One Year of B96: Building a New Hit Music Station for Dallas/Fort Worth

Getting B96 on the air was never about simply putting a playlist on the internet.

I wanted B96 to sound like a real radio station — a really good radio station.

It’s easy to load up a bunch of songs and let them play, but that isn’t programming. I watch trends, follow Mediabase and look at how records are developing before deciding what belongs on B96. Just because a song is new doesn't mean it automatially gets played.

There should be a reason every song is on the station — and a reason it plays where it does. That philosophy is still at the center of B96 a year later. I came to the project after nearly four decades in radio and television, including years in radio programming and station management as well as televisions news marketing and creative services.

That broadcast background shapes the way I build B96 — from music scheduling and imaging to clocks, production and the sound between the songs.

The station is programmed around contemporary hit music, new releases and carefully selected throwbacks, with personalities throughout the day and 10 Hits in a Row every hour.

B96 describes itself simply: "More Than an internet Playlist. Real Radio." For a digital-only station, that means bringing the stucture, personality and discipline of traditional radio to an online platforms.

Every song earns its spot

I program B96 with the kind of hands-on local control that has become less common in corporate radio.

I personally watch the music, adjust rotations and shape how each hour sounds.

New records don’t simply get added because they’re new. I watch songs as they develop nationally, follow airplay trends, Mediabase and what other Mainstream Top 40 stations are doing.

But none of those things makes the decision by itself.

The bigger question is whether a record makes sense for B96.

Songs move through different rotation categories as they develop, peak and eventually leave current rotation. The biggest records receive more exposure, developing songs are handled more cautiously — and some new releases never make the station at all.

The station’s music is scheduled using Music1 Cloud, professional music-scheduling software used for radio programming that gives me detailed control over rotations, artist separation, song categories and the flow of each hour.

The software may be different. The idea isn't.

B96 runs with many of the same kinds of professional tools found in traditional broadcast operations.

Once I schedule the music in Music1 Cloud, the finished log moves into PlayoutONE, B96’s professional radio automation system.

PlayoutONE handles the actual hour-by-hour playout — music, imaging, voice tracks, syndicated programming and other station elements — before B96’s processed stream is delivered through Live365 and made available to listeners on B96Dallas.com, TuneIn, Audacy and other supported platforms.

When you hear B96, there’s real radio automation behind it. There’s a music log. There are clocks. There are scheduled elements. There are voice tracks. It’s not a laptop running shuffle in the corner.

Then somebody listens

For all the software, scheduling rules, processing and programming decisions, there’s one part I can’t control.

Somebody has to press play.

During B96’s first year, listeners have discovered the station through B96Dallas.com, Live365, TuneIn, Audacy and other streaming platforms.

And increasingly, those listeners stay.

After nearly four decades working in broadcasting, seeing somebody actually choose to stay with something I built still carries weight.

I look and see somebody listening for 30 minutes, an hour, sometimes much longer, and I have no idea who that person is. They found this thing I built and decided not to turn it off. I don't think that ever gets old.

B96 Has Voices, Too

B96 may be independently owned, but its sound isn’t created by one person alone.

Chad Erickson is one of the signature voices heard in B96's station imaging, joined by Amanda Madi, giving the station the male-and-female voice combination heard between songs and throughout its promotional material.

And thousands of miles away in Dublin, Ireland, imaging producer Nick Karkazis helps turn those voices into the produced imaging that gives B96 its identity between the records.

One of the things I'm proudest of is that B96 doesn't sound small. Chad, Amanda and Nick are a huge part of that. Imaging establishes attitude. Sometimes you've got three or four seconds between two songs to remind somebody what station they're listening to. Those seconds matter.

Still building

That’s also part of what reaching the first anniversary represents.

B96 made it through the part where an idea becomes an actual radio station.

Now comes year two.

And year two is already shaping up to be different.

B96 is preparing for its biggest step forward since I launched the station — one that will expand where the station can be heard and introduce it to a much wider audience.

I'm not ready to share all the details just yet. But it's a big one.

A year ago, I hit play and hoped people would find us. Now there are people listening who I’ve never met and probably never will. That’s still pretty incredible to me. 

As we head into year tow, something big is coming for B96. So if you've listened for five minutes, five hours or you've been with B96 from the beginning- thank you.

One year down. And the next song still matters.