Dance Everywhere!

[Wildstyle K]

WELL...........

Call me crazy, but I'm currently listening to both B96 and 104.7 Kiss FM, having a little superbowl of my own, waiting to see who will "out house" each other! So far both stations have been "battling each other out" pretty well in the mix, but I'm sure B96 may win... Besides, I believe I'm hearing a recycled mix on 104.7 Kiss FM anyway.. Poker Face is just beginning to play on B96... which is a good way to segway into my next topic - KYLD WiLD 94.9!

KYLD Wild 94.9 just did something a bit interesting a few minutes ago. They abruptly flipped to uptempo hits in the mix and played both Bob Sinclair and Pokerface in the mix..

Well, speaking of Bob Sinclair, guess what's playing on Kiss right now!! I just can't keep up.

I wonder what Club 95 KVIB is doing?? - oh nevermind. They stopped mixing 19 minutes ago. Besides, unfortunately for them, I believe their days are currently "being numbered".... if you know what I mean.

Well, the battle continues... And even if B96 does win the mix show battle against 104.7 KissFM (which just happened, by the way), lets see who does the most dance hits on a normal weekday non mix show playlist NOW!!!!

 

[nd2023]

You are so lucky to have CHR stations that have actual dance mixshows. I was listening to Kiss 95.7 in Connecticut and they sound great on Saturday night.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Most of those stations are spread out in different states and heard through the net. 104.7 Kiss FM and 95.1 KVIB are the only two that are actually here in my town, and they don't really have dance specialty shows. 104.7 Kiss FM does get into house and other dance sometimes during mixshows, and Club 95 Latino Vibe often does house and latin house, but there is no special show specifically for it on any stations here..... as of right now. Wild 94.9 is in Sacramento and B96 is in Chicago...

If anything, out of all our local stations, 104.7 KissFM would most likely be the first to do it if it were done. For a while, with some of what KZON has been doing, I was almost believing 101.5 JamZ might try something, but now Kiss has gone and changed up and now they are playing a lot more uptempo hits (or hits in general) than JamZ, in addition to more alternative and pop hits and stuff from back in the day, which gives me only more reason to believe now if anyone should make a move on dance, it may be Kiss. For now, my best bet would probably be 104.7 HD 2.

Between 97.5 and 104.7, I don't know who does more uptempo dance hits on Saturday night mix shows, but 104.7 Kiss FM dj's are by far better at mixing than what takes place at MOViN 97.5 during mix show times.

 

[DJ_Perry]

Kiss FM dj's are by far better at mixing than what takes place at MOViN 97.5 during mix show times.

97.5 should not even be brought up. They have no identity. I heard them play Heatwave and Pink in the same block. Their mixer (yes there's only one) is not even local, and just provides them with his cookie cutter syndication that is dated and low quality.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I guess Kiss FM isn't really playing that much dance after all - depending on how you look at it. They have too many other songs filled in between the dance stuff they do play. On JamZ however, they may have less than KissFM, but somehow they always managed to end up doing stuff like playing Britney and Katy Perry back to back, or like yesterday, playing "closer" by ne-yo followed by "the anthem" by Pitbull. I'm at least glad we've advanced this far IN MUSIC SINCE 2005..... I still say 95.1 KVIB is the leader when it comes to dance hits in the valley though. Anything you might hear on JamZ or Kiss or maybe even Power, Club 95 has already got it covered. LMFAO? they got it. Flo Rida? They got it. Womanizer, Just Dance, Calle Ocho, Hot & Cold, Love is gone, Disturbia, Day 'N' Nite, Closer, Move shake Drop....etc, They got that and more. Then when mix shows hit, it's a different story. Only one problem - they've gone a lot more spanish than english now, rather than keeping that bilingual balance. I remember back when they first came on the scene sounding really good and being equally english and spanish, but they had this horrible slogan they always used making it seem strongly like the station was ONLY for latinos. Now they have a very open slogan "todo tu musica" but they've gone more spanish. That was a bit odd and funny, but overall the station is still rather decent. I just wish we had Latino 96.3 here instead. Now THAT is funny because I hear they play mostly songs in english.

I hate to say it, but if we got rid of Power 98.3 and Club 95.1 to replace them with a Latino 96.3 type station, I'd be so much happier - but ONLY as long as the dj's from latino 96.3 came along too. Why? Because along with the hip hop r&b and some reggaeton hits, they also play DANCE AND HOUSE! (You all should've known that eventually that's where I was going with this.)

 

[Wildstyle K]

Uh Oh.....!!!!! Uh Oh!! Breaking News!!

I am currently listening to the Hollywood Hamilton Top 30 Urban Rhythm Countdown... and

KID CUDI day 'n' nite CROOKERS REMIX!! is ON!

This means that THIS VERSION OF THE SONG IS DOING WELL ENOUGH NATIONWIDE to make it on the countdown! Keep in mind that Hollywood Hamilton does both a top 40 rhythmic and an Urban rhythmic countdown, depending on which stations he is on and which version those stations choose to carry.

The "day 'n' nite was heard on the Urban rhythm!! That makes it even more exciting because this beats just top 40! Things are definitely changing. A few months ago, I never even guessed that Kid Cudi was going to be one of those on top 40/rhythm radio, not to mention THE REMIX! Somehow I missed that one... but then again, I wasn't looking for future releases until around November or so. I also never even saw Madcon sneaking up in the game, but that David Rush song that's just now starting to hit, I'm wondering how come it took an entire year for him to get recognized?

Well, I'm sure even more exciting things are on the way when it comes to the world of dance, so I'll keep on the lookout and keep you updated on the exciting news as events continue to unfold.

 

[theedger]

When this song came in to Energy 98 headquarters (hehe) I wasn't too sure about it. I was worried it was too 'rappy'. But during a trip to s-bucks I started singing the hook. That's all it took to push those worries away.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I been playing Kid Cddi-Crookers mix since october ever since I heard Z-1035 Toronto, and the Uk dance stations playing it.... It has a very UK garage-Bassline feel to it, which I think both the Urban and Dance crow could embace if exposed here.... Turns right that I was right,,, this song is big on phones and in medium-High rotation right now,,, buyt this spring and summer I susspect we will still be playing it, and everyone else will jump on it by April or May.... I can usually always tell a future Dance CHR Hip Hop or Active Rock hit,,,, sometimes im worng on the dance hits, and I dont really have to reach out to find the hip hop hits since they are pushed on us as soon as realeased,,, I may not add the too hardcore ones unless Comp does,,, but aside from Dance,,, I also add Active-Modern Rock hits that arent too hard but chart well at Rock radio,,, I was right about Shinedown-Second Chance and Avange Seven Fold-Dear God will probably make the cut next week..... I tried to add Guru Josh-infinity 2008, but I think the song, and Lyrics are just too intellectual for the average CHR listener, so unfourtunately it bombed for us..... Now Deadmou5e-the longest road did really well at first, but listeners lost interest quickly, so it was never played more than 20 times a week and over gave us a 6 week run,,, I need to add Dance with staying power or else it just wastes playlist space for hits to keep the audience tuned in, raise cume and my paycheck. Most PDs that arent Dance fans wont even search for anything that isnt serviced to them, or try to be first on future hits.. But as far as I know I was the first CHR to play Day N Nite Kid Cuddi, and the second chr followed by KKCK 99.7 Marshall Mn to add shinedown-Second chance... I want more Dance, but for markets with no audible rock station, we need to serve them with quality Rock as well.. now why Corp Radio thinks you cant play Dance POP Rhythmic and Active Rock on the same station is just because they own 15 stations in one market and dont want to compete with their Co Owned niche format stations. Otherwise if you ever listened to our stream http:wbwb.com/ you will notice we focus on the top hits of the day, and spread out the questionable stuff,,, but oddly enough, aside from Morning drive,,, our Retro 80s-90s at noon, and our 5 O clock Road Rage drive home Dance Show remains our highest rated shows.

 

[theedger]

"add dance with staying power" - have you looked at chr playlists? 90% filler. Just pick good songs that don't sound out of format for your station. You don't need break beat songs or lame-ass bootleg mixes, you need quality dance songs that work along with other songs on your playlist. 20x@6 weeks won't cut it either. That's not enough exposure.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Actually now that I have access to mediabase and dont have to spend 20 hours a week check other stations playlist, yeah I do realize that............ But even if I played Deadmou5e for 6 months it wouldnt help the record unless other big markets picked it up as well... The simple lyrics in the Longest road is why it took off quick,,, but the interests declined quickly... Kinda hard to add dance songs right now with Lil Wayne and T-pain getting in the way of things.. It was much easier last summer when the charts were loaded with Dance/Rhythmic like Rhianna, Chris Brown, and Neyo, September, David Guetta, Metro station.. All these songs had staying power...

 

[Wildstyle K]

THE REALITY OF MUSIC EVOLUTION
How did the REMIX beat the original anyway? I guess it's just that FINALLY we've evolved to this point in the evolution of music, where I've been hoping we'd get back to eventually for 3 years now, that this CAN happen. Although I saw this day coming a long way down the road, I still can't help but to go with my "old ways of thinking" based on past experience, and always end up finding myself saying things like "this doesn't make sense" or "how did this happen?" Then I must snap myself back into reality and realize that THINGS HAVE CHANGED. What made or didn't make sense in radio a few years ago isn't the same TODAY. When I first heard "don't stop the music" on a urban rhythmic station, it didn't make sense. When I first heard "disturbia", it didn't make sense. When I first heard "in the ayer" and stuff like "closer" be introduced, it didn't make sense. Well, it DOES make sense because it makes sense NOW.

LIL WAYNE - T-PAIN
As far as Lil Wayne, I agree that sometimes I wish that he would just disappear, but BEFORE I get taken out of context like Rush Limbaugh, LET ME CLARIFY. I wish he'd DISAPPEAR from the music scene BASED PURELY on the fact that he's not at all contributing to dance music too much by putting out or jumping in a whole bunch of songs that fill in the spaces that push all the dance pop songs apart. He may not be contributing, but he's really also not hurting either because how many people are REALLY going to take hip hop seriously now with him dominating the hip hop charts? When you really think about it... "Notorious BIG.... Tupac...... Lil Wayne?" THAT doesn't make sense, and continues to not make sense, even with the evolution and change of time.. but lets just say that at some point this just happens to end up making sense. Well, when it does, it will, most likely only because he's the only one staying true to hip hop, which in the end still doesn't hurt dance (as long as people don't begin to follow his trend on a large scale). Lil Wayne is not a bad guy. He seems to be a cool person with a lot of talent, and most times I can see what he's trying to do, but there remains the flaw that he can't really sing and overdoing the auto tune in his case just makes it worse. It's almost the equivalent of a toddler trying to rap.... but that doesn't make him a bad person. Good luck to him and his new rock song that will soon hit urban radio. Go ahead! Let it rock! T-Pain? Well... it's obvious that he likes uptempo hits, and he can only release so many songs off his album before he will end up having to release one of the fast songs that he has. That definitely doesn't hurt any. Maybe the lyrics and a bit of the vocal production is not 100%, but still, it's something to keep the trend going.

THE CROSSOVER
The FIRST time I heard the Crookers remix on the radio, the FIRST thing I thought about was back when I brought up on a UK Garage forum how possible it is for a bassline track to become big enough to cross over into the US if it was good enough, especially with the direction we're headed in now. I am so glad that FINALLY, there is proof that it could happen, and from there, who knows what may happen next? These new upcoming DJ's are growing up, learning to mix this stuff, and to them it's all part of the norm. It's nice to see the younger generation being taught this way, while we're still young enough to share and experience it, but also be old enough to know the history behind it. We always want "our kids" to know how it all really started or originated and feel good to see them learn about what we had. Just remember, we had our experience. They are experiencing something new BASED on something we had, but in a modernized way. The Crookers remix is just a part of ordinary radio play to them. To us, it may be a new sound.

A NEW GENERATION OF SOUND
Another thing I must remember everytime I worry about the trend being "messed up" or "dying" is that what's being heard now is now NORMAL to the younger generation, because who we believed to be the younger generation a few years back is no longer the younger generation. There's a new younger generation, presently growing up into that "new sound" that's emerging, and to them, this is normal, just like UB40, Planet Soul, Fine Young Cannibles, and Ace of Base were normal in my top 40 when I was younger. When I think of something dying or getting interrupted in musical trends, I'm thinking with the mentality of a certain time period, which no longer exists. In other words, things are already going in that direction. The younger people don't see a direction, they just see as it is, and all they know is that there are some songs they like and some songs they don't like, which happens in every genre of music. A lot of stupid songs came out as hip hop was on the verge of blowing up, but that didn't stop the events from unfolding as they did, so why think that now? It's a new time, a whole new generation of sound, and as always, some songs will not be as good as others, but it happened during every trend. The music probably really isn't the problem. It's our subconscious mind sets making us believe that because it was once this way, things may never change, then we find every reason we can to believe "uh oh! that sucks or is questionable, and because of that, dance will never ever make i!" Well, as we become more close minded based on experience, remember the younger generation just see's that either

A. They like the song, or
B. They dislike the song.

WHERE WE'RE AT TODAY
We've reached a point where it's not really "I hate that song because it's techno" any more. It's amazing to go to different sites like Imeem and other places and seeing young people being exposed to the "new sound" and leaving comments like "I love this song" or "that beat is sick"...etc! This is their reality. They may not know as much about dance as we do, but everywhere you go, you see them embracing dance. Many not even realizing it.  MySpace, Facebook, Radio, Commercials, Certain tracks on popular cd's, Itunes... almost everywhere, you can see it happening; dance is coming back, and I still believe the peak of this trend has yet to come.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

You make a few good points, is I try to sneak in Dance songs like Day n night where the kids dont really know its Dance music,,, they obviously knew that Cascada, DHT, and September where Techno as they call it, but that did stop them from requesting and downloading the heck out of them, and these arent the techno Candy Ravers either, they are the same kids that like POP, hip hop and Rock, its all about finding a decent record that is catchy but has understandable,,,, not too complicated lyrics, not too euro sounding,,, like Bass Hunters-All I ever wanted bombed for us, but we did ok with Now your gone last winter????(scratches head) But the norm for the UK Youth is some form of dance music, but the UK dance is alot more street sounding,, UK garage,,, Bassline house,,, Drum N Bass,,, but FM Dance stations here refuse to play anything but New York Diva House and POP Remixes...(NO OFFENSE) Dont flame me for preference, but i can have a party with younger teens, up to people in their mid 30s, and if I blast a station like.....Well any US dance station, they get fed up and ask me to change it,,, but I can lock it onto one of the European Dance stations,,, RGR FM,, Top Radio Belgium, and Top Radio in Riga, the UK Galaxy stations, Kiss 100,,, the UK pirate stations,,, even the stations in France,,,, they laugh at the way the jocks and adverts talk, as they do with any foreign station,,, but they are always like, this music is pretty cool, what is it??? Some of these people are even in their 30s, but werent grown up in markets that had dance friendly stations, or its just been so long, they arent radio geeks and dont remember.

Anyway,,, go back to bed KDM... lol.... I wouldnt be awake if ididnt have to be... Where's me bloody cupa coffee and no doze.. (And No thanks mate,, None of that white powder stuff my ex used to sniff up her nose to wake up...LOL yeah I listen to the UK dance stations too much... Big Ups London Town.... Ya got my massive crew locked on...yeah..

 

[Wildstyle K]

I wouldn't say that kids don't know that "day 'n' nite" is dance. I'm sure they are aware at some level that what they are listening to is... well, "different", but enough has happened within the past few years to prepare many people for this sound, so it's acceptable. As far as DHT, Cascada, and September, they all in a way play it smart by making their dance sound very poppy or pop friendly. Therefore, there is enough hype behind it to give them more recognition, then with that recognition comes more acceptance because "everyone else / other people are liking it, so I guess I could / should too" - which tends to be the way people live these days..

When it comes to pop remixes, I didn't start really getting into that until about 2 months ago, and it's mostly due to the fact that this was the direction music was going as dance slowly began to make its come back. Before then, I was heavily in to some "off the wall" stuff. Then I started doing some research on future releases, which happened to be mostly r&b artists that were releasing dance styled, or influenced hits. That got me very fascinated. When you combine that with my fascination for radio, and throw in the fact that pop is what the radio chooses to use more often these days on top of that, you get the recipe for "dance / pop". It's also more convenient because this is what more people are willing to accept and helps to bridge the gap between dance and pop music (notice how I no longer have to say hip hop instead of pop!) If I left the country or went to different places, my style would probably change again, especially in places where I could "be more of myself". But since this new pop is what is mostly responsible for the possibilities that dance music has today, I've been hooked on it, like a meteorologist when he see's clouds or something different happening.

Whatever brings the possibility of actions you desire to occur, excites you, and that excitement can lead you into getting hooked or fascinated with whatever is creating the excitement at the moment. Now, with the several directions I could easily go with that last statement, I'll just end it here.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Uh Oh!!

IT is currently happening as I speak!

IT IS CURRENTLY HAPPENING AS I SPEAK!

"Poker face" has made it's way over to 101.5 JamZ in REGULAR rotation JUST NOW!
This means in only 24 hours, 3 uptempo dance hits have pretty much been added to their rhythmic playlist, in addition to the other uptempo hits they already have! Now it's official! The dance style is once again part of the family. I believe I also heard someone discussing "poker face" last night while I was struggling to stay awake during the future flavaz show, but I wasn't too sure because I think I just happened to wake up precisely at the moment it was done because he usually announces the name of most songs after it's played. Either it was that, or Poka Face the rapper has new material... I'm not sure, but now that I'm fully awake I am going to go to yes.com and see what was going on last night in future flavaz. Most of the new hits they play don't reflect in yes.com, but I'm sure "poker face" will if it was played last night. I just wish I was awake to hear what was actually mixed before it! Well, surely today I wont miss it because I was smart enough to stay in bed and not get up to research the last played, so now with over 9 hours of sleep, I'll be wide awake during future flavaz tonight! Hopefully, more new stuff I don't know about... or anything - as long as it shows even more signs of dance "taking over the planet".

"Poker face", not only on top 40, but now also on urban rhythmic! Things Are Happening......

 

[Wildstyle K]

MORE News! (Latest update from a few months back; Wikipedia, Power 106 Los Angeles)

[EDIT]

"Although they had moved away from the Dance music scene and at times are criticized for abandoning it in favor of pleasing the Hip-Hop crowd, KPWR continues to support the genre through the program "Power Tools", produced by Gerry Meraz and hosted by Richard Vission. Power Tools, which airs late night Saturday/Early Sunday morning from 2 to 4am, is also the station's longest running program, debuting in 1992. In addition, they do revisit their Dance and Freestyle music roots during their mixes, especially the The World Famous Aquanet Set, which they air on Fridays. As of 2008 KPWR has begun phasing in current Dance and Rhythmic Pop crossovers into their daily and weekend mix shows again, as evidenced by addition of the daily noontime "Power 106 Party Mix," which replaced the Old School mixshow."

....Things HAPPENING!




[EDIT-Url provided as a courtesy to other users.]

 

[Wildstyle K]

Power 96, WPOW Miami; CURRENTLY playing house in the mix, during their midday mash-up.
Yesterday was the first time I listened, and they mashed up hip hop. Today they are mashing up just a little bit, but playing actual dance hits. "When the lights go out" just played a moment ago, along with some other uncommon rhythmic radio dance hits. A bit of electro-house is going on at this moment. ...and NOW they are playing Craig David's "Insomnia".