Regular column readers know that I consider KHKS Dallas to be the best, most consistent CHR of the last 25 years. It was Kiss 106.1 that propelled the format’s comeback in the mid-‘90s, and helped invent the “fast on rhythm/slow on pop” template that has defined CHR ever since, even at the poppiest moments. Kiss has remained consistent and successful even in the Top 40 doldrums of the past few years. Every so often, it still takes the intelligent shots on new music that are now uncharacteristic of the format.
Kiss isn’t the market-leader every month, but it’s still a headline when another station is. In January, that station was Contemporary Christian KLTY. Playing Christmas music propelled KLTY 5.3-6.9 6-plus in the holiday PPM ratings period. In January, the station was up to a 7.3, ahead of Kiss, which was up 5.7-5.9. By comparison, Mainstream AC KDGE (Star 102.1) went 5.0-10.3-4.4 over the same three-month period.
KLTY has been, as the legal ID notes, “Inspiring North Texas since 1985”—a time when both the format and even the concept of full-time music in Christian radio were nascent. It is easily Christian AC’s most prominent showcase, challenged only in recent years by the nationwide spread of the K-Love Network. It’s likely that some PDs within the format are reading this thinking “another KLTY article?” But the January numbers demanded a “Fresh Listen.”
In recent years, Christian AC has been propelled both by the rise of praise-and-worship music (culminating in last year’s reimaging of K-Love’s Hot AC sister network Air 1 as “worship now”) and an increase in the mid-to-uptempo pop music that Mainstream CHR and Hot AC have found so elusive. Around 2012-13, when Top 40’s boom was just starting to wind down, and Country was hot, Contemporary Christian was still heavily driven by softer early ‘00s titles and an overall Modern AC feel. Now, in the era of streaming Hip-Hop’s ascent, CCM is the pop format with the most viable recent music. (KLTY went back only to 2013 in the hour I monitored. Songs still move through the chart slowly and endure for months, but the format now relies heavily on the past few years for music.)
CCM may also be the format that has best negotiated the switch to PPM measurement. Christian AC balances moderate cumes and long TSL better than counterparts that have learned to think in terms of eight-minute listening occasions. CCM’s mission also means that there is still content of substance from the announcers on even the best and tightest stations. If what you want from your listening is a well-produced, heavily promoted station “doing radio,” you still get that from KLTY. (The station’s sponsor/street promotion was having listeners shoot hoops at remotes to win college playoff tickets; there were also teasers for an upcoming trip giveaway to Disney’s Hawaiian resort.)
In a format heavily populated by non-commercial outlets, many Christian ACs have the advantage of the low spotload that competes with streaming music and satellite radio in ways that their general market counterparts cannot or will not. But KLTY is successful with comparable spotloads to other broadcasters (12-1/2 minutes in the hour monitored here).
As with the Soft AC revival of recent years, many Contemporary Christian stations like sister WFSH (The Fish) Atlanta have benefitted from a Mainstream AC format that became newer and edgier. But the format has also been able to make its incursions into general-market pop listening while picking up the tempo. In the hour monitored here, there were places where you would encounter two busily-produced ballads in a row, but there were also very up/bright stretches in the hour of the sort that have been hard to find in any format recently. The station plays its powers just over 60x a week.
Here’s KLTY at 2 p.m. on March 3:
- Unspoken, “Reason” (Recurrent)
- Mandisa, “Overcomer” (2013)—uptempo pop with a similar feel to Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger”;
- Matthew West, “The God Who Stays” (Current) ;
- MercyMe, “I Can Only Imagine (Movie Session)” (Recurrent)—the original became a multi-format hit in the early 2000s thanks to then-CHR KRBV (V100) Dallas. This is a anthemic, uptempo remake from the 2018 movie spurred by the song’s success;
- Tobymac, “Edge Of My Seat” (Current)—with the retro/disco feel now common in pop;
- Matt Maher, “Lord, I Need You” (2013)
- I Am They, “No Impossible With You” (Current)
- Sanctus Real, “Confidence” (Recurrent)
- Jordan Feliz, “Faith” (Current)
- Tauren Wells, “Hills And Valleys” (2016)
- Big Daddy Weave, “My Story” (2015)
- Rhett Walker, “Believer” (Current)
- Casting Crowns, “Oh My Soul” (2016)
