Heritage Rhythmic KYLD Wild 94.9 (Rhythmic since 1992 when it was Wild 107.7, and prior to that it was longtime Urban KSOL) has ditched its longtime tagline as the Bay area's Party station.
Wild 94.9 is now calling itself The Bay's Hit music station. The station's flirted with a CHR/Pop sound over the past decade on and off, but ultimately stayed true to its Rhythmic roots. So is Wild 94.9 really evolving to a CHR/Pop outlet this time around? That remains unknown at this time. What we do know is the following:
Not since the mid 80s has San Francisco had a truly successful CHR/Pop outlet. Sure there was Z-95.7 in the late 90s and early 2000s, but the station never got above much higher than a 3 share, and never managed to beat Rhythmics Wild 94.9 and 106 KMEL. In fact, it was KMEL in the mid 80s that commanded the kind of shares we currently see with (CHR/Pop) 99.7 Now.
The 99.7 frequency was once home to another CHR/Pop station, X-100, which showed some promise as CHR/Pop a year after 106 KMEL went CHR/Dance. Yet by the early 90s X-100 was struggling in the ratings, and kept changing its music mix. 99.7 also had a short lived Adult leaning CHR in the early 80s, back in the days when 610 KFRC was still the dominant CHR in the Bay Area.
Now we see KMVQ 99.7 Now breaking with longheld beliefs that CHR/Pop doesn't work in northern California. 99.7 Now is currently ranked third in the market in shares, ahead of Wild 94.9. It's also second in cume with close to 1.5 million listeners. Additionally 92.7 Rev FM, another San Francisco CHR/Pop outlet is also showing decent numbers for its limited signal.
So how's all this affecting Wild? The station's playing a lot more crossover Pop, and even Pop/Rock in the kind of quantities far beyond what it usually allows.
Wild 94.9 is playing Adele's "Someone Like You", Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks", Maroon 5's "Move like Jagger", Cobra Starship's "You Make Me Feel", and it was among the first stations to air Gym Class Heroes "Stereo Hearts".
While we do find a growing number of influential Rhythmics across the country playing these records (Z-90 San Diego, 101.5 Jamz Phoenix, Wired 96.5 Philadelphia as some examples), the new sound of Wild 94.9 is something to monitor, especially since the station is billing itself as "The Bay's Hit Music Station".
Wild 94.9 is now calling itself The Bay's Hit music station. The station's flirted with a CHR/Pop sound over the past decade on and off, but ultimately stayed true to its Rhythmic roots. So is Wild 94.9 really evolving to a CHR/Pop outlet this time around? That remains unknown at this time. What we do know is the following:
Not since the mid 80s has San Francisco had a truly successful CHR/Pop outlet. Sure there was Z-95.7 in the late 90s and early 2000s, but the station never got above much higher than a 3 share, and never managed to beat Rhythmics Wild 94.9 and 106 KMEL. In fact, it was KMEL in the mid 80s that commanded the kind of shares we currently see with (CHR/Pop) 99.7 Now.
The 99.7 frequency was once home to another CHR/Pop station, X-100, which showed some promise as CHR/Pop a year after 106 KMEL went CHR/Dance. Yet by the early 90s X-100 was struggling in the ratings, and kept changing its music mix. 99.7 also had a short lived Adult leaning CHR in the early 80s, back in the days when 610 KFRC was still the dominant CHR in the Bay Area.
Now we see KMVQ 99.7 Now breaking with longheld beliefs that CHR/Pop doesn't work in northern California. 99.7 Now is currently ranked third in the market in shares, ahead of Wild 94.9. It's also second in cume with close to 1.5 million listeners. Additionally 92.7 Rev FM, another San Francisco CHR/Pop outlet is also showing decent numbers for its limited signal.
So how's all this affecting Wild? The station's playing a lot more crossover Pop, and even Pop/Rock in the kind of quantities far beyond what it usually allows.
Wild 94.9 is playing Adele's "Someone Like You", Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks", Maroon 5's "Move like Jagger", Cobra Starship's "You Make Me Feel", and it was among the first stations to air Gym Class Heroes "Stereo Hearts".
While we do find a growing number of influential Rhythmics across the country playing these records (Z-90 San Diego, 101.5 Jamz Phoenix, Wired 96.5 Philadelphia as some examples), the new sound of Wild 94.9 is something to monitor, especially since the station is billing itself as "The Bay's Hit Music Station".
