TORONTO – If contemporary hit radio (CHR) listeners in Toronto think the music coming through their speakers all sounds the same, they’re pretty well right.
Not only do CHR stations in Toronto put popular tunes in heavy rotation, they are also all playing the exact same Top 20 songs all day long, with few exceptions, according to recent research from BDS Radio Canada, a division of The Nielsen Company.
The CHR market in Toronto consists of five stations: 92.5 KiSS FM (CKIS), 99.9 Virgin Radio (CKFM), Z103.5 FM (CIDC), 104.5 CHUM FM (CHUM) and 93.5 Flow FM (CFXJ). BDS Radio Canada did a direct comparison of these five stations, looking at how many songs were in each of their daily play lists, how often those songs were repeated, and what those songs actually were.
For the most part, KiSS FM, Virgin Radio and CHUM FM play the same Top 20 songs as each other, with slightly varying frequency, said Andrew Forsyth, operations consultant at BDS Radio Canada. Forsyth presented his market research during a session at last week’s Canadian Music Week convention in Toronto.
In particular, Virgin Radio played the least number of songs on a daily basis, but at a higher rate of rotation, Forsyth said. For the week studied by BDS Radio Canada, KiSS FM registered the most music spins, he added.
Z103.5 FM’s daily play lists also draw from the same Top 20 songs, but the station throws the occasional Top 40 European dance hit into the mix as well, according to Forsyth. When it comes to airplay of Canadian music, BDS Radio Canada discovered that Z103.5 FM plays the most Canadian songs when compared to the other CHR stations in Toronto.
The fifth CHR station studied, 93.5 Flow FM, has the distinction of being the most diverse in its music play lists. In fact, Flow FM includes only 10 of the Top 20 songs in its rotation, preferring instead to augment its play lists with more urban music, Forsyth said.
In a separate study, BDS Radio Canada examined the CHR market in Edmonton, which consists of three radio stations – 104.9 FM Virgin Radio (CFMG), 91.7 The Bounce (CHBN), and Hot 107 FM (CJNW).
The CHR audioscape in that city is more varied in comparison to the Toronto market, Forsyth said. During an average week, the three Edmonton CHR stations combined play a total of 455 different songs, according to BDS Radio Canada’s research. However, only about 60 of those songs are common to all three stations, meaning that each of the Edmonton CHR stations offers its listeners a much more exclusive music experience than what Toronto CHR listeners are getting.
Similar to the Toronto market, Edmonton’s Virgin Radio relies on heavy rotation of the most popular songs to fill up its music airtime. In comparison, 91.7 The Bounce plays the largest number of unduplicated songs on a daily basis, while Hot 107 FM spins its exclusive music content more frequently.
