How to Play the 2000s on Classic Hits

In our recent look at “What Classic Hits Added … Then Dropped,” one of the stations that had made a dramatic U-turn was WOGL (Big 98.1) Philadelphia. Nearly a year ago, WOGL went sharply into the early-’00s titles that had been the center of the Throwback Hip-Hop/R&B format. Since then, songs like “I Got 5 on It” by the Luniz and 2Pac’s “Changes” have come off the station. (So have such other ’00s songs as Fun’s “We Are Young.”)

WOGL’s changes were attention-getting at the time, but they were understandable. The station historically had a significant R&B component. A decade ago, it became one of the first Classic Hits stations to play a first-generation Hip-Hop title (Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache,” which had been a pop hit on CHR predecessor WCAU in the early ’80s). It was early on ’90s titles such as “This Is How We Do It” and “Poison.”  To play the early ’00s was to acknowledge the success of Rhythmic WRDW (Wired 96.5) in that era. And yet, the new mix didn’t take hold.

Nearly three years ago, this column asked “How (And When) to Modernize a Classic Hits Station.” At that time, stations were grappling with the ’90s, whether that was “Iris” (beloved, but not exactly a good-time oldie), “No Scrubs,” or “Baby … One More Time.” Now, it’s not just early-’00s Hip-Hop figuring into those calculations, but also early-’00s rock, from “Bring Me to Life” to “Mr. Brightside.”

A lot of the advice about incorporating the ’90s applies again, particularly the need to modernize for the right reasons, not for its own sake:

• Play the newer songs that work for your existing audience. Don’t push forward because of copycatting — the stations on your Mediabase panel have their own reasons for evolving and their own market situations.
• Decide which model you’re on: “AC station without currents” vs. “fun and uptempo.” Both can work. Neither accommodates every possible title.
• You have the right, but not an imperative, to add any song with a research story. You also have a right to look for those songs that the station in your head.
• Don’t dig to fill categories. If there aren’t enough songs from the ’90s (or ’00s) that fit, play fewer songs from the ’90s and ’00s. 
• Be aware of generational and musical breakpoints. There was another one in 2000-01, when the teen bands of the ’90s CHR revival quickly gave way to both Hip-Hop and Linkin Park. 

To that, I would now add that Classic Hits PDs are usually trying to triage three generations of listeners — older, transitional, and younger. Each group of listeners has its provocation. There was a time early on for the Oldies stations of the ’90s and early ’00s when even the Doors and CCR were provocations to those raised on the Beatles and Four Seasons. Later, there were ’80s CHR fans for whom Bon Jovi and Bell Biv Devoe were not a fair substitution for Prince, Madonna, and Huey Lewis & the News. It took the next listeners who liked both sets of acts to make, say, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” just another great-testing ’80s title. 

Complicating that transition now is the nature of all radio listening, particularly Classic Hits. The oldest available listeners are the ones most enamored of radio, and with the most radio listening to offer. Even a 40-year-old grew up with the hits of the early ’00s. But Classic Hits still depends on 53-year-olds who did not. Until the available listening from “transitional + young” adds up to more than “older + transitional,” it’s hard to alienate loyal listeners just because a GM or sales staff is impatient to move forward. 

It’s easier to start from scratch. Typically, the stations that try to create the “next generation” format just end up doing the R&D for existing Classic Hits stations. But the station that plays party songs from the ’90s and ’00s (with a few timeless ’80s holdovers) might be easier to create from scratch than on a frequency that still has to decide what to do with “Carry On Wayward Son.” The new KYMT (Neon 93.1) Las Vegas has more room to maneuver than successful Classic Hits outlet KKLZ and more incentive to do so.

It might also be easier to get there from CHR. There are a few markets with heritage CHRs now in the 2-3 share range, already heavily laden with throwbacks. In a few cases, they are also in markets with no traditional Classic Hits outlet. While I don’t want any market left without a Top 40, these stations are about two songs an hour from being Classic Hits already, and rely heavily on an audience whose loyalty was forged decades earlier. Swapping “Like a Prayer” for “Revolving Door” would probably make certain stations better for the existing cume.

Research matters, and so does what you do with it. Over the last 20 years, I have been and remain both a vendor and a programmer implementing music research. While the rule of thumb for many is “don’t test what you wouldn’t play,” I’m OK with getting a read on songs-on-the-fringe, if there’s room, and making the decision on the back end. I never want to tell stations to ignore the audience, but whether in today’s CHR callout or the Classic Hits ranker where “Tipsy” demands your attention, I still believe in the PDs’ prerogative to use their instinct to create a cohesive radio station and fulfill expectations. 

All the songs written about last week will be back in Classic Hits at some point. Most songs that go too far for a Classic Hits station at a given time come back eventually, when nobody has to schedule them on the same station as “Blinded by the Light.” WOGL pulled not just Hip-Hop titles, but Usher’s “Yeah!” That song, which plays regularly on Mainstream AC will probably be back. The only question about “Tipsy” in particular is whether the format will play it or skip over J-Kwon in favor of the easier-to-program “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey.