Is the CHR Radio Station decline their listenership?

March 31, 2018

'THE FORMER CHR STATION. The photo above is the Citystate Center where the studio of 97.9 Home Radio Manila is located. Home Radio was a CHR station before it came back to the original easy listening format in June 2017. (Photo courtesy of Google Street View)'

This post is obviously an opinion of an admin.

The answer is may be because in key cities in the Philippines like Manila, Cebu, Davao, Gen. Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Baguio, and Legazpi have CHR radio stations but the number of them is limited. But I am very curious to that question, is CHR stations decline their listenership? Here are some reasons if the answer of that question is yes:

Digital Bandwagon

Say thanks to the internet because music lovers can stream music through Spotify or music videos through YouTube or they can download those music or music videos online. So, due to the digital bandwagon, millennial and Gen Z music lovers are now switched to the digital world to discover more music.

 Reformatting of the former CHR stations

Due to the bandwagon that I said earlier and some financial reasons or mismanagement rather, some CHR stations was signed off to their format and they switched to another format. Those examples are Campus Radio (now Barangay FM), OK FM, '''Oomph! Radio (now Halo Halo Radio), UFM 105.5 Pampanga, and Home Radio'''.

Campus Radio

Owned by Radio GMA Network, it was a Number One Pop Music Station from 90s to mid 2000s. It was popular in playing contemporary hits. But due to the financial reasons, the management of RGMA decided to rebrand the Manila station as Barangay and reformat as masa station in February 2007. However, the Campus brand was still used in most provincial stations until those stations were finally rebranded as Barangay in 2014.

 OK FM

Owned by PBN Bicol, it was one of the most listened pop stations in the Bicol region until 2011 when OK FM Naga became a news FM (but it was reverted as OK FM in 2014) and the Naga and Legazpi stations were became a masa station by the year 2014.

 Home Radio

Since the last quarter of 2014, Home Radio was became a CHR station from being a masa station. Owned by Aliw Broadcasting Corporation. Home Radio aired the Fave Five, H20 Countdown, Twilight Zone (then Sub Culture), and Guilty Pleasures. In June 30, 2017, the station was reverted to their original easy listening format.

'''Oomph! Radio'''

Since 2014, '''Oomph! Radio was a CHR radio station in Cebu, Davao, and Zamboanga owned by Viva'''. In midyear of 2016, the Oomph! brand was dropped and it was simplified to the frequency branding. But later, the Oomph! brand was reborn but in the following year, it was dropped. In May 2017, the Oomph! stations was rebranded as Halo Halo Radio, an all time OPM radio station.

UFM 105.5 Clark

It was a CHR station since the year 2015. This station is located at Clark, Pampanga. In earlier this year, this station was reformat as an easy listening radio station.

Conclusion

CHR music lovers may also find an alternative for those stations that I mentioned above. Here are these (based on my observation):

Metro Manila


 * 87.5 FM1 (owned by Philippine Broadcasting Service)
 * 89 DMZ (owned by Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation)
 * Magic 89.9 (owned by Quest Broadcasting Inc.)
 * Wave 91.5
 * Monster RX 93.1
 * Mellow 94.7
 * 99.5 Play FM

Luzon


 * 96.7 K-Lite Baguio
 * 96.7 K-Lite Olongapo
 * 89.5 Subic Bay Radio
 * 94.7 Spirit FM Legazpi

Visayas


 * Magic FM Bacolod
 * Magic 92.3 Cebu
 * Magic FM Bohol
 * Radio Boracay
 * Monster BT 105.9 Cebu
 * Y101 Cebu

Mindanao


 * Magic 95.5 Zamboanga
 * Magic FM General Santos
 * Magic 89.1 Davao
 * Magic 89.3 Cagayan de Oro
 * Monster EZ 88.7 General Santos
 * Monster BT 99.5 Davao

I don’t really include the following:

'''Yes! The Best''' – because most songs on their playlist is not really heard on CHR station and all the DJs are speaking so-called balbal language.

GV 99.1 Angeles – because I think it is a masa station and it is not a CHR station but I think it was a CHR station before but later it was converted into a hybrid radio station.