Clear Channel has flipped Hawaiian “Hawai’i No Ka Oi” 99.1 K256AS Honolulu to EDM “Evolution 99.1“.
Rebroadcasting 93.9 KHJZ-HD2, the move brings a second Dance station to the market joining “My 95.9” KXRG-LP. The locally programmed non-commercial LPFM will have to compete with the national programming from Evolution.
The previous “Hawai’i No Ka Oi” format remains on 98.5 KDNN-HD2 and IHeartRadio.
Clear Channel dumped “Evolution” in Boston but put it on in Honolulu.
This may be because for all I know, their online I-Heart Radio service rebroadcasting an over-the-air station could mean lower music royalties than an all-Internet station.
Since CC dropped Evolution on the then-WEDX-101.7 in the Boston area (now country-formatted WBWL), the company may have had to put the format on somewhere to put it on the air and avoid higher royalty payments. I don’t know for certain.
Maybe someone can clear this point up.
No, the online Evolution has always been on KBKS-HD2, Tacoma, WA. That is how the online Evolution gets away with paying the lower royalties.
None of the other Evolution stations are direct simulcasts of the online generic “Evolution” stream. Neither was Boston’s 101.7 when it existed. The playlists and liners on each Evolution HD2 and translator are similar, but there are different IDs, and some have commercials while others do not.
That is true. The customized Honolulu Evolution (aka KHJZ-HD2 & K256AS according to their TOH IDs) is only airing liners targeting KDDB and KPHW along with traffic reports. Other than that the station’s programming is mostly music-intensive.
Another factor in this move is Honolulu’s multicultural population and a growing interest in the EDM scene which does have a healthy fan base here, especially among young adults and females, plus the clubs here are spinning more of this genre and less of the Hip-Hop product. Even the major EDM events have seen their shows sell out fast. So bringing the Evolution brand to Honolulu does make sense and could fuel the EDM flames higher.
You mean EDM as in “Emetic Drug-Fueled Music”?
Clear Channel is not catering to the rave and party crowd. Clear Channel wants to keep a competing owner’s station from reaching #1. As simple as that.
as much as i agree that dance isn’t a legitimate format and that this is about taking some numbers from a competitor, the glib snottiness really isn’t necessary.
That depends on who they are trying to protect. The most popular stations in Honolulu are the ones owned by either Ohana Family (KDDB, KUMU, KPOI, and KQMQ) or Summit Media (KPHW, KRTR, KCCN, and KINE). As far as the Clear Channel/Honolulu cluster is concerned, their stations (apart from KSSK) are already ratings-challenged as it is.