On a weekday morning in Burlington, Vermont, midday host Mel B is riffing about a night at the local bowling alley. It isn’t a canned bit ripped from a prep sheet; it’s her life.
Program Director Kwame Dankwa not only allows that — he expects it. “You always have to bring an aspect of your life that listeners can see themselves doing,” he says. The rule is simple: be real, be relatable, and never talk over the audience’s head.”
95 Triple X is a heritage Top 40 with mileage that matters. “It’s a heritage station. We celebrated 40 years this past November.”
“It has not been the sole CHR, but it has been the longest-running CHR in the market. And there have been competitors that have come and gone. Our most recent competition left the format last year.”
Longevity has meant something else: a launch pad.
“We have a great track record of sending talent to big markets. That matters in a place the size of Burlington, where young air talent often gets its first meaningful reps.
“People love their radio here in this market, and we’re very fortunate for that. Even though Burlington is a small city, it has a lot of influence from Montreal and a great music scene here. That cross-border energy and local creativity widen the lane for a CHR willing to color outside corporate lines.”
When coaching talent, Dankwa encourages forgetting the old programming advice that “no one cares about your life.”
“To an extent, that’s true,” he says. “But you always have to bring an aspect of your life that listeners can see themselves doing.” That’s the filter he gives his staff. Share the part that mirrors the audience; drop the part that feels like inside baseball.
“In a market this size, it’s not PPM. Burlington is still diary‑measured. The listeners know that a lot of people who will start out here are very new. They’re more forgiving of those types of things than they probably would be in a larger market where people have so many more distractions that they hear something they don’t like, they may not come back.”
And keeping and developing that talent is essential.
“So many people have left the business. We need to redefine how we want to have a relationship with our employees so that we can have the new talent, keep them, and retain them. Because in order for this business to grow, no matter where it’s going, we need some type of talent to run the place.”
95 Triple X excels in building community ties, and that is something that Dankwa has worked hard to develop.
“When I first came back here, there was not as big of a relationship between Triple X and the community. I had to do a lot of handshaking and baby kissing to make that happen. To try and get organizations to partner with us and work with us.”
That meant reaching out to the groups that impact daily life in Burlington.
“Especially the nonprofits, especially other organizations in the city that do certain events that may not have worked with us before. Maybe they tried to, and there was no reach back. I think that people now know that Triple X is a place where they can come and we can help them make things happen. And that’s very important to me.”
The station recently went all in for a listener and reaffirmed that promise.
“There was a young woman named Sophie who was suffering from ocular melanoma. We helped the family do a fundraiser with their GoFundMe. We did that for like a month. Then, on the last weekend, we changed our name to “Sophie 95.5” to bring even more attention to her situation and ocular melanoma. Not only is it cancer, but how rare that type of cancer is.”
Programming in northern New England is a seasonal sport. Is there a summer adjustment for 95 Triple X?
“Oh yeah. I’ll play my newer songs earlier in the day. I will do new imaging for the station to hit the summer vibes here. And this year we’ve been trying to get to all of the ‘beaches’ that we can. We say ‘beaches,’ but it’s actually a big lake. There are parts of the lake where you can’t see the other side.”
The station brands it under the “95 Degrees of Summer” umbrella.
“For three and a half months, it is insufferably hot. We try to take advantage of that because for the other eight and a half months we know what it’s like.”
I asked if he saw the same cyclical trend in Top 40 that others are seeing, and how he feels about an Alternative-leaning phase.
“I remember the last time it was very alt like this, it was 2013 when The Lumineers, Imagine Dragons, and Mumford and Sons were ruling the charts all at once. It was hard even to separate them. But I was like, hey, this is what the people want, give it to them.”
And his thoughts on artists leaning into Country, like Beyoncé and Post Malone.
“Artists are always going to experiment. If you’re an artist and you’re exposed to a lot of different things, a genre jump makes sense.”
“Post Malone changed his whole image up, whereas Beyoncé is still Beyoncé. She just has a Country album. The next album will likely be a Rock album. It just feels like she’s trying different things. And I don’t fault her for that.”
To put a bow on the 95 Triple X winning formula, Dankwa says, “Triple X’s formula is building community relationships and maintaining them. It isn’t always easy. Sometimes it can be stressful. Sometimes it can be hard because you get so burnt out.”
The goal is to make the station feel like a meeting of friends at a local pub.
“You go to your local pub, you see your favorite bartender, and you talk to them, and that’s why these places stay in business. Your pub goes — your bartender goes to another pub — then you may go there. And that’s what we try to do.”
Just as that bartender has regulars, Dankwa wants his staff to build personal followings.
“I want to make sure that everyone on the brand has a brand inside of the brand,” he says.
Dankwa sums it up: “If we’re not showing up for the people who listen to us, then what are we even doing?”
For 95 Triple X, that means more than playing hits — it’s about being present, being human, and giving Burlington a station that feels like it belongs to them.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
