Programmers in both camps are still trying to figure out how to deal with the convergence of Country and CHR/Hot AC. The major-market CHRs that won’t play “Choosin’ Texas” are well-publicized, but even some of the most Country-friendly medium-market stations took months to put it in power. (They’ve since made up for lost time.)
Country, CHR and Hot AC can create the sort of lateral support that few other records can claim at the moment. That’s why streaming-driven Stella Lefty’s “Boston” overtook Bella Kay’s not-so-different “I Love It I Love It I Love It.” Or why Country has dominated and, for a week, constituted the top 5 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100. To the extent that mass appeal still exists for hit music, much of it lives in the space where a few songs converge.
Ross on Radio readers are more likely to know this than others, but Canada has a history of getting to certain formats before the U.S. It developed Adult Hits Jack- and Bob-FM, which became phenomenal in 2002-03 there and 2005 here. The ’90s/’00s-based “next generation” Classic Hits format has been successful there for a decade; in America, we’ve had to wait for existing Classic Hits stations to work up to that era.
On the Country/CHR hybrid, Canada was particularly early. The first one happened 30 years and two Country booms ago when Rawlco’s CKIS (Kiss 96.9) Calgary was briefly phenomenal with a mix that extended from Tracy Chapman to the Tractors in its first hour. At a time when Top 40 had resisted even “Friends in Low Places,” Kiss played not just Shania Twain, several years ahead of U.S. pop radio, but also the likes of Alison Krauss and Vince Gill in that first hour.
In recent years, heritage CHR CKOI Montreal has relied heavily on rootsy pop/rock, Country crossovers, and French pop, which has always had strong elements of both pop and Country. CKOI’s No. 1 song is the Mumford & Sons/Chris Stapleton duet, “Here.” Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide” is top 10 most-played. Koe Wetzel & Ella Langley’s “Jaded,” rapidly scaling the Country chart in the U.S., is already breaking quickly on CKOI.
This week, Canada got a second Country/CHR hybrid when locally owned CJMK Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, flipped from Classic Hits “Kool 98” to “Kick 98.” That move was prompted by the sale of former Country sister CKBL (The Bull) to Rawlco, which has reimaged it as CITG (The Grid), playing a ’90s-to-now Country format. (It was also Rawlco’s just-sold C97.7 Calgary that had been most successful with ’90s/’00s gold.)
Given this column’s fascination with both the CHR/Country hybrid and Canadian radio, the texts began coming in almost instantly about Kick 98. In its first two days, what I’ve heard is a roughly 60/40 mix of Country to pop. That it tilts slightly that way is a testimonial to the hugely successful reserve of Canadian artists that the Country format has built up in recent years, including recent U.S. breakthrough Josh Ross.
At the time, Kiss Calgary didn’t talk about mixing Country and CHR, billing itself instead as “Calgary’s Only New Music,” at a time when the CHR format – artificially throttled by the Canadian government to protect AM Top 40 — was finally breaking through on AM. Kick 96 talks mostly about “feel-good energy” and “good vibes only.” But it does have one liner that promises “new pop, new Country.” (There were also sweepers welcoming the Canadian Country Music Association to town for the annual CCMA Awards next week.)
Here’s Kick 98 just before 3 p.m. on the first day:
- Nate Smith, “Fix What You Didn’t Break”
- Alex Porat, “Kissing You” (Canadian female pop)
- Ariana Grande, “Hate That I Made You Love Me”
- Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
- Tyler Joe Meller, “Under the Influence” (Canadian Country)
- Gracie Abrams, “Hit the Wall”
- Kalsey Kulyk, “Cut Him Loose” (Canadian Country)
- Hozier, “Too Sweet”
- Riley Green, “Think as You Drunk”
- Gavin Adcock, “Wannabe”
- Owen Riegling, “Love Hate Love” (Canadian Country)
- Jelly Roll, “Hands Up”
- Faber Drive, “You + Me Tonight” (Canadian pop/punk from a golden age for those acts that paralleled our own)
- Jordan Davis, “Bar None”
- Pineo & Loeb x JRDN, “Spin” (Canadian dance-pop with a retro feel and a vocalist with a history of solo hits)
- Teddy Swims, “Mr. Know It All”
The Grid’s frequency has a history as a hybrid as well. In 2007, The Bull launched with a component of Classic and Southern Rock, as well as sitting out some more AC-leaning Country hits. Roughly a year later, it evolved to a more mainstream (but still hot) Country format.
The new Grid’s hook promos image it as a mix of today’s Country, “songs from the last few years,” and “the ’90s you love.” Those ’90s titles include a handful of songs by pioneering Country/Triple-A act Blue Rodeo and Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road,” songs that are usually more found on Classic Rock/Classic Hits in Canada. In its early days, you can also hear The Grid emphasizing cume songs.
Here’s the Grid just before 1 p.m., September 9, during its broadcast of the syndicated Bobby Bones Show:
- Blue Rodeo, “Try”
- Stella Lefty, “Boston”
- Dean Broady, “People Know You by Your First Name” (Canadian; Broady had a brief run at U.S. Country radio, but has been one of the format’s best, most consistent artists for decades)
- Darius Rucker, “Wagon Wheel”
- Mark Chesnutt, “Bubba Shot the Jukebox” — staged as “something we don’t normally play” or “Off the Grid”
- Taylor Swift, “I Knew It, I Knew You”
- Road Hammers, “Mud” (Canadian, rockin’ Country party band with the sustained career at home that eluded the Tractors here)
- Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen, “I Can’t Love You Anymore”
- Jason McCoy, “Born Again in Dixieland” (Canadian ’90s with a stager)
- Luke Combs, “Fast Car”
- Tim McGraw, “Just to See You Smile”
- Tenille Townes, “Sunshine’s Free” (Canadian)
- Eric Church, “Springsteen”
- James Barker Band, “Somebody I Know” (Canadian)
- Zac Brown Band f/Jimmy Buffett, “Knee Deep”
- Keith Urban, “Wasted Time”
- Patricia Conroy, “My Baby Loves Me” — the original Canadian version of the Martina McBride hit
- Morgan Wallen, “Been by Now”
Within two years of its launch, Calgary’s Kiss was upstaged by a more mainstream CHR, CKIK (Power 107). Veteran Canadian PD Boyd Leader was part of that staff. In a LinkedIn posting this week, he allows that the format might be more enduring now, both because of Country’s strength, and because of a less-siloed generation of listeners. For now, both Kick and The Grid have a history of format innovation behind them, and, in Kick’s case, the advantage among CHR stations of being where the hits are.
