It seemed like they were heading into a slightly more Mainstream CHR direction in the late 90s before 92.7 came around at the end of 1998. B96 went pretty much all in on the Hip-Hop in 1999.

I have a tape around here somewhere of New Years Eve 1998, late December. B96 had plenty of Pop and Rock mixed in at the time I was recording. 92.7 KISS FM was only about a month old at that point.

103.5 in the early days used to frequently, and I mean frequently take shots at them for not playing all of the hits. Started subtle: "Listen to B, and you'll miss this"

Then it went into calling it "B9Sux", prank calling them, going around Dunkin Donuts ripping down Eddie & Jobo posters live on the air, and eventually having some staff walk right over to their studio (Which laughably, they let them in)

B96 was generally getting better ratings. They had Eddie & Jobo, and the mixshows. The rest of it took the back seat.

Then in 2006 103.5 gave up and BECAME B96. That continued until 2013. It was terrible.

At this rate, fewer people under 40 are listening to the radio. So B96 might as well try to target the 35-44s. The ones who were teenagers in the late 90s and 2000s. It makes sense.