KHHT made its flip to Urban “Real 92.3” at 9:23am today.
The flip occurred following the conclusion of a “Hot 92.3” countdown of the top 300 “Hot” songs and then Boys II Men’s “End Of The Road” leading into the launch of the new format. The launch package took shots at “having the Power now” and “say goodbye to Power” with Nicki Minaj’s “Only” as its first songs.
Listen to the launch of “Real 92.3” at FormatChange.com.
Meanwhile, “Power 106” KPWR has removed all references to Big Boy from their website and now lists former night host J Cruz in mornings.
Original Report 2/5: iHeartMedia has announced it will flip Rhythmic Oldies “Hot 92.3” KHHT Los Angeles to Urban “Real 92.3” at 9:23am on Friday, February 6.
Launching with “10,000 joints in a row”, the station will be positioned as “LA’s new home for Real Hip-Hop and R&B”. Doc Wynter, iHeartMedia’s SVP of Urban/Urban AC Programming will be overseeing the launch of “Real 92.3” as Program Director.
The launch follows the reports that crosstown “Power 106” morning host Big Boy intended to exit the station for iHeartMedia, but was since served a lawsuit to block his departure. At that time we first noted the anonymous domain registration of 923TheBeatLA.com for KHHT, which was since followed up by on made for Real923LA.com yesterday.
The move will give “Power 106” its first full-powered competition since the demise of “100.3 The Beat” KKBT in 2006 as it returns the Urban format to the 92.3 frequency where it saw its greatest success in the 1990s. KPWR is currently ranked sixth overall in Los Angeles’ Nielsen Audio ratings with a 3.8 share. KHHT is 14th overall with a 2.5.
iHeartMedia/Los Angeles flips Rhythmic Oldies KHHT-FM (Hot 92.3) to “Real 92.3,” with the slogan “the new home of Hip Hop and R&B for Los Angeles.” Real 92.3 kicks off Friday, February 6 at 9:23am with “10,000 Joints in a Row” commercial-free, featuring Hip Hop and R&B artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Usher, Jay-Z and Beyonce. iHM Senior VP/Urban Programming Doc Wynter adds Program Director duties.
Wynter has been with iHeartMedia since 1988. Throughout his tenure, he’s been instrumental in creating a number of iHM’s Urban outlets, including WWPR-FM (Power 105.1)/New York and most recently WMIB-FM (103.5 The Beat)/Miami and KQBT-FM (93.7 The Beat)/Houston. Wynter also oversees the Urban stations for iHeartMedia and on iHeartRadio.
“The all-new Real 92.3 will be LA’s new home for Real Hip Hop and R&B — it’s what LA listeners have been waiting for,” said Wynter. “Starting tomorrow morning at 9:23, we’ll start rollin’ 10,000 joints in a row!”
“This is an exciting and robust addition to our portfolio of iHeartMedia brands that reach more than 9 million people in Los Angeles each week through broadcast radio, digital, social and events. Hip Hop is thriving and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have leading the charge than Doc Wynter,” added iHM President of Southern California Greg Ashlock.
“Doc is the best urban programmer in America,” said iHM President of National Programming Platforms Tom Poleman. “His leadership, passion and creativity — and his incredible track record of success — will have a huge impact on Real 92.3. We’re thrilled to expand his role with us.”
It’s going down for “Real”…,
So what will this do for the HD 2 signal? Is that slated for a change as well? Also noted that HD 3 became Air 1 Christian radio just a few hours ago.
I assume it will stay as Slow Jams, which was created and is still programmed by former Hot jock R. Dub! Maybe Hot will slide over, not sure.
Either way, KPWR will stick with its current Rhythmic formula because they don’t want to lose their core Hispanic base. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
True. KPWR looks to be doing fine.. But again, I feel that KOST is about to announce some changes. A few HD sub-channel shifts took place just before this announcement.
So will the former hot 92.3 lIsteners go to 94.7 the wave?
That depends. But I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those listeners also spilled over to KJLH.
The problem with L.A. has been delivering the expectation. The new PD should meet with me.