On Dec. 25, 2019, when Christmas music ended, WWFW (103.9 Sunny-FM) Ft. Wayne, Ind., became Adult Hits “103.9 Wayne-FM.” It was the first post-Christmas format change.

On Dec. 26, Jonesboro, Ark., got a new “Bob-FM,” on an FM translator, using the American syndicated version developed by Adult Hits format originator Howard Kroeger. The station was launched in a market that already had Jack-FM.

On Dec. 31, iHeart Radio’s WMYI (My 102.1) Greenville, S.C., became “The Lake,” a handle also used by iHR’s Adult Hits station in nearby Charlotte, N.C.

On Jan. 2, 2020, Central Utah’s KWSA became the first Jack-FM affiliate under its new distributor, Local Media Networks.

On Jan. 13, NRG’s KOOO (The Keg) Omaha, Neb., segued from Classic Rock to Adult Hits under PD Jay Michaels. It was the frequency’s second run at some version of Adult Hits, having been “The Big O” in the mid-‘00s.

On Jan. 14, a day now marked as the beginning of iHR’s nationwide cuts, its Hot AC WLGX Louisville, Ky., which had done one of the first ‘90s-driven gold formats as “Gen X Radio,” went not quite back to that format, but to an Adult Hits format as 100.5 FM, playing both titles typical of the Adult Hits ‘80s and some ‘90s pop songs not typically included by Adult Hits or Classic Hits stations.

Altogether, there were at least seven Adult Hits launches in three weeks. By contrast, when WOTH (Hot 107.9) Williamsport, Pa., dropped Adult Hits for CHR on Jan. 16, it became the first CHR launch since last August. Last year saw the debut of only four CHRs — two of them on an FM translator. January’s only other significant recent launch has been WNWV (107.3 JenY) Cleveland — a reminder that it was once Modern AC stations, not Adult Hits, that were named after a person.

As an early (and continued) proponent of Bob and his acolytes, I’ve examined the state of Adult Hits from time to time to provide a snapshot of how it sounds, and because it’s fun to point out that the format has far outlived its detractors. But as the original Bob-FM, CFWM Winnipeg, turns 19 this year, something else has happened. Adult Hits has become the next hot format. Again. And of course, that says something about the industry now.

All That Glitters Is Gold: It’s not true that after Bob- and Jack-FM, our industry was only able to create gold-based formats, rather than recognizing new genres of music. Some developments took place off industry radar — the revitalization of Christian AC by praise and worship music; the resurgence of Latin Hip-Hop. Some emerging genres were subsumed by CHR, which effectively pre-empted the opportunity for a new dance radio format in 2012 and a chillout pop format in 2017 or so. But at a moment when Classic Rock, Classic Hits, and AC are often being elevated to the top of PPM ratings because older demos are more loyal to broadcast radio than their kids are, it is not surprising to find Adult Hits in a building boom again. 

Some Owners Are Still Not Comfortable With Classic Hits: When Adult Hits first boomed, its “mile wide/inch deep” playlists were 2-3x the size of the format then still known as Oldies, and the average era was a decade newer. Once Classic Hits stations weren’t sure how to move into the ‘80s. Adult Hits lived there, plus it could delve into the ‘90s and beyond just to prove it wasn’t an oldies format. In the PPM-driven 2010s, however, Adult Hits playlists were often halved. Classic Hits became an ‘80s-based format, and some successful stations, such as KOLA Riverside, Calif., and KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles, had no problem playing ’90s or even ’00s. The differences between the formats became more subtle.

Classic Hits has been a winning format again for more than a decade, and yet it’s still not in every market, especially diary markets. Even in Louisville, where the very successful Classic Hits station is the older-leaning WAKY, WLGX didn’t see a straight-ahead Classic Hits hole. Overall, Adult Hits still reads as somehow younger with radio station owners and managers. Classic Hits needs constant steering as music moves through the demographic window; Adult Hits, with its “play anything” imaging, has more room to maneuver. Also …

Adult Hits Lends Itself More Easily to Being Jockless: It was never intended for Adult Hits to be an un-hosted format, carried by its imaging. Winnipeg’s Bob-FM was fully hosted, and the jocks were typically friendly and funny, but relatively strait-laced foils to the goofy anti-radio imaging. The same went for CKLG Vancouver, Jack-FM’s breakthrough station. In America, relying entirely on the imaging became perceived as part of the magic, to the point where hosted Adult Hits stations often had trouble finding the right tone. It’s not Adult Hits’ fault that the role of the local personality has been devalued across all music formats, but in an atmosphere of major cuts, it’s hard to ignore the timing.

When It Comes to Currents, We Are Back in the Mid-‘00s: Adult Hits spread across Canada in 2001-03 during a doldrums for mainstream CHR music everywhere, but particularly in Canada, where the country’s Mainstream Top 40s were being upstaged by a new wave of Rhythmic CHRs. By the time Adult Hits took hold in America around 2005, CHR had already turned the corner with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and the rise of American Idol, but it was a few more years before Top 40 could really be called a boom format again.

In 2019, CHR music was, by consensus, better than it had been for several years prior — possibly because it had reached the “nowhere to go but up” place. But there is not yet an Idol to propel it to the center of pop culture. Nor is there any guarantee that the mother/daughter coalition can be repaired this time.

Here’s what Jonesboro’s Bob-FM affiliate sounded like just before 3 p.m. on Dec. 29, a few days after its launch:

• Santana f/Rob Thomas, “Smooth” (often the newest song on Adult Hits at the time of its mid-‘00s boom)
• Def Leppard, “Armageddon It”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Rhiannon”
• Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer”
• Proclaimers, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”
• Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Real Life, “Send Me an Angel ‘89”
• Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”
• Huey Lewis & News, “The Power of Love”
• Bob Seger, “Hollywood Nights”
• KT Tunstall, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”
• Modern English, “I Melt With You”
• Bryan Adams, “Cuts Like a Knife”
• Jesus Jones, “Right Here, Right Now”
• Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean”
• Wings, “Live and Let Die”
• Poison, “Talk Dirty to Me”

And here’s the Keg, which is hosted during the day, at 8 a.m., January 15:

• Elton John, “Bennie and the Jets’
• Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle”
• Bananarama, “Venus”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams”
• Men At Work, “Down Under”
• Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. II)”
• Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
• Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’”
• New Order, “Blue Monday”