If there’s any place on the radio where I want to hear strong on-air personality, it’s Classic Hits. All formats have their own personality legacies, and I’m happy when I hear a through-line. Classic Hits, however, has the extra weight of playing songs that you heard as part of a great radio experience. Somebody worked to make “Every Breath You Take” interesting over and over in 1983; I really appreciate when they do that in 2025.
If the goal is to “do radio for people who still love radio,” Classic Hits is often the format where that audience is most available. Over recent years, the format’s personality birthright has been challenged, first by the PPM-era tightness that overtook every format, then by a greater reliance on increasingly generic voice-tracking and random “content from nowhere.” It’s also the format where, increasingly, both the audience and hosts didn’t necessarily grow up with the music.
The checklist for Classic Hits isn’t that different from what I want from personality in any format: Make me smile, tell me something about where you are, tell me something about the music, preferably something I didn’t know (although I’ve softened on that one over my last few weeks of listening). Here are some other thoughts about what Classic Hits personality should sound like now, with an emphasis on “after morning drive.”
Showing up really is job No. 1. The feeling of being there in real time means a lot now. There are times when what you want from your real-life friends is quiet reliability. A lot of the breaks I liked were subtle. They may not prompt a “steal this bit” moment from readers, but they should encourage you to create your own. Happily, I didn’t hear a lot of wasted breaks — e.g., laundry-list song teasers.
Responding to the music is being in the moment. WROR Boston’s Jay Beau Jones came out of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” by apologizing for not giving away Heart tickets until the next hour. Throwback Nation’s Tony Lorino encouraged listeners to turn their flashlight app on during “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” KDRI (The Drive) Tucson, Ariz.’s Ken Carr commented that McDonalds really did need a Fleetwood Mac meal. They all prompted a smile; they all made me feel like somebody was on duty.
I rarely write about Triple-A without praising their advocacy for the music. That’s baked in if you’re discussing new music, but it’s natural here, too. KTSO Tulsa’s Dave Weston played “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and commented on how every song on Synchronicity was good. CKDO Oshawa, Ontario’s Chris Koppin commented that he’d be happy if “Reelin’ in the Years” by Steely Dan was four minutes longer. “They just get in such a groove,” he said.
(Listening to Koppin, by the way, was a reader’s suggestion that I’m glad I followed. CKDO is Canada’s “older oldies” outlet, comparable to the ’60s/’70s stations I frequently write about. His persona is a good mix of classic and unique. He came out of “Baba O’Riley” by declaring “that’s my first air drumming; it’s going to be a good day!” His into-the-stopset music teaser was “we’re back with something that’s going to make those feet move, even if they don’t want to.” The song turned out to be “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”)
Any music trivia is good trivia. I haven’t encountered the ubiquitous story about how Stevie Nicks misheard Tom Petty’s wife saying “age of seventeen” lately, but I’ve heard other oft-repeated factoids about the hits. Some of them were from personalities I respect, and realizing that, I’ve decided to offer blanket amnesty to the younger personalities who tell stories that I’ve previously dismissed as “Wikipedia on the radio” (although it’s better if I can’t hear somebody reading).
I’m always happy to hear creative teasers about the music, even if I think I already know the answer. It’s even better with a twist. WWZY (Boss 107.1) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J.’s Michelle Amabile was talking about a song that came out of Phil Collins’s divorce, and I was happy to hear it was “I Don’t Care Anymore,” not “In the Air Tonight.” All told, I would rather hear “coming up, Fleetwood Mac’s only No. 1 hit from Rumours,” than “doctors in Norway say … ,” particularly if that payoff is sending me to an article on your station website.
I was glad to hear about the market. KXKL (Kool 105) Denver’s Jim Barry noted that a long-closed airport-security line was reopening the next day. KTSO’s Weston mentioned “Sharklahoma,” then in its final days at the Oklahoma Aquarium. WTOB Winston-Salem, N.C.’s Bob Campbell mentioned that the Goodyear Blimp was in town, and that he’d had the opportunity to fly it.
WGRR Cincinnati’s Rockin’ Ron Schumacher teased Brian Setzer’s upcoming area concert and the chance to win tickets the next morning by noting that the former Stray Cat was back from an auto-immune disease “that made his hands feel like gloves.” (There was also a nice moment in Schumacher’s Monday morning “how I spent my weekend” break in which he talked about encountering former Cincinnati morning team Chris O’Brien & Janeen Coyle emceeing an event.
There’s no “U” in Classic Hits, and it’s an issue. I heard relatively few callers, even though the format, with its larger audiences, more trained on audience interaction, has the best shot at cultivating them. Classic Hits, because of its mass-appeal music and big cumes, is a natural for the “join the conversation” format, and CIUP (Up! 99.3) Edmonton, Alberta, has a lot of similarities to Hot AC sister CKNO (Now 102.3).
It’s not hard to imagine a detractor reading this, maybe repeating one of those jock lines out of context and with contempt, and announce that I am advocating for “old radio.” The stations I listened to were roughly divided between ’60s/’70s and ’80s/’90s. Many of the jocks that I heard were veterans. Most would have rightly taken umbrage to any notion that they were trying to sound retro, but you can still tell who came up in the business with more training. Just like we got past the inherent issues of “oldies” with the term “Classic Hits,” I’m hoping you can accept my advocacy of classic radio values the same way.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com