This was the legal ID on Top 40 WKQI (Channel 95.5) Detroit yesterday:
“Hey, it’s Mojo in the Morning on Detroit’s No. 1 Hit Music Station, and if you live in Utica, we love you! You guys made us No. 1.”
It’s been a while since I’ve encountered the “thank you for making us No. 1” sweeper anywhere, particularly a CHR. But Channel 95.5 is up 4.3-5.9-7.3-8.3 6-plus from the Holiday ’22 PPM ratings. For March, that puts them atop the market. Classic Rock WCSX, last month’s winner by a tenth of a share, is off 7.4-6.5, giving PD Tony Travatto and APD/MD Sean Strife a nearly two share market lead.
March also saw a sharp rebound for KIIS Los Angeles, which has gone 3.0-3.6-3.9-5.0, making them second in the market behind Classic Hits KRTH (K-Earth 101)’s 5.4-5.8 rise. PPM’s blessings for CHR are hardly across the board, and not always sustained, but there are positive stories every month now, a distinct change from two years ago, and a nice thing to have in tandem with the annual spring improvement in the available CHR product.
An upturn at KIIS under PD Beata Murphy and MD Sisanie after several atypically low years is also a potential talisman for the format. After WCAU-FM Philadelphia, but before WHTZ (Z100) New York, it was the success of KIIS that helped signal Top 40’s resurgence in 1982-83.
Under PD Dom Theodore in the ‘00s, WKQI was one of the first really tight playlists in CHR—something much of the format caught up with. It was also fast on R&B, Hip-Hop, and rhythmic pop crossovers, and sometimes sat out major pop hits, in keeping with the market’s musical heritage.
We took a Fresh Listen to both KIIS and WKQI in afternoon drive on April 19. On Friday (21), another heritage CHR, WBBM-FM (B96) Chicago went in a different direction, opting for a yesterday-and-today mix. We take a First Listen to them below as well.
Both KIIS and WKQI have personality shows in that afternoons: Channel 95.5’s three-person Joe Show based at sister WFLZ Tampa and KIIS veteran Jojo Wright who is on at almost every break, punctuated with callers in a way that used to be typical for afternoons but is less heard now.
Afternoon topics on WKQI included The Mandalorian, Mercury in retrograde, and gender-neutral first names. This morning, Mojo’s topics were the team member who got into somebody else’s similar looking car by mistake, listeners who had lost jewelry that had been a gift, and Frank Ocean dropping out of Coachella. (KIIS middayer Gabbie Diaz had reported the Ocean story in her final break on Wednesday.)
Musically, Channel 95.5 is more mainstream than it was in the ‘00s and early ‘10s, but you can still see evidence of its musical heritage in the throwbacks. KIIS, through CHR’s tightening, has always been more aggressive on new music. There was a midday premiere for Rita Ora’s “Praising You” hours after its release yesterday.
Here’s KIIS just before 3 p.m. on April 19:
- Rihanna f/Jay-Z, “Umbrella”
- SZA, “Nobody Gets Me”
- Stephen Sanchez, “Until I Found You”
- NF, “Happy”
- LMFAO, “Party Rock Anthem”
- Raye f/070 Shake, “Escapism”
- Metro Boomin f/the Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”
- Britney Spears, “… Baby One More Time”
- Steve Lacy, “Bad Habits”
- Lizzy McAlpine, “Ceilings”—Jojo teased a visit from McAlpine coming up after 6 p.m.
- Miguel, “Sure Thing”
- Taylor Swift, “Style”
- Ariana Grande, “Positions”
- SZA, “Kill Bill”
- Akon f/Snoop Dogg, “I Wanna Love You”
- Pinkpantheress, “Boy’s a Liar”
Here’s WKQI before 3 p.m. on April 19:
- Miguel, “Sure Thing”
- Coi Leray, “Players”
- The Weeknd, “Die for You”
- Rihanna f/Jay-Z, “Umbrella”
- Pinkpantheress, “Boy’s a Liar”
- Post Malone f/Doja Cat, “I Like You”
- David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”
- J. Cole, “Work Out”
- The Kid Laroi, “Love Again”
- Metro Boomin f/the Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”
- Young Money f/Lloyd, “Bedrock”
- Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy”
- Khalid, “Better”
- Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
While those two heritage stations rebounded last week, another major CHR revamped–something we’re likely to keep seeing until today’s CHR hits are clearly stronger than throwbacks. Of all the stations relying more on CHR throwbacks, B96 is closest to the 18-month-old WFLC (Hits 97.3) Miami with roughly a 60/40 older/newer mix of “the music you’ve always loved and the best of what’s new,” although WFLC plays some brand new titles. Here’s the revamped B96 at 4 p.m., on its first day, April 21
- Taylor Swift, “Lavender Haze”
- Outkast, “Hey Ya”
- Ginuwine, “Pony”
- Britney Spears, “Toxic”
- David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”
- The Weeknd, “Earned It”
- I., “Whatever You Like”
- Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
- 24KGoldn f/Ian Dior, “Mood”
- Edward Maya, “Stereo Love”
- Doja Cat f/SZA, “Kiss Me More”
- Destiny’s Child, “Soldier”
- Usher f/Ludacris & Lil’ Jon, “Yeah”
- Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com