Z100 New York's 2.6 Million Cume Leads CHR's Top 10 Stations.

Radio stations focused on playing the hits date back to 1952, when KOWH Omaha became the first station to feature the most popular songs all day. The spirit of high-energy top 40, now commonly referred to as CHR, continues on today's most listened-to stations in the format.

Inside Radio's TOP 10 ranking of CHRs in PPM markets, based on cume delivery of persons 6+ during Nielsen's spring and summer 2024 waves, puts iHeartMedia's “Z100” WHTZ New York at the top with a 2.6 million cume.

Launched in 1983, “Z100” is home to “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,” which began in 1996, expanding into other markets via syndication in 2009. Also starting in 1996 at “Z100” was December's annual “Jingle Ball” concert, a concept which has evolved into an iHeartMedia franchise as it spread to many of Z100’s sister CHRs.

iHeart claims the top four stations, and eight overall, in CHR's top 10. Second-ranked with a 1.6 million cume is KIIS FM (102.7) Los Angeles, which has pounded out the hits since 1980 and featured “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” in morning drive since 2004. The ubiquitous Seacrest's show has also reached a nationwide audience via syndication since 2008.

Placing third and fourth are iHeart's “103.5 Kiss FM” WKSC Chicago and “106.1 Kiss FM” KHKS Dallas, the latter the home base of the syndicated “Kidd Kraddick Morning Show” since 1992. At fifth is 2017 Marconi CHR Station of the Year winner, Cumulus Media's KRBE (104.1) Houston, where market veterans Roula Christie and Ryan Chase have hosted mornings since 2006.

iHeart and Cumulus aside, the only other station owner represented in the CHR top 10 is Bonneville, with sixth-ranked “99.7 Now” KMVQ San Francisco. It's the youngest of these 10 stations, having brought back CHR to the City by the Bay in 2008.

Technically, the longest-running station in the format among these 10 dates back to 1959, when ninth-place KDWB Minneapolis began as a top 40 on the AM side, moving to FM in 1984. The iHeart station also boasts the longest-tenured morning host, with Dave Ryan anchoring since 1993.

The longest-running morning co-host or on-air voice on any of these stations is at seventh-ranked iHeart “Kiss 108” WXKS-FM Boston: Billy Costa, who was part of the “Matty [Siegel] in the Morning” crew in the 1980s and now co-hosts with Lisa Donovan, who came aboard in 2002. The station's annual spring Kiss Concert dates as far back as Costa, having begun in 1981.

Also making the CHR cut are iHeart's “Channel 95.5” WKQI Detroit – home of “Mojo in the Morning,” the longest-running FM morning show in Michigan history – and “Hot 99.5” WIHT Washington D.C., ranking eighth and 10th, respectively.