Hot 97 Lost Its Mojo

[Jeffrey]

Hot 97 used to be my absolute favorite station in the 90's. But when you listen to it now and compare it to Kmel in the bay area and v103 in Atl and even hot103 in Hartford. It does sound over the hill. The imaging that used to be world class is now meh. The dj's screaming over every song during the mix shows is terrible. I could go on but I think I made my point.

I think you mean HOT 93.7 in Hartford. HOT 97 does sound a bit like one of the local pirates stations in Brooklyn with horns and screaming over heavy urban music. Day parts are totally different though.
It really depends when you listen.

 

[trock]

Hot 97 used to be my absolute favorite station in the 90's. But when you listen to it now and compare it to Kmel in the bay area and v103 in Atl and even hot103 in Hartford. It does sound over the hill. The imaging that used to be world class is now meh. The dj's screaming over every song during the mix shows is terrible. I could go on but I think I made my point.

I think you mean HOT 93.7 in Hartford. HOT 97 does sound a bit like one of the local pirates stations in Brooklyn with horns and screaming over heavy urban music. Day parts are totally different though.
It really depends when you listen.

Yes I did, thank you long day at work.

 

[Jeffrey]

If either Hot 97 or Power 105 is considering a significant change, but still wants to stay with an urban sound, perhaps the format of Boston's new rhythmic/R&B station could be considered. After only about two months on the air, it already has decent February ratings, especially with 18-34.

http://www.hot969boston.com/

overlap with KTU would be too great for a similar station to HOT 96.9 in Boston. Not sure it would help them. More classic hip, hop might but really at the end of the day since PPM and the declining popularity of hip hop, urban radio in New York is hurting, moreso than in other markets it seems to me.
I might also attribute some of that decline to 92.3 NOW but not sure their numbers support that much of a decline at Power and HOT.

 

[erwin33]

If either Hot 97 or Power 105 is considering a significant change, but still wants to stay with an urban sound, perhaps the format of Boston's new rhythmic/R&B station could be considered. After only about two months on the air, it already has decent February ratings, especially with 18-34.

http://www.hot969boston.com/

Not gonna happen. CBS Radio and Greater Media are different companies with different strategies for there markets.

 

[ansky212]

Most of the inner city youth have now transitioned to Nash FM. ;D

 

[Morpheux]

Hot 97 still does really well in the city. It's the outlying areas and suburbs where they have lost their grip on the audience if I'm not mistaken.Incidentally,this is where NOW has their best numbers.

 

[Macker]

Hot 97 still does really well in the city. It's the outlying areas and suburbs where they have lost their grip on the audience if I'm not mistaken.Incidentally,this is where NOW has their best numbers.

Can I ask where you read or heard this?
I remember 10-12yrs ago as a teen in upper Westchester with 90+% white people, almost every guy I knew listened to Hot97. Some listened to WBLS as a 2nd choice back-up. I didn't hear much about Power. Many females did too, but most listened to Z100. K104, WSPK's signal came in clear, and a lot of male and females listened to that, as well. Typically though, Hot97 and Z100 were the go-to stations. No one listened to PLJ
What do you think would have caused the decline of Hot97 in suburbs? Could it be that the music has changed? It seems like, if anything, they've shifted a little more mainstream to appeal more to hispanics and whites. They have a jewish guy named Rosenberg in the morning. On his midday show in DC, he would talk about wrestling a lot and seemed kind of corny/nerdy.

 

[bringbackradio]

Let me chime in look at the disaster of WPGC in Washington is nowadays and you will see why Emmis would not try that with Hot 97. Like Hot 97, WPGC has a very similar history that started as a crossover station then moved to urban (R&B/hip-hop) and trying to shift back while pissing off the majority of its core audience. It's ratings haven't been this bad since never and it is because of this shift. Sometimes a freshing up of the product ought involve better song choices and spinning gold records that the station played during that heyday rather than shifting towards something that would just piss off its core audience (blacks and Afro-Latinos in both stations' cases).

What's ironic is that Hot 97's sister and Emmis west coast flagship, Power 106, went back rhythmic less than a decade back to maintain a stronghold in ratings. The main difference between NYC and LA is the declining presence of Blacks, more Latinos and an urban radio presence that is nearly extinct so there is no chance Power 106 will be what it was in the 90s. Now up the road in San Francisco, KMEL went urban in 1992 and stayed the course for two decades since WiLD 107-turned 94.9 went under the same ownership and stayed rhythmic. Now back to Hot 97, I hope it'll improve at some point, given that it is Emmis east coast flagship anyway.

 

[tvradiogeek]

If either Hot 97 or Power 105 is considering a significant change, but still wants to stay with an urban sound, perhaps the format of Boston's new rhythmic/R&B station could be considered. After only about two months on the air, it already has decent February ratings, especially with 18-34.

http://www.hot969boston.com/




I totally agree and was going to mention this.

 

[TVCOOL]

HOT 97 should slowly reinvent themselves by retiring most(if not all)of their DJs and bring younger DJs in and go back to the HOT 97 that launched in 1993.

 

[Morpheux]

Hot 97 still does really well in the city. It's the outlying areas and suburbs where they have lost their grip on the audience if I'm not mistaken.Incidentally,this is where NOW has their best numbers.

Can I ask where you read or heard this?
I remember 10-12yrs ago as a teen in upper Westchester with 90+% white people, almost every guy I knew listened to Hot97. Some listened to WBLS as a 2nd choice back-up. I didn't hear much about Power. Many females did too, but most listened to Z100. K104, WSPK's signal came in clear, and a lot of male and females listened to that, as well. Typically though, Hot97 and Z100 were the go-to stations. No one listened to PLJ
What do you think would have caused the decline of Hot97 in suburbs? Could it be that the music has changed? It seems like, if anything, they've shifted a little more mainstream to appeal more to hispanics and whites. They have a jewish guy named Rosenberg in the morning. On his midday show in DC, he would talk about wrestling a lot and seemed kind of corny/nerdy.

I'm searching for the post where it shows Hot 97 declining and NOW surging in the suburbs but I'm not finding it. Someone on here who has access to those numbers might be able to confirm whether that is the case. I read this about a year back so it might not still be true.Being that Hot 97 is listed as a Rhythmic,it's not too far off to think that NOW has converted some of Hot 97's audience or at least pulled in potential new listeners that might have gone to Hot 97 or even Z 100.

Many people think that the lack of good product on Hip Hop radio is the cause of declining ratings or that music taste has shifted towards other genres. That's all debatable and everyone has a different perspective on it.You can say that the PPM's have something to do with it. You can also say that labels are putting music out that is more likely to be PPM friendly.Where this will lead is to early to tell but we are definitely going through a generational shift. And I haven't even factored in outside factors like Pandora and YouTube which probably have the most influence on what radio is doing today.

 

[kevinsealy]

A respondant to my post on the NYRMB board posted that Hot 97's decline is due mainly to the PPMs not the the decline in its popularity. I tend to agree with that. WBLS and (98.7 KISS-FM) WRKS-FM saw their ratings plummet.

Some research needs to be done to see whether Hip-Hop is dying, and if so where's the drop off.

Ten years ago it was noted that Whites (mainly teens and young adults) made up 70% of those who purchase CDs by Rap artists. Even though that number is not an exact science, does it still hold true today?




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[reelyreal]

I think any "hip hop is dying" claims are exaggerated. Popular music ebbs and flows. Look at CHR over the past 25 years and you'll see how true it is. Sometimes rock is king, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes dance is king, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes hip hop/R&B is king, sometimes it isn't. Rock has suffered for the past decade, now it's seeing a nice little resurgence in popularity.

All PPM has done has illustrated the flaws in the diary system, especially when it came to exaggerated listening claims made for Hip Hop/R&B/Urban stations. The same story played out in almost every city where PPM came in and there was a high-flying urban-formatted station.

 

[Morpheux]

Hot 97 still does really well in the city. It's the outlying areas and suburbs where they have lost their grip on the audience if I'm not mistaken.Incidentally,this is where NOW has their best numbers.

Can I ask where you read or heard this?
I remember 10-12yrs ago as a teen in upper Westchester with 90+% white people, almost every guy I knew listened to Hot97. Some listened to WBLS as a 2nd choice back-up. I didn't hear much about Power. Many females did too, but most listened to Z100. K104, WSPK's signal came in clear, and a lot of male and females listened to that, as well. Typically though, Hot97 and Z100 were the go-to stations. No one listened to PLJ
What do you think would have caused the decline of Hot97 in suburbs? Could it be that the music has changed? It seems like, if anything, they've shifted a little more mainstream to appeal more to hispanics and whites. They have a jewish guy named Rosenberg in the morning. On his midday show in DC, he would talk about wrestling a lot and seemed kind of corny/nerdy.

I meant to quote this last night but I ran out of time. When Hot 97 went in a more Churban direction back in 93,they kept a lot of Latinos that listened to it when they were more of a dance focused station. The primary core were blacks but a significant portion of their Hip Hop audience were Latinos too.And their personnel reflected that on and off the air.Hip Hop is seen as "black only" music and that's a misconception. The roots come from urban black culture but many other groups including ethnic whites listened and contributed to it as well.I'm not an expert on Hip Hop but it goes back further than most think (70's).

When I mentioned that Hot 97 is losing ground in the suburbs it was not meant to imply that it was because of race. I think the proliferation of the internet has change music habits of teens in particular. I think it's fair to say that kids in the suburbs were expose to music that could not be heard on radio before inner city teens were. And that's where the shift began to change in taste.No longer did you have to turn on the radio to hear music. You could do so online and hear stations from all around the globe. Enter dance/EDM. American artists are no longer competing with national acts,they are now competing with artists from all around the world.

The # 1 Hip Hop album this week on Billboard is by Mindless Behavior. I never heard of them until this week. They sound like The Wanted VS Usher musically. And it's listed as Hip Hop.

 

[ansky212]

Could Hot 97's demise simply be due to the lack of big name hip hop artists these days? Back in the 90's you had guys like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, etc. that everyone knew. Now fast forward to today, who are the equivalent artists? I can't think of any.

 

[kilamanjero]

The reason is simple, there is no differentiation between them and Power 105.1 programming wise. Both are trying to be "mainstream urban", but the fact is Power leads them personality-wise with listeners. The only true solution is for Hot 97 to do some spot programming like has been recommended spin more urban hits from its heyday and tweak things a bit.

 

[Brooklyndon]

This "blame the ppms" nonsense is unacceptable. If the format is not viable anymore then they should exit it.

We all know the format is viable.

Hot 97 needs to cut costs: fire the old staff (go jockless for a while), can the drivetime mix shows that scare away listeners, and put together a risk-free playlist of hip-hop and r&b from about 91 to today they can play just like the Q does. Hot 97 needs to give up on contemporary hip-hop and focus on preserving its legacy demo of 90s teens who are all in their 30s now.

Or they should just leave the formate all together.

 

[kevinsealy]

I think any "hip hop is dying" claims are exaggerated. Popular music ebbs and flows. Look at CHR over the past 25 years and you'll see how true it is. Sometimes rock is king, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes dance is king, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes hip hop/R&B is king, sometimes it isn't. Rock has suffered for the past decade, now it's seeing a nice little resurgence in popularity.

All PPM has done has illustrated the flaws in the diary system, especially when it came to exaggerated listening claims made for Hip Hop/R&B/Urban stations. The same story played out in almost every city where PPM came in and there was a high-flying urban-formatted station.

If PPMs were used 10 years ago, we can assume that the Urban stations ratngs would not be any better than they are today.




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[TVCOOL]

This "blame the ppms" nonsense is unacceptable. If the format is not viable anymore then they should exit it.

We all know the format is viable.

Hot 97 needs to cut costs: fire the old staff (go jockless for a while), can the drivetime mix shows that scare away listeners, and put together a risk-free playlist of hip-hop and r&b from about 91 to today they can play just like the Q does. Hot 97 needs to give up on contemporary hip-hop and focus on preserving its legacy demo of 90s teens who are all in their 30s now.

Or they should just leave the formate all together.

The reason is simple, there is no differentiation between them and Power 105.1 programming wise. Both are trying to be "mainstream urban", but the fact is Power leads them personality-wise with listeners. The only true solution is for Hot 97 to do some spot programming like has been recommended spin more urban hits from its heyday and tweak things a bit.

Hot 97 needs to bounce back to 1994 levels and today's Rap isn't as good as the Rap of the 1990s IMO.

 

[kilamanjero]

This "blame the ppms" nonsense is unacceptable. If the format is not viable anymore then they should exit it.

We all know the format is viable.

Hot 97 needs to cut costs: fire the old staff (go jockless for a while), can the drivetime mix shows that scare away listeners, and put together a risk-free playlist of hip-hop and r&b from about 91 to today they can play just like the Q does. Hot 97 needs to give up on contemporary hip-hop and focus on preserving its legacy demo of 90s teens who are all in their 30s now.

Or they should just leave the formate all together.

You know good and well, Emmis isn't going to do that at all. Emmis is making money off Hot 97, so wishing for a "Jack FM" type of urban station in this market is down right foolish at best. Also this strategy hasn't worked so well in LA with KDAY...