From the moment that AC WKJY Long Island, N.Y., returned to its longtime K-Joy 98.3 identity, it was never quite as consistently soft as some of its new Soft AC counterparts. The station was positioned as “Long Island’s Place to Relax,” but it didn’t sound as much like KISQ (the Breeze) San Francisco as much […]
By Sean Ross Both of these things are true: Pop music and pop radio have been suffering from a shortage of uptempo hits. Pop music and radio have been suffering from a dearth of love ballads. Only the second statement will surprise regular Ross on Radio readers. I’ve always considered a steady supply of a […]
By Sean Ross There hasn’t been much opportunity over the last 18 months to discover new stations by dialing around on a road trip. But a few weeks ago, I was in Southern New England. When I hit seek again, I knew I wanted to stop on the station that played “Got a Hold on […]
By Sean Ross We need more hits. We could have more hits. I’m thinking about Top 40 and Hot AC when I say this, but every current-based format, with the exception of Christian AC, feels challenged at the moment. When radio stopped being the gatekeeper for new music, it staked out a new role as […]
By Sean Ross The concept of the “oh wow” oldie has been around for a while. As I have found out from writing about the “Lost Factor” of various hits over the years, everybody’s threshold for what song evokes the “oh wow” response is different, often dependent on whether they listen to satellite radio or […]
By Sean Ross The early ‘90s were a time of massive change on the radio format landscape: the “New Rock revolution”; the growth of Hip-Hop; the rise of “New Country,” the success of Oldies on FM, and the near implosion of Top 40. But as the decade began, the most frenetic activity was in Adult […]
By Sean Ross Every programmer should have the experience of scheduling an all-Christmas format at least once. You will never make as many listeners as happy as you will at the holidays. You will never see as much of your market gathered in one place either. Whether you miss having programmed radio in the ‘70s […]
By Sean Ross How would you handle a transition between “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses and “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” by Elton John? What about “Renegade” by Styx into “It Might Be You” by Stephen Bishop? Would you follow “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston with […]
