One Station, Multiple Legacies: South Florida’s Three-Way Power Grab

Programmers used to call South Florida the market “where ‘disco’ was never a dirty word.” Danceable R&B never disappeared from programmer Bill Tanner’s WHYI (Y100) Miami. Soon, club records took on increased prominence at rivals WINZ (I95), WCJX (96X), WHQT (Hot 105), and finally WPOW (Power 96), the latter two both programmed by Tanner. 

Hot 105 arrived about a year before KPWR (Power 106) Los Angeles and helped create the template for that station’s phenomenal success with a dance/R&B mix. Power 96, which celebrates its 40th birthday later this year, arrived shortly after the L.A. station exploded, but was even more dance driven. In the mid-’80s, the definition of “Rhythmic Top 40” was often nebulous, adapted sometimes by slightly poppier Urban stations that didn’t want to be called such. Power 96 had a more legit claim than some others on being something else, in part because no other market was Miami.

I recently came across an unedited aircheck of Power 96 from April 1987, and there are at least four songs I don’t remember from Power 106’s similar format, including a lot of the then-burgeoning “freestyle” movement that went even further than what I was hearing in L.A. The “Miami Bass” sound is still about a year off. So is the explosion of crossover/novelty rap, although the Beastie Boys are already here. (MD Colleen Cassidy was famous for her music enterprise; eventually she did the same for Power consultant Jerry Clifton’s clients.)

Hearing classic Power in its heyday spurred a Fresh Listen to Power in its current incarnation as a Throwback Hip-Hop/R&B outlet, but also to Vic Latino’s WLLY-HD3 (Yo! 107.1) West Palm Beach, which recently modified its own Throwback format to include more reggaeton and pop as well as some recurrents. I also returned to Miami One Radio under former Power PD Frank Walsh.

Miami One’s promos ask “whatever happened to old-school Power 96” before claiming that legacy. Over nearly 30 years, however, WPOW, like the Rhythmic format, has gone through so many changes, and with so many building blocks (including Spanish-language crossovers, even before the rise of reggaeton), that its legacy now echoes in three very different stations. 

Here’s Power 96, around 7:15 p.m., April 19, 1987, with Gino Latino, now doing mornings on WEPN (La Exitosa) New York, which just incorporated more classic dance into its bilingual Classic Hits format. Power is giving away tickets to the upcoming Spring Powerfest featuring Alisha, Erotic Exotic, Lime, Amaretto, and Bassix, among others. Power is also debuting a new syndicated show that evening, the American Dance Traxx countdown produced at Power 106, indicating the format’s rapid spread. 

• Monet, “My Heart Gets All the Breaks”
• Klymaxx, “I’d Still Say Yes” — R&B ballads were often what Rhythmic stations made a point of not playing, but this one made it through
• Paul Parker, “One Look Is Not Enough” — ’80s artist known for high-energy dance follows the trends into freestyle
• Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” — a remix, although from the band name and song title, it sure sounded like the original should have been a dance song; (it was remade as one several times)
• Debbie Gibson, “Only in My Dreams” — also a remix
• Dead or Alive, “Something in My House”
• Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere”
• Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” — the hour’s listen to win song, and not a remix
• Zee, “Madness” — freestyle
• Bon Jovi, “Never Say Goodbye” — as with Starship, power ballads were part of the Power mix, just not uptempo pop/rock
• Lisa-Lisa & Cult Jam, “Head to Toe”
• Prototype, “Don’t Bother”

In its last years as a contemporary station, Power 96 evolved to Mainstream Top 40, also a reflection of where CHR itself landed during the Turbo-Pop era. After incorporating a growing number of gold titles into that format, it made the move to all-throwbacks outright two years ago. By that time, crosstown WFLC (Hits 97.3) had become a gold-based CHR. Y100 later became more recurrent-driven (although with its own Latin-crossover component), meaning that what was once the most musically aggressive market in America has become one of the most conservative.

Here’s Power 96’s throwback format with PD Miguel “Mijo” Irizarry just before 3 p.m., on April 3:

• Lauryn Hill, “Ex-Factor”
• Rick Ross, “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)”
• 2Pac, “Changes”
• Chris Brown f/Tyga, “A-Yo”
• Lil Wayne, “How to Love”
• Rihanna, “Rude Boy”
• Destiny’s Child, “Bills, Bills, Bills”
• Ghost Town DJs, “My Boo”
• Aaliyah, “Rock the Boat”
• TLC, “Waterfalls”
• Ja Rule, “Always on Time”
• Bell Biv Devoe, “Poison”
• Timbaland f/Keri Hilson, “The Way I Are”
• Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent”
• Drake f/Rihanna, “Too Good”
• Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”
• Notorious B.I.G., “Big Poppa”
• Kanye West, “All Falls Down”

Yo! 107.1 went throwback Hip-Hop in 2018.  Recently, JVC Broadcasting’s Vic “Latino” Canales refashioned it as “party hits and throwbacks,” including three reggaeton songs per hour. There’s also an hour-long commercial free mix every third hour. Here’s Yo! 107.1 just after 3 p.m., April 3:

• Sabrina Carpenter, “Feather”
• Terror Fabulous & Nadine Sutherland, “Action”
• 2Pac, “California Love”
• Robin S., “Show Me Love”
• Notorious B.I.G., “Big Poppa”
• Ivy Queen, “Quiero Bailar”
• Chaka Demus & Pliers, “Murder She Wrote”
• Ava Max, “Kings & Queens”
• Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent”
• Mase, “What You Want”
• Amber, “This is Your Night” — also a song encountered on Hits 97.3 today
• Jay-Z f/UGK, “Big Pimpin’”
• Don Omar, “Dile”
• Missy Elliott, “Hot Boyz (Remix)”
• Pitbull f/Christina Aguilera, “Feel This Moment”

Miami One Radio’s mix goes back to the original disco era. One of its promos invokes not just Power, but its late-’70s predecessor WMJX (Disco 96) as well as WTHM (Rhythm 98), which helped foster dance music in the market before Hot 105 and Power. There’s a playlist from Power 96 under Walsh in 1993 that does a great job of illustrating all the different genres in Power’s DNA at various times. Here’s Miami One Radio at 10:30 a.m., April 6:

• Stevie B, “Take It All Back” — 2023 single featuring Pitbull
• Trammps, “Disco Inferno”
• TLC, “No Scrubs”
• Angie Martinez f/Big Pun, “Live at Jimmy’s”
• Rick Astley, “Never Gonna Give You Up” — extended version beginning with some stripped-down beats, before the familiar intro
• Snap!, “The Power”
• Lime, “Your Love” — their home market, Montreal, remained another disco stronghold through the early-’80s backlash elsewhere, sometimes producing quirky, Euro-flavored dance music like this
• Abba, “Dancing Queen”
• Angel, “All Hung Up” — from 1985, similar to Alisha’s hits of that era
• Latin Lover, “Casanova Action” — also from 1985, but more traditional high-energy
• Lil Suzy, “Take Me in Your Arms”
• Sandee, “Notice Me”
• Rema f/Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”
• Gary Criss, “Brazilian Nights” — from 1978, long version was a medley with “The Girl from Ipanema”
• Naughty by Nature, “O.P.P.”
• LaBouche, “Sweet Dreams”