Barry said:
Tony, I've been reading your pleas for a New York dance station for years, and respect your dedication to this goal.
What I still fail to understand is a clear reason why WKTU is not satisfying the average person that likes dance music (but is not obsessed with it). Doesn't it play the mainstream dance hits, while mixing in older stuff, along with some rhythmic pop? And it is by all measures very successful and very entrenched in this market. I believe the problem for you and other hard core dance music purists is that there are not nearly enough people like you in this market who don't find WKTU to be acceptable, to support a more focused dance station.
As you know, successful commercial music stations play the biggest, best known hits, and avoid stuff that is more obscure to the casual listener. That may not satisfy musical purists, but does a lot for the bottom line.
As an example, I am into country music. And I think that a lot of the stuff played on country stations sucks, because it is not really country, and very country sounding artists are generally avoided. But the overwhelming majority of successful country stations focus on the current (often pop sounding) hits, and similar songs going back about 10 years.
Fans of pure dance and real country music have many sources other than radio to hear what they want, and need to accept that.
Barry, I've "been accepted" about the alternate choices out there. ;D I'm on Party Radio USA myself doing a dance music show there and while my first hour is mainly on the commercial potential side, the second hour and DJ Spotlight get very edgy. For me, it's my mission to push the new stuff out there and give that exposure.
To answer on 'KTU, between 1996 - 2006 I was critical because I thought they could have done more with newer dance music instead of playing "I Will Survive" for the umpteenth time. Looking back now and talking to those that were part of that station, I do realize that they did that the best that they could and was "held back" from doing further by corporate. I have since made my apologies about that. Right now, they are doing great in the ratings but then they are catering to the women 25-54, those that MIGHT HAVE gone to the clubs in the past but have since been far removed from it for various reasons (raising families for one). For them, they like what they hear and are comfortable with that "feel good" commercial sound (which answers that question about the average fan), but for dance fans such as myself (and even the casual fan under 25) we don't embrace it. With the only exception being Hollywood Hamilton's Remix Top 30 show, 'KTU - post 2006 - is not about us. And certainly not for those under 25.
Granted, 92.3 Now is a CHR, but they do more in terms of dance as 'KTU does, albeit "electro pop". I'm not complaining on that because if the exposure on that can eventually get people to open up to more, then that is fine
.
I think over the years, some of you have been confused in terms of my definition of what I have been looking for. And perhaps on my side I wasn't that clear enough. So to that here we go...I'm looking for a
DRIVE FX style station 70 miles south of where they are (New Windsor, NY). They DO play the electro pop and I understand and accepted why because YES, you need that commercial element that people are familiar with. Yet they are also VERY cutting edge during the day, not just night time DJ mixes. They put on an excellent blend and based on some of the events I've attended up in the Hudson Valley, the club scene up there has picked up well because of it.
I know there are the alternatives out there, yet there is still something about FM radio that breeds that familiarity to the listeners. And until streaming car stereos become the standard in future automobiles, terrestrial radio still has a place. That's why I'm still fighting on that. I also feel country music now on the FM can do well here because it's a much different ballgame than it was years ago, for the better. It's the same with dance/EDM.
