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CHR/Hot AC-less markets in New England

T

Tomgsinger

Frequent Participant
Since CHR is a mass-appeal format, and many large markets have 2 of them, I have been thinking about the numerous CHR-less markets in my neck of the woods. They are:
Bridgeport
Stamford-Norwalk
Danbury
Springfield
Worcester
Lebanon/Hanover/White River Junction
Keene-Brattleboro (technically not a market)
The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and adjacent NH (they have WXXS, but it plays very few currents, and most of the songs I Hear peaked in the teens/20s on Nielsen/Mediabase)

Additionally, the Manchester, and Portsmouth markets have no Hot AC in them, and much of the Concord/Lakes market has no Hot AC even remotely audible!

Where would listeners in these markets go for CHR or Hot AC music?
-- Tom
 
Tomgsinger said:
Since CHR is a mass-appeal format, and many large markets have 2 of them, I have been thinking about the numerous CHR-less markets in my neck of the woods. They are:
Bridgeport
Stamford-Norwalk
Danbury
Springfield
Worcester
Lebanon/Hanover/White River Junction
Keene-Brattleboro (technically not a market)
The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and adjacent NH (they have WXXS, but it plays very few currents, and most of the songs I Hear peaked in the teens/20s on Nielsen/Mediabase)

Additionally, the Manchester, and Portsmouth markets have no Hot AC in them, and much of the Concord/Lakes market has no Hot AC even remotely audible!

Where would listeners in these markets go for CHR or Hot AC music?
-- Tom
Click to expand...

In Springfield, WHYN-FM is a near-CHR, with WMAS inching toward the hotter end of AC. For the more rhythmic side of CHR, WKSS puts in a good signal in much of the market from Hartford, as does urban WZMX.

The Bridgeport market is hemmed in by New Haven and New York City -- plenty of CHR signals for listeners, depending on where in the market they are.
 
You are talking about some small markets that only have three or four FM stations, so they have to get some formats from nearby markets. For instance, Bridgeport listeners can easily get Top 40 KC101 from Hamden CT. Technically it's in the New Haven Market, but only about 15 or 20 miles from downtown Bridgeport. And I would guess some people in Bridgeport would tune in Z100 from NYC for Top 40.

Wouldn't we say WLNH is the Hot AC for Concord/NH Lakes? I knew they got a power increase but I didn't realize they are now considered a Class C3. So that's a pretty good signal for that part of NH. For Top 40 there is 105.5 WJYY Concord. And for the northern part of the Lakes Region, 104.1 WVMJ staddles the line between Top 40 and Hot AC.

Stamford-Norwalk can hear NYC stations.

Danbury has its own Hot AC in WDAQ and can easily get WEZN's Hot AC signal from Bridgeport. But for Top 40, Danbury is right at the edge of the primary signal for KC101 in Hamden. (Many years ago, 95.1 in Brookfield was Top 40 WINE-FM, but that's going back several decades.)

And I have to disagree with CT Listener who says WHYN-FM is close to a Top 40 and WMAS is close to Hot AC. These days, these two stations are right on target for Hot AC (WHYN-FM) and AC (WMAS). That's what these formats sound like today. I don't understand why but apparently women in their 30s, 40s and 50s want very uptempo hit music. The distinction is more about how many years each station goes back for older material. If the station plays music before 2000, likely it's Hot AC. If it plays music before 1990, and plays more library titles than currents, it's AC.
 
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Gregg. said:
But for Top 40, Danbury is right at the edge of the primary signal for KC101 in Hamden. (Many years ago, 95.1 in Brookfield was Top 40 WINE-FM, but that's going back several decades.)
Click to expand...

Right. And now 95.1 is classic rocker WRKI, which provides a THIRD classic rock signal to parts of the New Haven and maybe even Bridgeport markets (along with WPLR and WDRC-FM or WFOX.). Does WPLR make it west to Danbury?
 
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Gregg. said:
And for the northern part of the Lakes Region, 104.1 WVMJ staddles the line between Top 40 and Hot AC
Click to expand...

When were you in North Conway last? The station is decidedly more CHR-based now, but is still adult-oriented. I contact the programmer of the station regularly, and he gives me the rotation list sometimes. The station has "Bad Things" in Power Rotation, but it also has "Water Under the Bridge" as a Power Recurrent, "HandClap", "Dancing on my Own", "You're Not There" and the original version of "Call on Me" in rotation as well. "Fresh Eyes", "She Sets the City on Fire" and "Way Down We Go" were all in rotation last fall-midwinter, and played nearly 15x weekly. "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5 was played recently as well. Their gold rotation includes "When We Were Young", the two Charlie Puth songs, "Renegades", and "Exs and Ohs". They daypart "Fake Love", "Bounce Back", "The Hills", "Hotline Bling", and "Low" (Flo Rida), and keep the two Macklemore songs, "BeautifulGirls", "Forever" , "Promiscuous" and "Yeah!" In full gold rotation. The programmer already said he never wants to put Bad and Boujee into rotation PERIOD. So is this really a hybrid, or just a hot AC-leaning CHR?
 
Tomgsinger said:
When were you in North Conway last? The station is decidedly more CHR-based now, but is still adult-oriented. I contact the programmer of the station regularly, and he gives me the rotation list sometimes. The station has "Bad Things" in Power Rotation, but it also has "Water Under the Bridge" as a Power Recurrent, "HandClap", "Dancing on my Own", "You're Not There" and the original version of "Call on Me" in rotation as well. "Fresh Eyes", "She Sets the City on Fire" and "Way Down We Go" were all in rotation last fall-midwinter, and played nearly 15x weekly. "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5 was played recently as well. Their gold rotation includes "When We Were Young", the two Charlie Puth songs, "Renegades", and "Exs and Ohs". They daypart "Fake Love", "Bounce Back", "The Hills", "Hotline Bling", and "Low" (Flo Rida), and keep the two Macklemore songs, "BeautifulGirls", "Forever" , "Promiscuous" and "Yeah!" In full gold rotation. The programmer already said he never wants to put Bad and Boujee into rotation PERIOD. So is this really a hybrid, or just a hot AC-leaning CHR?
Click to expand...
And also, it is 104.5. They also Day parted the two Fetty Wap songs, "Panda", "Roses", "Me Myself and I" and (in the beginning) "Don't Let Me Down", along with adding "Stand by You" back in October 2015 (before CHR really got a hold of it), "Good to be Alive", and "Kids" in September (same scenario as Stand by You). People who prefer a true Hot AC could go for WEZR-FM, which gets a good amount of signal in the Valley. Sorry if this was extensive as heck.
 
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