Comments on: What Are Adult Hits’ 25-to-54 Winners Doing Right?

By: Gary Begin

Gary Begin — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:56:38 +0000

I still believe this is a quick fix to a larger problem. It might buy you two books, then what?

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:26:31 +0000

We switched formats February 18th, 2006 to a very similar format to that of “The Arch” (WARH)in St. Louis. It isn’t oldies 2.0 or classic hits – because you also will see Matchbox 20, Goo Goo Dolls, some softer Nickelback, Green Day (their new ‘music’), and many others. The best way I can describe this format is “chill rock”. It’s not hard, but it’s definitely not soft rock. This is the station everyone can agree to listen to at work; or the station that your local businesses will tune into because it’s the least offensive and the place to find the most uninterrupted music.

By: Beau Phillips

Beau Phillips — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 19:49:40 +0000

I still say that Jack/Bob is another example of stations looking for the easy, quick fix (remember Arrow?).
And I love the rationalization that “Jack is doing better than our previous format in its dying gasps”. Geez, you’d hope so! And you can’t say that about WCBS NYC. Where these stations survive, it will be as a 3rd choice button.

By: Bwo

Bwo — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 10:28:14 +0000

First of all for Tom Barnes, not all of us older guys stopped liking new music out of High School(Sean’s an example of that, and so am I.)
Sean, another great article…I do indeed like the Variety Hits format! At first I was doubtful of the format because of it’s lack of currents…but having heard stations like Liberty in Richmond, VA, The Arch in St. Louis and Jack in New York, I think that it really sounds great! Having grown up on pop in the 80′s and 90′s, I still consider myself a P1 Top 40 listner, so hearing a second or third cut on a Who CD is a bit of a “what” moment.
One thing I would like to see incorported is more of a female sound on some of the stations…The is a ton of great top 40 records from the 80′s, 90′s and even this decade that belong somewhere. Most top 40 stations won’t play them, because they’re too busy playing “Unwritten” 100 times a week. Not sure a lot of the stuff would test with this “Adult Hits” audience though.

By: Jules Riley

Jules Riley — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:35:35 +0000

Hi Sean:
Great article! Wanted to let you know that we started TV in January, not last fall.
Thanks,
Jules Riley
Program Director
106.5 The Arch

By: Claudia Perry

Claudia Perry — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:25:27 +0000

While on vacation in Idaho, I heard a station called The River (94.5 FM). Playlist seemed to be more triple A than Adult hits. Song mix included New Tom Petty, Ben Harper, old Stones, and Beth Orton. Station has jocks, very low key. I liked it a lot. However, I would agree with the adult hits format as practiced bya lot of these stations is oldies 2.0.

By: Lou Pickney

Lou Pickney — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:19:53 +0000

I’d suggest that Classic Hits is more Oldies 2.0 than Adult Hits.
This is a very well-crafted article, as is the norm on here. The format clearly has legs beyond what the naysayers were proclaiming when the format broke big 14-16 months ago. We’ll see how the next year fares for the major/mid-major markets, but I anticipate that it will turn out better than other so-called “fad” formats. Unlike 80s, Jammin’ Oldies, etc., Adult Hits has the depth of songs to avoid the burn that killed Jammin’ Oldies, and because it’s all hits, it doesn’t fall into the obscurity traps that fringe formats often face (AAA, which is also very hard to program well, comes to mind.)
What’s more, the emergence of three satellite services last summer allowed for small markets to hop on board the format without having to worry about the hassle of programming what is a tough format to handle.
The Phoenix/St. Louis examples are good points of how the format can be tweaked to maximize ratings in a given market. Louie FM in Louisville is knocking on the P25-54 door, and like Phoenix and St. Louis, it has live jocks. If that pattern continues, I wonder if some of the jockless Adult Hit stations might consider adding live jocks into the mix?
As for the KBBD example, I want to see more from it before I term it a ratings-giant, given that it bounced back from a tough Fall ’05 book to pop a strong Winter ’06 book (looking at the 12+ numbers.)

By: Tom Barnes

Tom Barnes — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:11:40 +0000

Good article this week, Sean.
Why isn’t this just “Oldies 2.0″? Same psychographic as original oldies format– same pop sensibilities–just different people. With the exception of Macy Gray– musically this all strikes me as music for 40 year olds who stopped adopting new music when they graduated high school (nothing wrong with that). Just like the original oldies 15 years ago. Why overthink it?