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The Best and the Worst CHRs

P

porkythepig

Inactive
Inactive User
12 good ones, in no particular order, is enough for me

101.3 KDWB Twin Cities
Z100 NYC
103.7 Kiss FM Milwaukee
Hot 99.5 DC (this is the new FLZ, jocks are outstanding!)
102.7 KIIS FM LA
97.9 WNCI Columbus
104.5 WSNX Grand Rapids
Radio Now 100.9 Indy
Q100 Atlanta
Kiss 106.1 Seattle (numbers used to be better, but I digress)
97.5 WABB Mobile
Kiss 108 Boston

A few smaller markets:  97.3 Kiss FM Savannah, Q97.9 Portland, Z102.9 Cedar Rapids, XL93 Grand Forks, I98.3 Willimantic, K92 Roanoke and Q92 Canton are ones I've always been impressed with.  I haven't been traveling much nor streaming many lately so the list is kinda small.

"Bad" stations are more based on personal preference than anything, but Hot 101 Youngstown and Channel 94.5 Dayton sounded pretty rough the last time I heard them.
 
Porky,
I can agree on many of those listed. although I would like to add a few to the "best" list.

KRCS - Rapid City, SD
KZZP - Phoenix
KRQQ - Tucson
 
You ain't kiddin' about 94.5 in Dayton.. Abysmal would be a good word to describe them. I was in Dayton over labor day to visit friends and family and got a chance to give them a listen for the first time in well over a year.

Outside of their syndicated morning show they are voicetracked by the same two people (who are hard to tell apart) the remaining 21 hours of the day. Their imaging consists of 13 year old girls and a guy ,who probably works in the building, saying "9-4-5" periodically. Musically, they are all over the map.. I actually heard them play "Don't Speak" by No Doubt back to back with "Got Money" by Lil Wayne.. They are an embarrassment to CHR radio IMHO..

As far as good CHRs go..

WFLZ, WNCI, and WWWQ are still personal favorites for both music and personality.

For small markets.. WQHY in Prestonsburg KY has always been great.. at least musically
 
DaytonRadio said:
You ain't kiddin' about 94.5 in Dayton.. Abysmal would be a good word to describe them. I was in Dayton over labor day to visit friends and family and got a chance to give them a listen for the first time in well over a year.

Outside of their syndicated morning show they are voicetracked by the same two people (who are hard to tell apart) the remaining 21 hours of the day. Their imaging consists of 13 year old girls and a guy ,who probably works in the building, saying "9-4-5" periodically. Musically, they are all over the map.. I actually heard them play "Don't Speak" by No Doubt back to back with "Got Money" by Lil Wayne.. They are an embarrassment to CHR radio IMHO..

As far as good CHRs go..

WFLZ, WNCI, and WWWQ are still personal favorites for both music and personality.

For small markets.. WQHY in Prestonsburg KY has always been great.. at least musically
Click to expand...

The worst radio in the world is when voicetracks come on and backannounce songs that weren't played.  I think even the biggest waterhead can tell the difference between Anna Nalick, 50 Cent and Blink 182.  But yet I heard that happen on Z94 in Minot a couple of years ago.  The station is syndicated Bob and Sherri in the morning show and voicetracked with out of market voices the rest of the day.

It's kind of difficult to get ANY sort of quality radio in Minot when one company owned all the commercial stations, which has changed now with two new sign-ons a couple years ago.  Haven't heard the Minot CHR, Z94, for a while so it might have changed by now.

Speaking about bad radio, last weekend I heard a station play "Pour some sugar on me" by Def Leppard... then the legal ID at 11PM then "Pour some sugar on me" AGAIN!!! WTF?  Word has it they're using Smart Caster on all the stations in the cluster, the kind that wangs songs off, has dead air, and does not overlap worth a crap.
 
Good: Z100, NYC, WILI (I-98), Willimantic, CT

Bad: Kiss 95.7 WKSS, Hartford-Meriden, CT - This station has been totally destroyed by CC. It was a great station right through the mid-late '90's. Not so anymore.
 
WOW It's the first time I have ever agreed with doc on something!

BEST CHRs

Z107.7 / KSLZ St. Louis
Z100 / WHTZ New York
KIIS Los Angeles
KRBE Houston
Hot 95.7 / KKHH Houston (shut up I like both)
Hot 93.1 / KRCS Rapid City, SD
Hot 97.5 / KKCT Bismarck, ND

WORST CHRs
Kiss 105.3 / WYKS Gainesville, FL
Star 102.1 / WWST Knoxville, TN
KKCK Marshall, MN (As said in other threads, the radio station is atrocious, period. They're known to do "Old School" weekends that are 90% 1980's songs, spend the noon hour playing 80's tracks, flips to alternative for 2 hours on Sunday nights, and jump all over records that are utter stiffs, and that's just the music. All the jocks have been in the biz for less than 2 years, or that's what they sound like. They should go back to college station KSSU across the street, where they have listeners that like listening to their inexperience and horse crap vocal abilities! Hot 104.7 = MUCH BETTER)
WDJQ / Q92 Canton, OH (Same description as above station, they're known to do 80's "Old School" weekends, an 80's lunch, and jumps on stiffs. The morning show host is a Howard Stern wannabe. 96.5 Kiss FM = MUCH BETTER)
98.5 Kiss FM / WPIA Peoria, IL (The jocks talk WAY TOO LONG and they play stiffs left and right.)
 
Best:
WFLZ
KIIS
Z100
Hot 99.5
Kiss 95.1 (Charlotte)
Q100
Wild 95.5

Worst
WKZL
 
Favorites of mine include:

WHTZ New York
KKHH Houston
KKOB Albuquerque
KBKS Seattle
WXKS Boston
WXLK Roanoke
KHOP Modesto
 
Favorites of mine include:
Z100 New York
KIIS L.A.
Hot 995 D.C.
KDWB Minneapolis
Kiss 108 Boston
Channel 933 San Diego
933 FLZ Tampa
97.1 ZHT Salt Lake City
Kiss 95.1 Charlotte
B92 Charleston
KRQ Tucson

Worst:
KRBE Houston
K-Hits Tulsa
 
I'm surprised to see K-Hits Tulsa in this list. They seem to be one of the few CHR's still letting the jocks be entertaining. They also have a very uptempo approach to everything. It sounds like the Kiss Fm's from the late 90's.

100% agree with KRBE. They do sound very clean and the imaging is tight but the music is so Hot A/C it dilutes what the jocks are doing.
 
The Truthsayer said:
WDJQ / Q92 Canton, OH (Same description as above station, they're known to do 80's "Old School" weekends, an 80's lunch, and jumps on stiffs. The morning show host is a Howard Stern wannabe. 96.5 Kiss FM = MUCH BETTER)
98.5 Kiss FM / WPIA Peoria, IL (The jocks talk WAY TOO LONG and they play stiffs left and right.)
Click to expand...

Hey Truth,

Just so you sound intelligent with your bashing, we've not done an Old Skool weekend since WHOF MY 101.7 came on in the Canton/Akron market. It didn't seem like a good idea to duplicate what they do since they are a JACK type AC station. And if you looked on a map and an Arbitron you'd know that our audience has the choice of listening to every station in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Canton but a majority of them choose WDJQ. The morning show is killing in this market 18-49 persons, so being a Stern knock off must not be a bad thing.

Please continue now that you have some knowledge.

JSTEW ;D
 
Nice to see John Stewart on the board. :)

John is a top notch PD with experience as the PD of Star in Tampa, APD/MD of KBKS in Seattle during its glory days and even programmed some big stations in Michigan and Minnesota.

Star in Tampa was doing well...of course Beat is doing better, but seriously, its Tampa.  They just wanted to go after CBS.  And Q92 is number two in the market... a VERY strong station.

I have to give credit to John on the fact that he is not a cookie-cutter.

Albeit a rhythmic, 92.1 The Beat in Tulsa also sounds solid.  I streamed B97 in Bloomington, Indiana yesterday and it sounds pretty good.
 
Thanks for the support Porky...but I haven't programmed in Michigan and haven't been to Minnesota. I did launch KBKS in Seattle and spent 15 years on-air in Tampa at 95YNF, MIX96, WARM 107 and yes was #1 in middays at STAR 95.7 and eventually the PD there.

Not sure why Truth has his panties in a bunch, our Old Skool lunch is 1/2 90's tunes and even some 2000's. Do some homework before you blurt out untruths.

JSTEW
 
Best:
KDWB
WHTZ
KHKS
WFLZ
WNCI
WBLI
KKHH
WWWQ

Worst:
WHOT
KISR - the owner is the voice guy and morning man i believe. a buddy of mine used to work in the market and has sent me audio. i think they stream now. if anyone can find a worse sounding mainstream chr than this please tell me!
KRBE
WYKS
WKZL
 
Hey Folks,
on the best/worst CHR stations... other than the liner package...
why do you vote like you do?? I see a few who disagree on some.. and agree on others.
 
The Beave said:
Hey Folks,
on the best/worst CHR stations... other than the liner package...
why do you vote like you do?? I see a few who disagree on some.. and agree on others.
Click to expand...
Personally, I base my picks on the production and elements that the station uses (sweepers, jingles, jocks, music flow, etc.). I think a lot of people are instead basing it entirely on the music and playlist. But to me, as a long time radio fan, it's the stuff in between the songs that makes or breaks a station for me. If a great playlist is all you are judging by, then why not just load up an iPod.

I guess that may make me a bit old school, but I can deal with a weak playlist a lot more than cheap, boring production. I guess that's why I'm not impressed with some of the picks people have listed (WILI comes to mind. I streamed them the other night after seeing them listed here and wasn't impressed at all. I thought the sweepers and production were really cheap and basic sounding. On the other hand, someone mentioned WWST Knoxville as being one of the worst, bit I disagree and think they sound good, production wise. They are a bit adult leaning, musically, so I'm guessing that's why the person disliked them.

Anyway, everyone has their own criteria, but for me, it's all about the production.
 
As a radio guy who is also a radio fan, I go with overall presentation and elements.  Music, jocks, imaging, promotions, ratings, etc.  Playlists are supposed to be built for each market, and not for industry standards.

I'm a bit easier on the smaller markets as they don't have big bucks to sound just as flamethrowing as Z100 and KDWB, for example.  It isn't really fair to compare WILI (I98) to Z100, but it sounds good for the market size.  So do XL93 (a bit partial as an alum) and Q92.
 
Hey Porky! Isn't WSNX on the Rhythmic panel?? I know it's a Rhythmic CHR. I admit the one-mighty WHOT sounded better a decade ago. I find it funny that J-Stew is trying to defend his station on here LOL. What I said are truths since my name is THE TRUTHSAYER.
 
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