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106.9--Point's lack of play of African American artists

H

HoustonListener

Hello, 106.9 programmers, did you know that there were several African American artists that had pop hits in the 1980s? you might want to check into that because I don't hear anything from them on your station.... I am not suggesting that you play hardcore rap or NWA, but gee, you could play "safe--non edgy" stuff like the theme from Ghostbusters or Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" or "Let's Hear it for the Boy" or Janet and Michael Jackson's 1980s mega hits. I am a white male that is jarred by the paucity of African American artists played on 106.9, when the 1980s were full of hits by African American artists.

I just looked at the top 100 songs played on 106.9 according to Yes.com ( I have no idea how accurate that is) and a quick scan ( I could have missed a few) of the list showed only 1 African American artist in the top 100. Lenny Kravitz at number 67. Certainly the top hits of the 1980s included more than 1% of songs by African American Artists.

Although the top tier of songs on the list does have more Rock flavor to it, there are enough pop songs thoughout to justify the inclusion of more African American artists. Why don't they just play what they played on KRBE and KKBQ 93Q back in the 1980s instead of this sanitized version of 1980s lite?

Also, from the looks of their playlist, more and more 1990s songs are creeping in. If they are still around as the calendar turns to 2010, wil they become the 90s station instead of the 1980s station.
 
I hope you address the other Houston stations that mostly play songs from other racial classifications as well. :eek:
 
If you want a thorough 80's format, check out the 80's channel on Music Choice. Far superior representation of what the music of that decade was all about.

The Point should probably instead be called The Slice, as it plays only a tiny sliver of 80's musical output.
 
I dunno, Tina Turner and Lionel Richie were huge in the '80's. I could do without him, but I could always hear more Tina.

Mediafrog, I love Music Choice for around the house. Great suggestion for the original poster.
 
I seriously doubt that their lack of African American artists has anything to do with racism. Radio, these days, is more about trends and numbers crunching than it is what the listener feels is best. Sad to say, but as much a corporate "business" as radio has become, that's the way it has to be, whether I or anyone else agrees or not.

As another poster said, the other stations trend towards what is perceived as "hot" in the industry, right now, too and if white 80s hair bands are currently more popular than Michael Jackson (I'll keep my Michael opinion to myself), that's what you'll hear. No racism, just keeping up with the times, I think.

Music Choice is a good alternative. I cue the XM satellite channels on DirecTV a lot, too. There, I find a much wider variety than you'll hear over the airwaves, regardless of the format and regardless of your location. I hear songs on there that I hadn't hear in years, via the air.
 
I guess my post got wiped out by the Moderators...

As I said, The Point is "80's Rock" (including 'lite rock/pop'). You won't find many African American artists on Sunny or The Buzz either. It's not about race, just a fact that there's few African American artists contributing to that genre.

Maybe they'll leave this post here this time...
 
I am not suggesting that 106.9 staff or management is racist....just that I am surprised that their is a lack of music by African American artists when there were so many hits by African American artists in the 1980s. I am not really sure what format 106.9 is striving for other than to play music that is the "Best of the 80s and more" as is their slogan. The playlist isn't just "rock" but includes some alternative or more electronic sounds like New Order and Human League, and also softer pop groups (like Toto) in the top 100 songs. The station really needs, in my opinion, a whole lot more variety since it has an entire decade (AND MORE! as the slogan goes) from which to pull songs to compile a play list. When I started thinking about songs that are missing, it struck me that there are not African American artists represented..

The omission of Michael Jackson is particularly glaring with the 25th anniversary of Thriller, unless they want to not play him due to weirdness of his personal life, which will not detract from the impact that the Thriller album made in the 1980s. I certainly will never forget how exciting it was when the big screen was lowered at the roller skating rink for a showing of the Thriller video back in the day!

I understand 95.7 playing the same songs over and over since they are sticking with a Top 20 format, but 106.9 has an entire decade to gets songs.

And I understand that not a lot of African American artists will be played on the Buzz or any of the country stations since not many Black artists fit the format...the same with White artists on 97.9. Sunny does play African Americans, however. Timbaland and Beyonce are both in the top 10 KODA songs according to yes.com. I liked the variety of hearing Barry White and Carrie Underwood back to back on Sunny not that long ago.

and I do agree that KODA is trying to sound more like Mix 96.5. I think KODA plays more variety now. This is definitely not the old "beautiful music" playing "Musicbox Dancer" over and over. !
 
Why does it matter in the first place? Why does seemingly everything devolve into racial discussions nowadays? Just enjoy the music!!
 
The POINT (pun intended) is that I am not enjoying the music on 106.9 because it plays the same things over and over again, and it is missing so much of the variety of the 1980s. My point isn't that 106.9 is being racist but that there are big holes in their play list that drive me not to listen to their station. As someone who grew up in the 1980s I should be in their target market but I can't listen for very long because the station is boring and tiring.
 
I see a new movement coming on.... "What's The Point?" :)

Aww crap. I just gave their imaging director (or lack there-of) an idea.
 
The original poster is right - the Point sounds like an overly vanilla white station. Folks, this is Houston we're talking about not some conservative little blink if you miss it kinda town. This is a market that had some of the best Top 40 stations in the country in the 80s - 93 Q and Power 104. Neither one of them shied away from hard Rock, Modern Rock, Dance, R&B, Rap, and pure Pop. These stations garnered huge ratings, were very active on new music, and weren't afraid to play youth-friendly Rap and Dance. There were some very conservative sounding CHRs in the 80s, especially in places like Milwaukee with WKTI, and there were quite a few markets where the CHRs were afraid or late on Rap, but this was anything but true for Houston. You'd think that with that kind of history and heritage factor that a station claiming to be focusing on 80s hits woulds get it, and play all of the big hits that got played in Houston. You'd think that an 80s station would have no problem playing hits from Michael Jackson, the biggest selling artist of the decade, especially from Thriller which was the biggest selling album of the decade. You'd think that in a market where over half the population isn't white with lots of Hispanics, blacks and Asians, there would be a great sounding 80s station. Instead, you end up with an 80s station that sounds VERY sanitized and very segregated.

Country stations focus on Country music, Rock stations focus on Rock music, and you don't see a lot of black artists these days partaking in these musical genres. As such, you don't expect to hear a lot of African Americans on those stations. Conversely, most of the best Rhythmic Pop music that's being released is made by African Americans, which is why they're the ones you hear on stations like The Box.
Blacks made a lot of great music in the 80s, and a lot of that music did well on the Pop charts. If the Point's premise is to play 80s Pop, then be a true Pop station, look at old KRBe and KKBQ playlists, look at old Hot 100 charts from Billboard, and play a good selection of 80s music.
I know the Point bills alright for such an automated station, but it could see an increase in ratings if it somewhat adjusts and expands their 80s libraries, and adds some cool features like nightly 80s mixes, a couple of daily Top 10 countdowns focusing on a particular years this week in the 80s, and even by featuring some fun 80s documentaries on the weekends.
 
I agree with the original poster. I think the reason is they test maybe for 150 song playlist. They have not added anything since they threw some 90's songs and subtracted some of the 80's stuff to keep the playlist tight. A Journey song every hour!

It is very sad! Local radio has no clue what the people want. The number though only speak since all the stations play a tight list listeners dont have a choice.

Jack FM has about the largest list in town. I have heard more Black artist there than on the Point. Just a few more to be clear.

May say suggest XM or Sirus. They offer all your hearts desire.
 
That reminds me when I was listening to Jack one day and they aired a caller saying that Jack had better 80s music than "the other 80s station in town." Jack responded with something to the extent of if "you don't enjoy it, what's the point?" Obvious pun to The Point.

Good point, you don't even hear MICHAEL JACKSON on the point, who had a few songs that had a rock flavor to it. There was that one song that he did where he had this guitarist from some band called Van Halen play in the song.

With that in mind, here's some advice for the point: add some more music or BEAT IT!

An active rocker (like 99.5 KISS San Antonio) or a classic rhythmic (like 105.9 in Austin) would go good on the signal
 
Lord knows it wouldn't kill 'em to play some Tone Loc, Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, Paula Abdul, Biz Markie, Taylor Dayne, Whitney Houston or Bobby Brown. Michael Jackson is a bit of a stretch since his bedtime antics got him run out of the country. I see Houstonlistener's point, but as another poster said, the same can be said for most any station in town. You don't hear "The Beastie Boys" on KBXX or KPTY and they could certainly be classified as a rap group. I seriously doubt their lack of airplay on any station other than The Buzz can be attributed to their Jewish heritage.
 
purpledevil said:
Lord knows it wouldn't kill 'em to play some Tone Loc, Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, Paula Abdul, Biz Markie, Taylor Dayne, Whitney Houston or Bobby Brown. Michael Jackson is a bit of a stretch since his bedtime antics got him run out of the country. I see Houstonlistener's point, but as another poster said, the same can be said for most any station in town. You don't hear "The Beastie Boys" on KBXX or KPTY and they could certainly be classified as a rap group. I seriously doubt their lack of airplay on any station other than The Buzz can be attributed to their Jewish heritage.
Click to expand...

You don't hear the Beasties Boys on 97.9 because they dont fit the format now. Some of their older stuff would fit, but not the stuff they record now.
 
The Point started out as 80's Retro (Yaz, Erasure, The Clash) and eventually morphed into a Stars format, which is non-Urban oldies (Fleetwood Mac, John Cougar Mellencamp, Pat Benatar), at least the last time I listened to them at least 3 years ago (I wasn't even sure they were still on the air). It's not an 80's oldies station like the 80's Music choice channel on cable.

Michael Jackson would fit in on The Point just as well as Blondie on The Box.
 
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