Hot Hits

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Hot Hits was a radio format created by consultant Mike Joseph in 1977. That concept, which helped spur the birth of what is now known as CHR, also revitalized the Top 40 format and would play a role in bringing the format to the FM band throughout the 1980s. The concept was to play only the current hits on the Top 30 (or Top 50 on some stations) and no recurrents (that is, recent hits which had already finished their run on the charts) or oldies whatsoever (unless, as noted below, they happened to be cuts on current chart albums). Most "Hot Hits" stations used a combination of two jingle packages from TM Productions, Inc. (now JonesTM) of Dallas, Texas known initially as "Fusion" or "The Actualizers"; by 1982, however, the combined jingle package cuts had been renamed "Hot Hits" to solidify its association with Joseph's stations (although the jingle package was not exclusive to Joseph-consulted stations, and in fact was used by some stations which programmed Oldies or even Country formats). The jingles were often played back-to-back two or three in a row.

The "Fusion" and "The Actualizer" jingles were actually created for TM in Los Angeles by Dick Hamilton. Many versions were also sung in Los Angeles in Dick's studios by the Ron Hicklin Singers. Many of the station references for the "Hot Hits" jingles reside in the archives of Media Preservation Foundation.

The creation of "Hot Hits" was Mike Joseph's method of combating the "more music, less personality" approach and reliance on consultants that was becoming prevalent on Top 40 radio at the time. In the early 1980s, paranoia over disco music and the narrowing of radio formats had split Top 40 into three camps: hit-based AOR (a la WLS Chicago and CHUM Toronto), personality-oriented adult contemporary stations (e.g., CKLW Windsor/Detroit and WABC New York), and urban contemporary stations (mainly in major markets) which continued to play a large amount of dance and disco (e.g. KFRC San Francisco). Consultants reasoned that listeners who tuned in looking for the latest Barbra Streisand hit wouldn't care to also hear the latest by AC/DC or Rick James. "Hot Hits" stations bucked this trend by playing all the hits on the charts, regardless of genre, whether they were rock, new wave, R&B, AC, disco, or even country crossover.

"Hot Hits" stations played the Top 5 hits every hour and in between other hits on the current chart. The top hits on an average Hot Hits station had a turnover period of 45 minutes to an hour, thus guaranteeing that when listeners tuned in, they were more likely to hear a hit and less likely to hear a "stiff" or a "bomb." They often also featured cuts from current chart albums, even if those cuts happened to be songs which had already charted and would have been considered recurrent or gold otherwise. For example, WCAU-FM in Philadelphia played Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's two-year-old duet "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" in December 1981 because the track was featured on Streisand's then-current, semi-greatest-hits album Memories.

Joseph put lots of effort into making his stations sound "localized" by having his DJs frequently mention cities and towns in the stations' listening areas, as well as streets, high and junior high schools, and other local landmarks. One of the most frequent contests featured on Hot Hits stations was known as "The Name Game," or "Family Fortune" in some markets in later years. A person with a particular last name or living on a particular street would be called by the DJ and would then be asked the amount of cash in the jackpot in that time. A correct answer meant that the person won all the money in the jackpot; an incorrect answer or busy signal meant that the station would then add more money into the jackpot and try again with a different last name or street. This type of contest giveaway was standard on virtually all Hot Hits outlets consulted by Joseph.

Mike Joseph introduced the genesis of what would become known as "Hot Hits" at WTIC-FM (96.5) in Hartford, CT, in 1977. WTIC-FM switched from a long-running but low-rated classical music format to hit radio as "96 Tix." Fans of the classical music were irate, but the move paid off for WTIC-FM, as the station was top five-rated in the Hartford market by the end of that year. Although WTIC-FM dumped the name "96 Tix," the Fusion jingles, and the Mike Joseph formatics in the spring of 1979, it continued as a Top 40 station until tweaking its sound to Hot Adult Contemporary in 1994.

The first Mike Joseph-consulted station to actually use the term "Hot Hits" on the air, and one of the few AM stations to try the "Hot Hits" concept, was WFBL-AM (1390) in Syracuse, NY. From the spring of 1979 through November 1980 (when the station changed format to Music of Your Life), WFBL played "Hot Hits" as "Fire 14," which played its top 14 hits every week in heavy rotation.

The "Hot Hits" concept really appeared to grow in popularity after WCAU-FM (98.1) in Philadelphia, which had been struggling through unsuccessful Urban, Oldies and Disco formats for over a decade, relaunched with Hot Hits on September 22, 1981 as "98 Now." With legendary personalities such as Terry "The Motormouth" Young and Paul Barsky, WCAU-FM came to dominate as Philadelphia's choice for hit music for much of the 1980s, until flipping to Oldies as WOGL in 1987. Within a year of WCAU-FM debuting "98 Now," "Hot Hits" had moved west to Chicago (WBBM-FM) and Detroit (WHYT), which both coincidentally were both on the 96.3 FM frequency and used the on-air name "96 Now."

Other stations in the early 1980s which utilized the "Hot Hits" concept included: WFEC-AM (1400), Harrisburg, PA ("Fire 14"); KITS-FM (105.3), San Francisco ("105 Kits," prior to the adoption of the station's long-running Alternative Rock format); WMAR-FM (106.5), Baltimore (later also as WMKR, "K106"); and WNVZ-FM (104.5), Norfolk/Newport News, VA ("Z104"). WFEC, which had been a successful Top 40 station in years past, was not consulted by Mike Joseph although it was modeled after WCAU-FM and followed the basics of Joseph's formula to the letter.

Beginning in 1983 Hot Hits stations started playing recent hits from the past several years mixed into the Hot Hits. Most of the stations therefore evolved into a more common CHR station as a result. By the end of 1983, both WBBM-FM in Chicago and WHYT in Detroit had grown tired of paying Mike Joseph for consulting and dropped the "Hot Hits" formatics while continuing to stay with the Top 40 sound and breaking in non-current music.

Out of all the "Hot Hits" stations WBBM-FM was the most successful for the longest period of time, managing to surpass legendary AM powerhouse WLS in the ratings. CBS launched a clone format called "Hitradio" which it used on almost all of its owned-and-operated FM stations (the exception being Oldies flagship WCBS-FM New York), with largely unsuccessful results. In Los Angeles, KKHR (93.1) failed miserably with Hitradio and the station dropped it in 1986 after three years of trying to unsuccessfully compete with KIIS-FM for the Top 40 audience. In Boston, the Hitradio station, WHTT (103.3), could not bill high enough to keep the format so they changed formats as well. In 1987 the Boston station switched to oldies, the same year WCAU-FM in Philadelphia met the same fate, and in 1988 the St. Louis Hitradio station did likewise, followed by Los Angeles' KCBS-FM (the former KKHR) in 1989. So in 1989 all of CBS's FM stations were then oldies stations except for WBBM-FM, which eventually evolved into a Rhythmic Top 40 direction. The "Hot Hits" concept was long out of vogue, although WQBA-FM in Miami did try a Spanish-language variant on the formula (complete with the TM Fusion jingles) in 1994.