With Classic Hits centered in the 80s now, why does Hot AC refuse to get out of that decade? KPLZ plays a few 80s here and there, but limits them to Throwback Thursday or during the all request lunch hour or by request throughout the day, but none in regular rotation. The other Hot AC in my market, KBKS, which recently shifted from CHR to Hot AC, plays one or two 80s songs an hour. KPLZ has no other sister stations to worry about, but KBKS really? KBKS is owned by iHeart Media, which also owns the Classic Hits station. Imo leave the 80s there and move the Hot AC forward. Also I believe that, no matter what, the Classic Hits and the Hot AC should never overlap, and even 6 years ago they seemed too. I remember sitting at home one day about this time of year flipping stations around lunch time and I thought KPLZ had gone Classic Hits because they were running the 80s lunch. Really? Ok enough rambling, just had to get that off my back.
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Why does Hot AC seem to refuse to move forward?
- Thread starter bobdavcav
- Start date
I don't think our Hot AC even plays the 90s anymore. I'm sure they don't play anything from the 80s!
chrocket87
Star Participant
My local Hot AC plays very little pre-2010 music. I think they'll play ONE 90s song on Thursdays during the 5PM rush hour, but absolutely no 80s.
It's interesting that some Hot ACs are still stuck in the 80s/90s while others (like mine) are barely distinguishable from the mainstream CHRs.
It's interesting that some Hot ACs are still stuck in the 80s/90s while others (like mine) are barely distinguishable from the mainstream CHRs.
I don't understand the question. You're upset that Hot A/C plays music that's too old, or doesn't play music that's old?
Basically, it appeals to a 40 year old woman. If you're not in that category, your opinion doesn't count
Basically, it appeals to a 40 year old woman. If you're not in that category, your opinion doesn't count
It is that the format, at least in some markets, plays music that's too old. I've always viewed the format as sort of a bridge between CHR and AC. I'd think a listener, once they outgrow CHR, would shift to the Hot AC, then to the AC, then to the Classic Hits, so why do some Hot ACs insist on overlapping the Classic Hits station?
tall_guy1
Star Participant
I kind of like them playing a tiny bit of Gen X music. My Hot AC--99.7 The Point-- isn't interesting enough to listen to much...too much "worn out" stuff.
You can view the playlist here: kzpt.tunegenie.com/onair and see what you think, bobdavcav.
Though the station does well, I think the only reason is because we have an incredibly bad mainstream AC station in town and CHR that reaches the whole city (Mix 93.3). 95.7 the Vibe is pretty good, and its a Cumulus CHR at that, but it doesn't reach the whole town and therefore its ratings aren't as good.
Here in Knoxville, B97.5 played more classic hits before we got a classic hits in the market. They used to do 80s weekends but dropped that. The only remaining part of that is playing Tom Kent on Saturday night
Ok maybe I over-generalized. KPLZ used to do an 80s lunch and a 90s at 5, but they've dropped both of those. It still baffles me though why KBKS is playing 80s. It still sounds incredibly strange to me to hear 80s and for that matter 90s on 106.1 MHz when for most of my life it's been a CHR. Ok maybe it played some of those songs in its early days, but I wouldn't remember that because I didn't listen back then. Regarding KZPT not a bad station.
Radio 101: Programming decisions are made to attract a certain audience for advertising sales. That's why certain songs are played, that's why a format is done. Not for aesthetic reasons. So it's obvious the station feels it has a certain heritage audience from the 80s and 90s, and can sell that audience to advertisers. The ratings look healthy to me. I see no reason why they should change what they're doing.
But yes, typically a Hot AC station is playing more currents than Gold. A mainstream AC is more likely to have more gold.
Sure, I've understood something along those lines for a while now. As far as audience from the 80s and 90s, 90s yes, 80s not so much. This was a country station until 1996, then went Rhythmic AC, shifting to what I understand was Modern AC-leaning CHR by 1997. A lot of the songs added to the playlist in the shift to Hot AC are songs that do fit the format that were played during the station's CHR days. In fact, at first it sounded to me like all they did was go back into the archive and pull out everything the station played as far back as 2008 and added it to the playlist again. To be honest that station just sounds screwed up to me.
What I have come across with some Hot AC stations is some still use the slogan "80's, 90's, and Today" even though we already passed one decade (2000's) and already half-way into another (2010's). Songs like "Get the Party Started," "Bad Day," and "Apologize" are already ten years old so it's not a song of today anymore. If it were, then might as well call "Don't Stop Believin" a 2000's song instead of an 80's song. It ticks me off when stations today use the "80's, 90's, and Today" slogan because songs ten years ago don't have the same hype as it did before today. I don't mind an "80's, 90's, 2K, and Today" slogan because you're mentioning all four decades and it makes more sense. Seriously, do you still consider "Unwritten" (a song that came out 10 years ago) brand new?
I don't think Hot AC stations should even have slogans like "90's, 2k and Today". If you are gonna have 90's in the slogan, at least play 90's songs in the mix. One 90's song an hour dose not warrant it to be in the slogan.
vchimpanzee
Walk of Fame Participant
I think they played more than that, but it is true that by the 90s most of the songs from the 40s were by Glenn Miller.
They shouldn't still be 80s, 90s and Today but 90s, 2K and Today sounds right for a Hot AC. That's what WLNK in Charlotte does, although some people are claiming that's actually an AC.
It's been a while since I've heard WLNK, but it definitely wasn't AC last time I heard them, in fact I'm not sure what I would have called them. AC-leaning CHR? KCDA as a Modern AC used 90s, 2K and Today. KVDU uses 90s to now, but in a 90 minute aircheck recorded in October, there was only one 90s song.
vchimpanzee
Walk of Fame Participant
The 90s, 2K and Today is relatively recent. Maybe the various sources haven't caught up. Still, it was people on this site trying to claim it was still AC, even with Eminem.
andrewduong77
Frequent Participant
Seems like most Hot AC are playing around 1 90s an hour to 1 90s every 2-3 hours. Most AC are also playing around 1-2 90s an hour to 1 90s every 1-2 hours. AC are still playing around 2-4 80s an hour which is still far less 80s than they used to play five years ago.
AC are playing fewer 80s than it did a few years ago. At least down to 3-4 80s an hour for an average AC, 2-3 80s an hour on some AC, and even 1-2 80s an hour on a few AC out there. As AC are playing fewer 80s, I thought they should have picked up more on 90s, but they aren't. They're playing 0-2 90s an hour, even 1 90s every 1-2 hours on some AC. They should play like 5-6 90s an hour or at least 3-4 90s an hour, ideally. But they're playing only 0-2 90s an hour. They're also playing much fewer 90s than they did five years ago and they're playing fewer 90s than 80s. 80s and 90s are going away together on AC. I wonder how well Classic Hits are going to pick up on 90s since 90s are well ignored by Hot AC and AC together over the past five years. At least many Classic Hits are already starting to play a little bit of 90s.
If I'm correct about Hot AC, it seems like Hot AC plays around 0-1 90s an hour, 1-2 00s an hour, and 9-11 recurrents/currents an hour. And it seems like AC plays around 2-4 80s an hour, 0-2 90s an hour, 0-2 00s an hour, and 2-4 recurrents/currents an hour.
It seems like the 90s and 00s were the only decades when 90s music got most of its respect from both Hot AC and AC where Hot AC took on the alternative and grunge materials by the 00s. Ever since the beginning of this decade, 90s music started to fade off Hot AC and AC together. That's very surprising for AC because AC didn't even get a chance to embrace much of the 90s and early 00s alternative and grunge materials that Hot AC loved so much in the 00s.
We only heard "Under the Bridge", "Two Princes", "Mr. Jones", "How Bizarre", "Beautiful Day", "One", "Ordinary World", "Come Undone", "Friday I'm in Love", "All for You", "One Headlight", "Unbelievable", "December", "The World I Know", "Real World", "Push", "Dreams" by The Cranberries, "Closing Time", "No Rain", "Tom's Diner", "Life Is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane, "Everything You Want", "The Middle", "With Arms Wide Open", "Higher", "Crazy", "Cryin'", "I've Been Thinking About You", "What Is Love", "Crash Into Me", "If You Could Only See", "Jumper", "Counting Blue Cars" on AC so far. I named most of the 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge/rhythmic tracks that I know had been aired on AC including KMGL, WLTW, KCKC, WRCH, and WLMG.
It seems like the only place you can find these 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge tracks now that Hot AC had pounded so much on in the 00s is on an Adult Alternative, Rock, Modern Rock, or Adult Hits/Variety Hits. I also believe Adult Alternative or Modern Rock doesn't play that much 90s or 00s anymore with the way Hot AC are. I believe Adult Hits is the best format to look for if you're looking for a station that still play these 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge tracks along with most of the new wave and glam materials of the 80s. The problem is that only half of the markets in the nation have an Adult Hits. I know Classic Rock had been heavy on 70s and 80s. With the way 90s and 00s are treated by Hot AC and AC, I wonder how well Classic Rock will embrace these 90s and early 00s tracks in the coming years, knowing that most markets have a Classic Rock.
It seems like either 90s music lack wide selections of tracks from each genre in that decade or that each genre in 90s music doesn't blend to well together with other genres from that decade. In the end, it's the decade where the style of music evolved from ballads, new wave, and glam to alternative, grunge, and rhythmic. One of my theory of why 90s music didn't stand up to well with time in radio is probably because there aren't much audience from the Gen-X population to support the audience shares while there is a vast amount of audience from the youngest end of the baby boomers to support the audience share from the oldest end of AC. That's why 70s kind of lasted a while on AC till a couple of years ago, so as the 80s now. You also saw how well 60s held up on Classic Hits a couple years ago, so as the 70s now.
If you observe the population pyramid of 2014, the population for female (and male too) between 35-39 are small compare to the rest of the population surrounding that age range. That's why it's apparent why AC haven't been doing so well over the past five years. That's why over the past five years, it had proven that 90s tracks doesn't test very well with the audiences for Hot AC and AC, especially in 12+ and 25-54. That's why it's apparent that AC are focusing more heavily on 80s and recurrents/currents, but ignoring the 90s and 00s while Hot AC are focusing primarily on recurrents/currents. And it's apparent that some Hot AC had ignored 90s after it phased-out 80s.
AC are playing fewer 80s than it did a few years ago. At least down to 3-4 80s an hour for an average AC, 2-3 80s an hour on some AC, and even 1-2 80s an hour on a few AC out there. As AC are playing fewer 80s, I thought they should have picked up more on 90s, but they aren't. They're playing 0-2 90s an hour, even 1 90s every 1-2 hours on some AC. They should play like 5-6 90s an hour or at least 3-4 90s an hour, ideally. But they're playing only 0-2 90s an hour. They're also playing much fewer 90s than they did five years ago and they're playing fewer 90s than 80s. 80s and 90s are going away together on AC. I wonder how well Classic Hits are going to pick up on 90s since 90s are well ignored by Hot AC and AC together over the past five years. At least many Classic Hits are already starting to play a little bit of 90s.
If I'm correct about Hot AC, it seems like Hot AC plays around 0-1 90s an hour, 1-2 00s an hour, and 9-11 recurrents/currents an hour. And it seems like AC plays around 2-4 80s an hour, 0-2 90s an hour, 0-2 00s an hour, and 2-4 recurrents/currents an hour.
It seems like the 90s and 00s were the only decades when 90s music got most of its respect from both Hot AC and AC where Hot AC took on the alternative and grunge materials by the 00s. Ever since the beginning of this decade, 90s music started to fade off Hot AC and AC together. That's very surprising for AC because AC didn't even get a chance to embrace much of the 90s and early 00s alternative and grunge materials that Hot AC loved so much in the 00s.
We only heard "Under the Bridge", "Two Princes", "Mr. Jones", "How Bizarre", "Beautiful Day", "One", "Ordinary World", "Come Undone", "Friday I'm in Love", "All for You", "One Headlight", "Unbelievable", "December", "The World I Know", "Real World", "Push", "Dreams" by The Cranberries, "Closing Time", "No Rain", "Tom's Diner", "Life Is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane, "Everything You Want", "The Middle", "With Arms Wide Open", "Higher", "Crazy", "Cryin'", "I've Been Thinking About You", "What Is Love", "Crash Into Me", "If You Could Only See", "Jumper", "Counting Blue Cars" on AC so far. I named most of the 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge/rhythmic tracks that I know had been aired on AC including KMGL, WLTW, KCKC, WRCH, and WLMG.
It seems like the only place you can find these 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge tracks now that Hot AC had pounded so much on in the 00s is on an Adult Alternative, Rock, Modern Rock, or Adult Hits/Variety Hits. I also believe Adult Alternative or Modern Rock doesn't play that much 90s or 00s anymore with the way Hot AC are. I believe Adult Hits is the best format to look for if you're looking for a station that still play these 90s and early 00s alternative/grunge tracks along with most of the new wave and glam materials of the 80s. The problem is that only half of the markets in the nation have an Adult Hits. I know Classic Rock had been heavy on 70s and 80s. With the way 90s and 00s are treated by Hot AC and AC, I wonder how well Classic Rock will embrace these 90s and early 00s tracks in the coming years, knowing that most markets have a Classic Rock.
It seems like either 90s music lack wide selections of tracks from each genre in that decade or that each genre in 90s music doesn't blend to well together with other genres from that decade. In the end, it's the decade where the style of music evolved from ballads, new wave, and glam to alternative, grunge, and rhythmic. One of my theory of why 90s music didn't stand up to well with time in radio is probably because there aren't much audience from the Gen-X population to support the audience shares while there is a vast amount of audience from the youngest end of the baby boomers to support the audience share from the oldest end of AC. That's why 70s kind of lasted a while on AC till a couple of years ago, so as the 80s now. You also saw how well 60s held up on Classic Hits a couple years ago, so as the 70s now.
If you observe the population pyramid of 2014, the population for female (and male too) between 35-39 are small compare to the rest of the population surrounding that age range. That's why it's apparent why AC haven't been doing so well over the past five years. That's why over the past five years, it had proven that 90s tracks doesn't test very well with the audiences for Hot AC and AC, especially in 12+ and 25-54. That's why it's apparent that AC are focusing more heavily on 80s and recurrents/currents, but ignoring the 90s and 00s while Hot AC are focusing primarily on recurrents/currents. And it's apparent that some Hot AC had ignored 90s after it phased-out 80s.
Since 35-39 is not a standard Nielsen demo and certainly not a buying demo, the slight bubbles and valleys in population are totally flattened by the use of broader demos like 25-54 or 25-49, etc. And since Nielsen does not guarantee proportionality at the year-by-year level, the ratings are smoothed.
When stations research their music against their demographic target, they will look for broad proportionality and play only the songs that test, irrespective of the year to a great extent. If a year or year spread has few testing songs, that era will not get airplay. It has nothing to do with listener age and everything to do with listener tastes today.
And, while the population pyramid may be accurate for the US as a whole, it is totally bogus for use in individual markets where the median age may vary by as much as 10 years... compare the Phoenix MSA to Buffalo's MSA, for example. So some markets may have more 35-39 than other groups, and some less. And rural areas and unrated markets will have a big influence on major market age distribution due to the growing urbanization of America.
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