In 2021, KRTY San Jose made the year’s list of Intriguing Stations on the particular strength of its streaming efforts—the “download our app, enable our skill, follow our socials” promos that sometimes felt perfunctory elsewhere were more impactful. KRTY was also a great, independently-owned local radio station that found its own Country hits. Then, just as last year’s column landed, the usually successful-enough KRTY found itself a surprise market leader.
A few months later, KRTY was sold at a bargain price to become an affiliate of Christian AC network K-Love, and all of those device promos were no longer a drill. There were no takers for the station’s intellectual property, although AC rival KBAY (Bay Country 94.5/92.1) did decide to fill the Country franchise. KRTY moved to streaming-only with much of its airstaff in tow. For a month, when Nielsen inadvertently included it in the ratings, KRTY.com achieved an apparent 4.6 share.
Beyond these pages, the KRTY.com story evanesced as soon as the station disappeared from the ratings. Group-owned rivals are unlikely to tell that story or pay Nielsen to tell it. Without the second act, KRTY was just another set of familiar calls sold to K-Love (or flipped to an FM simulcast, or replaced by sports betting), and not protected even by winning. Instead, KRTY.com was the most encouraging news thus far about broadcasters’ prospects beyond the FM dial. By year’s end, though, I had more.
Last month, I walked into a post office in Central New Jersey and heard WHLH (Hallelujah 95.5) Jackson, Miss., a station I last wrote about during the FM Gospel boom of 2004, but which has been a market force ever since. The clerk had found it, randomly it seemed, on the iHeart app. Later that day, I heard WHLH’s Lance Fuller giving info about bottled water distribution amidst the city’s ongoing water crisis. A station was simultaneously meeting the very specific needs of its community and filling an FM format void 1,200 miles away. This is how I envision a workable future for radio.
I have constantly encouraged broadcasters to make sure that theirs is the franchise on any platform for companionship and community, in part because deeper pocketed streaming competitors could do so at any time. Amazon’s Amp, which combines live chat rooms and the ability to stream music, calls itself “live radio,” even as many broadcasters declare the word “radio” limiting. As it turned out, not even Amazon had unlimited resources, and Amp had staff cutbacks. But Amp is now paying content creators, the functionality is improving, and somebody is at least trying to reinvent radio and foster community.
Stevie Wonder’s longtime Adult R&B KJLH Los Angeles regained my attention this year, in part because of the adamance with which it sold localism and community, in part because of its highest-ever ratings, and because it continues to find its own records.
I liked Audacy’s WPAW Greensboro, N.C., for its musical enterprise as well. Even as stations like WCTQ Sarasota, Fla., and KXKC Lafayette, La., exchanged “hot country” for a gold-based version (and improved ratings), the Wolf kept successfully finding its own hits. In 2022, Country radio was cautiously optimistic about a new crop of rawer, streaming-driven acts. The Wolf was where I felt I most heard Country radio changing.
There were lots of stations where I heard Classic Hits changing. The next generation of Classic Hits — the ’90s/2K version — had one of the year’s splashiest debuts at KZIS (Kiss 107.9) Sacramento, Calif. By the end of the year, Cumulus had made a similar move on KLIF (Hot 93.3) Dallas, while Hubbard’s WSHE Chicago continued to evolve that way. Readers also talked about the relaunch of KMVA (Hot 97.5) Phoenix and the launch of Party 103.3 Toledo, Ohio. And ’90s/2K’s most enduring outlets remain Canadian, particularly CHUP (C97.7) Calgary.
But stations were also continuing to evolve the existing ’80s-based Classic Hits model. WNBH (Big 101.3) New Bedford, Mass., is the station that has moved most forcefully into the mid-’90s WKTU New York stash of dance/pop. On Big 101.3, you’ll still hear “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, but the song that followed it as I wrote was “Around the World (La La La)” by ATC. An AM/FM translator combo, WNBH was doing a 2 share in nearby Providence in December (and also seems to have kept the traditional Classic Hits outlet from the kind of numbers usually seen by the format in comparable markets.)
It was a big year for Classic Hits stations called “Big.” KFBG (Big 100.7) San Diego surged by putting a little “oh wow” back in the Adult Hits format and aggressively selling variety on air. In December, however, the much tighter KXSN (Sunny 98.1) reclaimed the format lead.
Overall, there was life beyond the safe list at WOMP-FM Wheeling, W. Va., which brought back heritage calls and was up 6.8-15.9. ROR reader Paxton Guy’s WUEZ Carbondale, Ill., segued from Classic to Adult Hits and with it more variety as Steve FM after the holiday. SiriusXM’s 70s on 7 always had a strong component of the goofy pop ’70s, but I hear those songs back to back now. I gave them a separate article this week. Most of these might be smaller markets, but WAKY Louisville, Ky., has successfully been playing many of the same records for years and sometimes leads the market.
Urban One’s WPPZ (Classix 107.9) Philadelphia’s R&B Oldies seemed to get a boost from Classic Hits rival WOGL going more pop/rock. Similarly formatted WLOU Louisville is currently leading the market’s Adult R&B station on an AM/FM translator combo.
Reader favorite KDRI (The Drive) Tucson, Ariz., belongs in both the variety and community discussions. While I resolve each year not to write about previous favorites, last week it was No. 3 overall in the market, on an AM/FM translator combo as well. (They’re also featured in the ’70s on 7 story.) 4BH Brisbane, Australia, was a new AM/DAB launch successfully following the world’s biggest AM music success story, 4KQ, which has been another reader favorite. WJEJ Hagerstown, Md., is doing a deep oldies/standards mix and was reader Chuck Ingersoll’s recommendation.
While a lot of the Classic Hits stations here have a strong local/personality component, one that’s worth mentioning is the opposite. WVEK (Classic Hits 102.7) Johnson City, Tenn., relies on song tags outside morning drive. That’s not new, but the voice of those song tags sounds a lot like Siri or Alexa. (I’ve also heard that voice used for some brief personality bits.)
If this seems like a cavalcade of gold-based outlets, we’re only half done. Alternative WNYL was replaced by all-news WINS New York’s move to FM, which yielded instant results. (Rival WABC remained on AM, but continued to do well with its move to local programming.) The excitement for Alternative radio was in the relaunch of heritage brands like XETRA (91X) San Diego, WKQX (Q101) Chicago, and WNNX (99X) Atlanta. WFZZ (104.3 the Fuse) Appleton, Wis., wasn’t a relaunch, but was similarly gold-based, and had an attention-getting launch with “Weird Al Radio.”
WOLT (Indy 103.3) Indianapolis also launched gold-based Alternative with a more Active Rock component, reminiscent of predecessor X103, the station that led Alternative in a harder direction 25 years ago. The other station that led that trend, KXTE (X107.5) Las Vegas, flipped to hot talk, as did Active KEGL (The Freak) Dallas.
Readers know that I like new places to hear different oldies. I also like new stations that play new music. Last year, the new station that I found most intriguing was SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio. By summer, I was thinking of including TikTok itself in the 2022 list. TikTok seemed to have become Top 40 radio in 1958, a shared experience for young adults and their bemused or outraged parents, sending forth one “Purple People Eater” after another. By year’s end, as Steve Greenberg notes, TikTok’s algorithm was more personalized and Billboard was declaring labels less enamored of TikTok or streaming playlists. So I’m glad there are stations like WPAW, where music enterprise still works.
It’s hard to write about so many gold-based stations when current-based outlets have visibly struggled for more than a year. Having written this column for many years, it’s worth a reminder that we’ve had the discussion of “can’t somebody do something besides play old records?” before, particularly 15 years ago just before the resurgence of Top 40 and Country.
I can’t guarantee a new music comeback in the TikTok and streaming era, but the medium-market CHRs I wrote about last year with a more pop, more adult mix continue to do well. Ratings expert Chris Huff adds KNDE (Candy 95) College Station, Texas, to that list. I’ve also appreciated the energy that goes into WWWQ (Q99.7) Atlanta. And this year, I found myself more drawn to Canadian CHR, which is generally tracking ahead of its U.S. counterparts, particularly CFBT (Virgin Radio) Vancouver and CKIS (Kiss 92) Toronto.
Radioinsight’s Lance Venta also notes that there were multiple Dance station launches in 2022, including KREV (Pirate 92.7) San Francisco and KSFE (Pirate 96.7) Albuquerque, N.M.; KGHD-LD (Acid 87.7) Las Vegas; and 100.9 NRG Palm Springs, Calif. The latter market now has three Dance outlets, thanks to KGAY and Audacy’s KQPS (Channel Q). Jason Steiner was one of several readers who liked Ibiza’s Classic Dance Isla 106.
In the coming weeks, look for:
- More of the stations you recommended.
- More of the on-air and online stations that ROR readers program.
- More stories about stations that are winning on AM or HD2/FM translator combos. Gospel WTSK (Praise 93.3) Tuscaloosa, Ala., was also No. 3 in its market.
- More international radio, although Huff gives “a special mention to Ukrainian radio in general” and Radio Skonto’s Ivars Embrekts mentions Kraina FM, the station profiled in the New Yorker last March.
- More places to hear a wide variety of “oh wow” gold. Usually that’s just my audio tourism, not a format trend. But this year, it sort of was.
Thank you for your input, and for still being intrigued by radio, as I am.
What are your Intriguing Stations of 2022?
