It began in February with writing a 25th birthday tribute to WKTU New York. Suddenly, I was wondering whether a dance/CHR would work in New York, and if it was the right time musically. By putting multiple dance records in play at one time, WKTU gave Mainstream CHR something to own for a year or so until teen pop and the return of crossover Hip-Hop created multiple musical strongholds.
CHR needs to get something going again. But dance is still relatively throttled here. There are two-three songs seemingly competing for a single radio slot, even after a year of Dua Lipa throwback disco. It’s not unlike the pre-WKTU time in the U.S., when Eurodance could break one “Rhythm Is a Dancer” or “Another Night” or “Mr. Vain” at a time. But there’s a lot of viable dance pop around the world, and if you don’t want to wait to hear those songs in a CHR radio context, there’s always the UK’s Top 40 battle.
I went back to the UK’s mainstream CHR Capital FM for the first time in a while because of one specific record: Majestic vs. Boney M.’s “Rasputin,” a current hit remix of the goofball 1979 history lesson from Frank Farian’s pre-Milli Vanilli studio act. Boney M.’s original “Rasputin” was a hit everywhere other than the U.S. Having it back was bizarre enough that one UK radio person tweeted a picture of their Capital metadata display while it was playing. Listening to Capital prompted a Fresh Listen to rival Kiss as well.
As with the UK’s tightly spaced Classic Hits/gold-based AC stations, Kiss and Capital often dart back and forth across each other’s musical positions. Kiss (“The Beat of the UK”) is currently in the classic Rhythmic Top 40 position — lots of dance pop, but also drawing from the UK’s Hip-Hop boom and from TikTok pop. Capital, although using the “UK’s No. 1 Hit Music Station” positioner, was about 80% dance pop when I listened this afternoon.
Both stations are competing for the dance franchise. For the holiday weekend, Capital is staging the “Capital Weekender” from the roof of its building, with DJs and producer/artists including Jax Jones and Shane Codd. Kiss, in conjunction with its Kisstory and Kiss Fresh side channels, has a 55-hour virtual “Easter Weekend Kiss Fest,” including Joel Corry, Fatboy Slim, and Idris Elba.
Both stations are also doing a variant of the classic “don’t say hello” cash call. The afternoon I heard it, Capital gave away £25,000 to a texter for answering “Capital, give me the cash.” Kiss is part of a contest across four of owner Bauer Media’s networks where the correct way to answer was “make me a winner.” The promo I heard was teasing a £65,000 prize.
Here’s Capital on March 31, 2021 just before 3 p.m.:
- Jax Jones/AuRa, “I Miss U”
- Anne-Marie x KSI x Digital Farm Animals, “Don’t Play”
- Doja Cat, “Say So”
- Shane Codd, “Get Out My Head”
- Justin Bieber, “Hold On” (Bieber’s uptempo-but-slow-starter is front-sold as “a little moment of chill”)
- Major Lazer f/Nyla & Fuse ODG, “Light It Up”
- Riton x Nightcrawlers f/Mufasa & Hypeman & Dopamine, “Friday”
- The Kid Laroi, “Without You”
- Topic f/A7S, “Breaking Me”
- James Arthur, “Medicine”
- MK f/Carla Monroe, “2AM”
- Tiesto, “The Business”
- Ariana Grande, “34+35”
- Jax Jones & Bebe Rexha, “Harder”
- KSI f/Yungblud & Polo G, “Patience”
- Martin Jensen, “Solo Dance”
Here’s Kiss at the same time:
- Bruno Mars & Anderson.Paak & Silk Sonic, “Leave the Door Open”
- Shane Codd, “Get Out My Head”
- Internet Money f/Don Tolliver, “Lemonade”
- Ava Max, “My Head & My Heart”
- AJ Tracey, “Anxious”
- Loud Luxury f/Brando, “Body”
- Dua Lipa, “We’re Good”
- Navos, “Believe Me”
- Pop Smoke, “What You Know ‘Bout Love”
- Anne Marie x KSI x Digital Farm Animals, “Don’t Play”
- Usher f/Will.I.Am, “OMG”
- Meduza f/Dermot Kennedy, “Paradise”
- Central Cee, “Commitment Issues”
- Justin Bieber, “Hold On”
- Paul Woolford & Diplo f/Kareem Lomax, “Looking for Me”
- Masked Wolf, “Astronaut in the Ocean”
- Tiesto, “The Business”
- SZA, “Good Days” (back-sold with the line “three minutes every day with that song will give your brain the break it deserves”)
