DC is definitely a great choice for Dance radio. A number of high profile Dance acts hail from there (BT, Deep Dish), some of the country’s best weekly club events happen in DC.
As Tony has been suggesting, the South Florida market is primed for a Pulse 87 type of station, and yes the East Coast is definitely the best place to launch the most Dance stations. It’sthe most supportive region in the country for both commercial and underground Dance music. Boston could support a Pulse 87, so could Hartford (Tony, remem er what WTIC and Kiss 95.7 used to sound like?), Poughkeepsie (close enough to NYC, and K-104 has always been Dance friendly when it could), Providence, Atlantic City (or simply the Jersey Shore as a whole), Cape Cod, etc. Philadelphis obviously needs its own Dance station as Z-88.9’s target area is east of the city while Super 91.7 can only be heard clearly in Wilmington and its surrounding areas.
Tony, how clear is Pulse 87's signal in northern Jersey? I know there's signal issues in Manhattan. How is it in places like Newark and Jersey City? What about Monmouth and Ocean Counties?
We already have Dance in San Francisc with Energy, in Seattle with C-89.5, and hopefully Vibe 94.5 will at some point actually be heard in Vegas properly (not just in the desert)
Other cities for Pulse 87: Atlanta (great club scene + one of the country’s biggest gay population), Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix , Detroit, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans ,Denver have all has Dance stations so they should be considered. Tampa, San Diego, El Paso, Charlotte, Panama City Beach, Reno, Key West, Toledo, Minneapolis, and Buffalo (due to Toronto’s influence) are also in the most-likely list.
Secondary cities: Several cities found in NY state could be on this list – Albany, Syracuse, and Rochester. Not sure whether Baltimore blongs on this list or the first list. Several Florida cities including West Palm Beach, Melbourne, Ft. Walton Beach, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Ft. Myers, and even Gainesville (due to its club history) could be brought up. In the Midwest this would be a good time to mention St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne, Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Madison, Grand Rapids, maybe even Saginaw, Terre Haute, and Champaign. In the South there’s cities like Nashville, Raleigh, Charleston, Knoxville, Savannah, Mcallen-Brownsville, and Laredo. Further West you got Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Tuscon, Santa Barbara, and Palm Springs.
Finally, there’s the Third Wave Markets, which could be considered down the road if/when the time is right: Harrisburg Norfolk, Omaha, Wichita, Birmingham, Pensacola, Gulfport, Lafayette (Louisiana), Binghamton, Colorado Springs, Corpus Christi, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Memphis, Louisville, Lexington, Greenville South Carolina), Des Moines, Boise, and Allentown.
I would LOVE for Phoenix to get back a dance station; one that actually targets most of the metro area. Interestingly, the KNRJ call letters were used back in Houston on Energy 96.5 (Dance) in the late 80's/early 90's. Between 93Q, Energy 96.5 and Power 104, Houston radio was awesome then, and I would love to see Houston get a dance station again. Austin was another market that didn't shy away from dance tracks.