Rhythmic CHR
“The City 97.9″ flips from Jazz/AC to Rhythmic CHR”Wild 97.9”
This station had been KTNT and at 97.7 since 1988. It moved to 97.9 to boost its power to 6,000 watts. One year before the flip, then-owner Caribou Broadcasting, relaunched it as KCYI “The City 97.9” making it a Urban AC/Jazz hybrid. Caribou was bought by Citadel Broadcasting (along with four other stations in Oklahoma City) in January of 2000. On Monday, January 24 at noon, the station began stunting with a computerized voice counting down. Along with the countdown were jokes and jabs at the competition. Examples: “Linda Cavanaugh is a fox.” (She is a longtime news anchor at KFOR-TV 4 in Oklahoma City) “Tell someone about this. In fact, someone tell Mike McCoy” (McCoy is the long time program director of CHR KJYO “KJ-103”) “Jeff Couch ...
103.9 KPTY relaunches as Rhythmic CHR “Party Radio @ 103.9”
Following the change from “Arizona’s Party Station” to “Party Radio @ 103.9”, KPTY’s ratings fell into the dreaded 1-share range. There were numerous reasons for the mediocre ratings. Format-wise, Party Radio @ 103.9 began as what was described as “Extreme CHR” — playing hip-hop and modern rock (including a lot of cutting-edge selections) without the “in-between” music that defines most regular Mainstream CHRs (i.e. “pure pop” and dance music). It eventually dropped the hip-hop product in favor of “Extreme Rock”. Mancow Mueller’s syndicated “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” show was also brought aboard. After dipping to a low 1 share, the end was near. During the final week of 1999, ...
“Groove 103.1” switches from Rhythmic CHR back to Dance
In June 1996, KACD-FM (Santa Monica) and KBCD-FM (Newport Beach) switched from a Mainstream AC format to a Underground Dance format known as “Groove Radio”. While Groove Radio was unique, it was perhaps too unique for conventional radio. It never made any sort of dent in the ratings. During the summer of 1997, Groove Radio creator Swedish Egil was fired. The station remained in the Dance arena, but it became more mainstream (better suited for radio) — but not so mainstream that it could truly be considered “cheesy”. The name also changed to “Groove 103.1”, mainly because Egil owned the rights to the “Groove Radio” name. Then, on September 18, 1997, the format changed to an ordinary traditional Rhythmic CHR, yet the name remained “...
94.9 KSAN Becomes Wild 94.9
Previous Format: Country “94.9 KSAN” New Format: Rhythmic CHR “Wild 94.9” KYLD Date & Time Of Change: July 2, 1997 at 12am More Info: Wikipedia
Stunting: “Steve” 103.9 KBZR Moves Into Phoenix
Prior to the Spring of 1996, KBZR was one of the many frequencies statewide that was carrying “The Blaze”. The Blaze was a bizarre Alternative/AOR/CHR hybrid format. In either March or April 1996, KBZR broke off from the other frequencies and began airing old school music i.e., Hispanic-oriented Gold selections from the R&B, Hip-Hop, Rap, Freestyle, and Disco genres. As it turns out, the music selected and the audience it targeted were both premonitions to the eventual format and target audience. There were no jocks, but an interesting stunt that is best described as a radio version of the “Where’s Waldo” book series. Promos and sweepers (voiced by station owner Jerry Clifton) claimed that the station was looking for “Steve” as they were movin...
KSOL Becomes Wild 107.7
Previous Format: Urban AC KSOL New Format: Rhythmic CHR “Wild 107.7” KYLD Date & Time Of Change: February 12, 1992 More Info: Wikipedia Related Changes: 107.7 KSOL Signs Off
102.1 WIOQ flips from Oldies to Rhythmic CHR “Q102”
On November 18, 1987, two Philadelphia radio stations changed formats to oldies within minutes of one another: “Hot Hits” 98.1 WCAU-FM became “Oldies 98” WOGL, while Rocker “Q102” WIOQ became “Solid Gold 102”. The battle between the two stations would last for 14 months until WIOQ was sold to EZ Communications. Under new PD Mark Driscoll, the station debuted a Rhythmic CHR format under the resurrected “Q102” moniker that has lasted to this day in various forms.
97.1 WYNY Becomes Hot 97 WQHT
Previous Format: Country “Country 97” WYNY New Format: Dance CHR “Hot 97” WQHT Date & Time Of Change: September 22, 1988 at 5:30pm More Info: Wikipedia In 1988, as part of the purchase of RCA by General Electric, NBC was required to sell off their radio holdings. Emmis Broadcasting acquired NBC’s two frequencies in New York City to upgrade their holdings in the market, but were required to then sell the other stations. While 1050 WFAN moved to 660, Emmis moved its Rhythmic CHR WQHT “Hot 103” to the more powerful 97.1 signal in order to better compete against Z100 and Power 95. The 103.5 frequency was spun-off to Westwood One, along with the WYNY call letters and country programming. Related Changes: Hot 103 WQHT Becomes Country 103.5 WYNY
Hot 103 WQHT Becomes Country 103.5 WYNY
Previous Format: Dance CHR “Hot 103” WQHT New Format: Country “Country 103.5” WYNY Date & Time Of Change: September 22, 1988 at 5:30pm More Info: Wikipedia In 1988, as part of the purchase of RCA by General Electric, NBC was required to sell off their radio holdings. Emmis Broadcasting acquired NBC’s two frequencies in New York City to upgrade their holdings in the market, but were required to then sell the other stations. While 1050 WFAN moved to 660, Emmis moved its Rhythmic CHR WQHT “Hot 103” to the more powerful 97.1 signal in order to better compete against Z100 and Power 95. The 103.5 frequency was spun-off to Westwood One, along with the WYNY call letters and country programming. Related Changes: 97.1 WYNY Becomes Hot 97 WQHT
