They are now known as "US 99 Chicago’s Hottest Country" and they're going for the younger audience. The program director told Robert Feder that “everything must pass the filter of what’s hot.”
This is, of course, a reaction to the ratings success of their competitor Big 95.5, which has been nipping at their heels. I'm not a country fan (although it is growing on me), and I'm not in the demo, but I've seen moves like this before and they rarely work out. It smells of desperation.
