First Listen: Power 96 and Throwback 100.3

Part of the challenge of winning with ’90s and 2K throwbacks is how many stations are playing them. Over the last few years, those songs have had a greater presence on even Top 40 and Hot AC, making it harder to build a distinct image around them, particularly for stations that want to hold on to some recent music. But in May, two stations reimaged themselves in hopes of better claiming the franchise.

Even when we wrote about Hubbard’s WSHE Chicago in 2021, it had dropped currents for a mix that stretched from the ’80s to late ’10s. Since then, Audacy’s WBBM-FM (B96) Chicago has segued to a yesterday-and-today CHR. B96’s sister WJMK (104.3 Jams) remains successful with a Hip-Hop/R&B Throwbacks format. On May 2, WSHE relaunched itself as Throwback 100.3, now imaged around the “hits of the ’90s and 2000s,” under VP/Brand and Content Jimmy Steal (new WTBC-FM call letters will take effect on June 6).

In Miami, two of the market’s three CHRs were doing some form of Rhythmic AC/gold-based CHR. Cox’s WFLC (Hits 97.3) also made the move in 2021, but continues to play some currents. On May 23, Audacy’s WPOW (Power 96), which had evolved to a gold-based format, switched to Classic Hip-Hop/R&B as “your new home for throwbacks” under Will Calder and Miguel “Mijo” Irizarry. We took a First Listen to both revamped stations.

(Hubbard SVP/Programming Greg Strassell and Audacy VP of Throwback/Rhythmic AC formats Skip Dillard are both featured at next week’s Radiodays North America, scheduled for June 2-4 in Toronto. Dillard will be discussing the evolution of Classic Hits/Throwbacks. Strassell will be part of the closing “30 Ideas in 45 Minutes” panel.)

Classic Hits stations, including Chicago’s WLS-FM, have been making well-documented moves into the ’90s and early ’00s, trying to push from 40-year-old songs (or older) closer to the 15-to-20-year-old songs that Oldies radio played at its inception. More than most other stations, Throwback 100.3 has the feel of a Classic Hits station that just happened to start with that era, rather than slide into it.

Here’s Throwback 100.3 shortly after its relaunch on May 5, late on Sunday night (when the station was nevertheless hosted):

• Pussycat Dolls, “Don’t ’Cha”
• No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
• Outkast, “Ms. Jackson”
• Charli XCX, “Boom Clap”
• Christina Aguilera, “What a Girl Wants”
• Jennifer Lopez f/Ja Rule, “I’m Real”
• Alanis Morissette, “Head Over Feet”
• Pink, “Get This Party Started”
• Notorious B.I.G., “Mo Money, Mo Problems”
• One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
• New Radicals, “You Get What You Give”
• Chris Brown, “Forever”

Here’s Throwback 100.3 at 3 p.m., May 29 during a 50-minute sweep with p.m. driver Rick Hall, who was teasing the station’s “Million Dollar Throwback” contest.. Besides the three on-air qualifiers a day (today’s qualifier also won Kesha tickets), listeners can also get one daily entry through the station app.

• Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
• Ace of Base, “All That She Wants”
• Fray, “How to Save a Life”
• Britney Spears, “Toxic”
• Green Day, “Basket Case”
• 50 Cent, “In da Club”
• Mariah Carey, “Always Be My Baby”
• Taylor Swift, “Style”
• Usher f/Lil Jon & Ludacris, “Yeah!”
• Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”
• DJ Sammy & Yanou f/Do, “Heaven”
• Flo Rida, “Right Round”
• Backstreet Boys, “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)”
• Eminem f/Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie”

Stations that segue from gold-based to gold always have the option of letting the host announce that they feel like playing some throwbacks, then keep going by popular demand. That’s essentially what Mijo did last week. Here’s the first hour of the revamped Power:

• Trick Daddy, “Take It to the House”
• Pitbull f/Lil Jon, “The Anthem”
• Terror Squad, “Lean Back”
• Ghost Town DJ’s, “My Boo”
• 112, “Peaches and Cream”
• Jay-Z f/Ja Rule & Amil, “Can I Get A …. ”
• Shakira f/Wyclef Jean, “Hips Don’t Lie”
• Juvenile, “Back That Thing Up”
• Mariah Carey, “Shake It Off”
• Rick Ross, “Hustlin”
• Brandy & Monica, “The Boy Is Mine”
• Ludacris, “What’s Your Fantasy”
• Ciara f/Missy Elliott, “1,2 Step”
• Nate Dogg & Warren G., “Regulate”
• Mario, “Let Me Love You”

Several days in, Mijo was able to talk about a wider variety of topics — he asked listeners not to overtax the grid by keeping their AC at 72 degrees; he talked about Florida being the shark-attack capital of the world. There were tickets to the Marlins’ Flanigan’s Fest, in conjunction with the South Florida bar chain. 

Newly named Meruelo Media Senior VP Pio Ferro is also the voice of Power 96. But one of the more interesting pieces of imaging on the station is an ID that declares “Power 96 …   throwbacks” with the same offhand delivery of the “continuous … music” sweepers made famous by onetime Power 96 consultant Jerry Clifton, who is indeed the voice here.

Here’s Power at 3 p.m. on May 29:

• Naughty by Nature, “Hip-Hop Hooray”
• Aaliyah, “Try Again”
• Rupee, “Tempted to Touch” (bilingual version)
• 50 Cent, “In da Club”
• Notorious B.I.G., “Hypnotize”
• Cam’ron, “Oh Boy”
• Ghost Town DJ’s, “My Boo”
• Nelly, “Dilemma”
• Jay-Z f/Ja Rule & Amil, “Can I Get A ….”
• Missy Elliott, “Work It”
• Aaliyah, “Are You That Somebody”
• Dr. Dre & Eminem, “Forgot About Dre”
• Fugees, “Ready or Not”
• Justin Timberlake, “Sexyback”

The throwback boom at CHR radio is four years old now. It began as comfort food during the pandemic, particularly on weekends, eventually reaching the point where older titles were the majority of the hour at some stations. As summer arrives, CHR’s product flow has improved slightly and the format now bears at least a few recent success stories. Whether that will create more separation between CHR, Hot AC, and “Throwback” formats remains to be seen. But it’s an encouraging possible scenario.