Could the ’90s Be the Center Lane of Classic Hits?

In recent weeks, I’ve had a lot of conversations about the ’90s at Classic Hits, particularly in the music tests I’ve seen for clients or discussed with other programmers. Some involved stations where listeners had cheerfully resisted modernization, until now.

Then there are the titles from the late ’90s and early ’00s that were featured in “What Classic Hits Added in 2025.” Several Audacy stations had followed KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles’s foray into old-school Hip-Hop with a few titles here and there. Shortly after publication, WOGL (Big 98.1) Philadelphia went further, adding several dozen ’90s/’00s Hip-Hop titles more associated with the Throwback R&B or CHR formats, including J-Kwon’s 2004 “Tipsy.”

As the ’70s dwindle at Classic Hits, ’90s songs are increasingly the chronological center, if not the average era.  Even stations that have used newer titles to make a statement are, by and large, still playing only a few ’90s+ titles per hour. In the 2-3pm hours on May 13, Mediabase shows KRTH, KQQL (Kool 108) Minneapolis, WLS Chicago, and WROR Boston with two. WCBS-FM New York, which seemed to reduce its ’90s quotient and rebound in recent PPMs, has one. KXKL (Kool 105) Denver, which has aggressively added ’90s+ titles, had three. Only KOLA Riverside, one of the format’s showplaces for modernization, has an even ’80s/’90s+ split.  

Math should have steered Classic Hits to a body of 25-to-35-year-old songs well before now. But the ’90s have been disconcerting for some Classic Hits PDs. Many don’t think there are enough consensus hits, particularly because Top 40 radio lacked a central motor (and wasn’t even in many markets) for all but the last few years of the decade. Listeners didn’t get to hear Warren G & Nate Dogg and Nirvana on the same station, although those who shared Alternative and Hip-Hop on MTV might not even know that’s an issue.

Generally, however, every decade develops playable songs eventually. PDs used to playing the ’60s at Oldies radio thought the ’70s were too diffuse and goofy.  Classic Hits only has to find about a dozen playable titles from each year of the ’90s. Besides seeing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” emerge as a reliable tester — ironic given CHR’s near-refusal to play it in 1992 — pop/alt is also starting to yield more titles (“Lovefool,” “Dreams” by the Cranberries, “Torn”). R&B and Hip-Hop have been contributing playable songs (“This Is How We Do It,” “No Diggity”) from early on.

To some extent, the issue for ’80s vs. ’90s is depth. There’s no need to choose between “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”–those are multi-generational. The issue is the secondary titles, which default more to a listener’s own musical history. Even the tightest station has some “B”s in some era, and for now that’s usually the ’80s. So when does “Crush” by Jennifer Paige become a better ’90s secondary for more listeners than “Sister Christian”? (To complicate things, there are titles like “Break My Stride” that seem exactly to be ’80s trifles, but have taken on new currency.)

So could the ’90s actually become the center lane of Classic Hits? How soon might that happen? Asking those questions isn’t necessarily a call to action. Stations should do what’s right for them, and some will win by leaning older, but it’s interesting to ponder how a troublesome radio era might be made more cohesive.

Ross on Radio readers generally fell into one of three camps:

The music isn’t there: “There are some ’90s songs that test, but not enough good pop songs to fill it out,” says Kevin Fodor at Cox Dayton, Ohio. “The ’90s aren’t strong enough. Not even close,” says veteran programmer Jeff Adams.

“Much like the early ’90s took the CHR format down, do you really want that replicated with Classic Hits? Dr. Dre into Nirvana into Phil Collins into 2pac? I’d rather stick with Bon Jovi and Eurythmics,” says Craig Russell of KHBT (The Bolt) Humboldt, Iowa. 

“Out of the top 200 most-played titles on Classic Hits this week, only 13 were from the ’90s,” says Joel Murphy of WHBC-FM (Mix 94.1) Canton, Ohio. But his answer to that is that programmers should nurture more songs into playability, rather than avoid the era.

“‘Every Heartbeat’ does not hold up like ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.’ ‘Come as You Are’ is not ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” says Keith Kennedy, Sr. VP/Programming of iHeart Cleveland.

“I’ll be watching the ratings for Classic Hits stations that are migrating toward the ’90s and ’00s, but my guess is that more-recent tunes will not be attractive to the core audience of 35-64s. Music changed dramatically during the ’90s and ’00s. My Classic Hits station [WKSK] Rewind 101.9 remains rooted in the ’80s and focused on delighting 35-64,” says Lakes Media’s Tom Birch. 

Even in Australia, where the ’90s came to Classic Hits radio early on, Strategic Media Solutions’ David Rogerson says that “the ’80s still has the passion and the oh-wow factor, particularly for female listeners. Nineties songs really have to be handpicked. Will the ’90s come through? Possibly, but not with the same passion.”

But some readers believe that we’re overdue chronologically: “Born in 1975, you are 50 years old, and you graduated high school in 1993. That’s already the high end of the 25-54 demo,” says Keith Allen of Eastern Long Island’s WELJ.

“It should be happening now, and we should be losing some of the ’70s. If you graduated in 1976 when ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ was released, you’re now in your late 60s. Is that the demo the format is chasing?” asks Jerry Mac of Cumulus/Toledo, Ohio. 

“I’m already there,” says Robby Bridges, PD of WWZY (Boss 107.1) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J. So is WRTH-LP Greenville, S.C.’s Dave Solomon who says, “We’re almost equal ‘80s and ‘90s now … Our question now is what to do with the ’00s. Twenty years sounds like a long time ago.”

For some PDs, it’s not just the ’70s that are fading, in favor of more ’90s, but also some of the early ’80s. Tony Mitchell says that at his hybrid AC/Adult Hits, WVNO (Mix 106.1) Mansfield, Ohio, he’s been “replacing the John Mellencamp, Don Henley, and Pat Benatar with ’90s and early 2000s. It’s been a gradual transition, and few, if any, have noticed the difference.”

Other commentors wondered how long AC would play the ’80s as well. “The Classic Hits argument is not about era, but about tempo. You can absolutely play ’80s, ’90s and 2K as long as they are the right records,” says Lance Balance at MARC Media Gainesville, Fla. “AC hung its hat on those three decades and did very well. As AC moves forward in vintage, Classic Hits should be taking that real estate.”

Former Classic Hits PD Mark Wishnia is concerned that the format’s older audience is the one with the greater allegiance to radio. Younger listeners “won’t even know” if stations modernize, he says. “And then you alienate the audience that is actually listening.”

MBMI’s Bill Pasha also points out that while the ’90s are a logical place to be chronologically, “the variable is whether the original listener engagement levels with radio were as high in 1995 as in 1975 and 1985. I believe they were, but this is the last iteration for [Classic Hits in the traditional sense].”

But some programmers are already making plans for the ’00s: “I don’t think the ’90s will ever be the tentpole. The late ’90s/early 2K will replace the ’80s. It will take another 3-4 years in major markets, five in smaller ones,” says RCS’s Tom Lawler. 

“I think the ’80s will be king for another 5-10 years. Then the center of the format will jump to the 2000s,” adds webcaster Sam D’Addieco.

“Finding ’90s songs that will test has gotten better, but enough to center Classic Hits around it? Doubtful. My guess is that by 2030, you’ll see the early 2000s become a major focal point of the format,” says Dave Russell of WEEU Reading, Pa.

“There’s something timeless about the ’80s that appeals to the younger generation. Too much of the ’90s seems moody. I’m wondering if the ’80s and early-to-mid 2000s might be a better combination,” asks DBC Savannah, Ga.’s Steve McKay.

There’s also the era agnosticism of a generation that just made a viral hit of an obscure early ’60s Connie Francis song this week. “A-level uptempo party songs from the late ’70s to mid-’00s will work fine as today’s Classic Hits,” says Billboard’s Silvio Pietroluongo. “Skip the doldrum years.”

One of the common patterns of Classic Hits’ evolution is that each migration is usually preceded by an attempt to do the next generation as a separate format. All-’70s, all-’80s, and all-’90s stations didn’t work as stand-alones, but they did help define the body of hits that Classic Hits later co-opted.

In Canada, the ’90s-through-today Classic Hits format has successfully existed for several years in a handful of markets. In the US, if the format lands in the early ’00s, as some predict, it won’t be far from today’s “throwback” outlets or even gold-based CHRs. “At that point, maybe we should call such a format something other than Classic Hits? It should get a new name,” suggests Northeast radio veteran Scott Lowe.