5 moved to AC in December. Mediabase has them as an AC and their currents/spins match AC with heavy 90's/2K gold.
It seems that they’ve had their fair share of struggles as of late, but they should have universal appeal to the most important demographics in the market. Programming and music can be tweaked, but it seems like it would be a bad decision to change the format entirely when they’ve got decades of experience in AC/Hot AC/CHR. Most people know what kind of music they’re going to get on 101.5, and it seems like it may need a few minor changes (at worst) to get it back on track.
I’m not a Star listener, and I haven’t seen their entire playlist, but it seems like they might be ignoring some newer songs that could fit the format well. From what I can tell, many of their newer songs would crossover with 106.9. Nothing wrong with that, but they could dive a bit deeper and differentiate themselves. I haven’t seen any of the newer songs from Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith in their playlist, which surprises me. And I’m sure there are other newer artists that would also fit in well.
I’m not a Star listener, and I haven’t seen their entire playlist, but it seems like they might be ignoring some newer songs that could fit the format well. From what I can tell, many of their newer songs would crossover with 106.9. Nothing wrong with that, but they could dive a bit deeper and differentiate themselves. I haven’t seen any of the newer songs from Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith in their playlist, which surprises me. And I’m sure there are other newer artists that would also fit in well.
KPLZ is pretty much a straight-forward AC, even more conservative than some AC stations with current music/spins. The big difference is they don't play many 80's, which probably hurts them in the AC battle against KRWM and KSWD. Wonder if adding some key 80's may help them in the AC battle if they stay in that lane. As David E points out it is a balancing act. I doubt KPLZ will return to HOT-AC, just as I doubt KPNW will return to Country. They will give these formats at least a year or so to see if they work and make small adjustments along the way. No other frequency in Seattle seems likely to take the open HOT-AC lane either.
What's happened in Philadelphia and a few other markets is a low-rated CHR has cut back on currents and added more gold. In that way, the station takes on the music policy of a Hot AC. So it's possible for KBKS to make that kind of adjustment.
The death of KIRO-FM's mid afternoon guy would still be considered a "loss", regardless of your own particular opinion of Monson.
Maybe they need to play the same songs less often… during the Holiday season.
Who knows if they will do that they will probably just tweak the CHR playlist to try to compete better with MOViN 92.5 since 92.5 is the only other station that plays that format.
Mediabase states Star as an AC though. It is probably in between AC and Hot AC with a focus on 1990s and 2000s hits as well as many 2010s hits and some currents to focus on a key demographic and try to compete better with KRWM and KSWD. Some of the 90s songs they play are more rhythmic than others so certain songs are likely added in to try to attract more listeners that like 90s/2K music. I think KDMX did this to try to get people to not go to the new 90s/2K focused station and to niche it’s identity as that so that they always beat that station.
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I think they stated that they are still working on their mix and adjusting/tweaking it whenever needed and staying in the AAA format.
When you consider how few popular Christmas tunes there are, then spread those across at least ten stations, you're always going to have a lot of repeats between stations.
Yep more than ten stations nationally really. It usually is up to 4 FM stations in markets and probably 5 overall.
Well, if Star adds key 80s to its playlist later on its slogan will probably change to “80’s to Now” or “Todays Best Mix & Throwbacks” from back when it was an AC-leaning Hot AC back around the first couple months of 2017.
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