Highlights from the author’s week of (always decidedly random) listening and the week’s radio headlines, ending July 28, 2011. Stations I’ve worked with recently in my Edison Research (or any other) capacity are asterisked.*

Station (FM)

KRTR (Krater 96) Honolulu – America’s most soulful mainstream AC (only WLYF Miami is close) is up 5.4–9.2 in the just-released spring Arbitron, second to longtime powerhouse KSSK (also with its best recent showing, 9.0–11.1). As the Mainstream AC station that never dropped its Atlantic Starr records, KRTR rebounded despite increased competition from two Jammin’ Oldies stations.

Format Change

CKDK (More 103.9) London, Ontario – Twenty months after the launch of CHBM (Boom 97.3) Toronto, the ’80s-based, tempo-driven format that we wrote about recently, has now manifested itself in at least five different markets with three significant Canadian group owners—shades of the early days of Bob- and Jack-FM. And with the exception of Toronto, each has been in the market where there was already somebody doing an ’80s-based Adult Hits format.

Jock Lines

“Maybe they could serve you a shake while you wait at the Genius Bar as they reload the firmware that got corrupted when you plugged your iPhone into the MTA bus electrical outlet.” – WRXP (101.9 New) New York’s Dave Packer with the elaborate capper to two stories in a news report: New York city buses adding charging stations and the Apple Store and Shake Shack coming to Grand Central Station. WRXP has, in recent days, been punctuating its Hot AC format with top-of-the-hour news packages that sound like the sort one used to hear in the era when music radio still had something more substantive than today’s pure celebrity/entertainment reports.

“You can just use Facebook now.” – Oldies/Greatest Hits CKRA (Capital 96.3) Edmonton, Alberta,* middayer Kerry Campbell backselling The Guess Who’s self-explanatory, “Follow Your Daughter Home.”

“One of the kinds of weather we have not seen this year. Let’s keep it that way.” – Triple-A WXRT Chicago afternoon host Frank E. Lee, hoping to avoid a visitation of Peter Gabriel’s “Red Rain.”

Station Liner

"We’ve outlasted them all! The last real rock station, WDHA." – Northern New Jersey’s heritage Album Rocker adds another notch to its imaging, following the departure of Alternative WRXP.

Jock Tweets

"I have Jay-Z coming up on @965TIC… that just sounds weird to say." – A Saturday night tweet from WTIC-FM Hartford, Conn.’s @DJKerryCollins. Longtime Top 40 WTIC-FM had evolved to Hot AC a few years before Jay-Z’s career kicked in.

“Casey Anthony will be living in Darby, Pa. Not really.” – Top 40 WSTW Wilmington, Del., spreads the story of the local man unlucky enough to be named Casey Anthony.

Ad Copy

“There’s no festival in the world with a wine spritzer tent.” – London, Ontario’s “The Beer Store” with an obvious agenda.

“It’s comforting to know there’s a place where your kids will only get in the same kind of trouble you did.” – In an ad for an Alberta housing development, a man recalls the time he and his friends inadvertently sat on an anthill.

Most Ominous Ad Copy

“If the weather worsens, our generator is hurricane ready.” – For a pizza place in Fort Myers, Fla.
Most Depressing PPM Teaser

“Coming up, I’ll tell you which beaches have poo in them.” – Top 40 WXRK (92.3 Now FM) New York night jock Chunky as New Yorkers hoping to escape the 100-degree-plus heat get a double whammy.

Promo Name

“Kicks-mas In July” – Hip-Hop/R&B WBTT (The Beat) Fort Myers, Fla., gets an early start on “back-to-school” with a sneakers giveaway. Crosstown AC WTLT (Lite FM) was doing a “Christmas In July” promotion.

Sponsor Promo

Key 103 Manchester, U.K., asks listeners to prove they’re as “festival proof” as the Motorola D-Fi. And if you’ve heard about what goes on at some of those British rock festivals, you understand.

Promo With The Most Blowback

Rupert Murdoch’s Pie In The Face means that at least a half dozen U.K. morning men (and one Canadian female) are on the receiving end of similar missiles in subsequent mornings, including:

• Real Radio Newcastle
• Clyde 1 Glasgow Scotland
• CJRQ (92Q) Sudbury, Ontario
• Juice FM Liverpool

Web Content

“Who Should Jennifer Lopez Marry Next” ? – A Web poll at Hot AC WISX (Mix 106.1) Philadelphia. When we last checked, Bradley Cooper had a 30-point lead on second-place Pauly D.

Web Teaser

“The Most Sex You’ve Ever Had In One Night” – Hot AC WMGX Portland, Maine’s Web banner for its “Sex And The City” marathon, at which listeners can enjoy the first and final episodes of the TV series and the original “Sex In The City” movie.

Oh Wow Oldie

Dionne Warwick, “What The World Needs Now Is Love” on Hamburg, Germany’s Oldie 95. Close enough to the Jackie DeShannon version that a casual listener doesn’t look up until the vocal starts. Appeared on a U.S. album in 1967, two years after DeShannon’s hit. Neither artist’s version was a hit in the U.K.

Really Oh Wow Oldie

Dazz Band, “Let It All Blow” on Munich’s Radio 2Day. In the U.S., it was the last of their top 10 R&B hits, less like “Let It Whip” and more like “Planet Rock,” C-Bank’s “One More Shot,” Freeez’s “I.O.U.,” and all those other 1982-84 hits that loved the sound of breaking glass. It never really dented Top 40 at the time in the States, so it was unusual to hear it in a pop context.