iHeartMedia flipped Classic Hip-Hop “99.1 Jamz” K256AS/101.9 KUCD-HD2 Honolulu to International Hits “Pop 99.1” on Friday.
The station is emphasizing K-Pop in the playlist with BTS, Twice, Monsta X, and TXT among core artists being highlighted. Filipino, Japanese and Chinese artists and some American collaborations with K-Pop artists such as Lil Nas X’ “Seoul Town Road” with RM of BTS and Ava Max featuring NCT 127 “So Am I” have been heard in our sampling of the station.
The former Classic Hip-Hop format remains on iHeartRadio and 93.9 KUBT-HD2 branded as “Jamz Hawaii“.
iHeartMedia Honolulu announced today the debut of the new PoP! 99.1, the best PoP! on the planet, effective immediately.
PoP! 99.1 will broadcast a very unique new Asian Pop (A-Pop) format including songs from artists like BTS, Blackpink, Monsta X, Tomorrow X Together, Twice and many more. The station will also air non-stop A-Pop music, with only one commercial break per hour. Program lineup information will be released at a later date, listeners can visit the station’s website for more information.
“PoP! 99.1 is going to fulfill a wide-open format puka (hole) in Honolulu,” said Jamie Hyatt, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Honolulu and Program Director for PoP! 99.1. “We’ve seen the popularity of A-Pop hit new highs all around the world, across the U.S. and right here in Hawaii. For several years now, radio listeners on Oahu have asked for a station that plays this genre of music and we couldn’t be more excited to finally give it to them.”
“We love when people get excited about a radio station,” said Chuck Cotton, Market President for iHeartMedia Honolulu, “We are looking forward to introducing this new station and genre to everyone in Honolulu – the feedback we have been getting from testing has been through the roof.”
The former station, 99.1 Jamz and its classic Hip Hop format will broadcast on 93.9 HD2 (KUBT-HD2) and can be heard anywhere listeners are on the iHeartRadio app.
Eric Jon Magnuson 
For me, this is kind of like where EDM was some years ago, when iHeart tried Evolution: Asian pop is very popular commercially, but doesn’t really fit in with a lot of traditional radio formats (especially in the U.S.). I’ve been hoping that someone in the U.S. would try this out, and Honolulu is probably the best market to do so. Also, I really like the tagline (“the best PoP! on the planet!”).
It might be good to try to compare this with the PopAsia channel from Australia’s SBS, or possibly even the music programs from Arirang Radio (some of which might be carried on SiriusXM’s Korea Today channel).
A newer story from Billboard (at https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/radio/8544786/pop-991-asian-pop-station-iheartmedia-honolulu) has some additional quotes from Mr. Hyatt, plus some more details about the playlist and the presentation.