The two largest station operators are both preparing major initiatives that will lead to changes at many CHR stations across the country.
The company that was then then known as Entercom initiated a reorganization of its programming at its Alternative and Country stations last September. Those changes included national midday and evening shows at their Country outlets, while the Alternative stations went to most jocks being heard on three or four stations plus national evening and overnight shows. Both also had new specialty weekend shows created and have moved to smaller programming teams overseeing each format.
Audacy is now preparing to make similar changes at another couple of formats. We know CHR will be one of them and based on last week’s cuts at 95.5 WPGC Washington DC, it appears Hip Hop stations will also see some form of restructuring. We’ve been told for a few weeks that the changes were due to take place between last Wednesday’s end of the Spring ratings survey and the end of the second quarter, which will be this upcoming Wednesday just ahead of July 4 holiday weekend.
I’m told that the changes at CHR will see the launch of national midday and evening shows that will air on all or most of the company’s sixteen stations in the format. The new on-air lineups are set to debut immediately after the holiday weekend. Much like the roll-out at Alternative last year, where multiple stations dropped their prior identities for “Alt“, we’ve heard of a possibility of some of the CHRs standardizing under the “Now” brand launched at 97.1 Los Angeles in April. The station has quickly risen in the Nielsen Audio ratings from a 1.2 share in its final full monthly as “Amp 97.1” in March to a 1.8 share in its first full monthly at “Now 97.1” in May.
iHeartMedia, on the other hand, is on the hunt for additional talent. I’ve been told that Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO/CFO Rich Bressler are both aware the company has cut too deep over the past couple of years and they will be refilling some of those lost positions. The focus right now appears to be on restaffing promotions departments gutted during the pandemic, however the company we’re told by multiple people is also putting a focus on developing new CHR morning shows.
This development is coming in multiple forms. “Z100” WHTZ New York debuted a new afternoon show hosted by longtime evening host Maxwell and former “Wild 94.9” KYLD San Francisco evening host Crystal Rosas at the start of this month and a couple other two-person afternoon shows are in the pipeline including one at “Q102” WIOQ Philadelphia.
“103.7 The Q” WQEN Birmingham lost the syndicated Ace & TJ Show to a crosstown competitor in April, and went local in the mornings hiring Alabama Cole and currently seeking a co-host to join her. “Kiss 107.1” WKFS Cincinnati also went local in mornings with APD/MD Tiffany Potter in March.
A third show is launched last week at “Z104.3” WZFT Baltimore where “Hot 99.5” WIHT Washington DC afternoon host Elizabethany and “107.5 The River” WRVW Nashville morning show producer Zac Woodward have been paired up for a Sunday evening show called “The Hype“. That joins a similar program airing on most of the company’s stations on Sundays, “The Vibe” hosted by 102.7 KIIS-FM Los Angeles’ “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” producer/co-host Tanya Rad and evening host EJ.
We’re told the initiative is in part coming from most of the company’s primary CHR morning talent being on the wrong side of 50 and in part to knowing the talent pool has been depleted in recent years by all of the cutbacks across the industry. These new shows join with last year’s debuts of “Your Morning Show” on WIHT and WZFT, “The Joe Show” at 93.3 WFLZ Tampa, and the hiring of Jubal Fresh to lead mornings at KBKS Seattle (and quite a few others via syndication), in becoming the start of a potential next generation of CHR morning talent at iHeartMedia.