So here’s a story you rarely get to tell about a major-market Top 40 station these days. The sixth most played record at Clear Channel’s KBKS (106.1 Kiss FM) Seattle, according to BDSRadio, is This Providence’s “Letdown,” a nine-month-old song by a local band that is not on any other CHR stations. And it’s not the only record that sets Kiss apart from other major-market Top 40s these days.

The No. 2 record on Kiss is The Maine’s “Into Your Arms,” a record whose primary other airplay thus far has been at Sirius XM Radio’s two Top 40 channels and MusicChoice, and which is now starting to make its move at other terrestrial CHRs.

Those two songs are part of a larger story at Kiss FM, which has delved deeper into the teen punk/emo world than any other major-market Top 40. For the last two years, KBKS’ holiday show has been made up entirely of bands from the genre, ranging from those with a track record at Top 40 (All-American Rejects, Cobra Starship, We The Kings) to developing acts that had been worked to Top 40 (Hey Monday, Cash Cash, All Time Low) and a few (The Maine, This Providence, Amber Pacific) that were not yet on Top 40’s radar. Kiss also did a acoustic show of similar acts last year.

Since then, The Maine and This Providence have gone on to have hits on Kiss. Teen punk and emo have been given a lot of real estate on the station. And in the recently released February PPM, Kiss was up 4.3 – 4.7 – 5.1 6-plus over the past three reports, making it second in the market, while Rhythmic Top 40 sister KUBE was up 4.3 – 4.6 – 4.9. And this in a market where Mainstream Top 40 was, as recently as a few years ago, never expected to beat Rhythmic again.

Teen punk, of course, has generally had first dibs on the “rock” slots on Clear Channel’s rhythmic-leaning Top 40s for a decade, going back to Blink-182’s “All The Small Things.” And as the CHR format has mainstreamed, there are Top 40 stations, particularly Clear Channel’s Florida CHRs like WXXL (XL106.7) Orlando, Fla., where teen punk has become as much of a center lane sound as rhythmic pop. And the first “emo” crossovers—Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World—were so long ago that an 18-year-old emo fan of that era is now in the Hot AC demo. And those acts were hardly the genre’s first wave.

Since then, Top 40 has tended to accommodate 1-2 of teen punk/emo’s poppiest acts at a time. Alternative has let some bands have a hit or two before abandoning them at the first sign of Top 40 acceptance. (Besides Paramore, there’s not much overlap between Kiss and Alternative rival KNDD [the End].) Kiss was already an outlier for making an earlier attempt under previous owner CBS to go more heavily into rock product, before regrouping and becoming more typically rhythm-leaning, until the CBS/Clear Channel sale.

What’s different now is the depth of the genre at KBKS and how its presence seems to parallel the station’s growth. I’m expecting to hear from hardcore fans of the genre that what Kiss is playing – all major-label bands — may not constitute depth by their standards. But at a time when radio seems mostly unconcerned about whether they’re missing the music that might help a 17-year-old bond with the medium again, it’s the closest any major station has come to being powered by any kind of new musical movement in years. And it’s also a little reminiscent of WHTZ (Z100) New York in 1993 when starting to filter in Alternative crossovers made it the hippest CHR in the format.

More than a decade ago, broadcasters credited the Telecom Act of 1996 with reviving Top 40—by allowing owners to devote a frequency to Top 40 instead of having to own only 25-plus stations. There aren’t many such bouquets for station cluster strategy these days, but it seems safe to say that cluster strategy had a role in this one. The stations share a PD in Eric Powers. KBKS plays Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, and Iyaz/Jason Derulo/Taio Cruz-type rhythmic pop, but it gives KUBE a wider berth than being like, say, KIIS Los Angeles would. Then again, Clear Channel also owns a Top 40/Rhythmic combo in Portland, Ore., where KKRZ (Z100) hasn’t taken on a similar feel, despite the presence of KXJM (Wild 107.5).

Here’s Kiss 106 as heard April 3 just before 4 p.m. During the segment heard, teen punk/emo accounted for every other record (or even two in a row) in some stretches. Heard separately during middays last week, the genre seemed to comprise roughly one out of three songs.

All Time Low, “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)”

Black Eyed Peas, “Imma Be”

This Providence, “Letdown”

Christina Aguilera, “Not Myself Tonight”

Boys Like Girls, “Love Drunk”

Rihanna, “Rude Boy”

All Time Low, “Weightless”

Panic At The Disco, “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”

Onerepublic, “All The Right Moves”

Jason Derulo, “In My Head”

We The Kings f/Demi Lovato, “We’ll Be A Dream”

The Maine, “Into Your Arms”

Pink, “So What”

Train, “Hey Soul Sister”

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“ I have to say KBKS is not only taking advantage about the fact that KUBE is a sister station but are definitely trying something different in the rounds of Top 40. Everyone thinks that Top 40 is a pop/hip-hop only product, but the potential of punk pop these days is tremendous! Today’s generation discovers these bands on the likes of MySpace or Last.FM and even if the local radio station doesn’t play them, they’re hooked. When they discover that these bands are played on the radio, they’ll listen to the radio more. KBKS is not only trying to sound like an 18 year old’s iPod (with the mix of Top 40 hits included) but they’re trying to make Top 40 exciting again, discovering new bands to play on their station unlike every Top 40 that copies the formula of KIIS or WHTZ. Props to KBKS! – Joe Daark

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“Nice article: was familiar with all time low, but not the others so I listened to them—all “fit the format” and would add musical spice to any Top 40 station. long ago, we had local hits or regional hits. I guess we still can if we just listen.” – Mark Summer, Bristol Broadcasting, Paducah, Ky.

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“Hey, Sean. Thanks for the pub and the article about KBKS. Very well written and spot on.” – Eric Tyler, APD/MD KBKS