Hot Hits

Hot Hits was a radio format created by consultant Mike Joseph in the 1970s. 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 they happened to be cuts on current chart albums).

Most "Hot Hits" stations used a jingle package from TM Productions, Inc. (now TM Studios) of Dallas, Texas, known initially as "The Actualizers" and syndicated combined with another package as "Fusion"; by 1982, however, the "Actualizers" and "Fusion" cuts had been renamed the jingles as "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.

Both the "Actualizers" and the "Fusion" jingles were actually created for TM in Los Angeles by Dick Hamilton. The original versions were sung in Los Angeles in Dick's studios by the Ron Hicklin Singers, but by the time of the "Hot Hits" format, the vocals were recorded exclusively in Dallas. 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 that was becoming prevalent on Top 40 radio at the time, as well as the splintering of Top 40 into urban-leaning, adult contemporary-leaning and album rock-leaning camps, and what Joseph perceived as neglecting the needs of younger listeners aged 12 to 24 to focus solely on older adults. "Hot Hits" stations bucked this trend by playing all the hits on the charts, regardless of genre, whether they were rock, pop, new wave, R&B, AC, heavy metal, disco, country, oldies, or hip-hop.

"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.

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