I will admit, I don't listen THAT much to Z-100 or 92.3 Now, but I
DO listen. And comparing playlists, there IS a difference.
Here's my take. Z-100 gears their playlist to a more suburban crowd. You will hear MORE of Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, La Roux, Adam Lambert and other artists that cater to that teenage/twenty-something girl living on Long Island, Westchester/Rockland, Northern and Central NJ and Fairfield County, CT versus 92.3 Now.
On 92.3 Now's playlist, you have a MUCH stronger lean on "rhythmic" tracks than you do on Z-100. You will hear MORE of Taio Cruz, Drake, Jay-Z, T.I., Jason DeRulo, Shontelle, Young Money, B.o.B, Black Eyed Peas and other artists that cater to that teenage/twenty-something girl mainly living in the five boroughs of NYC. That is NOT to say that some of what Z-100 is doing doesn't get heard on 92.3 Now and vice-versa. That's just the lean.
However, the disadvantage of 92.3 Now is that since they have a stronger lean on rhythmic tracks, they also have to worry about stations such as Hot 97 and Power 105.1. The three stations basically the same target audience, with Hot and Power both having a rhythmic/hip-hop approach that is much stronger than Now, since it also has to cover some of the artists listed under Z-100 being that it IS A CHR. I also think in a small sense that since Power doesn't drop their music immediately as well, that 92.3 Now may feel "pigeonholed" to leave some of their tracks up that should have been shelved, or at the very least given some sort of recurrent play. Z-100 doesn't have to worry about this since they don't have to worry about Hot or Power all that much (especially on Power, being a "sister station" of Z-100 - Clear Channel). They may COVER aspects of 92.3 Now but with that suburban lean, they don't have to really go deep into "rhythmic" since the suburban crowd isn't as much into it as the city crowd. That's what keeps Z-100 strong.
HOWEVER, after hearing Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" on 92.3 Now, there is ONE aspect that 92.3 Now can cover that Z-100 won't get into (and this is based on the suburban/city demographics of each station)....the dance music aspect.
You still have people that are upset that Pulse 87 and PartyFM are gone on 87.7 and people DO want something dance oriented on terrestrial radio. This is where 92.3 Now COULD gain ratings for the next books. Let me note this for the record before someone twists it......
I AM NOT LOOKING FOR 92.3 NOW TO DO A DANCE MUSIC FORMAT! I'll repeat....
I AM NOT LOOKING FOR 92.3 NOW TO DO A DANCE MUSIC FORMAT! However, they can lean more dance-friendly (such as K-104 in Poughkeepsie and Z 103.5 in Toronto), along with what they are doing already and in the process gain an audience that Z-100 wouldn't go for, since to a "suburban" ear and the audience they go for Z-100's definition of "dance" leans more familiar and in that sense, keep an older track on such as David Guetta's "Love Is Gone" or Bob Sinclar's "World Hold On". Add TO the fact that Z-100 has to "protect" sister station 'KTU, Z-100 won't put on anything that 'KTU does even though 'KTU's approach with their rhythmic A/C format gears to an older suburban woman (25-54) that has kids, who MAY have gone to the clubs but are now heading out to school sporting events.
92.3 NOW could get higher ratings if they continue to go dance-friendly with the CHR approach...still play the artists that they do, but not as much in order to make some room for the dance adds.
NOT SAYING THAT 92.3 NOW MUST BE A DANCE STATION (someone MUST be thinking that I'm thinking this again, which is why I WROTE it again!)
but at the very least look into some of the dance approach in there a bit.
