Re: NorthEast Radio Watch 7/17:

[Mark Shneyder <mshbc@bu.edu>]

On Sun, 20 Jul 1997, Paul R Hopfgarten wrote:

> 
> I wouldn't even say Kiss is a top40, they're closer to AAA these days
> competing against WBOS and WBMX (IMHO). AAA seems to be the "hot" format in
> Boston.
> 

They lean closer to today's pop alternative which is just a reflection
of changing tastes among today's Top40 listeners. However, Kiss still
doesnt abandon their top40 dance roots -- during a given broadcast day
you're bound to hear such Gold dance tunes such as Madonna's "Vogue" or
"Express Yourself" or Four Season's 1994 remix of "December 1963(Oh!What A
night!) or Frankie Goes TO Hollywood's "Relax", plus a few of 
non-rap-inflected current dance tunes. Also, Kiss still airs "Open House
Party" on Saturday evenings which is mostly dance music.
Kiss has become a mirror-image of Z100 in NYC, which many Top40 stations
across the country began to use as a transition model in shifting to
Modern CHR in recent years....

Mix, on the other hand, is still an AC station masquarading as a 'cool,new
sound' of the 90s hoping that 25-49 women get bored with older elements
of Kiss or Magic...

Mix will probably grow for a while but a tight playlist is bound to turn
off some people after a while. Down the road, I just cant see them not
expanding the playlist to include more and more 80s 'classic
alternatives'(Modern English, Human League, Eurythmics Duran Duran,etc)

- -Mark

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