A sampling of texts/emails/Facebook messages/conversations from Saturday:
“This new 94.5 is amazing.” “So is the updated 93.3” “That one is bullsh*t. 94.5 plays Lil Keke. And Fat Pat.”
“Please blog ASAP about the new format for 94.5: classic hip-hop.”
“If I were the editor of Morning News, Vognar would already be hard at work on a front-page story about this.”
So, the backstory. Over the weekend, both 93.3 and 94.5 switched formats, both to classic hip-hop. In addition to the aforementioned Lil Keke and Fat Pat, both stations now lean heavily on B.I.G, KRS-One, Ice Cube, Beastie Boys, and Missy Elliott. The now-christened BOOM 94.5 plays more Houston rap than HOT 93.3, if that’s your preference. 93.3 has promised to stick with the classic format through the holidays, while 94.5 seems to have switched completely.
Radio Insight has some thoughts on the change, more than I considered:
What’s going on here? At first glance both station would not appear to be candidates for a format change. KLIF-FM had just relaunched its CHR format at the beginning of October, while KSOC had trended up 2.1-2.6-2.9 in its last three PPM monthlies. Earlier this week during Radio-One’s quarterly earnings report, CEO Alfred Liggins stated that in its first week on air “Boom 92” KROI Houston jumped from a 0.9 share under the previous format to over a 4 share. That has led to the format rolling-out in Philadelphia and now Dallas.
There is a chicken and the egg scenario at play. Did 93.3 switch to the format in order to attempt to gain access to the niche first and did Radio-One hastily flip 94.5 afterwards to claim their burgeoning brand in the Dallas market? Or was the 94.5 flip in the works leading to 93.3 quickly attempting to shut it down? If KLIF-FM’s attempt is being marketed as being through just the holiday season what will be next for the signal in 2015? Does this open the door for CBS or another company to launch a CHR competitor to iHeartMedia’s “106.1 Kiss-FM” KHKS with 93.3 out of the format? Very rarely are so many questions raised by format changes.
I don’t really care, as long as I get to hear more Lil Troy.
