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From: gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Boston's Hit Radio station (Is Springsteen losing it?)
Message-ID: <1948@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 26-May-84 12:50:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.1948
Posted: Sat May 26 12:50:57 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 21:12:13 EDT
References: <1686@dartvax.UUCP>
Organization: MIT Lusers and Hosers Inc., Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 42

A HitRadio station is defined as a station that plays its music from an
ordered, indexed (ranked) selection of hits, also known as a playlist or
a hit-list.  From these lists usually come the notion of "Top 40" which
is what a station's playlist is referred to in general.  (This is to
distinguish from the nation's Top 40.)  WROR punted its Top 40 format in
the summer of 1983 and became more-or-less an easy listening station,
*however* they still play a lot of Top 40 music because that's what
comprises a lot of EZ.  WROR had been the #1 station in Boston's market
but WHTT which aired in February 1983 took all of its listeners when
they declared themselves to be HitRadio and they zoomed to #1 in the
ratings.  I have not seen the ratings in Boston lately but judging from
what the other stations are playing I would reckon that WHTT is still
#1. 

In NYC, two stations are competing for the #1 listening audience.  They
are WPLJ (formerly an album-oriented station until sometime in 1983) and
WHTZ (yes, I know the difference between it and WHTT).  WHTZ is New
York's HitRadio station.  When I was last in NYC (December) I tuned to
WHTZ and found little difference in their playlist and WHTT's (excepting
the fact that they play less Boston-based music and more r&b/dance).  As
of the issue of Billboard that came out 2 weeks ago, "Dancing in the
Dark" had not been added on WPLJ yet -- I imagine it has been added now.

The history of NYC radio has been a famous one, dating back to when WABC
was the #1 station in the 60s and up until the late 70s (one moment of
silence for WABC which is now a talk station).  When disco became big in
NYC, another station, WKTU, took over the market around 1979.  It's stay
on top was short-lived, however, as NYC's r&b station, WBLS, topped the
ratings chart and stayed there until recently.  Unable to contend with
the new formats of WBLS etc. (they introduced a lot of dance music in
addition to r&b to draw off some of WABC's and WKTU's audiences), WABC
became a talk station in early 1982.  About that time, WYNY (an
easy-listening station around 1977) adopted a Top 40 format and gained
attention.  In 1983, WPLJ changed formats and WHTZ was created.  One of
WHTZ, WPLJ or WBLS must be on top of the ratings charts now.
-- 
                                                  Let fly the bits!

Greg Skinner (White Gold Wielder)
{decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, whuxle, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds

And he who wields white wild magic gold is a paradox ...