Totally MIA? WMIA 93.9 goes back to AC, playing "90s to Now"

[victorres43]

All 90s, all the time is no more. WMIA is moving back to an AC format, presumably one that is Rhythmic-friendly from the looks of it. DJ Laz joins Kimmy B in the mornings, along with other airstaff changes.

The “DJ Laz Morning Show with Kimmy B” replaces “Mack in the Morning”. Mack had hosted mornings on WMIA-FM since April 2019 after previously hosting afternoons at sister CHR “Y100” WHYI.

K. Marie La Gringa Más Latina, midday host at sister Spanish CHR “Tu 94.9” WZTU will pull double duty in middays on WMIA-FM replacing Michelle Fay. Fay remains in middays at “96.1 Now” KXXM San Antonio. “Wild 95.5” WLDI West Palm Beach morning host Carmine will add afternoon host duties. WKTU New York midday host Wendy Wild remains at night.

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/...-on-air-lineup-as-dj-laz-returns-to-mornings/

WMIA has ranked 23rd in the last book, in spite of the wisdom of a Gold-leaning format testing well. Perhaps people love 2010s music so much?

 

[MarkW]

I predicted the first week the all 90s format hit the air that it would be a ratings failure.

The new format appears to most directly target Hits 97.3. This appears to be a flanker for Y100. I like this move.

 

[victorres43]

I predicted the first week the all 90s format hit the air that it would be a ratings failure.

An interesting point here. In the early 00s, multiple all-80s stations have launched. Very few, if any, have been a true ratings success. Yet fast-forward 15-20 years, and 80s-centric Classic Hits stations have done massively well in markets of all stripes.

 

[CassChopper96]

You think they will beat WLYF?

 

[victorres43]

You think they will beat WLYF?

If WMIA plays their cards right, they may weaken WLYF, though I couldn't say they would beat them (let alone be on par with Easy). But if MIA does well enough, and Easy still stays on the air, Lite FM will be at a crossroads, a far cry from their Rob Sidney days.

 

[itsTheRolyPoly]

This won't beat WLYF. WMIA has been a ratings disaster ever since Love 94 went away on that frequency and unless that comes back, forget it.

And no, DJ Laz won't help with that. I don't care if he's legendary. His past two stops (DJ 105.3 and Hits 97.3) have been failures, so I'm not expecting much.

 

[ScottBurns]

This won't beat WLYF. WMIA has been a ratings disaster ever since Love 94 went away on that frequency and unless that comes back, forget it.

And no, DJ Laz won't help with that. I don't care if he's legendary. His past two stops (DJ 105.3 and Hits 97.3) have been failures, so I'm not expecting much.

I am sad to see the all-90s format go. I was one of the few who liked it. A few of the positives of that format:
1. I like that it was broad. Nirvana was played, along with dance, hip-hop, and R&B.
2. Despite some very repetitive tracks (such as J-Lo), the playlist was fairly wide for an iHeart station.
3. The station played some '90s songs that are generally not heard anywhere else on FM radio.

While going back to AC makes sense, I dread hearing the same 90s-to-Now, extremely tight playlist that is heard on other such-branded iHeart stations. Miami lost a unique format and replaced it with a stale and boring one.

Finally, was Mack let go completely? I'm surprised he wasn't moved to afternoons. That guy really paid his dues, voice-tracking all over the place, holding down afternoons at Y, and then mornings at WMIA.

 

[MarkW]

The new sound isn't AC in the traditional sense; it looks like Hot AC (minus currents) with a Rhythmic lean.

 

[victorres43]

The new sound isn't AC in the traditional sense; it looks like Hot AC (minus currents) with a Rhythmic lean.

I wouldn't say it's a Hot AC if it doesn't play currents. WWRM in Tampa Bay is considered a mainstream AC, but it plays fewer songs before 2000. CKNO in Edmonton, a Hot AC, plays some 80s, 90s, and even a few 70s. Really, the AC/Hot AC classification is based on the amount of currents and their respective rotations compared to the ones of the Gold songs.

 

[AMRocks]

The only way a station is going to beat another station is with promotion. Remember when Cox was ALL OVER Easy? It was on TV, billboards, etc. The company got behind the station's new format BIG time. (They started very soft AC and gradually moved the format more mainstream.) IHeart is NOT going to do any promotion. They never do.

Side note: IHeart used the promotion of Cox's new Easy when it first started out. If I remember correctly, Easy wasn't branded yet. They were all Christmas on 93.1 and advertised the hell out of it. IHeart, piranhas that they are, flipped the format of 93.9 to Christmas, hoping to get some people to tune to them based on the closeness of dial location. How'd that work out for them?

 

[itsTheRolyPoly]

The only way a station is going to beat another station is with promotion. Remember when Cox was ALL OVER Easy? It was on TV, billboards, etc. The company got behind the station's new format BIG time. (They started very soft AC and gradually moved the format more mainstream.) IHeart is NOT going to do any promotion. They never do.

Side note: IHeart used the promotion of Cox's new Easy when it first started out. If I remember correctly, Easy wasn't branded yet. They were all Christmas on 93.1 and advertised the hell out of it. IHeart, piranhas that they are, flipped the format of 93.9 to Christmas, hoping to get some people to tune to them based on the closeness of dial location. How'd that work out for them?

We're not a Christmas market. It doesn't matter to us.

 

[MarkW]

To ScottBurns - you might recall the 90s format on 93.9 was devoid of rock songs at first. After several months of terrible ratings, they were eventually added. Seemed to help the ratings just a little bit, and only for a brief time.

 

[Gregg.]

VicTorres writes >>>I wouldn't say it's a Hot AC if it doesn't play currents. WWRM in Tampa Bay is considered a mainstream AC, but it plays fewer songs before 2000. CKNO in Edmonton, a Hot AC, plays some 80s, 90s, and even a few 70s. Really, the AC/Hot AC classification is based on the amount of currents and their respective rotations compared to the ones of the Gold songs.<<<

Well, yes and no. Hot AC usually plays more currents and 2000+ tunes. Very little of the 90s. And AC is spread over several decades, 80s, 90s, 2000s and currents. But tempo is involved too. ACs aren't soft anymore but they can't be too hard either. You don't want to interrupt office listening with too many uptempo or rhythmic songs.

So maybe WMIA is neither Hot AC, Rhythmic AC or AC. Instead of its previous incarnation as 90s Hits, maybe we should say it is 90s/2000s Hits.

 

[victorres43]

VicTorres writes >>>I wouldn't say it's a Hot AC if it doesn't play currents. WWRM in Tampa Bay is considered a mainstream AC, but it plays fewer songs before 2000. CKNO in Edmonton, a Hot AC, plays some 80s, 90s, and even a few 70s. Really, the AC/Hot AC classification is based on the amount of currents and their respective rotations compared to the ones of the Gold songs.<<<

Well, yes and no. Hot AC usually plays more currents and 2000+ tunes. Very little of the 90s. And AC is spread over several decades, 80s, 90s, 2000s and currents. But tempo is involved too. ACs aren't soft anymore but they can't be too hard either. You don't want to interrupt office listening with too many uptempo or rhythmic songs.

So maybe WMIA is neither Hot AC, Rhythmic AC or AC. Instead of its previous incarnation as 90s Hits, maybe we should say it is 90s/2000s Hits.

Perhaps an updated iteration of the Adult Hits format, if so.

 

[strangelove]

The mix of music they're playing at the moment is definitely not bad. Let's see how this goes.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Well, yes and no. Hot AC usually plays more currents and 2000+ tunes.

Hot AC is really "Adult CHR". Some of the hard songs or teen songs or whatever are not played, and a little more gold is put in to sub for them. And the gold, consequentially, goes farther back than a CHR.

Very little of the 90s. And AC is spread over several decades, 80s, 90s, 2000s and currents. But tempo is involved too. ACs aren't soft anymore but they can't be too hard either. You don't want to interrupt office listening with too many uptempo or rhythmic songs.

A lot of that depends on the market. If the same company owns the CHR and the Hot AC, the crossover points are determined by how they want to split that particular pie. Similarly, a Hot AC and a conventional AC under the same owners, or an AC and a CHR that are co-owned will make internal decisions on how to focus, based also on their competitors.

So maybe WMIA is neither Hot AC, Rhythmic AC or AC. Instead of its previous incarnation as 90s Hits, maybe we should say it is 90s/2000s Hits.

Again, however they self-describe for Nielsen is more a sales strategy than a snapshot of the playlist.

 

[richiedon]

I think they made a big mistake in abandoning the all 90's format. It had a lot of potential but was mishandled, IMO. They played a lot of songs over and over. There weren't enough different songs played and there were too many from late in the decade. And there were a lot of songs that I found unfamiliar or dissonant. Enough to make me change the station. They played some songs that weren't popular yet in the 90's and ignored others like One Week by BNL. Playing songs from a single decade is fairly restrictive so they
shouldn't have made it even more so. There were a lot of big hits from the decade that were never played.

I think it's anybody's guess how the new format will do, but my guess is that it won't do much better. There's already quite a bit of repetition.

 

[Kelly A]

I think they made a big mistake in abandoning the all 90's format. It had a lot of potential but was mishandled, IMO. They played a lot of songs over and over. There weren't enough different songs played and there were too many from late in the decade.

Most stations in the 90's and 2000's that focused on an 80's format, found it an equally tough road. Doing a broadcast format that involves a single decade of popular music is too limiting, especially when your target demo gets too old to be appealing to advertisers. The exception of course is subscription streaming or satellite radio.

 

[ScottBurns]

Most stations in the 90's and 2000's that focused on an 80's format, found it an equally tough road. Doing a broadcast format that involves a single decade of popular music is too limiting, especially when your target demo gets too old to be appealing to advertisers. The exception of course is subscription streaming or satellite radio.

What about the countless Classic Hits stations today that play nearly exclusively 80s formats? iHeart has several stations like this.

 

[Kelly A]

What about the countless Classic Hits stations today that play nearly exclusively 80s formats? iHeart has several stations like this.

Classic Hits as a format at least spans three decades: 70's, 80's, 90's.