CHR battle

In the mid 1980s there was a three-way battle for the CHR audience in Nashville between Kix 104 (now sports talk 104.5 the Zone), Kiss 106 (now 105.9 the Rock), and Y-107 (WYHY). Y-107 won out, and it has remained the market’s CHR leader ever since (despite a rebranding as “107.5 the River” in 1996 and change of call letters to WRVW).

Now, nearly 25 years later, we have another such battle in place in the Music City, with 107.5 the River WRVW (Clear Channel) and 102.5 the Party WPRT-FM (Cromwell) facing a new competitor: I-106 WNFN (Cumulus). Up on the site today are new IDs from WNFN during its stunting (from its previous sports talk format) and also from yesterday with an ID from the station’s first weekend with its new Adult CHR format. Nashville doesn’t have PPM in place yet from Arbitron, but the success of CHR in PPM markets I suspect played a role in Cumulus’ decision to attack the 100kw River with a relatively lesser-strength signal on 106.7.

Thanks also to Chris Cuomo, who sent me a new ID of freshly-flipped WERC-FM in Birmingham, AL.