Last week, I asked my Facebook friends to name one radio station—other than their own station or clients—that does radio well. Any market size. Commercial or non-comm.
The request went out about a week after the beginning of the wide-ranging iHeart Media consolidations that shook the industry. It was also just ahead of the annual list of “Intriguing Stations”—a list that emphasizes new launches or station comebacks from the previous year, but not a focus on stations that are routinely great. For both reasons, it seemed like a good time to remind ourselves as an industry of the depth and quality spread across our portfolio.
Within days, listeners had posted on behalf of about 200 stations. So far, I’ve made it through about two dozen of their recommendations, and I’m glad that readers sent me back to Classic Rock WDRV (The Drive) Chicago or Alternative Gold KSQN (103.1 The Wave) Salt Lake City, and many others.
As noted in “Intriguing Stations,” there was much love for non-comm Triple-A WXPN Philadelphia, which propelled itself into legend last summer by re-playing the Woodstock festival in real time. “I was always slightly amused by the XPN partisans,” wrote ROR reader Rob Walker. “Before I’d spent any real time listening, I dismissed it as a hippy dippy public radio station. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Amazing talent that are passionate about the music they play, the place they live and the listeners they serve.”
Alternative and Triple-A, both commercial and non-comm, is often well-represented in reader polls. Besides WXPN, readers had nice things to say about:
- CFEX (X92.9) Calgary, also featured in “Intriguing”;
- CIND (Indie 88) Toronto;
- KBCO Denver;
- KCMP (The Current) Minneapolis;
- KCRW Los Angeles—“takes chances, entertains, informs” wrote Ruth Preslaff;
- KCSN (88.5FM) Los Angeles;
- KEXP Seattle;
- KJEE Santa Barbara, Calif.;
- KPND Spokane, Wash.;
- KPNT (The Point) St. Louis—former GM John Beck praised both that station and Classic Rock sister KSHE. “[OM] Tommy Mattern and [new owner] Hubbard have very much kept the brands alive.”
- KRSH Santa Rosa, Calif.;
- KTCL Denver—certainly a Ross On Radio perennial as well;
- KTKE Lake Tahoe, Nev.;
- KKXT (KXT 91.7) Dallas;
- WEQX Albany, N.Y.;
- WERS Boston;
- WFUV New York;
- WJFF Liberty/Catskills, N.Y.;
- WMMM Madison, Wis.;
- WNCW Western N.C.;
- WRLT (Radio Lightning) Nashville—“locally owned, locally operated, local musicans,” wrote Ron Rivlin;
- WWCD Columbus, Ohio;
- WXPK (The Peak) Westchester, N.Y.
- WXRT Chicago—resurgent in recent years under PD Greg Solk.
There was also a lot of love for heritage Urban AC radio, led by WBLS New York, and WHQT (Hot 105) Miami. “What WBLS does in playing hits, and in their community is second to none,” wrote longtime PD Brian Wallace. “Fire,” added Ralphie Marino. “Phil Michaels-Trueba at Hot 105, hands down,” said his former afternoon host Rick Party, now a nationally syndicated morning host. Readers also praised the consistency and durability of KPRS (Hot 103) Kansas City, WDKX Rochester, N.Y., and WVEE (V103) Atlanta.
WTOP Washington, D.C., led a long list of news/talk outlets. Again, a retired station staffer, former OM Jim Farley, was one of many voices on their behalf. Besides, they also recently unveiled “the most impressive local radio facility in America right now,” as Scott Fybush notes. Other stations in the category included:
- KCBS San Francisco;
- KFI Los Angeles;
- KSL Salt Lake City;
- KYW Philadelphia;
- WAMU Washington, D.C.;
- WBNS-FM Columbus, Ohio;
- WCBS-AM New York;
- WCCO Minneapolis—“still the gold standard,” says Dan Edwards;
- WFAN New York;
- WINS New York;
- WIP Philadelphia;
- WJR Detroit;
- WKXW (New Jersey 101.5) Trenton;
- WLW Cincinnati;
- WNYC New York;
- WSB Atlanta—“tons of local talk; 24-hour newsroom; great managers” says Peter Cook;
- WTAM Cleveland, hailed by consultant-turned-host Walt Sabo
Classic Hits WCBS-FM New York remains a listener favorite. “The tightest, brightest on-air in the country,” wrote Citadel/Little Rock programmer Mark Dylan. “Demonstrates what this wonderful, much-maligned medium can still do,” added veteran personality Willie Bee. WCBS-FM remains a favorite for radio people due to “jock’s jock” Bill Lee in afternoons. Lee chimed in with his own endorsement: sister station and format megalith KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles. There were also several mentions for Canada’s Classic Hits showplace, CHBM (Boom 97.3) Toronto.
Another heritage outlet featured in “Intriguing,” WMMR Philadelphia, got a number of mentions, especially for being “live and local 24/7, even overnight” as several listeners pointed out. Sister WDHA Morristown, N.J., is a local station for me, but I’ve started to appreciate their uniqueness again, and they received several mentions, too.
CHR saw mentions of perennials WHTZ (Z100) New York and KIIS Los Angeles. Robbie Mack, PD of WJFX (Hot 107.9) Fort Wayne, Ind.—a rare recent CHR success story—chimed in with a number of similar medium-market CHRs: WVAQ Morgantown, W. Va., WSPK (K104.7) Hudson Valley, N.Y., and KNDE (Candy 95) Bryan, Texas. Others mentioned the similar WIXX Green Bay, Wis., and WIOG Saginaw, Mich. Mack was one of several to mention CHR/Hot AC hybrid WKRQ (Q102) Cincinnati.
There are far more worthy stations on the list than included here, but there are a few that I’ve been sent back to that deserve mention (or came with interesting listener plugs):
Country KSOP-FM (Z104) Salt Lake City: “Locally owned and operated, and staffed up with lotsa live and local content,” writes Tim Marini. “I’ve always had this station on my list,” adds Jonathan West. I’ve always enjoyed their Classic Country AM as well. As I write this, they recently played Jon Pardi’s ‘70s-sounding “Heartache Medication” and backsold it energetically as the No. 1 Country song this week. It was a flashback, in an entirely 2020-appropriate way.
Mainstream AC KSSK Honolulu – “About as close to an old-school full-service AC as you’ll find in 2020. Heritage morning show, news updates throughout the day, traffic every 10 minutes in drive time. Unique music library that includes Hawaiian favorites, of course, but also aggressive on currents and a blend of golds you won’t hear on any other iHeart AC,” says Matt Del Signore.
CHR KZIA (Z102.9) Cedar Rapids, Iowa – “Still going strong,” notes consultant/podcaster Kipper McGee, even after the passing of founders Eliot Kellar and Rob Norton.
Classic Hits WBZX Big Rapids, Mich. – Norton was a big city radio veteran who established a respected local outlet in a small market. Programmer Dom Theodore is following in his footsteps at Up North Radio’s WBZX, WCDY, and WCKC. (The stations, unfortunately, don’t stream.)
Mainstream AC WREW (Mix 94.9) Cincinnati – They evolved from gold-based Rewind 94.9 and maintain some quirkiness. The weekend I heard them, they were in the middle of a creatively-produced all-Grammy Winners weekend, which allowed them to go from “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins into “The Monster” by Eminem & Rihanna.
Triple-A WAPS (The Summit) Akron, Ohio – “[PD] Brad Savage should take a bow for the Summit. As good a small-market Triple-A as there is, plus all of his HD subs, too,” says Scott Fybush. When I listened, I heard everything from John Prine to new music from Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh to other more recent local bands.
Country WXCT (Cat Country) Pensacola, Fla. – Not quite lesser-known, given their frequent CMA awards winner status. “Ask any of their employees, clients, or listeners,” says Jaye Albright. “A great station with great staffers and a great leader,” adds Jack Shell.
Classic Rock WXYG (The Goat) Sauk Rapids, Minn. – They’ve had fans among Ross On Radio readers since their launch, but I was happy to have the reminder, as I rolled down the highway to “I’m On Fire” by the Dwight Twilley Band. The Goat specializes in the ‘70s Classic Rock you don’t hear now and doesn’t exclude things like “Fight the Power” by the Isley Brothers (just as the AOR of the time did not). And later this year, their morning man is taking listeners on a massive rock road trip that includes Graceland, the Johnny Cash Museum, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Clear Lake Ballroom.
I’m looking forward to checking out CJRT (Jazz FM) Toronto, and revisiting KFWR (The Ranch) Fort Worth, Texas, and oldies AM KYNO Fresno, Calif. What are your stations that get it right in 2020?
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Here’s some honorable mentions that you should look at:
KNHC Seattle, WZFL Miami, and Evolution for being cutting edge on Dance and EDM.
CIDC Toronto for being more progressive and broader with its Top 40/Rhythmic direction.
CKBE Montreal for giving its Rhythmic AC a edgier approach you don’t see in other stations.
KDDB Honolulu for its unique and adventurous feel with their Top 40 direction and not afraid to incorporate songs from Dance or international artists into the playlist.
KSFM Sacramento, KOPW Omaha, WDHT Dayton, KQKS Denver, KEZE Spokane, and WZPW Peoria for keeping it local and staying true to their Rhythmic roots at the same time.
Channel 4 FM and Dance FM in Dubai because of their eclectic mix and lively personalities.
I was tempted to include it alongside “Aire Libre” earlier, but didn’t since it’s not new: For a different mix of Rock, the current version of Mexico’s “Rock 101” is definitely worth a listen. Even though it’s still largely online-only, its schedule features a lot of hosted shows–with many of them (especially specialty ones) also available on-demand. Plus, it creates a good number of themed specials–including for last month’s 10th anniversary, and for December’s end of the 2010s (essentially featuring “a song for every day of the decade”).
As for the branding? The current outlet is the brainchild of Luis Gerardo Salas, who launched (and, for many years, ran) the “Rock 101” format of the mid-’80s to mid-’90s on the then-XHROK (today’s XHSON) in Mexico City. Even better, when the “RMX” format had the metaphorical rug pulled out from under it several months ago, he was able to hire some of its former staffers (most notably, its brainchild, Gonzalo Oliveros); plus, Grupo ABC Radio (which owns the current “Rock 101”) was luckily able to use an AM-to-FM migration in Guadalajara to, soon after, launch a somewhat-local broadcast version there (which, more luckily, is where “RMX” originally started).
https://rock101online.mx/historia
As an addendum, it looks like there’s now an official CD/DVD compilation (via Sony Music) to mark the format’s 35th birthday (which was actually last year)–although it might only cover the original broadcast version’s era. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNhTK1FskgA (at approximately :12) for the extremely broad list of highlighted artists.
104 KRBE in Houston considers itself as a heritage Top-40 Station, just like Z-100 in New York, and KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. Their music attracts listeners of all ages. And another heritage-based station in Houston happens to be KODA-99.1, which is a Soft-AC Station that generally markets workday listeners, and it plays Christmas Music from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day.
Let me add that WVAQ/Morgantown, WV has racked up numerous Marconi Awards for the station itself and the late Lacy Neff (a DJ at WVAQ) was awarded, I believe, 3 individual Marconi Awards. He was also inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame. WVAQ comes up numerous times for the West Virginia Broadcasters Association.
I had the privilege of consulting the Hoppe’s stations in Sauk Rapids way back and did the original music for The Goat WXYG. What a blast researching the music and creating something so unique.
I tend to listen to classic hits and classic rock at work most of the time. I agree that WCBS-FM is great, but my go-to first choice is Tampa Bay’s Q105. It reminds me of the CHR’s I grew up listening to, especially KHYI “Y95” in Dallas. I’ve also taken a liking to WKHI “94.9 KHI” since its relaunch last year. It’s still a fun small town classic hits station since it changed owners last month. For classic rock, you can’t go wrong with 102.9 MGK, KCFX “101 The Fox,” or 96.5 WCMF.
Outside of work, sometimes I want something more relaxing, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the recently-launched KOEZ “104.1 EZ FM” out of Des Moines. When I want to relax to country, KKYX usually does it right.
I’m just a radio listener (a civilian if you will) who has lived in New Jersey my entire life other than the four years I spent in Boulder going to college a lifetime ago. Candidly, I’m not a huge fan of WDHA’s day in/day out playlist. However, I love Jim Monaghan’s “All Mixed Up” on Sunday mornings. An eclectic, interesting mix of music, most of which ‘DHA does not play the rest of the week.
KROQ-HD2 “Roq of the 80s” never fails to thrill and delight when I tune in in my HD Radio-enabled car. Could this be the best HD-2 station in the country? Commercial free, live jocks in KROQ alums Freddy Snakeskin and Tami Heide, and an extremely adventurous playlist. KROQ-HD2 will play familiar 80s KROQ songs, but mixed in are super deep cuts that I sometimes wonder if they were ever even played on KROQ in the ’80s. When I tune in, it’s always a mix of some old favorites, “wow” songs and a few “new” old song discoveries.