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Hot 97 Lost Its Mojo

B

Brooklyndon

Ratings slipping. Jocks sounding old. Programming offensive.

How can Jocks, Mixers, and PDs who first entered the format in the mid-nineties hope to know what is relevant to a target demo that was barely, if not yet, borne then.

There needs to be a house cleaning, a cost reduction, and a refocus on what is cool with the kids. The Chris Brown in to Rick Ross in to Miguel in to Drake in to Justin Timberlake in to Pitbull in to some rap gold is lame. it is almost as bad as when WRXP was playing ACDC next to like Coldplay, or whatever.

The rap & rb format has splintered and it would behoove Hot 97 to take the same tack as Power 105, leave the R&B for Now and focus on rap. It might make sense to then re-incorporate more of the gold that it played in its heyday in place of a product that can be found everywhere.
 
HOT is a serious disappointment as of late. I find it curious that both Power and HOT aren't doing so well considering the lack of a 4th urban station.
If you ask me they both need to step it up.
HOT used to be a power house!!
 
Look at CHR right now for your clue as to the state of Hot and Power. Hip Hop is on the decline this past year or two. This year's Grammy awards told the story.

Bands and artsts like Fun., Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, Adele etc. have been at the top of the charts.
 
disney fanatic said:
I wish that "Hot 97" should go back to play freestyle dance music like they used to be back in the late 80's and early 90's.
Click to expand...

Right now, hip-hop and R&B are still riding on the down cycle as dance/EDM is rising up. I wouldn't suggest going backwards playing classic freestyle in that sense since you'd lean older but if you add SOME of the dance/EDM that is riding very high to Hot 97 without discarding all of the hip-hop/R&B that the station has been known for all these years, it COULD help.
 
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).
 
"Sometimes a freshening up of the product ought involve better song choices and spinning gold records that the station played during their heyday rather than shifting towards something that would just piss off its core audience."


The statement above is exactly what a lot of heritage rock stations have resorted to. This has proven successful as many have extended their existence, in many cases, for years. They would undergo a complete image overhaul once the station's revenues decline to where it cannot sustain itself.
 
John Waywoods said:
"Sometimes a freshening up of the product ought involve better song choices and spinning gold records that the station played during their heyday rather than shifting towards something that would just piss off its core audience."


The statement above is exactly what a lot of heritage rock stations have resorted to. This has proven successful as many have extended their existence, in many cases, for years. They would undergo a complete image overhaul once the station's revenues decline to where it cannot sustain itself.
Click to expand...

a bit of classic hip, hop may just be the key. I'm talking Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, etc. It has been discussed on this board how a classic hip, hop station may work well. If they mix up the classic hip, hop with current they would definitely stand out from Power although that might take the appeal away from the younger demos.
 
Tony Santiago said:
disney fanatic said:
I wish that "Hot 97" should go back to play freestyle dance music like they used to be back in the late 80's and early 90's.
Click to expand...

Right now, hip-hop and R&B are still riding on the down cycle as dance/EDM is rising up. I wouldn't suggest going backwards playing classic freestyle in that sense since you'd lean older but if you add SOME of the dance/EDM that is riding very high to Hot 97 without discarding all of the hip-hop/R&B that the station has been known for all these years, it COULD help.
Click to expand...


I believe like many others that Rap is dying and stations like (Hot 97) WQHT and (Power 105.1) WWPR-FM may need to hire some consultants and do some research on what format they could switch to.

Unlike Doo Wop which just disappeared from the airwaves in the mid sixties and it wasn't a fade, Hip Hop is gradually losing its popularity.



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy
 
Not sure who mentioned this, but lets say Hot 97 started to sprinkle in a little bit of dance would that alienate or help them? Kind of like a Party format, Hip-Hop and Dance, similar to what Party 105 was doing in its early days. Hot 97 NY's Party station. Just a thought.
 
No matter what though, i always tune into HOT 97. I grew up on this station ;D. I do agree with most of you though they have been extremely repetitive and boring. Lets see what they decide to do, no matter what they always seem to bounce back.
 
Hardrocker9 said:
Not sure who mentioned this, but lets say Hot 97 started to sprinkle in a little bit of dance would that alienate or help them? Kind of like a Party format, Hip-Hop and Dance, similar to what Party 105 was doing in its early days. Hot 97 NY's Party station. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

We have something similar like that....it's called NOW! ;D
 
Hardrocker9 said:
Not sure who mentioned this, but lets say Hot 97 started to sprinkle in a little bit of dance would that alienate or help them? Kind of like a Party format, Hip-Hop and Dance, similar to what Party 105 was doing in its early days. Hot 97 NY's Party station. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I threw that idea out there.

Think about it this way, when Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown started out with their careers they were R&B. They did get play on Hot 97 on that. But for the past couple of years their sounds have leaned on the "electro pop" side to things, though Rihanna's latest album "Unapologetic" has leaned back towards the R&B ballads.

Though, just like dance music fans, hip-hop fans are VERY STAUNCH supporters of the music and don't want ANYTHING else to interfere with it. Kinda the opposite effect of what Party was doing when they were on 87.7 and the Pulse fans were upset.
 
Not to mention a good sized chunck of the hot 97 staff is in their mid and late 40s...I mean, I gotta figure the WQHT is not the station the jocks listen to when they drive their families around. I wonder how in touch they really are with the lifestyle at this point.
 
Yeah I agree with D to the J, NOW does sound like that, on a weaker hip-hop level though. I'll go back with my original idea for them to sprinkle in some 90's 1 or 2 an hour, then majority being 2000's and new. Would be nice to hear A tribe Called Quest , and Big Pun again.
 
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.
 
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/
 
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