Fresh Listen CIDC (Z103.5), WKTU

It’s a question I think about on a regular basis, but particularly in early January as the anniversary of WKTU New York approaches. Is there enough current mainstream music available to do a dance/pop format if a station like WKTU launched today? It’s a particularly charged question when most current formats are struggling with available product.

For at least one major-market station this month, the answer was yes. Evanov’s CIDC (Z103.5) Toronto is the North America’s longest-running major-market dance/CHR. While Z103.5 has always been a mix of dance, Hip-Hop, R&B and pop, it recently repositioned from “All the Hits” to “Feel the Beat” under new PD/morning co-host Ronnie Stanton and has leaned further into dance in the face of two format rivals.

Z103.5’s powers, according to Mediabase, are Raye, David Guetta/Teddy Swims/Tones and I, Bruno Mars, Olivia Dean, and Disco Lines x Tinashe—two songs with connections to the dance world, two uptempo multi-format hits that are danceable, and the midtempo Dean title that a station like WKTU would have treated as rhythmic in 1996 (and plays now).

A station approaching dance from the CHR side would also have the advantage of an ongoing stream of titles with a retro-disco feel—Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears,” Sombr’s “12 to 12,” and Tame Impala’s “Dracula” among them. Those songs aren’t always acknowledged by the dance radio community, but they qualify sonically if you’re taking a broader approach. (Z103.5 still has “Tears” as a recurrent; it hasn’t played the others.) 

Then there’s Harry Styles’ new “Aperture.” While some Mainstream Top 40 PDs have complained about its length and legit dance feel, it’s an event for dance stations when a superstar artist delves into the genre. (Stanton says he’s happy to have a superstar record that competitors might not play as enthusiastically.)

I took a Fresh Listen to both Z103.5 and WKTU this week, as well as a First Listen to an online station taking a much different approach. 

Z103.5 has just kicked off its “Dream Vacation” promotion and on Monday morning, Stanton and morning co-host Mel were qualifying the 103^rd texter. Here’s Z103.5 just before 2 p.m., January 21:

• Chromeo, “Jealous (I Ain’t With It) (Canadian)
• Moliy x Silent Addy f/Shenseea, “Shake It To the Max”
• Anjulie, “Brand New Chick” (Canadian)
• Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”
• Underworld, “Born Slippy”—with a “wayback” stager; the second time in several weeks the song has appeared in a Toronto station monitor, following Alternative CFNY
• Loud Luxury, “Crash” (Canadian)
• Doja Cat, “Kiss Me More”
• Armin Van Buuren f/Sacha, “Set Me Free” (Canadian)
• Alessia Cara, “Scars to Your Beautiful” (Canadian)
• David Guetta, Teddy Swims, Tones and I, “Gone Gone Gone”
• Ne-Yo, “Closer”
• KX5, Kaskade, Deadmau5, “Escape” (Canadian)
• Renforshort, “Feeling Good” (Canadian)
• Flo Rida, “Low”
• Ed Sheeran, “Bad Habits”

When we saluted WKTU on their 25^th anniversary, we included music monitors from the station’s 1996 launch through 2021. The station continues as a mostly Rhythmic gold-based Hot AC. It currently reports to the CHR chart, although radio people generally hear it as competing more directly with Hot AC WNEW than CHR Z100. A sweeper describes it, accurately, as “NYC’s most unique music mix.”

Here’s WKTU just before 10 a.m., on January 28:

• Taylor Swift, “Opalite”
• Fergie, “Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal)”
• Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”
• Harry Styles, “Aperture”—morning co-host Astra, solo during this hour, used the intro for a content break about female friends being the best judge of a couple’s longevity
• En Vogue, “Don’t Let Go (Love)”
• Rihanna, “Only Girl (In the World)”
• Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
• One or Eight, “DSTM (Don’t Stop the Music)”—with a “today’s rhythm” sweeper
• Whitney Houston, “I’m Every Woman”
• Sia, “Chandelier”
• New Kids on the Block, “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”
• Nelly Furtado, “Say It Right”
• Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”
• Jennifer Lopez, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”
• Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”

While discussing the availability of dance product, it’s worth noting that at least one longtime format advocate is able to find enough current music for an all-freestyle channel. While the subgenre was considered polarizing even in its late ‘80s-through-’90s heyday, it comes across as melodic and much more mainstream after years of heavier EDM. 

Here’s a listen to A&R/promo veteran John Parker’s Live 365 channel, Freestylin’ Radio  at 4:15 p.m., January 21:

• TKA, “Maria”
• Luis Marte f/Jenaro, “Those Days”
• Aby Cruz, “Make Peace”
• Odalis, “Do It Again”
• Nyasia, “Mimosa (With Just One Touch)”
• Kelly Clarkson, “Because of You (Remix)”
• ElDee, “He Don’t Love You”
• Jets, “Crush On You”
• Gabrielle Garcia, “Distance Feeds the Fire”
• Julie, “Crush”—2025 remake of the Jennifer Paige hit
• Joyce Sims, “Lifetime Love”
• Rebekka & Luis Marte, “Meant to Be”