Fresh Listen: Florida’s Gold Coast, Now with Even More Gold

It probably plays a little fast and loose with the definition of the “Classic Hits” format to say that South Florida now has four of them. Then again, Classic Hits and its adjacent formats have been messing with the parameters of the format over the last few years.

• Some Classic Hits stations are now pushing well into the ’00s (or the late ’00s);
• Most “Adult Contemporary” stations are gold-based and most are playing recurrents or recent gold as their new(ish) songs;
• The defining differences between Classic Hits and Adult Hits (which once differed by being deeper into the MTV ’80s and playing the ’90s) are long obscured;
• As Classic Rock got newer, it ended up playing fewer things that were not crossover hit singles.

But last month, iHeart’s longtime Classic Rock outlet WBGG (Big 105.9) Miami began positioning itself as “Miami’s Greatest Hits.” The station also added about 25 songs, most of them from the poppier new-wave ’80s — “Take on Me,” “People Are People,” “She Drives Me Crazy,” “She Blinded Me With Science” — but also a few ’90s titles and two Chicago songs.

The change pushes Big 105.9 closer to Audacy’s WMXJ (The Beach), South Florida’s mainstream Classic Hits outlet. That station, in turn, is short-spaced to Cox’s WFEZ (Easy 93.1), which had evolved from Soft AC to something more like a pop-leaning Classic Hits, and iHeart’s own WMIA (Magic 93.9). That station became a “just like old days” instant success story by combining ’80s through early-’00s pop with Spanish-speaking jocks and a few Spanish-language hits from the ’90s and ’00s.

WFEZ had seemed very bright to me, for a while, at least for a station called Easy 93.1. Since Magic launched, it now seems to be a little more firmly on the Soft AC side, although, again, the boundaries with pop-based Classic Hits are porous. The English-language music I heard on WMIA is a little newer than a year ago, although the Spanish-language music is a little older. All four are in roughly the same neighborhood. 

If you add WPOW (Power 96), which completed a transition from CHR to Hip-Hop/R&B throwbacks, you have five relatively short-spaced gold-based outlets. WPOW had been a yesterday-and-today CHR. Cox’s WFLC (Hits 97.3) is still that. It’s a significant change from a market that once had three CHRs. All three stations probably still share as they always did, but it does leave WHYI (Y100) as the only true CHR in a market that usually had a Top 40 format battle (except for a brief time during Top 40’s low point in the ’90s).

Big 105.9 went 2.4-2.8 in December, behind WMXJ’s 4.0-4.1, and well behind WMIA (5.5-4.4) and WFEZ (5.4-6.2.) After years of having a relatively strong franchise, Big’s move once again opens the eternal “what is rock in South Florida?” question. It does make a point of trying to cover both franchises with a sweeper, played before Kiss’s “Rock and Roll All Nite” that promises “the Classic Rock that defined a generation and those memorable songs from the ’80s and ’90s. They’re all on Big 105.9. Miami’s Greatest Hits.”

Presentationally, the station felt very bright and uptempo with p.m. driver Doc Reno over the intros. Here’s Big 105.9 at 4 p.m. on January 3:

• Kenny Loggins, “Danger Zone”
• Romantics, “What I Like About You”
• Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”
• Mr. Mister, “Broken Wings”
• Supertramp, “Give a Little Bit”
• Loverboy, “Working for the Weekend”
• Genesis, “Land of Confusion”
• Cranberries, “Zombie”
• Bon Jovi, “Wanted Dead or Alive”
• Rod Stewart, “Forever Young”
• Kiss, “Rock and Roll All Nite”
• Journey, “Separate Ways (World Apart)”

Here’s The Beach at 4 p.m. on January 3, leading into its Totally ’80s Friday Night, with C.J. Robinson:

• Whitney Houston, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
• Michael Sembello, “Maniac”
• Genesis, “That’s All”
• Tonic, “If You Could Only See”
• George Michael, “Faith”
• Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
• Elton John & Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
• Fine Young Cannibals, “She Drives Me Crazy”
• Pat Benatar, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
• U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
• Michael Jackson, “Smooth Criminal”
• John Waite, “Missing You”
• Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”
• Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.” — the kickoff song of Totally ’80s Friday Night

Here’s Easy 93.1 at 4 p.m. on January 3 with Mike Kruz:

• Billy Joel, “Piano Man”
• Mariah Carey, “I’ll Be There”
• Donna Summer, “She Works Hard for the Money”
• Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
• Michael Sembello, “Maniac”
• Toni Braxton, “Another Sad Love Song”
• Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”
• Alanis Morissette, “Hand in My Pocket”
• Jets, “You Got It All”
• Justin Timberlake, “Can’t Stop the Feeling”
• Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight”
• Spice Girls, “Wannabe”
• Madonna, “Open Your Heart”
• Aerosmith, “Crazy”
• Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”

Here’s Magic 93.9 with Tony Vargas during a 93-minute music sweep, just before 4 p.m. on January 3:

• Juan Luis Gerra 4.40, “Como Abeja al Panal” (1990)
• Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson, “Beauty and the Beast”
• Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”
• Pretenders, “I’ll Stand by You”
• Carlos Baute w/Marta Sanchez, “Colgando en Tus Manos” (2009)
• Journey, “Faithfully”
• Maroon 5, “She Will Be Loved”
• Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, “1-2-3”
• Kool & the Gang, “Cherish”
• Eros Ramazzotti, “Otra Como Tu” (1993)
• Billy Joel, “Uptown Girl”
• Mariah Carey, “Can’t Let Go”
• Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Maneater”
• Bon Jovi, “Always”
• Tears for Fears, “Shout”
• Phil Collins, “Sussudio”
• Sade, “Smooth Operator”
• Kool & the Gang, “Get Down on It”