Howard Kroeger: When Classic Hits Was Born

Howard Kroeger was there in 2002 when a new radio format was
launched in Winnipeg. The program director of Hot AC Q94.3 was
apart of the programming team that had recently acquired AC Magic
99.9 from Standard Radio. It was obvious that Magic would no
longer be an AC station, but what would it become in Winnipeg's
competitive radio market? This is when BOB was born.


Classic Hits is now in its 20th year as a radio format;
straddling the divide between Boomer and Generation X - the
original station is still on the air doing what it has always
done with similar imaging and presentation to the original
product - with some musical and presentational updates naturally.
In this episode we speak to Howard about how the format came
together, why Winnipeg was the place to make it happen, and how
the format began to spread across North America. We also asked
Howard about the other formats he has created including Duke and
Hank.


By the way, I also pulled out some recent audio from my
conversation with "Bad Pete" Marier who was Bob's first morning
host in 2002. Hear his story here.


There's also a bunch more about the other stuff on our episode
page, including the CTV report from 2005 about how the format
grew across the continent.


Thanks also to the people who make this show possible
every week including:


Promosuite


Justin Dove at Core Image Studios


Megatrax


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