• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

DC Urban 93.9 WKYS starting to lean Rhythmic?

M

Martin Mac

Guest
WKYS has played quite a few Rhythmic songs that haven't charted on Urban the past few weeks including;

Imma Be - Black Eyed Peas (KYS was on this before it even broke Top 50 Urban)
OMG - Usher f/Willl.i.am (has been added to the playlist)
Freak - Estelle f/Kardinall Offishall
Carryout - Timbaland f/Justin Timberlake
Shots - LMFAO f/Lil Jon

Also, KYS has been playing alot of the Urban songs that have crossed over to Rhythmic and CHR and are familiar with listeners of those formats.

These songs were not played during club broadcasts, but in regular AND mixing program between 5pm-7pm, the time with the most listeners I believe. This is kind of ironic to me, WPGC is the one reporting as a Rhythmic and is 100% Urban, and KYS is starting to sprinkle in Rhythmic tracks although they are an Urban.

I wonder why KYS is sprinkling in these Rhythmic tracks.
 
92Q has always been more rhythmic friendly too. Is WPGC still playing Art Of Noise at midnight every night ?
 
I've noticed that alot of urbans have begun leaning rhythmic. I don't know why, urban tests better. Maybe they're seaguing to more affluent, white listeners?? That's the only reason I could come up with is money. I personally hate it. If I wanted to listen to that Top 40 crap, I'd listen to a Top 40 station.
 
"Imma be" is a big urban hit and I dont know why. " Imma Be" is good for Top 40 and CHR/R but it should not be a major hit on urban radio. Maybe this PPM GARBAGE is changing urban radio stations or I am just gettin' old.
 
rapking said:
"Imma be" is a big urban hit and I dont know why. " Imma Be" is good for Top 40 and CHR/R but it should not be a major hit on urban radio. Maybe this PPM GARBAGE is changing urban radio stations or I am just gettin' old.
Click to expand...

CC must have stock in the BEP's They are the ones who started putting it on their Urbans I don't like that they cut out the fast part of the song though.

Oh yeah PPM might be part of it too.
 
rapking said:
"Imma be" is a big urban hit and I dont know why. " Imma Be" is good for Top 40 and CHR/R but it should not be a major hit on urban radio. Maybe this PPM GARBAGE is changing urban radio stations or I am just gettin' old.
Click to expand...

I don't know why, but I like that song. I should mention that I'm an apprentice DJ Friday and Saturday Nights at a dance club in rural Connecticut. Anyway DJ Walt never played that song before, but I played it last night and got a huge response. I was surprised it went over so big because even though we're a mixed music club, there is still a 28% Country Mix to a 72% Non-Country Mix left over from the years gone by when we used to be Exclusively Country.

shameless plug: http://www.illusionsdanceclub.com/
 
I'm convinced this has a lot to do with PPM. Urban was doing terrible when PPM first started. The format has shifted more rhythmic to become more cume friendly. I don't care for the change because it muddies the waters between formats and makes Urban less unique. But it seems to be working as Urban has had ratings gains in several markets recently, especially the stations that have moved in this direction.
 
Jkf said:
92Q has always been more rhythmic friendly too. Is WPGC still playing Art Of Noise at midnight every night ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, 92Q (WERQ) used to be a Rhythmic prior to 1995. About a year ago, WPGC stopped playing the Art of Noise at midnight during the Coolout on a regular basis.
 
Today, WKYS has officially added "Carryout" by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake to their playlist, branding it as "new music". I think we're going to see alot more Rhythmic hits in the future on WKYS.

In a way, Jay Stevens is still programming WPGC even though he's not there anymore. WPGC is basically a 3-weeks late reflection of WKYS. I put my money on it that if WKYS moves Carryout into moderate rotation, WPGC will pick it up.

It really upsets me that Michael Saunders cant be a little bit more innovative and take risks. Add something that WKYS hasn't added yet, stop playing it safe. Its not like you can do anything else to tank the station under more than you have.

PS, that 110-spins a week rotation is really going to have to stop. When you have regular radio listeners, that only listen 15-20 mins at a time, complaining about "so and so station plays the same song too much", you know its bad.

Btw, does anybody know why the Rhythmic tweak that PGC had put on for a while ended abruptly? I remember loving PGC during the late summer/early fall, they had the upbeat-energetic imaging of a Rhythmic (955 PGC, DC's Hip Hop & R&B), and were playing tracks like "Boom Boom Pow", "Hotel Room Service", "Right Round", "Down", "Sweet Dreams" as well as all the slow R&B songs. Now they added the W back on, took out the Rhythmic imaging in place for the deep-voiced guy again, and went back to heavy R&B. Why did they end the Rhythmic tweak so suddenly?
 
(Btw, does anybody know why the Rhythmic tweak that PGC had put on for a while ended abruptly?)

They fired Scorpio and now let Tigger have total control over the tunes.
 
fatlady said:
(Btw, does anybody know why the Rhythmic tweak that PGC had put on for a while ended abruptly?)

They fired Scorpio and now let Tigger have total control over the tunes.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, makes sense. I think their ratings may have improved had they kept their Rhythmic Crossover format going instead of switching back to Mainstream Urban.
 
Even though I wish PGC would play some rhythmic stuff, Im content with their music selection right now. I just wish they would stop spinning their top songs so much. If you drive around on a Saturday or Sunday, and are in and out of the car alot, your bound to keep hearing the same songs on PGC more than you are on KYS.
 
Honestly, look at Michael Saunders track record at other stations like WPGC's sister station WJHM in Orlando and Clear Channels' east coast urban flagship WWPR in New York, he has always been a bad programmer. He should just stick to being OM (or let go), and CBS should get somebody who does know how to program a DC crossover rhythmic/urban station. CBS should have just outbid Radio One and kept Jay Stevens since now WVEE in Atlanta is essentially carrying the entire urban division in CBS these days. Whereas, the legendary WPGC is now a ghost of the past which reacts to its (IMHO) 'history of inferior programming choices' competition.

CBS needs to get somebody to lead WPGC so it can once again lead the market's urban and overall landscape.
 
(CBS needs to get somebody to lead WPGC so it can once again lead the market's urban and overall landscape)

You keep forgetting it was Albie Dee who made WPGC the huge crossover radio station it once was. After Albie left WPGC the station ratings dropped and have NEVER returned to the success it had under Dee. Just got back and look at the arbitron ratings from late 80's till he left in the late 90's. I think it was 1987-1997
 
This wave of Rhythmic tunes being heard one Urbans must be in selected cities. Down south, we still have a strong Hip-Hop/R&B sound on Urban stations. Isn't the DC Rhythmic station rated higher than both PGC and KYS? Anyway, Usher's song is the only rhythmic track i've heard here in ATL on both HOT and V. I'd assume they'd play it because he's an ATL artist.
 
fatlady said:
(CBS needs to get somebody to lead WPGC so it can once again lead the market's urban and overall landscape)

You keep forgetting it was Albie Dee who made WPGC the huge crossover radio station it once was. After Albie left WPGC the station ratings dropped and have NEVER returned to the success it had under Dee. Just got back and look at the arbitron ratings from late 80's till he left in the late 90's. I think it was 1987-1997
Click to expand...

Uh fatlady, we aren't going to revisit this again. I haven't forgot anything about that time. I'm talking about when it held down being the leading station in the DC market period up until early 2007. I (along with everybody else) gets that WPGC got a 10-share around 1995-1997, but post-1997 it still remained the #1 station in the market with it 6.0-8.0 range until 2007 under Stevens. At this point, I highly doubt any major station outside of Atlanta and WVEE would be able to pull a 10-share in a top 10 market. WPGC needs somebody that can actually proactively program the station today because Albie Dee isn't going back to the station, so you can kill that argument.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom