RadioInsight

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Hits 101.3 Brings Oldies To Waco

Posted: 15 Feb 2021 12:30 PM PST
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...ldies-to-waco/



M&M Broadcasters flipped Waco market Country 101.3 The Highway K267AI
Moody/KBHT-HD2 Bellmead TX to Oldies Hits 101.3 today.

Positioning as Good Times and Great Classics, the new format is musically
centered in the 1970s with music stretching from the early 1960s into the
1980s. The new format takes K267AI from targeting iHeartMedias market
leading Country WACO 100 99.9 WACO-FM directly to creating a double attack
with sister Variety Hits 104.9 Bob-FM KBHT on iHearts second ranked Classic
Hits Big 95 95.7 KBGO-FM




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On The 125th Day Of Christmas Music, Why Is WJSR Still In Holiday Mode?

Posted: 15 Feb 2021 11:55 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...-holiday-mode/



As the new year and now Valentines Day have come and gone, SummitMedias
100.9 WJSR Lakeside/Richmond VA is still in all-Christmas mode as Santa
100.9.

Today marks the 125th day of Christmas music programming since the station
began stunting on October 13, 2020. This stunt was preceded by thirteen
days of additional stunting as Short Attention Span Radio running
auditorium hooks of songs. Christmas has come and gone and were now halfway
through February, but WJSR continues to run Christmas music. Why is this
happening?
This content is for Premium Annual and Premium Monthly members only. Visit
the site and log in/register to read.



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Rating the Lost 90s

Posted: 15 Feb 2021 08:59 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/ross/204964...-the-lost-90s/



Lost hits are supposed to be lost for a reason. If you enjoy encountering
them again on a throwback weekend, in a supermarket aisle, or on
AccuRadio’s Lost ‘90s channel, (curated by friend of ROR Rich Appel), your
enjoyment isn’t really supposed to depend on whether songs are good. If
they’re fun to hear once every 15 years, or if they conjure high-school
endorphins, lost hits have done their job.

So when I rated the songs I heard over the course of a few hours, what I
graded for (on a scale of 1-10) was mostly my enjoyment after not hearing
most of these songs on the radio for a while. That exempted songs from
having to stand the test of time, and yet I mostly found myself in the
midrange anyway. But if the ‘90s were your school years, and you’re excited
about hearing that era back on the radio, I fully expect you to score them
differently.

This isn’t a typical “First Listen� to the Lost ‘90s channel itself.
Instead, I decided to discuss the songs I heard alphabetically by artist,
rather than in the order in which I heard them . It’s not a review of the
channel, just an opportunity to have some fun discussing the songs, like
they do on Facebook’s “Oh Damn …That Song!� group, devoted heavily to the
‘90s and early ‘00s. Ive also calculated the Lost Factor for these songs:

Ace of Base, “Living in Danger� (1994) – It was eagerly seized upon by CHR
at a time when Ace of Base was one of the acts few stars. But it felt like
a fourth single. Also, a lyrically weighty Ace of Base wasn’t what people
wanted from them (even the next time on “Beautiful Life�). Hearing “Living
in Danger� doesn’t quite pack an “oh wow� for me, in part because the first
three singles are relatively available on ‘90s and Soft AC stations, and it
sounds like those songs. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top
100); RATING: 4.

After 7, “Nights Like This� (1991) – They were coming off “Ready or Not,�
“Can’t Stop,� and a reissued “Heat of the Moment.� Then they set aside
Babyface’s sound-of-the-moment for this Five Heartbeats soundtrack exercise
in ‘60s-style R&B, and their momentum never recovered. But it was a decent
Temptations homage, considering that the Tempts were still active at the
time (and still a year away from their final pop-chart appearance with Rod
Stewart on The Motown Song). The song that endured from The Five Heartbeats
turned out to be the R&B hit, “A Heart Is a House for Love,� which got
nowhere at pop radio, but gave the Dells a well-deserved place in Adult R&B
gold libraries for another 15 years. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the
year-end Top 100); RATING: 6.

Brian Setzer Orchestra, “Jump Jive an’ Wail� (1998) – I would never
begrudge a Stray Cat a hit. I will always give Louis Prima his due
proto-rocker respect. (His songs were, after all, successfully remade twice
in the rock era.) I didn’t mind hearing “Jump Jive an’ Wail� this week, but
it was “Mambo No. 5� in 1999 when the swing revival became something more
than a genre exercise. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top 100);
RATING: 5.

Britney Spears, “Sometimes� (1999) – It turned out to be three uptempo
songs — “ … Baby One More Time,� “Oops! … I Did It Again,� and “Toxic�
that endured at radio. The ballads were never quite as big, but vulnerable
Britney is particularly poignant now, and you wonder if “Sometimes� or
“Every Time� would hit differently this time. LOST FACTOR: 0.9, made low by
airplay at all-‘90s WMIA (Totally 93.9) Miami; RATING: 4 – At the time it
felt like a more subdued version of another international Max Martin hit I
liked better, Jessica Folcker’s “How Will I Know (Who You Are).� But your
mileage will differ, class of ’00. And I’m reconsidering.

Deadeye Dick, “New Age Girl� (1994) – One of a handful of novelty/reaction
songs with which Top 40 tried to spur some excitement during its doldrums.
I wanted it to be a hit, but it felt a little forced even at the time. At
moments, it was too smart to be an effective novelty, not unlike Dada’s
“Dizz Knee Land,� but the punchline in the chorus was ZZ Top-meets-Beavis &
Butthead. It was also never supported by Alternative radio, if I remember,
which is why they didn’t become, say, Presidents of the United States of
America (see below). LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top 100,
although on Josh Hosler’s alternate “Pop 100� computations, the Lost Factor
would be a 10); RATING: 5, fun to hear every few years.

Hootie & the Blowfish, “I Go Blind� (1995) – Because Im involved with
Canadian radio, this cover of the 54-40 hit never became lost for me. In
America, it was enough of a secret weapon at the time for the stations that
found it on a soundtrack that I figured it might endure here as well, their
most-heard song after “I Only Wanna Be With You.� But this was never played
quite enough at the time to become familiar here. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t
make the year-end Top 100); RATING: 6.

INXS, “Disappear� (1990) – It was the rush-released follow-up to “Suicide
Blonde.� It was an easy enough song to like, and still sounds good to me
now, but it didn’t have the kick of any of the Kick singles, and it was
already “no longer what CHR plays� in the rhythmic pop era. LOST FACTOR:
1.1 (low because it was only big enough to reach No. 91 of the year, but
gets just over 100 spins); RATING: 7, but you may view it as more of a
throwaway.Â

LFO, “Summer Girls� (1999) –Among boy bands of the era, LFO had an unusual
arc, starting out in the shadow of Backstreet Boys/’N Sync and finally
finding a place as pop/rock successors to Hanson. Their big moment arrived
about halfway in the process and also owed a little to “One Week� by
Barenaked Ladies’ stream of pop culture references. LOST FACTOR: 5, but
just wait for summer, especially if it’s a happier summer; RATING: 8,
because it’s the kind of song you’d want to hear on a Lost ‘90s channel.

Lisa Stansfield, “This Is the Right Time� (1990) – In the UK, it was her
first solo single. In the U.S., it was a year old and the second follow-up
to “All Around the World.� In that context, it was pleasant enough, but not
the hit she needed. It’s pleasant enough now. If I’d heard it on the
Rhythmic AC Heart FM London of a decade ago, I probably would have really
enjoyed it, especially hearing it in a different context. (Why not? It’s
the same as hearing a song on the radio vs. hearing it on-demand on your
phone.) LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top 100); RATING: 5.

Mariah Carey, “Anytime You Need a Friend� (1994) – Radio never quite
decided which Mariah to bring back: the Hip-Hop-tinged uptempo numbers or
the early ‘00s ballads. Maybe that’s why the midtempo “Always Be My Baby�
became the enduring song (at least for 11 months of the year), and
less-remembered ballads like this one are indeed lost at radio. This got
better to me as it went along. Careys sung ad-libs at the end are what I
like about Classic Soul; Careys vocal runs at the end are what you either
like or dont like about Mariah. LOST FACTOR: 18; RATING: 4.

Monica, “Angel of Mine� (1999) – I’d already lived with the Eternal
original as a hit on UK radio, and on WPOW (Power 96) Miami. I still like
Monica’s version, which was Billboard’s No. 3 song of 1999; I still love
theirs. LOST FACTOR: 0.95; RATING: 6 (original gets an 8).

Nikki French, “Total Eclipse of the Heart� (1995) – Exciting and badly
needed at the time. By dint of being newer and uptempo, it should be the
version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart� that you hear most often on the
radio. But Bonnie Tyler’s original gets about 75% of the airplay. Also,
this version feels sort of dreary now, not enough of a relief from todays
hits; then again, at the time, it was one of a few minor-key dance records
that I referred to as “bleak house.� LOST FACTOR: 0.5; RATING: 5.

Phil Collins, “You’ll Be in My Heart� (1999) – It was a hit on WHYI (Y100)
Miami, then on the cusp of Hot AC and CHR, so it’s actually on the new
WMIA. If this song and/or the movie Tarzan was part of your childhood,
you’ll be considerably more attached to it than I am. Even at the time, I
felt it was okay for what it was. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the
year-end Top 100); RATING: 5.

Presidents of the United States of America, “Peaches� (1996) – They arrived
during the “new rock revolution.� “Peaches� followed “Lump�’s blast of punk
anarchy. Listening again 25 years later, this is really a Spin Doctors
record. In fact, it’s not so different from “Cleopatra’s Cat,� the Spin
Doctors song that quickly snapped their own hit streak in 1994. But if you
were Class of ’96, you’re going to like this more. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t
make the year-end Top 100); RATING: 4.

Sting, “All This Time� (1991) – In the last moments before monitored
airplay, this was a top 5 hit, but not a song I heard much on large-market
CHR at the time. It was mournful — about the death of the artist’s father;
also, Sting was suddenly out of step on the rhythmic-leaning CHR at the
time. He fared better in 1993 with the equally elegiac “Fields of Gold,� in
part because only the adult-leaning CHRs were left in the format at the
time. LOST FACTOR: 0.5 (low spins, but also low year-end points); RATING: 7.

2Pac, “Changes� (1998) – Never quite “lost,� it became a gold library
staple for a while in the ‘00s, and resurfaced again in the turmoil of
2020. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top 100, but received 324
spins last week, so would be well under a 1.0, our dividing line for
“lost,� even if it was the biggest song of 1999); RATING: 10.

Vengaboys, “We Like to Party� (1999) – Milli Vanilli were blamed for Top
40’s early ‘90s travails. As it turned out, they saved the format a few
times over by paving the way for Euro-goofiness to make it in America.
Without it, we probably couldn’t have had “Rhythm Is a Dancer,� “What Is
Love,� and the other dance songs that buoyed the format until “Wannabe�
came along. In fact, we probably couldn’t have had “Wannabe.� A cycle
later, we wouldn’t have had the “turbo-pop� of the late ‘00s/early ‘10s. We
definitely wouldn’t have had Aqua or the Vengaboys. I experienced this song
as a current on UK radio, where it was barely goofy enough for the DJs to
complain about at the time. LOST FACTOR: N/A (didn’t make the year-end Top
100; RATING: Beyond good and evil, but my enjoyment in hearing it again was
a 7.

Wallflowers, “The Difference� (1997) – CHR goes through “Brigadoon� moments
where the Triple-A or singer/songwriter acts that are usually “too good for
radio� suddenly sound like pop stars. It happened with Steve Forbert in
1980. It happened with the Wallflowers in 1996-97, a relatively sustained
period for acoustic crossovers, buoyed by the growth of Modern AC. I liked
this more than “One Headlight.� I liked “Sleepwalker� even better a few
years later, by which point there was no possibility of Top 40 being
interested. Also, this sounds surprisingly like a Graham Parker song;
certainly, “The only difference/That I see/Is you are exactly the same/As
you used to be� would have been withering coming from Parker or Elvis
Costello. LOST FACTOR: N/A (wasn’t a single and as such not on the Hot
100); RATING: 7.



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Fiftieth Anniversary Listen: WRIF Detroit, KISW Seattle

Posted: 15 Feb 2021 08:00 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/ross/204854...-kisw-seattle/



Not that long ago, Active Rock radio was multiply challenged — by a lack of
current product and by current rock music’s diminished prominence in the
firmament. There were also new stations who tried to get around that by
just playing a harder, newer version of Classic Rock that included grunge
and the early ‘00s.

Entercom’s KISW Seattle pushed through that period through its emphasis on
personality — morning team B.J. & Migs and afternoon show The Mens Room.
Beasley’s WRIF Detroit was certainly helped by morning team Chuck & Dave
the Freak, but also did the best of many major-market outlets in exposing
recent Active Rock chart acts.

On Saturday, both KISW and WRIF celebrate their 50th anniversaries. KISW
will focus its celebration on Friday’s programming. WRIF has an entire
special weekend. Both have been leading up to the weekend with artist
tributes, vintage audio, and the like. Listening this week has been an
enjoyable reminder both of Album Rock radio’s power in the ‘70s but also of
its renewed currency over the last year, when men have controlled more of
the available radio listening.

As a college freshman in Southeast Michigan in 1979, I experienced WRIF in
a peak year. Among my college radio friends, the proudest moment was
meeting the station’s JJ & the Morning Crew in public; as often, they were
walking around doing George Baier’s character voices themselves. WRIF was
always a little more eclectic than one would expect in 1979. The two songs
I most associate with the station that fall are “Powderfinger� by Neil
Young and “I Fought the Law� by the Clash. The next year, the more
corporate-rock-driven WLLZ came to town and rock radio was disrupted for a
while.

Active Rock remains a few different formats now. Some of the format’s
recent successes, including WMMR Philadelphia and WIYY (98 Rock) Baltimore,
sound more like the Heritage Rock outlets of the early ‘90s. KISW was
library-driven in middays — its only music-intensive daytime shift — when I
listened. WRIF has emphasized the today half of its yesterday-and-today mix
more than most. When WRIF does “Two-for-Tuesday,� the blocs include AC/DC,
Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, and Rage Against the Machine, but also Halestorm,
Pop Evil, and Corey Taylor.

My “Fresh Listen� to WRIF was with p.m. driver Meltdown, who, even when I’m
not listening, is somebody I see daily as one of rock radio’s most active
social media presences. His daily “Fourplay� 4 p.m. feature this week was
devoted to one of the station’s decades for each day. Monday, when I
listened, was devoted to Detroit artists from the ‘70s. “I can’t think of
Detroit without thinking about the RIF,� said an artist drop from Alice
Cooper when his song played. “The home of rock and roll in Detroit Rock
City,� said the :00 ID.

Here’s WRIF at 3 p.m. on February 8:

Rob Zombie, “Living Dead Girl�
Motley Crue, “Wild Side�
Green Day, “Longview�
Stone Temple Pilots, “Dead & Bloated�
Royal Blood, “Trouble’s Coming�
Sublime, “What I Got�
Guns N’ Roses, “Live and Let Die�
Nine Inch Nails, “The Hand That Feeds�
Breaking Benjamin, “So Cold�
Puddle Of Mudd, “Control�
Pretty Reckless, “Death by Rock and Roll�
Offspring, “Come Out and Play�
Ted Nugent, “Free-for-All�
Bob Seger, “Turn the Page (Live)�
J. Geils Band, “Detroit Breakdown (Live)�
Alice Cooper, “Be My Lover�


I heard KISW with OM/middayer Ryan Castle and again that afternoon with the
Mens Room. Castle played Jane’s Addiction and recalled the station’s Rising
Star Concert Series at the Paramount Theater in 1989 when that band played
with Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden. “Were you there?� he asked. A
sweeper promised that the anniversary broadcast would contain similar
“juicy stories, cloudy memories, and dancing.�

The Mens Room topic was “embarrassing things you’ve had to tell the
doctor,� with plenty of Miles Montgomery and Steve Hill’s own stories,
listeners’ freak accidents, the friend who had heart trouble at a young age
and had to (honestly) deny having a cocaine addiction every time a doctor
or nurse came by, and what dental hygienists know about your personal life.
The show plays two songs an hour; listeners call in to dedicate character
voice bits to loved ones.Â

Here’s KISW just before 11 a.m., February 9 with Castle:

Muse, “Uprising�
Everlast, “What It’s Like�
Led Zeppelin, “Over the Hills and Far Away�
Jane’s Addiction, “Jane Says�
Greta Van Fleet, “Safari Song�
Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer�
Nirvana, “Polly�
Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust�
Linkin Park, “In the End�
Offspring, “The Kids Aren’t Alright�
Pink Floyd, “Speak to Me/Breathe�
Alice In Chains, “It Ain’t Like That� (the lead-off song in “The Hook Up,�
the Noon feature where each song starts with the last letter of the
previous title)
System of a Down, “Toxicity�


There’s more info about KISW’s anniversary here. See the WRIF info here.



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Dave Benson & Bobby Guy Move To Mornings At WRKR

Posted: 15 Feb 2021 07:05 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...nings-at-wrkr/



Townsquare Media has made some on-air changes at its Kalamazoo MI cluster.

Dave Benson and Bobby Guy debuted in mornings today at Classic Rock 107.7
WRKR Portage. The duo have both been established in the market for decades.
Benson joins WRKR after 34 years in afternoons at Townsquare CHR 103.3
WKFR. Guy moves from afternoons at WRKR and has previously served as
PD/morning host at Country Kalamazoo Country 102.5 W273AR and worked on-air
at Win 98.5 WNWN-FM. Townsquares Regional Digital Strategist Eric Meier has
succeeded Guy in afternoons at WRKR.

Benson and Guy replace Jerry JT Tarrants and Stephani Bishop in mornings.
Tarrants had joined the station in September 2020 as Director of Content
for Townsquare Kalamazoo and PD/morning host at WRKR. Bishop had co-hosted
mornings at WRKR since 2012 mostly alongside Mike McKelly until his
retirement ahead of Tarrants hiring.