If the all-‘90s format is going to happen, it’s going to happen now.
It’s more than a decade old. The first major-market attempt was “Totally ‘90s” KBZC (The Buzz) Sacramento, Calif., in 2009.
Since that time, the songs that didn’t seem quite ready to come back yet—Britney, Backstreet Boys, and ‘N Sync in particular—have taken a central place in pop culture. They’ve become the sure-fire floor-filler set at any 28-year-old’s wedding. Some of them have become surprisingly strong testers. Some are becoming samples of current hits. In Miami, you can hear Corona’s “The Rhythm Of The Night” on the AC and Classic Hits stations, and hear it interpolated by the Black Eyed Peas on the CHRs.
In a very crowded market, especially for gold-based radio stations, CKPW (Power 107.1) Edmonton, Alberta, was the format’s biggest debut to date. I wrote about them a year ago, and despite both the inevitable leveling off of any gold-based station, and a name change to Play 107.1, forced by a rival station that was “Power” in the ’90s, they remain a viable station in demo with typical ups-and-downs.
In recent weeks, the ‘90s and early ‘00s have been COVID-19 crisis comfort food in multiple formats. iHeart’s WKCI (KC101) New Haven, Conn., has gotten a lot of industry attention for its “Feel Good Weekends.” Over July 4 weekend, I went on a short drive and went from one throwback weekend to another. For a moment it seemed possible that we might skip past the all-‘90s format and instead end up with a sort of gold-based Adult CHR, especially given Adult and Mainstream CHR’s current issues.
Instead, on July 9, iHeart’s Mainstream AC WMIA Miami became all-‘90s Totally 93.9. It’s the first major local-market launch in a while for iHR, although its second significant move in two weeks, following the launch of its Black Information Network. WMIA has gone through numerous incarnations over the last decade, several of which had some ‘90s pop/dance component, but never as clearly focused before.
In defiance of the current radio laws covering station launches, WMIA was launched hosted. It is promising two 90-minute music sweeps at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.—not 10,000 songs in a row. Its positioning is largely ‘90s-based attitude liners, e.g., “all of our parenting skills come from our Tamagotchi” and “enjoy the sounds of the ‘90s, once we rewind our mixtape with a pencil.”
Miami was an unusual radio dial during the ‘90s. Rhythmic WPOW (Power 96) was successfully “CHR for the market” for years. WHYI (Y100) segued to Hot AC and came back relatively slowly. In the first three hours, I’ve only heard one “you had to be in Miami (or New York)” song, Ricky Martin’s “Maria,” but there’s certainly been enough universal pop that happens to be rhythmic to cover those hours so far.
(UPDATE: Early in week two, the station played Proyecto Uno’s “El Tiburion,” a signature Power 96 hit and not a song known to pop audiences outside South Florida. There’s a very good reader comment below on what other songs from the Miami radio legacy they might want to consider.)
How could the ’90s format not happen this time? Maybe listeners could hear it as just another WMIA tweak, although most breakthrough stations had been through a lot of incarnations before landing. It’s possible that the songs that worked great on a “feel good weekend” are better as 3x a week songs than 10x a week songs, although if that ever becomes a problem for an all-‘90s format, Mainsteam AC and Classic Hits will be ready to pick up the slack by then. There’s also the issue of trying to forge a coalition that didn’t exactly exist in 1995, although I’m increasingly sensing that was more of an issue for the broadcasters of 1995 than the listeners.
The first hour of Totally 93.9 was heavy on statement records—Will Smith’s “Miami” as the first song, followed by Britney Spears’ “Baby … One More Time” and Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” The only song that wasn’t rhythmic or rhythmic pop was Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic.” Here’s the station in its second hour, 1 p.m., July 9:
- Shaggy, “Angel”
- Lou Bega, “Mambo No. 5”
- Salt-N-Pepa, “Whatta Man”
- Christina Aguilera, “Genie In A Bottle”
- Santana f/Rob Thomas, “Smooth”
- Whitney Houston, “I’m Every Woman”
- Snap!, “Rhythm Is A Dancer”
- Britney Spears, “Oops … I Did It Again”
- Inner Circle, “Sweat (A La La La La Long)”
- Sir Mix-A-Lot, “Baby Got Back”
- Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”
- Ricky Martin, “Maria”
- Ace Of Base, “The Sign”
- Puff Daddy f/Faith Evans & 112, “I’ll Be Missing You”
- Real McCoy, “Another Night”
Here’s WMIA four days later, on July 13 at 4:00 p.m.
- Spice Girls, “Say You’ll Be There”
- Ini Kamoze, “Here Comes The Hotstepper”
- Duran Duran, “Ordinary World”
- Destiny’s Child, “Say My Name”
- Will Smith, “Miami”
- Tal Bachman, “She’s So High”
- Backstreet Boys, “Larger Than Life”
- Fugees, “Killing Me Softly”
- Big Mountain, “Baby, I Love Your Way”
- Coolio, “Gangsta’s Paradise”
- Le Click, “Tonight Is The Night”
- ‘N Sync, “Tearin’ Up My Heart”
- Brandy & Monica, “The Boy Is Mine”
Finally, here’s Edmonton’s CKPW (Play 107.1) on July 14 at 3 p.m. Play 107.1 doesn’t bill itself as a ‘90s station. It plays more early 2000s music than Totally 93.9, and also will go into the 2010s or even recurrents for Canadian titles.
- Sugar Ray, “Fly”
- Kanye West, “Stronger”
- Magic!, “Rude” (Canadian)
- Shakira, “Whenever, Wherever”
- The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” (Canadian)
- Love Inc., “Broken Bones” (Canadian)
- Coolio, “Gangsta’s Paradise”
- Usher, “U Remind Me”
- Loud Luxury & Anders, “Love No More” (Canadian)
- Backstreet Boys, “I Want it That Way”
- Classified, “Inner Ninja” (Canadian)’
- Our Lady Peace, “Innocent”
- Blu Cantrell, “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)”
- Naughty By Nature, “Hip Hop Hooray”
Best I can tell, they’re using the 90s sound of 106.1 Kiss FM Dallas as the template – a strong Rhythmic/Pop lean, with select Rock crossovers by the likes of Aerosmith, The Cranberries, The Rembrandts, and Bon Jovi.
This approach can work really well in Miami, and likely many other markets as well.
Now I realize the format may evolve over time, but what may be missing, for now, is indeed the Miami sound. IMO this was always part of the problem at previous incarnations of retro formats aired on 93.9, particularly during its Rhythmic AC days.
While Totally 93.9 is playing Elvis Crespo’s “Suavamente” and Gloria Estefan’s “Turn The Beat Around”, I’ve yet to hear Bass records like “Whoot There It Is” or “Dazzey Dukes”. Both were massive on Power 96, which helped both songs break big nationally.
Or what about Miami’s own 2 Live Crew, as well as something like “Esa Morena” by DJ Laz?
How about adding some mixshows as well as something like Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, 90s edition, on the weekends?
On the Rock side, you’d expect to hear Saigon Kick’s “Love Is On The Way” since the band is from Miami, and they managed to get significant airplay on Power 96 back in the day. Or Rock AC records like “When You Love A Woman” by Journey, which was big on Y-100.
Y-100 was also big on a Celine Dion record that wasn’t released domestically – “To Love You More”, and both Power and Y played the big Jewel records like “Foolish Games”.
Additionally, You’d expect to hear a record like Planet Soul’s “Set U Free”, another Miami act, as well as some 90s Freestyle. At the very least records like Lil Suzy’s “Take Me In Your Arms”, or “Dreamboy Dreamgirl”, which was not only massive in Miami but also at the aforementioned KHKS Dallas.
Here are a few more suggestions: Puff Daddy’s “Senorita”, some rap from Trick Daddy, Los Umbrellos with “No Tengo Dinero”, or at the very least Miami’s own No Mercy with “Where Do You Go”.
To understand what Miami radio sounded like in the 90s, and how to incorporate national and local hits, look at the Miami playlists of Y-100 and Power 96, and you’re good to go. You can find them here:
https://worldradiohistory.com/RandR_Magazine_Page_Range_Guide.htm
I realize some records hold the test of time better than others, but if Totally can get away with playing NKOTB’s “Step By Step” then there’s a lot of other records they can play to some extent.
Oh yeah, It’s good to see they’re not ignoring “The Macarena”, a guilty pleasure record that Power 96 broke globally with its remix.
They’re also playing The Todd Terry remix of “Missing” by Everything but the Girl, which both Power and Y were on long before most of the country started playing it. It stayed in active rotation at Y-100 for ages.
Lastly, I’ve got to wonder why the station is focusing strictly on the 90s. We’re in 2020 so why not go 90s and Y2K (2000-2009) ? The whole Rhythmic/Pop slant is perfect for both decades, and it gives the station a much bigger library with more variety.
Kelly Clarkson, The Black Eyed Peas, Lil Jon, Evanescence, and Cascada can all work on the same station playing 90s hits.
I’m getting the feeling that an all-90’s Classic Hits could result, but would have to take into account what the existing CHR’s of the time have played on a market-by-market basis.
So this is Miami, right? But if this was New York, I’d bet there would be more Alternative/Modern AC seeped into the mix, as that was what dominated the market at some point – namely the 1993/1996 Z-100 era.
I would like to see how this works in other markets as well. Do you delve into the early 90s “doldrums” period? Is this similar to all 80s where, with a couple of exceptions, the decade starts in 1983? Plus, as mentioned in your lost hits series, monitored airplay means fewer second and third tier “oh wows” to help keep things fresh. Without cutting a wide swath, tougher to do with the 90s, I can see this going the way of Jammin’ Oldies.