What a boom period!

[icycool7227]

Two more stations have flipped to CHR, one in Salina, KS called The Zoo and another in the Raleigh, NC called the Pulse. A lot of areas have 2 CHRs right now and that's amazing. I only wish that Kiss FM in Vegas and Kiss in Mason City, IA would have survived along with All Hit 98-9. I wonder if those managers would try to start up those again would they be successful now?

And of course smooth jazz continues to decline

 

[only1moore]

Actually, after having listened to WPLW & WWPL/Raleigh-Durham, I would put them in the Rhythmic category since they don't play any Rock-sounding Pop tracks.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I know a place that STILL needs a traditional top 40. They have a strictly pop / pop rock station and a rhythmic station, but since we're going to be putting multiple top 40's in other places, I might as well suggest ONE traditional full blown top 40 for Market #7 Atlanta, in between the strictly pop and rhythmic sound. After all, even Detroit has "a bunch of chrs" IN ADDITION TO their two urbans.

I can't wait until every single place in the U.S. runs out of chr room so someone could focus on Atl. Not Georgia, but strictly Atl. - and do so WITHOUT interfering with the rhythmic station they have there so far. There's really nothing wrong with the stations there so far, but there are still quite a bit of top 40 hits missing from Atl, and you cannot deny that a traditional full blown chr would work and make sense business-wise in Atl.

 

[CHRles]

Actually, after having listened to WPLW & WWPL/Raleigh-Durham, I would put them in the Rhythmic category since they don't play any Rock-sounding Pop tracks.

I've heard One Republic's "Secrets" on the station. Still, it's definitely a very Rhythmic leaning CHR

 

[new_friends_gr]

I know a place that STILL needs a traditional top 40. They have a strictly pop / pop rock station and a rhythmic station, but since we're going to be putting multiple top 40's in other places, I might as well suggest ONE traditional full blown top 40 for Market #7 Atlanta, in between the strictly pop and rhythmic sound. After all, even Detroit has "a bunch of chrs" IN ADDITION TO their two urbans.

I'm fascinated by semantics and how these formats are labeled. When you say "traditional top 40", do you mean "Mainstream CHR"? In other words, a CHR station that balances all flavors of pop: rock-leaning, rhythmic-leaning, and country-leaning? Pop and rhythmic are not mutually exclusive as the rhythmic sound is just a flavor of pop music.

Detroit has two Mainstream CHRs (WKQI 95.5 and WDZH 98.7) and one Rhythmic CHR (WDTW 106.7 which used to be Rhythmic AC).

Grand Rapids (where I live) has two CHRs: one mainstream and one rhythmic.

 

[only1moore]

Actually, after having listened to WPLW & WWPL/Raleigh-Durham, I would put them in the Rhythmic category since they don't play any Rock-sounding Pop tracks.

I've heard One Republic's "Secrets" on the station. Still, it's definitely a very Rhythmic leaning CHR

This is nothing new. KZON/Phoenix has Neon Trees' "Animal" and WJQM/Madison has The Ready Set's "Love Like Woe" on their playlists, and they're Rhythmics.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I know a place that STILL needs a traditional top 40. They have a strictly pop / pop rock station and a rhythmic station, but since we're going to be putting multiple top 40's in other places, I might as well suggest ONE traditional full blown top 40 for Market #7 Atlanta, in between the strictly pop and rhythmic sound. After all, even Detroit has "a bunch of chrs" IN ADDITION TO their two urbans.

I'm fascinated by semantics and how these formats are labeled. When you say "traditional top 40", do you mean "Mainstream CHR"? In other words, a CHR station that balances all flavors of pop: rock-leaning, rhythmic-leaning, and country-leaning? Pop and rhythmic are not mutually exclusive as the rhythmic sound is just a flavor of pop music.

Detroit has two Mainstream CHRs (WKQI 95.5 and WDZH 98.7) and one Rhythmic CHR (WDTW 106.7 which used to be Rhythmic AC).

Grand Rapids (where I live) has two CHRs: one mainstream and one rhythmic.

Atl has a chr POP station that plays strictly pop & pop rock hits that are in the top 20 or higher. A traditional top 40 (today) would be the ones that play ALL the (top 40 billboard) hits, even if the overall sound of those hits tend to drift more towards one genre sound during any period of time. For example; When hip hop was dominating the charts, traditional chr's sounded mainly urban. Right now, a traditional top 40 sounds like a rhythmic dance station with urban influenced pop hits and a few country and pop rock songs thrown in from time to time (KIIS, WHTZ...) . A more pop station like WWWQ (and even KMVA to some degree) tend to lean more pop rock and exclude a bit of outer top 20 hit songs that are usually heard on a "traditional chr" and keep quite a bit of recurrents and older pop or pop rock hits.

Without a traditional top 40 format, quite a bit of (what is normally well known upbeat hit music) lacks, and you also don't get to hear "exclusive" fresh new hits early (and sometimes never at all) on regular playlist, unless those hits;

1. Make it to urban radio play, or
2. Make it to rhythmic radio play.

I'm thinking Atl., the only top 10 (or maybe even the only top 20) market without a traditional chr could use one, even with with pop WWWQ and rhythmic WWVA. After all, unlike Detroit, both top 40 stations would exist, but be different. One pop leaning, the other a more traditional mainstream chr. Both sounds (at two separate times) have recently worked in Atl.

It would be nice to have something programmed with a live, interesting, and fun atmosphere like WKQI in Atl. for once in the top 40 world. Only question is which owner, who doesn't already have a somewhat similar sound in Atl, would be willing to do it? I'm sure ClearChannel doesn't want to launch a rhythmic lean top 40 when they already have a rhythmic, and I'm sure CBS doesn't want to create another station to compete with or take away from their BIG number one station. However, the Atl. hit music world seems too conservative and "safe" for a market that's in the top 10. I could see a well programmed full blown traditional top 40 station (even with some fun, "liveness", exclusive mixshows and all (just like WKQI)) also working in Atl., just like almost anywhere else in the U.S. or Canada or even Europe.

 

[CHRles]

Atl has a chr POP station that plays strictly pop & pop rock hits that are in the top 20 or higher. A traditional top 40 (today) would be the ones that play ALL the (top 40 billboard) hits, even if the overall sound of those hits tend to drift more towards one genre sound during any period of time. For example; When hip hop was dominating the charts, traditional chr's sounded mainly urban. Right now, a traditional top 40 sounds like a rhythmic dance station with urban influenced pop hits and a few country and pop rock songs thrown in from time to time (KIIS, WHTZ...) . A more pop station like WWWQ (and even KMVA to some degree) tend to lean more pop rock and exclude a bit of outer top 20 hit songs that are usually heard on a "traditional chr" and keep quite a bit of recurrents and older pop or pop rock hits.

I disagree with this statement.
A traditional CHR refers to several things, depending on who you ask
a) A station that cherrypicks Pop, Rock, Rhythmic, Adult, and even Country or Dance, hit music
b) A station that has been doing CHR for a longtime, aka a heritage CHR

I'm not sure if you've noticed but there's a differenece between the core sound at Z-100 versus at 102.7 KIIS-FM. Z is much more apt to jump on a Dance or adult Rock record long before 102.7 KIIS FM, at least in most cases. KIIS, on the other hand, plays more Hip Hip and crossover Urban hits.

It would be great if Q-100 Atlanta jumped on more records early on, but overall it does make the effort to play most of the big CHR hits, which is what matters in the end to the average listener.
There are other CHRs that don't follow the "fast on Rhythmic slow on Rock" template. Here's a few of them:
Kiss 106.1 Seattle
106.1 BLI Long Island
104 KRBE Houston
Kiss 95.1 Charlotte
Radio Now 97.3 Milwaukee
Mix 93.3 Kansas City
107.9/103.9 The Mix Salt Lake City
XL 106.7 Orlando
97.9 NCI Columbus
107.5 The River Nashville
92 Pro Providence
107.5 KZL Greensboro
WAPE 95.1 Jacksonville


KDM, you have a tendancy to focus on a few stations in 2-3 markets and seem to forget the U.S. is a huge country with plenty of other cities you may not be paying attention to. There's a lot more out there other than just Phoenix, Detroit, or NYC and L.A.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Z is much more apt to jump on a Dance or adult Rock record long before 102.7 KIIS FM, at least in most cases. KIIS, on the other hand, plays more Hip Hip and crossover Urban hits.

That's why I gave examples of both (or more than one) because;
*they are well known and both tend to jump on (certain styles of) new music fast, and
*also to avoid being accused of just using one station as an example, or making people think "just because one station did it he wants everyone else to do it.."

I really don't know what, if anything, Q adds fast, and I'm guessing probably not much if they focus on only guaranteeing what's in the top 20. I also see Q as more of a pop hits station focused strictly on the pop sound than the typical rhythmic top 40 sound "big" markets normally carry. Q does outstanding when it comes to being a pop station (in some ways similar to Sirius XM 20 on 20 and pop2k), but a top 40 where you can hear more of a rhythmic sound, including exclusive rhythm dance and pop test products that could become popular (similar to Sirius XM KISS FM), that's still missing, which causes quite a bit of mainstream hit music to be missing from Atlanta mainstream radio. I only use those Sirius stations as examples in sound. Not because I think Q should be identical to any of them.

It would be great if Q-100 Atlanta jumped on more records early on....

That was 50% of my main point I was trying to make. I also tend to only use my favorite stations as examples since those are the ones I know the most and trust enough to use as examples, and those just happen to be in Detroit and Florida (even though I did use an NYC station this time around). I only use Phoenix a lot because the Phoenix stations are the ones I'm exposed to the most.

Anyway, I admit my suggestion for a rhythmic lean top 40 (or one that is more "edgy and well rounded" on the hits) in Atlanta is based purely on wishful thinking, but I do believe my wishful thinking is reasonable, realistically and businesswise. There are other things I could fantasize and wish for if I completely dismiss the fact that this is and is about business, but.. unlike a rhythmic lean top 40 hits station, those things would just be plain dumb and outrageous to suggest realistically.

And.. don't most of the stations you listed either play a lot of the current outer top 20 hits that Q doesn't play or exist in a city with more than one chr (despite the fact that they may not necessarily add things fast)?