92.3/100.3 The Beat remembered

[Brandon1993]

I just wanted to talk about former LA Urban 92.3/100.3 The Beat for a bit. During the 90’s the station featured a multicultural air staff and had the slogan “No Color Lines, Unity Through Music. It had hit No. 1 a couple times during the 90’ due to its diverse presentation and battled rival hip hop station KPWR during its time on the air.

 

[Loverofradio]

Why did that station die? Were the ratings too bad?

 

[davideduardo]

Why did that station die? Were the ratings too bad?

Mostly it was victim of consolidation. When it was part of a Clear Channel purchase, it was moved up the dial from 92.3 to 100.3 with lower power and Radio One ownership. Radio One was not able to "keep up" with Power, and it tried a hybrid talk format.

The Wikipedia article is fairly accurate and is at KKLQ (FM) - Wikipedia (jump down the page to the section on the Urban format).

As a comment, my opinion (I was a PD in LA in that period at stations like KTNQ, and KLVE) Radio One did not "get" that an Urban station in LA had to principally appeal to Hispanics as the Black population was around 7%. Power always had a music mix that was intentionally researched against both Black and Hispanic rap / hip-hop partisans.

Because LA was rapidly approaching being 50% Hispanic in 18-34 and in the 40-percent range in 18-49, that Power focus on Hispanics put them over the top. In the pre-2000 era that Power had The Baca Boys, they solidified their hold on Hispanics, too.

 

[Brandon1993]

Mostly it was victim of consolidation. When it was part of a Clear Channel purchase, it was moved up the dial from 92.3 to 100.3 with lower power and Radio One ownership. Radio One was not able to "keep up" with Power, and it tried a hybrid talk format.

The Wikipedia article is fairly accurate and is at KKLQ (FM) - Wikipedia (jump down the page to the section on the Urban format).
As a comment, my opinion (I was a PD in LA in that period at stations like KTNQ, and KLVE) Radio One did not "get" that an Urban station in LA had to principally appeal to Hispanics as the Black population was around 7%. Power always had a music mix that was intentionally researched against both Black and Hispanic rap / hip-hop partisans.

Because LA was rapidly approaching being 50% Hispanic in 18-34 and in the 40-percent range in 18-49, that Power focus on Hispanics put them over the top. In the pre-2000 era that Power had The Baca Boys, they solidified their hold on Hispanics, too.

Exactly David, Clear Channel and Radio One were the ones who killed The Beat and Power 106 ended up winning in the end when the station folded in the mid to late 2000’s. I remember posting about LA not having a real hip hop but Real 92.3 filled that void and is winning. It the perfect example of what The Beat would sound like today if had Radio One not purchased it.

 

[cer1992]

Exactly David, Clear Channel and Radio One were the ones who killed The Beat and Power 106 ended up winning in the end when the station folded in the mid to late 2000’s. I remember posting about LA not having a real hip hop but Real 92.3 filled that void and is winning. It the perfect example of what The Beat would sound like today if had Radio One not purchased it.

Even when the station was at its most pop-sounding (back in late 2009/early 2010 when they were heavy on the Lady Gaga and Ke$ha), Power 106, aside from the first few years of its existence, was still fundamentally a hip-hop station despite all the changes it went through over the years.

 

[ted chittenden]

Even when the station was at its most pop-sounding (back in late 2009/early 2010 when they were heavy on the Lady Gaga and Ke$ha), Power 106, aside from the first few years of its existence, was still fundamentally a hip-hop station despite all the changes it went through over the years.

I'm guessing you weren't around when KPWR first had that frequency in 1986. From 1986 until (roughly) 1992 (and you can see this in the ARSA surveys), the station's format was primarily R&B. Yes, it played some hip-hop, but modern R&B was its primary focus. It was right around 1992 that the focus gradually shifted, first to popular hip-hop and later (in 1993) to full-on gangsta hip-hop with an emphasis on L.A. rappers.

That said, even in 1993, KPWR was still playing some straight-up R&B along with its primary hip-hop format--UB40's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," actually reached #1 on KPWR in August of 1993 and Shai's "Baby I'm Yours," happened to spend a couple of weeks at #1 on KPWR in October of the same year.

 

[K.M. Richards]

At the risk of upsetting some of the fans here, I personally liked KWST under Chuck Martin and Bobby Ocean, and I think Century Broadcasting should have given it better promotional support than they did. I also liked K-100 during the Drake-Chenault years, and am thoroughly convinced that it was too soon after Rick Carroll made KKDJ a player to introduce a second top-40 on FM. I also think "Rock With A Beat" had its plug pulled too quickly, but then I heard echoes of what Steve Smith had done with Y97 in Santa Barbara using a similar programming philosophy, so I'm probably unfairly biased on that one.

Hell, I still miss KNX-FM from the mellow rock era.

But, as I just said in another thread, radio has evolved. It always has. What we do today is light years removed from the days of network radio. The only thing CHR has in common with the top-40 formats of six decades ago is that it still plays the current hits; everything else has changed formatically ... several times in those 60+ years. In the early days of FM, station owners proudly proclaimed that they broadcast "good music" but now the philosophical equivalent is AC, and one is hard-pressed to hear the music from that era on the air anymore.

From my perspective of having been in this crazy business for more than a half century, hearing the participants in this thread compare Power from 1992 or 2009 against its current incarnation feels like nitpicking. It's just, as I said, the evolution of the business ... and of the music.

 

[cer1992]

I'm guessing you weren't around when KPWR first had that frequency in 1986. From 1986 until (roughly) 1992 (and you can see this in the ARSA surveys), the station's format was primarily R&B. Yes, it played some hip-hop, but modern R&B was its primary focus. It was right around 1992 that the focus gradually shifted, first to popular hip-hop and later (in 1993) to full-on gangsta hip-hop with an emphasis on L.A. rappers.

That said, even in 1993, KPWR was still playing some straight-up R&B along with its primary hip-hop format--UB40's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," actually reached #1 on KPWR in August of 1993 and Shai's "Baby I'm Yours," happened to spend a couple of weeks at #1 on KPWR in October of the same year.

I exclusively put "aside from the first few years of its existence" in my comment, meant to indicate I was excluding the first few years of Power 106 when it was a Dance-heavy station and only focused on AFTER its shift to Hip-Hop atound '92-'93.

 

[yeoldeschool]

Hell, I still miss KNX-FM from the mellow rock era.

Not to dilute the thread subject, but if you aren't aware of themellowsound.net, you might want to be. Direct stream URL: https://stream.rcast.net/200491

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not to dilute the thread subject, but if you aren't aware of themellowsound.net, you might want to be. Direct stream URL: https://stream.rcast.net/200491

Listen to it regularly. It's operated by former KNX-FM staff ... but it's still not really the same. (For one thing, I want to hear the jingles ... which I know aren't included because they would have to be licensed to the stream. And Audacy would likely object to that as well.)

 

[Brandon1993]

I'm guessing you weren't around when KPWR first had that frequency in 1986. From 1986 until (roughly) 1992 (and you can see this in the ARSA surveys), the station's format was primarily R&B. Yes, it played some hip-hop, but modern R&B was its primary focus. It was right around 1992 that the focus gradually shifted, first to popular hip-hop and later (in 1993) to full-on gangsta hip-hop with an emphasis on L.A. rappers.

That said, even in 1993, KPWR was still playing some straight-up R&B along with its primary hip-hop format--UB40's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," actually reached #1 on KPWR in August of 1993 and Shai's "Baby I'm Yours," happened to spend a couple of weeks at #1 on KPWR in October of the same year.

You’re right about Power being straight up R&B during the early/mid 90’s because in 1994 it played Boyz II Men “On Bended Knee”

I'm guessing you weren't around when KPWR first had that frequency in 1986. From 1986 until (roughly) 1992 (and you can see this in the ARSA surveys), the station's format was primarily R&B. Yes, it played some hip-hop, but modern R&B was its primary focus. It was right around 1992 that the focus gradually shifted, first to popular hip-hop and later (in 1993) to full-on gangsta hip-hop with an emphasis on L.A. rappers.

That said, even in 1993, KPWR was still playing some straight-up R&B along with its primary hip-hop format--UB40's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," actually reached #1 on KPWR in August of 1993 and Shai's "Baby I'm Yours," happened to spend a couple of weeks at #1 on KPWR in October of the same year.

Exactly Power 106 did play R&B that charted high on the Hot 100. I recall them playing the hell out of Boyz II Men, Shai, Brandy, R Kelly, SWV and such during the 90’s.