“Stripper Radio” May Be A Stunt, But It’s Still A Pretty Depressingly Plausible Format

noah | August 6, 2009 2:00 pm

At the end of July, the formerly Indie-formatted Denver station KTNI flipped formats from a low-rated blend of knowledge-worker hits to something at another end of the spectrum: It became 101.5 The Pole, and branded itself with the tagline “Our Hits Are Bigger!” Yes, Stripper Radio has hit America, complete with a club who’s sponsoring the whole shebang and pole-dancing tracks like Buckcherry’s “Crazy Bitch” and Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” among its most-requested tunes. The general manager of the station’s parent company, Max Media of Denver, explains:

Today, with Denver as its first market, 101.5 The Pole is poised to begin the next generation of terrestrial Radio formats. The research is in and the numbers are irrefutable. There is a large, gaping format hole that has been all but ignored. Classic Non Stop Stripper Hits, from the 80’s, 90’s and today. This is a very exciting time and we are both humbled and honored to be at the forefront of this new wave of music programming. So please welcome to 101.5 The Pole, the first of what will soon be the lap dance heard around the world. The Classic Non Stop Stripper Hits sound of 101.5 The Pole. Let the music begin! Learn more at www.1015ThePole.com

Now, reports are saying that this format change is actually a temporary stunt while Max transitions the station to an actual format—apparently the company pulled a similar interstitial-format stunt with a station in Virginia, turning it into the “Chinese hits”-formatted Kung Pao Radio before flipping it to Top 40. (One wonders if the misspelling on the station’s homepage—which refers to “The Pole” as “The Poll”—is a hint at its future format. All-request radio? All-voted-on radio?) Still, what makes this stunt so depressing is its blend of utter cheesiness, unwillingness to embrace any music that’s even remotely new, and, of course, good old-fashioned misogyny. Because as much as I love hearing a Warrant song now and again (although “Down Boys” > “Cherry Pie”), doesn’t that combination make The Pole pretty depressingly similar to the majority of those rock stations that are remaining on the air right now? 101.5 The Poll [Official site; sic?????] RIP Indie101.5FM — now it’s “101.5 The Pole – *Stripper Music*” [Yelp] [HT: Mark Lerner]