80s music on CHR

[tico]

What do you guys think about 80s music being played on CHR stations? My station does it and it's not just during their lunchtime retro show. I hear "Summer of '69" and "Livin' On A Prayer" a lot, along with songs from AC/DC and Tone Loc. If CHR is trying to win back the adult audience, they have a long way to go than just throwing in an occasional 80s song.

[Marv]

I have NO idea what radio station you're listening to, but 80's music doesn't belong on a CHR/Pop station, since that format has blown off millions of adults for over twenty years.

Eighties music works very well at Hot AC, AC, Oldies, Country, Rock & Alternative-formatted stations

The best way for CHR/Pop to get the adults to come back would be to quit chasing the same 12-34 demo that Urban and CHR/Rhythmic stations are fixated on, which would mean removing rap music from their playlists altogether.

But that's not about to happen.

[tico]

marv said:

I have NO idea what radio station you're listening to, but 80's music doesn't belong on a CHR/Pop station, since that format has blown off millions of adults for over twenty years.

My bad. WYOY Jackson.

I don't think CHR should completely blow off 80s music. I think they can play rap and rhythmic songs from that decade, but not much else.

[atlantaboy]

tico said:

What do you guys think about 80s music being played on CHR stations? My station does it and it's not just during their lunchtime retro show. I hear "Summer of '69" and "Livin' On A Prayer" a lot, along with songs from AC/DC and Tone Loc. If CHR is trying to win back the adult audience, they have a long way to go than just throwing in an occasional 80s song.

I'm guessing that's b/c Jackson MS doesn't have a HAC station (I think you said that once before) :) Therefore you truly have a mass-appeal CHR

[atlantaboy]

marv said:

80's music doesn't belong on a CHR/Pop station, since that format has blown off millions of adults for over twenty years.

Not in small markets with only one CHR station and no HAC - these stations also tend to have huge ratings (they're like CHR/HAC combinations)

[tico]

atlantaboy said:

tico said:

What do you guys think about 80s music being played on CHR stations? My station does it and it's not just during their lunchtime retro show. I hear "Summer of '69" and "Livin' On A Prayer" a lot, along with songs from AC/DC and Tone Loc. If CHR is trying to win back the adult audience, they have a long way to go than just throwing in an occasional 80s song.

I'm guessing that's b/c Jackson MS doesn't have a HAC station (I think you said that once before) :) Therefore you truly have a mass-appeal CHR

Even as a mainstreamer, Y101 has always leaned slightly towards the adults (think WRVW Nashville). There is no hot AC, but we do have Jack FM.

[EvanJ]

atlantaboy said:

Not in small markets with only one CHR station and no HAC - these stations also tend to have huge ratings (they're like CHR/HAC combinations)

WYOY doesn't have huge ratings.

[atlantaboy]

evanj said:

atlantaboy said:

Not in small markets with only one CHR station and no HAC - these stations also tend to have huge ratings (they're like CHR/HAC combinations)

WYOY doesn't have huge ratings.

I'm thinkin that's prob. b/c so many people in Jackson MS listen to country and b/c it has a really high black population that prob. listens to urban

[tico]

WYOY, in the late 90s, did have some pretty high ratings. When the now-defunct WDBT came on the air, WYOY's ratings went down and haven't recovered much since then. The area does have a very high black population (among the highest of all radio markets) and country music is very popular here too.

[shocker]

atlantaboy said:

tico said:

What do you guys think about 80s music being played on CHR stations? My station does it and it's not just during their lunchtime retro show. I hear "Summer of '69" and "Livin' On A Prayer" a lot, along with songs from AC/DC and Tone Loc. If CHR is trying to win back the adult audience, they have a long way to go than just throwing in an occasional 80s song.

I'm guessing that's b/c Jackson MS doesn't have a HAC station (I think you said that once before) :) Therefore you truly have a mass-appeal CHR

I think you're right, and I think it has to do in part that it's a small-market.

There's a similar station in either Flagstaff or Sedona, Arizona that does the same thing - at least the few times I've heard it. That station is Q102.9, and they're classified as a CHR, but I've heard them spin an '80s George Michael song along side a more current R&B-sounding song.

[shocker]

marv said:

Eighties music works very well at Hot AC, AC, Oldies, Country, Rock & Alternative-formatted stations

How long do you think these stations will continue to spin '80s hits? I thought it was a 20-year cycle more or less.

When the '90s ended and the 2000's rolled in, many Hot ACs stopped playing the '70s and considered the '80s as the flashback or retro decade.

So when the 2010's come around, does this mean the AC circuit will dump the '80s altogether? Mix 96.9 in Phoenix used to spin a lot of '80s hits several years ago, but now you're lucky to hear 1 '80s song every few hours; so I think they're starting to phase it out.

[tico]

At #118, I wouldn't call Jackson a small market. I don't think WYOY's choice of playing 80s music has anything to do with its market size. Jackson is the largest market in the state and the other smaller markets have CHRs that don't play 80s music. Maybe each station knows what works and what doesn't work in their markets.

[shocker]

tico said:

At #118, I wouldn't call Jackson a small market. I don't think WYOY's choice of playing 80s music has anything to do with its market size. Jackson is the largest market in the state and the other smaller markets have CHRs that don't play 80s music. Maybe each station knows what works and what doesn't work in their markets.

No offense, but that is a relatively small market; and I think that contributes to why you hear older songs on WYOY.

Other than that, atlantaboy is right on the money that a lot of it also has to do with the lack of Hot AC in your area. I looked at their playlist on R&R, and they appear to be an adult-leaning CHR - being that at least 17 or 18 of their top 30 songs are also Hot AC hits.

Not too much hip-hop on their current playlist either. That's rather unusual for a modern-day CHR.

[atlantaboy]

shocker said:

tico said:

Not too much hip-hop on their current playlist either. That's rather unusual for a modern-day CHR.

Especially one in Mississippi, which has a huge black population...it's almost unheard of for a Southern CHR station not to play hip-hop (even if they mix it with Hot AC leaning songs) unless there's a second CHR in the market

Don't wanna tell people at WYOY how to do their job, but it seems like if you're settin up a CHR in a city which is 50% black, you might wanna cater to that audience a bit...maybe that's why their ratings are low right now

[Mike Tuinstra]

This is actually ridiculous! These stations should be timeless and play the best of all genres from every decade on there!! They can focus on new hits but need to continue throwing in the classics as well! The 80's should live on!

[tico]

atlantaboy said:

shocker said:

tico said:

Not too much hip-hop on their current playlist either. That's rather unusual for a modern-day CHR.

Especially one in Mississippi, which has a huge black population...it's almost unheard of for a Southern CHR station not to play hip-hop (even if they mix it with Hot AC leaning songs) unless there's a second CHR in the market

Don't wanna tell people at WYOY how to do their job, but it seems like if you're settin up a CHR in a city which is 50% black, you might wanna cater to that audience a bit...maybe that's why their ratings are low right now

As I said earlier, WYOY has always leaned a little towards the adult side and in the late 90s, they were straddling the fence between modern AC and CHR and had really high ratings. I don't think the black population has much to do with their ratings not being as high.

As far as CHRs in Mississippi, the ones in smaller markets in the state play very little, if any, 80s music. WNSL Laurel, WXYK Biloxi and WJDQ Meridian sound like your standard CHRs.

[Marv]

Off the top of my head, these were the consensus top ten CHR/Pop singles of the eighties.....


Bette Davis Eyes

Every Breath You Take

I Love Rock And Roll

Billie Jean

Centerfold

Call Me

Flashdance (What A Feeling)

I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Physical

Say, Say, Say


Since the newest single on that list (Prince) was released in 1985, I don't see how any top 40 station could touch it, or any song on that list, although any Hot AC station could and would undoubtedly play all of those songs on a 'totally eighties flashback weekend', or a similarly-themed programming weekend.

All of those songs except for 'ILR&R' are undoutedly staples at AC radio as well.

Since essentially all of the kids and adults (let's use the 12-34 cell just for the heck of it) who listened to CHR/Pop radio throughout the eighties have undoubtedly evolved into becoming listeners of other formats (Country, AC, Hot AC, Oldies, Rock, Alternative or whatever) it makes no sense to me for any CHR/Pop station to touch any song on that list, even longtime heritage CHR/Pop powerhouses such as WNCI, WPRO, WXKS, KDWB, KRBE and lots of others.

It comes back to my previously mentioned statement about trying to be something you're not, or a poser, as atlantaboy stated recently.

Even if you took another collection of huge singles of the eighties, which would probably include songs such as 'Eye Of The Tiger', 'Roll With It', 'Faith', 'Money For Nothing', 'St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion), 'Beat It', 'Another One Bites The Dust', 'Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. II', 'Stuck With You' and 'We Are The World', you'd still find that all of those songs remain staples at both Hot AC and AC, but would be poison ivy for the vast majority of CHR/Pop stations out there.

So that means that I'd have to vote 'thumbs down' on the idea of eighties music on a CHR/Pop station, which is a current-based format if there ever was one!!!!!!

[atlantaboy]

tico said:

atlantaboy said:

shocker said:

Especially one in Mississippi, which has a huge black population...it's almost unheard of for a Southern CHR station not to play hip-hop (even if they mix it with Hot AC leaning songs) unless there's a second CHR in the market

Don't wanna tell people at WYOY how to do their job, but it seems like if you're settin up a CHR in a city which is 50% black, you might wanna cater to that audience a bit...maybe that's why their ratings are low right now

As I said earlier, WYOY has always leaned a little towards the adult side and in the late 90s, they were straddling the fence between modern AC and CHR and had really high ratings. I don't think the black population has much to do with their ratings not being as high.

As far as CHRs in Mississippi, the ones in smaller markets in the state play very little, if any, 80s music. WNSL Laurel, WXYK Biloxi and WJDQ Meridian sound like your standard CHRs.

I just looked at their playlist and they're actually pretty middle-of-the-road as far as hip hop and R&B - they play Kanye West, Sean Kingston, Timbaland, and T-Pain, and those are the major R&B hits right now...

the next "level" of R&B songs to add would be "Shawty" by Plies and "Crank That" by Soulja Boy and that prob. would make the station start to lean rhythmic, depending on what else they played

sorry...when I made that comment about not playin enough R&B, I thought they weren't playin Kanye or T-Pain

[dth1971]

WKSC 103.5 KISS FM Chicago once played late 1980's songs "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa and "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock.

[tico]

dth1971 said:

WKSC 103.5 KISS FM Chicago once played late 1980's songs "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa and "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock.

Those two songs would fit rather well onto CHR, given how much more rhythmic the format has become lately.

[shocker]

miketuinstra said:

This is actually ridiculous! These stations should be timeless and play the best of all genres from every decade on there!! They can focus on new hits but need to continue throwing in the classics as well! The 80's should live on!

It wouldn't be CHR if they played a mix of all genres from all decades. That would be closer to an "adult hits" format - one of those stations that spins the "70s, 80s, and whatever we want".

[atlantaboy]

tico said:

dth1971 said:

WKSC 103.5 KISS FM Chicago once played late 1980's songs "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa and "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock.

Those two songs would fit rather well onto CHR, given how much more rhythmic the format has become lately.

WKSC is a completely rhythmic station!! It doesn't deserve to even be called CHR IMO... Mediabase please reclassify these rhythmic stations so people won't think CHR is so rhythmic (which it's really not among the mainstream CHRs)