The ‘90s and New York Radio: It’s Just a Little Crushed

To be sure, iHeart’s WKTU and Audacy’s WCBS-FM and WNEW (New 102.7) are still three very different radio stations. Classic Hits CBS-FM still plays “Eye of the Tiger” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” WNEW’s version of Hot AC still includes Avril Lavigne- and Maroon 5-type pop, separating it from the mostly rhythmic mix on WKTU.

But when WCBS-FM added more titles from the ‘90s and beyond a few weeks ago — as recently documented — it also changed the dynamic of the market a little, making WKTU at least a little more short-spaced between its two rivals. 

The move also had the effect of moving CBS-FM a little closer to iHeart AC market-leader WLTW (Lite FM), which itself shares a PD with WKTU and is often aggressive on rhythmic currents by Mainstream AC standards. And WKTU’s ’90s/early-’00s component seemed to increase two years ago when Audacy’s WXBK (The Block) went to a Throwback Hip-Hop/R&B format.

When Ross on Radio became a standalone newsletter in 2010, one of the first stories it reported was that WKTU, then a gold-based dance station, had moved to a more current position as an apparent flanker to Audacy-predecessor CBS Radio’s newly launched 92.3 Now FM. More than a decade later, the chess pieces remain in motion. And it’s interesting how a few songs from what researchers call a music cluster can have a ripple effect on two major-market station clusters.

WKTU was born in early ’96 during a series of New York changes that involved several outright format flips, as well as the return of WHTZ (Z100) to Mainstream CHR. That sort of chain reaction is rarer these days, although we did see it in Memphis, where the loss of Hot AC WMC-FM (FM100) led to a format change, a format modification, and a frequency swap. But tweaks of this sort are more common.

As we’ve noted, the continued modernization of some Classic Hits stations, and more throwbacks at a CHR weak on current product, means that even those two formats may now share some titles. In the early ’10s, the success of Top 40 led to the modernization of AC and Hot AC as well as a lot of shared music between the three. Now the convergence is around the ’90s/early ’00s. 

In the hour we monitored, WCBS-FM played three ’90s songs (although one was the ’90s mix of “December 1963,” which some PDs would categorize as a ’70s song) and one from 2000. WKTU had three ’90s songs. WNEW had two. WLTW had three. The ’90s isn’t the dominant decade in any of those four stations, but it’s more prominent. In that way, the ’90s seems to be following the established pattern of not working as a standalone format, but then finding its way further into existing formats. (Where the ’90s is most prevalent is Adult R&B. WBLS played seven that hour.)

Here’s WCBS-FM at 3 p.m., June 28 with Bill Lee:

• Naked Eyes, “Always Something There to Remind Me”
• Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”
• Bon Jovi, “It’s My Life” (2000, but counts as ’90s/beyond for our purposes)
• Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”
• Guns N’ Roses, “Sweet Child o’ Mine”
• Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”
• Mariah Carey, “Emotions” (’90s)
• Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”
• Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
• Backstreet Boys, “Larger Than Life” (’90s)
• Four Seasons, “December 1963 (Oh What a Night) ’94”
• Wang Chung, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”
• Whitney Houston, “How Will I Know”

Here’s WKTU at 3 p.m. with Hollywood Hamilton: 

• Katy Perry, “Dark Horse”
• Jennifer Lopez, “If You Had My Love” (’90s)
• Dua Lipa, “Break My Heart”
• George Lamond, “Don’t Stop Believin’”
• LMFAO, “Party Rock Anthem”
• Coi Leray, “Players”
• Jennifer Paige, “Crush” (’90s)
• Ed Sheeran, “Shivers”
• Cascada, “Everytime We Touch”
• Amber, “This Is Your Night” (’90s)
• Shaggy, “Angel” — from 2000, but serves a different function here than it would on CBS-FM
• Britney Spears, “Baby, One More Time” (’90s)

Finally, here’s WNEW-FM in the same hour with Mike Adam:

• Fun. f/Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
• Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”
• Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”
• Sia, “Unstoppable”
• Rihanna f/Calvin Harris, “We Found Love”
• The Kid Laroi, “Without You”
• Notorious B.I.G., “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems”
• Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”
• Adele, “Someone Like You”
• Sza, “Kill Bill”
• Avril Lavigne, “My Happy Ending”
• Ed Sheeran, “Bad Habits”
• Imagine Dragons, “Thunder”
• Post Malone, “Chemical”
• Kelly Clarkson, “Because of You”
• Raye f/070 Shake, “Escapism”
• DJ Snake f/Justin Bieber, “Let Me Love You”