I agree as well. I also realized that there was another time to do an old school B96-type format long before 104.3 Jams came around. Back when they were K-Hits 104.3, they had Eddie & Jobo, George McFly, and Gary Spears in the roster. But instead of hearing "classic B96" music from the 80s/90s from Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Boyz II Men, Keith Sweat, En Vogue, Ace of Base, etc. plus all that dance material from the 90s (Techontronic, Real McCoy, C&C Music Factory, Crystal Waters, etc.), you got to hear the same old 70s/80s classic hits of Survivor, Journey, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, Bon Jovi, and so on that were played on other stations at the time. Growing up listening to B96 back then, the former was my "classic hits" and not the latter.

B96's most successful period both music-wise and ratings-wise was when they played dance-based hits in the 90s, not the rap-heavy hits that 104.3 Jams is playing. There's no reason why 104.3 Jams couldn't add the classic dance songs alongside the old school rap & R&B they are already playing as 104.3 Jams is considered classic rhythmic and not classic urban. In addition, 104.3 Jams’ programmers Todd Cavanagh and Erik Bradley were in charge of B96 during their street-driven, 90s dance heyday (ironically, they're still in charge of the station as it rots as a soulless, lackluster mainstream pop station in the past decade or so). The big urban/R&B/hip hop hits of the 90s were able to mesh well with the 90s dance/house/freestyle hits back when B96 played all of them as new songs. The very few pop-rock tracks, however, stood out like a sore thumb. If Entercom really wanted to change B96 from a lame also-ran pop station to a rhythmic AC station playing the other side of B96's old hits from the 90s (the dance/freestyle/house/euro/upbeat pop plus the Energy-era dance & upbeat pop from the 2000s), they would also adjust 104.3 Jams playlist even further urban-leaning (to go after WGCI’s older audience) to make sure the two stations' playlist don't clash with each other too much. But they're not gonna do it.

Again, any chance of dance (both current and old school) 24/7 on terrestrial FM radio have long sailed. There hasn't been a dance-friendly station in this market in nearly two decades (after Energy 92.7's demise in Jan 2003). As for the Rhythmic AC format, there have been two attempts at it in this market but they didn't last very long. In the late 2000s, 100.3 (back when they were Love FM) had a rhythmic-leaning AC phase (plus a mix show) but ultimate changed to an 80s-gold based format. In the mid-2010s, 101.1's 90s adult hits format (which came after their all-news flop) began to shift more rhythmic and even had a mix show. But the ratings were still bad and 101.1 went back as alternative rock.

As for the Entercom stations, I don't see any of them flipping any time soon. What mass-appeal format is there left to flip too that isn’t occupied by another station? Why would US99 flip after what iHeart just did recently with 95.5 (which was long overdue as Chicago could not support TWO country stations!) Of course, if one is a fan of older country music (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, etc.), well there aren't many options out there. 105.9 hasn't had their own format since 2011 (after Fresh FM failed) but they bill well simulcasting 780's News Radio, so why should they change? How does Entercom's cross-sell work, anyway? I could figure out iHeart's stations pretty easily but Entercom is a bit more confusing. 670 the Score/Newsradio 780-105.9, B96/104.3 Jams. Does US99 cross-sell with B96? Who does WXRT cross-sell with?

One of the many problems with corporate radio is the "one size fits all" approach when it the comes to playlists. Chicago is not the same as a small market station downstate. In addition, all the major markets nationwide were different and unique from each other. Unlike Atlanta, Chicago had a unique dance music heritage and corporate radio threw it all away. At least there is thebeatchicago.com as well as various internet radio stations out there. FM radio was much better back in the day anyway.