A few weeks ago, I retweeted a posting from Radio Rewinder, which republished the fall 1984 ratings from 10 major markets as they appeared in Radio & Records, my employer of the time.

In my tweet, I commented on the number of market-leading Easy Listening outlets, roughly five years before the format’s near-total implosion on major-market FM. I was also impressed by how fragmented San Francisco was, even then, with only three stations above a four share.

What my Edison Research president Larry Rosin took notice of was the number of radio stations in the 1984 ratings still found on the dial in some form more than 35 years later. So I counted the number of brands with some sort of continuity.

Determining that continuity was subjective. Most people would count KIIS Los Angeles and WHTZ (Z100) New York as CHR then and CHR now, with those mid-‘90s moments when KIIS was almost Hot AC and Z100 was essentially Alternative long forgotten. WCBS-FM New York was Oldies then, Classic Hits now — even if the name of the format and the era it covers have evolved. WJLB Detroit, WGCI Chicago, and WUSL (Power 99) all continue as R&B/Hip-Hop.

I counted those stations that had kept their brands but had evolved along the common trajectories of certain stations in certain formats — Urban to Urban AC; Full-Service AC to News/Talk; Album Rock to Classic Rock. For the same reason, I counted WLS-FM Chicago, now playing the CHR hits of 1984 as a Classic Hits station (despite many format changes and modifications in between).

I counted those brands that had been revived in a relatively similar fashion, even on another dial position; e.g., WKTU New York or KDAY Los Angeles. I counted those Classical stations that had moved frequencies and switched to non-commercial operations — WQXR New York and KDFC San Francisco (even if much of the latter’s programming emanates from outside the market). 

I wasn’t as sure what to do with WPGC Washington, D.C. In 1984, it had softened from CHR to AC; in 1987, it relaunched as R&B, but self-reported as CHR, drawing on its previous heritage. Most Washingtonians do regard WPGC as having been “hits in some form” for 60 or so years.

What about WEAZ Philadelphia, which segued first from Easy Listening to Soft AC, then switched its handle to B101, then to More-FM, then back to B101? Most Philadelphians regard that evolution as having a through line as well.

In the end, it’s safe to say that there was probably one decision per market that another radio historian might dispute. But even if your count differs by a few percentage points in either direction, there’s still a lot of format continuity:

New York – 46% of those stations above a 1 share in 1984 are still in the market in some form (WHTZ, WOR, WINS, WCBS, WCBS-FM, WBLS, WLTW, WKTU, WABC, WSKQ, WMCA, WQXR), and that’s not including the 2019 sale of WPLJ to religious broadcaster K-Love.

Los Angeles – 40%, including KIIS, KFI, KOST, KLOS, KNX, KRTH (K-Earth 101), KROQ, and KJLH. (I wondered about KBIG, since it was Easy Listening then and Hot AC now, plus it’s not currently not using the call letters, but most Angelenos still call it “K-BIG” and regard it as a linear evolution.)

Nassau/Suffolk – 50%, thanks to all the New York signals, plus WALK, WBAB, WBLI, WKJY (K-Joy) and others.

San Francisco – 31%, a relatively low number, but still including KGO, KCBS, KNBR, KOIT, KBLX, and KMEL (which underwent a similar evolution as WPGC).

Boston – 30%, but still including WBZ, WXKS-FM (Kiss 108), WRKO, WMJX, and WAAF.

Philadelphia – 38%, with many of the current top brands in the market — WMMR, WMGK, WDAS, WXTU — as holdovers.

Detroit – 43%, including WJR, WJLB, WWJ, WRIF, WNIC, WOMC, and a recently revived WLLZ.

San Diego – 28%, including KGB, XETRA-FM (91X), XHRM (Magic 92.5), KSON, and KYXY. I didn’t count KFMB-FM, which hasn’t exactly evolved in a straight line, although market-watchers are waiting to see what happens after its sale.

Chicago – 42%, including WGN, WGCI, WBBM, WBBM-FM, WUSN, WXRT, WOJO, and WVON. WBMX has been revived, although its current ‘90s/’00s-based Throwback Hip-Hop format doesn’t quite harken back to the R&B station it was in 1984.

Washington, D.C. – 48%, including WMAL, WKYS, WHUR, WWDC (DC101), WMZQ, WASH, and WTOP, already N/T for years, but a relatively minor force in the market at the time. Again, that number would have been higher without last year’s sale of WRQX to K-Love.

Will you view the number of heritage brands as stagnation or stability? In 2019, there were very few major format changes, and most of the biggest were prompted by K-Love purchases. In part that was because few owners wanted the financial and marketing pressure of a new launch, when it’s gotten harder to cut through a field of proliferating media choices. It’s also significant that some of the highest retention rates are in the biggest markets, where even being mid-pack can be lucrative for an established station.

Heritage stations have to contend with the weight of listeners’ memories. KGO San Francisco’s changes over the years have been so controversial that I know somebody scoffed at its inclusion on the list seven paragraphs back, and there are others like it. But most people would view WMMR Philadelphia as having carried its heritage well. And some stations, like KRTH, are in considerably better shape than they were at the time.

Heritage stations are a reminder of radio’s endurance and connection with the audience. They also represent radio’s best assets on an infinite dial that broadcasters have yet to truly exploit. The issue is whether they’ve been joined by enough exciting new brands. Those tabulations are yet to be done, but  in 2019, major format changes were minimal. Radio still resists brand extensions as well, but their value to heritage brands is documented and I’ve got Caramel Coconut Oreos in my pantry to prove it.