Sean Ross

To look at the Classic Hits and AC charts now, you’d never know what a force R&B, dance, and early Hip-Hop had been in pop music from the mid-’80s to the early ’90s. From the moment KPWR (Power 106) Los Angeles signed on in 1986 with R&B and an increasing quotient of dance music, Top 40 sounded sterile by comparison. Within a few years, most CHR stations in any market with a significant Hispanic population was leaning “rhythmic.”

This week “Take on Me” by a-Ha, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, and “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are among Mediabase’s top 10 most-played songs at Classic Hits radio. Those three songs usually are. They are clearly enduring hits, but they are also songs that some people in the Ross on Radio audience really hate. I’ve asked Facebook friends in the recent past to tell me the songs they found irritating. This year, I went for a stronger pejorative: “obnoxious.” I generally save that one for songs with a certain combination of elements — […]

The success stories have mounted worldwide as well. Public broadcaster RadioEins has been No. 1 in Berlin for five out of the last six ratings periods. Rad

Two years ago, Classic Hits WLS-FM Chicago brought back the signature jingle associated with the station throughout its 60-year history, including its Top 40 heyday from the ’60s to the mid-’80s. For programmers and jingle fans, it was the shotgun heard around the world. TM Studios’ Chief Creative Officer and Co-Owner Dave Bethell called it “one of the best responses for a custom package in a long time.”

The Cumulus CHR launched on 105.1 on August 11, displacing the well-regarded Hip-Hop/R&B outlet Power 105.1. The station will simulcast on both frequencies

If Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” is the Song of the Summer, and much of the consumer press has already decided that it is, it will have major implications for both Country and CHR radio.

It has been an ongoing question for Country radio for more than a decade. What are you promising the listener when you declare your station to be “Number O

The thing that has been most multiply noted about Dolly Parton in the last 24 hours, as I write this, is how unified people have been in their grief — no small thing in these fraught times. I know that not every Facebook friend of mine has posted a tribute, but it certainly feels that way.

In 2019, SiriusXM launched a temporary radio station called Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings Radio. At the time, taking a First Listen was a good way to talk about the breadth and depth of Parton’s catalog and multi-media ubiquity, but also about the greater-than-ever appeal of “Jolene,” a topic that has returned to Ross on Radio several times over the years.

Programmers in both camps are still trying to figure out how to deal with the convergence of Country and CHR/Hot AC. The major-market CHRs that won’t play “Choosin’ Texas” are well-publicized, but even some of the most Country-friendly medium-market stations took months to put it in power. (They’ve since made up for lost time.)