Posted on: Saturday, October 9, 2004

Radio station 104.3 goes hip-hop, R&B

BY Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

O'ahu's radio landscape continues to change.

At noon yesterday, 104.4 XME (KXME FM), dropped its contemporary urban format and launched an edgier sound embracing hip-hop and rhythm 'n' blues.

Essentially, the station is rebranding its image and its name and now is called Power 104.3.

"The music will be better, though the genre's the same," said Mike Kelly, general manager of Cox Radio, which operates KXME and a cluster of other stations, including KCCN FM and KINE FM.

He said that Hawai'i, a small radio market with a dearth of stations, now has three stations pushing hip-hop and blues. The others are Hot 93.9 (KIKI FM) and Da Bomb (KDDB FM).

"With three stations fishing in the same pool, we want to be the big fish and be financially successful, too," Kelly said.

From 5 p.m. Thursday till noon yesterday, when the switchover was complete, KXME was broadcasting a gamut of formats, including country, dance music and rock of the 1960s. Stations customarily "tease" their audiences before launching a new format.

Wayne Maria, Power 104.3 operations director, said in a statement that the station "has continued to grow over the past year and we plan on accelerating the growth over the next few weeks."

Kelly noted that while the intended audience is the same — 18 to 24 is the primary target, 18 to 34 is the secondary target — "our research shows that rebranding makes sense."