Brian Burns’ thirty years in radio programming (and a subsequent 20 years as a consultant) included two well-known rock leaning CHRs: KXXR Kansas City, one of the first successful examples of “Rock 40” during its late ’80s boom, and WDCG (G105) Raleigh, N.C., which anticipated the Modern AC format in the mid-’90s. At G105, in particular, Burns championed records in a way unimaginable now. A power on G105 might go on to be “Barely Breathing” by Duncan Sheik or it might be the equally worthy “Our Love Would Be Much Better” by Dag, a hit only on that station.
Burns died of cancer December 14 at age 67, according to veteran programmer Guy Zapoleon, with whom he ran the “Billboard Chart Floppers” group on Facebook. Burns was living in Panama, but he was programming a streaming CHR targeted to Miami, Yummy Hits, a Rhythmic-leaning Top 40 format with a strong Latin/Urbano component that he hoped to syndicate.
In April, Burns was the major-market ringer when we asked four readers to make format pitches as part of our “Radio Shark Tank.” Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Major-market programming veteran Brian Burns began streaming Yummy Hits in 2022. The station is owned by Dennis Porebski, with whom Burns has been friends since working together at WKSE (Kiss 98.5) Buffalo in the ’90s.
“Yummy’s format is a hybrid CHR with a strong emphasis on Latin crossovers. With Latinos accounting for 55% of a 4,000,000 population in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale metro, Shakira, Karol G., Pitbull, and Bad Bunny are core artists in sales and airplay. Combined with a strong female pop library of currents and gold, Yummy Hits has a unique Miami identity compared to its terrestrial counterparts, supporting their branding statement, Pure Miami!
“Yummy’s library also includes heavily streamed core-artist tracks that were not necessarily record-company singles, but are familiar to its core-listener target demographics, as reflected in its sample hour.
“The imaging is written around an audio ‘sense of taste’ branding with hyper-local references, and voiced by national voiceover guru Jon Carter, complemented with a Reel World jingle package. The Yummy Hits website is a balance of local events, artist news and gossip, and Yummy recipes. Yummy touts 59 minutes of music each hour, countering terrestrial stations that often exceed 10 minutes of commercials hourly.
“Yummy Hits can be found on all the major streaming platforms, its own phone app for Apple and Android, and through its website. Based on proprietary data, Yummy Hits outstreams its corporate format competitors, as well as most terrestrial streamers in the Miami market.”
Here’s a sample hour of Yummy from April 2024:
- Jack Harlow, “Lovin’ on Me”
- Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer”
- Karol G & Peso Pluma, “Qlona”
- Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things”
- Rihanna, “Disturbia”
- Tate McRae, “Greedy”
- Kevin Lyttle, “Turn Me On”
- Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ’Em”
- Dua Lipa, “Physical”
- Teddy Swims, “Lose Control”
- Sean Paul (f/Alexis Jordan), “Got 2 Luv U”
- Selena Gomez, “Love On”
- Harry Styles, “Late Night Talking”
- Tini, Becky G & Anitta, “La Loto”
- Muni Long, “Made for Me”
- Metro Boomin’ (w/the Weeknd & 21 Savage), “Creepin’”
- Camila Cabello, “Cryin’ in the Club”
- Tyla, “Water”
There has been a huge outpouring of love on Social Media for Brian and heartbreak at his passing. You can see from the posts how Brian touched so many radio and label people’s lives during his many years in radio. Brian loved music and radio and loved to take risks in an industry that is more and more risk averse. We need more pioneering spirits in our business like Brian Burns. R.I.P. buddy!
I admired Brian’s work throughout his career. We talked years later and compared our history (me somehow gravitating toward making a mark in Soft AC in the 80s/90s) vs him playing the songs I always wanted to program as a young PD (with much jealousy on my part!).
When I worked with Clear Channel, we would do market visits and G105 was one station I enjoyed listening to “in the moment” and always ran cassette airchecks when I could. The man somehow made stations that sounded great and got big ratings in their markets, while playing music no one else would touch. He heard the station in his head first, then produced it on air. We need more of that now.
RIP Brian Burns. And thanks for the great radio.
Brian was not only a colleague but a good friend. We worked together at Drake-Chenault. I say this with no doubt. He was the best Radio programmer I ever knew. We worked together on flipping the Drake-Chenault Top 40 format to make it tighter and run the cutrents in a faster pace on reel to reel. It worked flawlessly and received ratings success in every market it played. Only Brian could do this! I loved him but more than anything, but I was also in awe of him. Rest in peace friend.