Before it became the radio industry’s rebranding of Oldies, the term “Classic Hits” had a different meaning. Classic Hits stations were a softer, usually more eclectic, sometimes poppier take on Classic Rock, ranging from the “Arrow” format on KCBS-FM Los Angeles and others to the early WZLX Boston.
There are still trace elements of the original Classic Hits in today’s radio. Cox’s version of the format on WSRV (The River) Atlanta and others differs only slightly from Classic Rock, but WXRC (The Ride) Charlotte, N.C., hews closer to the original vision and is currently No. 4 in the market with a 6.7 share.
Now there’s another success story. In the fall, WCVT (Classic Hits Vermont), licensed to Stowe but serving both Burlington and Montpelier “from the top of Mt. Mansfield,” came under new ownership. In the just-released spring Nielsens, the station was up 1.0-4.3, making it Burlington’s No. 3-rated station. It’s also No. 3 in Montpelier.
WCVT first appeared in this column nearly a decade ago as “101.1, the One.” That station was doing an unusual take on the supersoft AC format, then starting to enjoy a resurgence. It had an ample quotient of the softer AOR of the ’70s and late ’60s. But you might also hear “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me” by Aretha Franklin & George Michael.
PD Zeb Norris came to the station six years ago, from Triple-A rival WNCS, just ahead of WCVT evolving to a still-eclectic but not quite as broad mix. “Triple-A was my zone for decades, and I bring that viewpoint to the mix,” he says. One positioner describes the station as “the best of the album era.” Another as “carefully curated and always free.”
“We’re very ’70s-based, and even go back to the ’60s, but your recent piece on Classic Hits stations adding ’90s music inspired me to do that. We didn’t actually move the average age, but we did pick up some younger cume to balance the older cume we also picked up. And it really freshened things up,” Norris adds.
WCVT promises at least 50 minutes of music every hour. “Our TSL was insane, although I know that’s not so reliable. Cume growth is still needed,” he volunteers. But as a 50-year radio veteran, Norris is also enjoying this moment of the sort that has come to broader gold-based outlets more often in the post-COVID years.
Here’s WCVT just before 7:30 with Norris on the morning of August 11:
- Kiss, “I Was Made for Loving You”
- Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Maneater”
- Doobie Brothers, “Minute by Minute”
- Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, “Some Kind of Ride” — Potter’s Grand Point North music festival returns to the region in September; Norris talked about having played her on local radio, before setting it up as something “out of our usual time frame”
- Grateful Dead, “Shakedown Street”
- Neil Young, “Old Man”
- Pointer Sisters, “Fire”
- Allman Brothers Band, “Midnight Rider”
- Elton John, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”
- Eagles, “One of These Nights”
- Linda Ronstadt, “Ooh Baby Baby”
- Moody Blues, “Tuesday Afternoon”
- Pretenders, “Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)”
Here’s the station at 10 a.m., August 8. Norris stays on the air through the Beatles Break that begins the hour; p.m. driver Nancy Gordon does another one at 4 p.m.:
- Beatles, “Rock & Roll Music”
- Beatles, “Drive My Car”
- Beatles, “Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End”
- Beatles, “Good Morning, Good Morning/Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/A Day in the Life”
- Allman Brothers Band, “Blue Sky”
- Foreigner, “Feels Like the First Time”
- Starship, “Sara”
- Eagles, “Tequila Sunrise”
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”
- Bill Withers, “Lean on Me”
- James Taylor, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”
- Doors, “Break On Through (To the Other Side)”
- Elton John, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”
