Personally I think you guys are overlooking the changes that have occurred over the years with regards to the radio landscape in South Florida.
Everyone here keeps mentioning the legendary Top 40 stations Miami was once known for, but seem to overlook why Y-100 sounds much more in sync with the rest of the country today compared to the 70s and 80s. I don't think it's b/c they're owned by CC as much as the fact that radio started to change in Miami in the mid 80s, as did the overall makeup of the market demo-wise.
By the mid 80s Dade County was 40 percent Hispanic and 20 percent black. Bill Tanner realized the 18-34 year old audience, which was already 50 percent Hispanic at the time, was somewhat underserved and so he was brought in from Washington to launch Hot 105. While Y-100 and I-95 were great CHR/Pop stations that were able to get away with playing all the hits (and were Dance friendly) that all changed once Hot 105 came on the scene in the mid 80s with a format exclusively dedicated to Dance and Rhythmic hits. Hot was tailor made for Miami and came on the scene at the right time. Just as Z-100 New York was largely modeled after the early 80s sound of Y-100, Hot 97 NYC and Power 106 L.A. were largely influenced by Hot 105. Rhythm 98 also tried out a Rhythmic CHR format, albeit with a much smaller signal. Not long afterwards I-95 tried going in an Adult CHR direction before ditching the format altogether. One year later, after Tanner was fired from Hot, he quickly resurfaced at 96 X, changing it from a jukebox Top 40 to a high energy Top 40/Dance outlet. Miami Bass, Freestyle, adult Friendly Dance/Pop, Euro-Dance and some of the biggest hits in the country were heavily supported on this Hispanic-targeted CHR known as Power 96.Stations around the country were taking note, as did Y-100 which was able to cherrypick the biggest hits from Power 96 onto its playlists.
By the late 80s Y-100 was programmed by out of town guys who were brilliant in other markets but didn't really understand how unique Miami was. To me personally Y-100 sounded great at this time (as did Hot 105's attempt at CHR/Pop in 1988) but Power 96 was THE Top 40 station that really grasped what made Miami tick.
Urban outlet 99 Jams (Starforce radio) increased their power significantly, Hot 105 became a successful Rhythmic CHR by the late 80s, and the number of Spanish-music stations continued to grow on the FM dial (there were already quite a few of them on AM). All of this was taking its toll on Y-100's cume and ratings, as did the fact that the national charts were big on youth-friendly Hard Rock, Rap, and Dance music. Those records sounded great to me, but not necessarily to the typical CHR/Pop listener who grew up in the 80s with Top 40 stations playing lots of middle of the road Pop hits.
By 1990 Y-100 decided to go Adult CHR, and at first it was a VERY watered down version of Adult CHR that sounded more like 94 KTI Milwaukee than what an Adult CHR should sound like for South Florida. A year later the station's sound loosened up somewhat, and for the next 6 years or so Y-100 stayed with an adult leaning CHR/Pop format. Unlike other Adult CHRs it was receptive to Dance music, and was among the first CHRs in the country to play the remixed version of Everything But The Girl's "Missing".
All throughout the 90s Power 96 continued with its unique music mix, and sounded quite differently from most of the country's Rhythmic CHRs of the time. It was very influential in breaking out Dance hits, along with B-96 Chicago.
And these days? Power 96 was the station that broke Flo Rida's "Low" a couple of years back, and still takes chances on some records like Gyptian's "Hold Yuh" (which is starting to gain traction across the country on Rhythmic radio, and a few CHRs).
Y-100 is definitely not the unique CHR/Pop it once was, but it is comforting to see it post some good numbers with a true blue CHR/Pop format that plays all the big national Pop hits and more.
