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W244EK Young Country 96.7 To Bring Hip-Hop/Country Hybrid To Nashville

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/...to-bring-hip-hop-country-hybrid-to-nashville/

Starting June 6th Nashville will get a format flip from Christian programming to Hip Hop Country.

Record producer/songwriter Jamal ‘Polow Da Don’ Jones’s Young Country Holdings will debut Country/CHR “Young Country 96.7” 1030 WQSE White Bluff/96.7 W244EK Nashville on Thursday, June 6.

The new format will feature a mix of Country artists such as Kane Brown and Chris Young along with crossover stars such as Taylor Swift and rappers like Ryan Upchurch, Migos, Yelawolf, Blanco Brown and Bubba Sparxxx. Polow Da Don, who has produced songs for artists as varied as Kane Brown and Nicki Minaj, will manage the station alongside Mia Welsh-Khabeer and Jeff Haddad.

The station intends use non-traditional forms of playlisting and advertising with the first two months commercial-free sponsored by cryptocurrency platform Litecoin. Litecoin will also power a payment system for merchandise and events.
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Hey Tibbs! This guy somehow managed to buy a radio station & translator for $100K! How'd that happen?

And does Nashville really need another country station? Only you know the answer.

He seems to be funding his station in a unique way...other than traditional advertising.
 
WQSE is in White Bluff, TN. The AM station never really had a Nashville signal. My parents once live near the Charlotte Pike exit on I-40 on the west side of Nashville. WQSE was not truly listenable for a typical radio listener at that location. The translator, however, might offer the saving grace for the station. Even so, Nashville is not a compact city. Between terrain, trees and square miles comprising the 'metro', not a bunch of the market will be in play for the station.

WQSE had it's towers (2) in a pasture on Hall Lane. The small cider block building contained the station. The owners built a home on to the back end of the station that was open to the kitchen in the home. It was a nice little small town setup. I visited on several trips to the Nashville area. With it's Southern Gospel format, I doubt the station billed much over about $3,500 a month.

I like seeing new ideas being tried but I wonder if the plan might be too much. The station is tasked with finding the listeners and then educating potential financial supporters (advertisers etc.) on a non-traditional venue. Would it be wiser to introduce in baby steps, one at a time, to evolve the station and marketing to the full plan over time? As I have said before, you utilize the perfect plan in your mind to create a station but you are your biggest cheerleader for it. It is when you release personal ownership that you can craft the best plan because your preferences are not a priority. Plainly put, if you think the format is the best thing since sliced bread, it's likely perfect for you. If it is not especially great to you and there are things you prefer to change, chances are it's perfect to your potential audience.Too many try to convert listeners to their plan instead of learning what their listeners want and doing what they want even when you don't like it.
 
Oddly, I had a shot at some of this AND was too close for comfort and there for some previous insanity. I was the proud station manager (and attempted sales person) at the ripe age of 18 for a summer of hell between my freshman and sophomore year in college. It was WBDX-AM Country at the time, back in 1980ish. It was an absolute horror show complete with drunk jocks, cheating salespeople and jealous spouses, complete with pick em up trucks and shotguns. But, I would not trade it for anything. I learned everything that was wrong with radio in 78 long days.

The property surrounding the station, a house and the station itself were for sale over the last year or two. The property did sell. The station, I believe, has been dark for a while? There were some pretty serious "red tape issues" with an old guy, who I believe worked with me at the old station decades ago. I pretty much dismissed the opportunity after hearing some details and seeing the coverage maps and the property disputes. Small world. I did recently meet Jamal at an event, but did not know he was doing this precise project/format. This could certainly be interesting! BigA, I have to tip my hat to him. It may well capture some interest. I think 96.7 will actually work better than any other frequency, as it's spaced perfectly between super powers 96.3 and 97.1 and is on a fairly quiet part of the dial. The issue will probably well be the hills and tower height that will block Davidson County and Nashville proper. I like the conceptual approach and out of the box thinking. $100k is still a bit more than I would have expected the price would be. I cannot recall the original asking price for this deal, but I would guess there will be quite a lot of extra expense to get the towers and equipment up to speed. June 6th should be interesting. My guess is his success will be (ready for this??) tying this in for legitimacy with his website.
 
No mention (so far) of the translator at 106.3. This is the one that I could (sometimes?) receive from my home here in Pegram. WQSE has NOT been dark in recent years, but they might as well have been. Other than high school sports, I don't know what they could sell. They had NO djs (no surprise there), very few commercials, and they would air obits even after the funeral for the deceased had already taken place! (?) This station has had absolutely NO visibility in the community.
 
firepoint525 said:
No mention (so far) of the translator at 106.3. This is the one that I could (sometimes?) receive from my home here in Pegram. WQSE has NOT been dark in recent years, but they might as well have been. Other than high school sports, I don't know what they could sell. They had NO djs (no surprise there), very few commercials, and they would air obits even after the funeral for the deceased had already taken place! (?) This station has had absolutely NO visibility in the community.
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I saw some info on the 106.3 translator, but have not had time to study what is what on that additional option. I will say this. I was flat out wrong on 96.7 being silent. In fact, just the opposite. There is a decent translator (I would guess) broadcasting in Spanish on the frequency. I was able to catch a few minutes of the new station near Music Row and 12th Ave & Demonbreun, but the other signal was clobbering it. I was also east of the city, near Opryland and toward Mt. Juliet and Lebanon tonight and the Spanish format was coming in very well. I frankly don't see how this new signal will be able to exist, unless the other signal is putting out to much power. I will try to get my facts straight on this. What I did hear was certainly more hip hop than country. This one may well be one for the record books. And not a a good way. Someone will have to do some type of explainin' to the FCC! I am thinking that the White Bluff area is not the demo that will embrace the format. I also think the hills toward Nashville from White Bluff will pretty much chop the signal to nada.
 
Tibbs...you're hearing "El Jefe" on 96.7 on the east side: 250 watt translator for 810 WMGC Murfreesboro

https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=158603

the new station doesn't have a prayer of being heard east of 65...much like the 105.1 translator for 1240 blocks 105.1 from Waverly:
seems no one looked very closely at FCC data before planning to reach most of Nashville
 
Good grief! If I am correct on this, they are on the small tower at 40/440 and Charlotte! That is well within the perimeter that should cover better, Chris. Something on the engineering side is wrong. I was on top of the parking garage next to your old stomping ground on what's left of Music Row and that tower should be visible/listenable from there. Where you are missed. They must be still working on the equipment.

If someone had shown me the contour map, I mitta bought it for $100k, maybe. What is broadcasting now is not close to what should/could be and 96.7 in Murfreesboro seems to be pushing their signal. Then again, a contour map and reality don't mix any better than gin and gewertztraminer.

I wonder if the same guy owns the 94.5 translator down toward Murfreesboro that is pushing too far and affecting Hippie down that way? These signals on top of each other is purely insane. Government hard at work destroying what the big corps didn't. By the way, hope to catch up with you and Buddy. Been preoccupied with business too much!
 
BigA - this station cannot yet be on the air at full power. I will go out toward the tower site tomorrow or Sunday and verify, but if it's on and at the power and strength it is supposed to be, I would question my investment. My guess is we will soon see what is what and it will have better coverage. I would hope so! I will simply wait for these guys to quite playing chaotic radio. :)
 
romer979fm said:
Tibbs...you're hearing "El Jefe" on 96.7 on the east side: 250 watt translator for 810 WMGC Murfreesboro

https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=158603
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I believe this to be the one that I was hearing as well. I work in south Nashville, and heard this one.
the new station doesn't have a prayer of being heard east of 65...
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I'm now kinda wondering what I was hearing from the Forest Hills area when I was there. Actually mostly static, I think.
much like the 105.1 translator for 1240 blocks 105.1 from Waverly:
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I'm wondering if that was a factor in their getting the (otherwise useless) AM 790 to simulcast them here.
 
firepoint525 said:
My thought (after actually hearing this station) is that they just exchanged one format that no one ever listened to, for another. And yeah, this is a fairly rural area out here.
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Maybe, maybe not. I saw that 20 year old rapper Lil Nas X is in Nashville this week for CMA Fest. He performed Thursday night on Broadway. He's expected to join country star Billy Ray Cyrus tonight at Nissan Stadium. So maybe there is an audience for this convergence of hip hop & country.
 
This has certainly been an interesting day. I had the chance to ride a bit of the signal today. The signal is great for a few miles around the tower site. Crystal clear, in fact. So, my guess is, as Chris Romer said, it is what it is. My guess is Jamal is probably going to be a bit frustrated by the tiny floor plan on this property and decide to question the possible over modulation of El Jefe just down the road. First listen: Highly interesting. At times, purely shocking. In an almost addictive way. Quite listenable. I did not know one song over the three-is hours that I was able to listen, but I wanted to get back in the car and hear what would be playing next. It's highly contained. The music blend is really good. Almost Hip Hop/ AC-ish and then rustic/vocally strong deep Country. Jamal has brought his A Game to Nashville and, sadly, the signal is the only thing that will impede his success. I would fully expect that he will build a great online presence that will be his true marker on this project to the world and simply use theatre of the mind to make it all credible by promoting his own rocking' hip hop/country hybrid radio station broadcasting "from" Nashville. Very few people outside Nashville will ever know that it's not a full-powered player. As this city has transformed into a mega-thriving metropolis with over 100 cranes at any time, a construction project every 100 feet and virtually no sense of southern accents, good ole fashioned manners or small town country charm, this makes me think of David "Hollywood" Eduardo's progressive music in LA back in the day. Ok, maybe I am stretching on that. A little? Worth a listen and a conversation. This one may not hit, but it won't be because of the product. It's simply just packaged in a doomed vessel. This may actually be radio that is far ahead of its time. It's not mass media and it's not for the masses looking for a little familiar background music on the way home.

If grades matter, I give it an "A" for concept and content. Signal: D+, but that is not the fault of it's creator.

BigA, this isn't "competition" for the Country stations. This is so off the grid, it won't matter to them, but it certainly could make a lot of industry people open their mind to what formats and music can be in 2020 and beyond. That, my friend, may be the new generation of next radio.

Firepoint, I hope for your a sake they don't use the word 'new."
 
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Tibbs4 said:
BigA, this isn't "competition" for the Country stations. This is so off the grid, it won't matter to them, but it certainly could make a lot of industry people open their mind to what formats and music can be in 2020 and beyond. That, my friend, may be the new generation of next radio.
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Yep, I think you're right. There's a lot of genre-bending going on in the music business. People don't buy records any more, but instead stream songs. Some musicians feel constrained by genre. Waylon Jennings may have been one of the first who fought for that kind of thing. I've said many times that the future of radio is not about playing music defined by genre, but radio music defined by lifestyle. This could be an early example.
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe, maybe not. I saw that 20 year old rapper Lil Nas X is in Nashville this week for CMA Fest. He performed Thursday night on Broadway. He's expected to join country star Billy Ray Cyrus tonight at Nissan Stadium. So maybe there is an audience for this convergence of hip hop & country.
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Again, that doesn't really do anything about the fact that we are really rural out here. We can't even get a new grocery store (in our town) to replace one that burned down (five years ago!) because we supposedly don't have the population base to support one. This particular station might do a bit better in more urban area. But as we have said earlier here, they don't really have the signal to get there.
 
I just had a minute to study the maps on the two competing stations at 96.7. After looking at the 60 dBu radius, I have to believe that the Murfreesboro El Jefe station's signal should not be the "blowtorch" that it is and that Young Country's signal is not up to speed (yet) as it shows the dBu's presence right into downtown Nashville from Charlotte Avenue near The Nations area. You can literally see the tower from downtown. Now, maybe Young Country is throwing it's signal "over" downtown, similar to what frustratingly happens with Hippie Radio because of the higher elevation of the west side of Nashville and the extreme drop down into the downtown basin, but I doubt that given its short tower height.

BigA, there is nothing to block that signal into some prime parts of Nashville proper, but so far it ain't getting close. This should be interesting to watch, because if the red lines do what the red lines are supposed to do on the radio dial, this may be a good purchase after all. I think there are technical issues. The right "test market" demographic just rolled in and out of Nashville with CMA week. FTR, the average age of the visitors to Nashville is about 60-years younger than the 1980s. LOL.
 
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