Still...............No Urban Outlet???

[Talk_Dude]

I think that limits the amount of national money that would come to this market for the Urban format, although a national operator like Radio One or Clear Channel could leverage that better than a standalone like Sheridan could. And any format that has to survive just on local dollars in this economy is swimming upstream.

Ah, that's what I didn't know, the African-American composition of the market.

Still, even at 8%, I agree...I think a large operator with other stations in the cluster could make a go of it.

Perhaps the situation reflects the fact that in a post-racial society like ours, racist assumptions that all Black people automatically listen to rap and hip-hop music can finally be proved to be inaccurate. Every Black person I know in Atlanta likes what he or she likes. Some like what some suit classified as "urban", some like jazz, some prefer classical, some prefer blues, some like country. I think the days when assumptions could be made about who likes what based on their ancestry ended a while ago. Granted, my next door neighbor, who is Black, shares an appreciation with me for one of the best singers on the radio today -- Darius Rucker.

 

[pkffrom724]

This is just my honest opinion here. Let's just say that throughout this whole experience since September 2009, I have learned to expand my musical horizons beyond R&B/Hip-Hop. We all can't live off R&B/Hip-Hop alone when there are dozens of other musical avenues out there. Sure, we all (at least here in Pittsburgh) miss WAMO (FM 106.7). I miss it as well. As a lifelong Beaver County resident, I grew up listening to that station along with my 3 older siblings. I kept joking around with my co-workers that I'd move to another city with an urban outlet, when they knew they didn't want me to leave the 'burgh. I didn't realize that they went off the air until at work, driving the company van, on the Wednesday after Labor Day, 2009 (actually, they signed off for the last time on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 @ 6:07pm ET after 61 years). It was SO obvious that I would hear either dead air or just plain static. Instead of moping and complaining, I would explore other options, and think outside the "boom box." I was trying to prove to everyone that I am not so reliant on terrestrial radio as I was in the past. I was "being creative" --- by digging up old mixtapes, listen to CD's, turn on Music Choice (if you have cable) or sattelite radio (Sirius/XM). I even dibbled and dabbled with the other stations at times --- just to keep my mind off this whole thing. When I first heard about WAMO being sold to some unknown yet unfamiliar religious organization back in May 2009 on the late local TV news, it was rather shocking. Until that time, I myself didn't realize that the station itself was struggling. One of the things I remember that during WAMO's last days, their playlists were getting shorter, sometimes they kept replaying the same songs, play a lot less "older" songs, they would go "jockless" at times, I wasn't quite sure what kind of hip-hop songs they would play. People at work and at home tell me that this modern R&B/Hip-Hop now caters to a much younger audience (the under 30 crowd). I also read about it in the paper a few days later. I guess this is the (cold, hard) reality of the radio biz. From city to city, market to market, radio never stops changing.

Anyway, there are other options. If you have access to HD Radio, there are:

WLTJ-FM 92.9-HD2 ("Q in the City") Urban AC

WWSW-FM 94.5-HD2 ("Jammin' Oldies") 70's-80's Rhythmic

If you have access to digital cable, there is Music Choice --- about 46 channels of music, including R&B/Hip-Hop, Classic R&B, R&B Soul and other related genres.

And also, there's Sirius/XM satellite radio --- a subscription service.

Well, to conclude, I am just moving forward, just using the aforementioned options, and enjoying what we have in our area ---and right now, it's hard to say when Pittsburgh may get another "urban" outlet. In the meantime, like I said before, be creative.

pkffrom724

 

[wprt949]

radio-one had its shot to buy 106.7 but they blew it


but that does not mean they cant try agian

 

[kenhawk1160]

Granted, my next door neighbor, who is Black, shares an appreciation with me for one of the best singers on the radio today -- Darius Rucker.

Who is burning up the country music charts today...on the whitest format on radio. We've come a long way, baby.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Granted, my next door neighbor, who is Black, shares an appreciation with me for one of the best singers on the radio today -- Darius Rucker.

Who is burning up the country music charts today...on the whitest format on radio. We've come a long way, baby.

Yessir. A long way since the days when program directors would have a cow when they finally got a look
at a Charley Pride album cover, six weeks after they had slid him into the rotation.

 

[pghfmradiosucks]

Darius Rucker and Charley Pride being played on country stations. The Righteous Brothers, Hall and Oates and Eminem being played on urban stations. These are good things. Talent should trump color every time.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Darius Rucker and Charley Pride being played on country stations. The Righteous Brothers, Hall and Oates and Eminem being played on urban stations. These are good things. Talent should trump color every time.

That's true. And, it's also true that musical genres aren't limited to members of a particular race. I wonder if any "urban" station in America would play any songs by these artists:

This guy
This lady
This other lady
This guitar player
This well known guy
This guy from near where the previous guy was from
This pioneer who deserves more respect than he gets
The pioneer's daughter, who is also not respected as she should be
The guy leading this band, and the lady singing
They might play some of this artist's songs, but not this one

I have no beef with anyone wanting to hear more of their personal favorite music on the radio. But, if they're going to play the race/ethnicity/nationality card in their request, then they need to show some respect and consideration for artists who are far more deserving of airplay on the radio than people whose performances are limited to reciting bad poetry to stolen sampled fragments of other artists' works.

The only thing I'd disagree with what you said is about the Righteous Brothers and Hall & Oates being played on "urban" stations. The urban stations I've heard in Atlanta and elsewhere not only don't play those two acts, they are as discriminatory against old-school rhythm & blues and soul artists as modern country stations are against old-school country artists like Dolly Parton or George Jones.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

So in other words you don't like rap.

The only thing I'd disagree with what you said is about the Righteous Brothers and Hall & Oates being played on "urban" stations. The urban stations I've heard in Atlanta and elsewhere not only don't play those two acts, they are as discriminatory against old-school rhythm & blues and soul artists as modern country stations are against old-school country artists like Dolly Parton or George Jones.

In other words, they're not playing RB or H & O because they're old, not because they're white. To paraphrase the previous post, age trumps color every time.

I don't think anyone is saying that an urban station should be more inclusive with regards to age of tracks and similar things, just because it's urban. WAMO had 2 stations, remember, FM for the kids and AM for the adults. I think it went a little too far separating the two, but that's hardly a unique issue. In other words, yes, it would be nice to hear Samantha Fox on Kiss occasionally. But it ain't happening.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

An Urban AC outlet ,Kiss 105.7, is now number one in Richmond beating out perrenial leaders WKHK, and WTVR. Why is that? Richmond metro is 30% African-American according to the ratings page right here. Richmond also has other top rated Urbans like WBTJ, WCDX, and WPZZ. Thoughts?

 

[Talk_Dude]

An Urban AC outlet ,Kiss 105.7, is now number one in Richmond beating out perrenial leaders WKHK, and WTVR. Why is that? Richmond metro is 30% African-American according to the ratings page right here. Richmond also has other top rated Urbans like WBTJ, WCDX, and WPZZ. Thoughts?

Is KISS 105.7 Urban, or is it Adult Contemporary?

 

[Parttimer]

An Urban AC outlet ,Kiss 105.7,

Is KISS 105.7 Urban, or is it Adult Contemporary?

Both. Like Kiss 104.1 in Atlanta.

http://kiss1041fm.com/lsp/index.html?auto

 

[secondchoice]

With the new census and the possibility of Pittsburgh falling in market rank, there will be more “focus” on local sales. Due to the racial make up of the market, the only viable way a stand alone or small operator could make it (with out very deep pockets and a lot of patience) would be an AC or Hot AC station that “happens” to play a lot of Urban AC. You can not perceived by the local buyers as a “racially limited” station. WAMO should have prospered. I guess some how they could not get the local buys for some kind “perceived reason”. There are smaller markets with successful Urban stations. Something was different in Pittsburgh.

 

[max88]

L.A is also 7 percent black yet it has several urban and urban leaning stations. WAMO had a talent problem infront of and behind the mic

 

[Boss Radio]

L.A is also 7 percent black yet it has several urban and urban leaning stations. WAMO had a talent problem infront of and behind the mic

Los Angeles is also 40.7 Hispanic, compared to Pittsburgh's 0.8 percent. It's not close to being a comparable market.

 

[KeyTimes950]

This actually responds to some earlier comments about Charley Pride and other black artists who crossed over to white radio, even if, as one commentator put it, program directors had a cow when they saw Charley's album cover. (And I thought Charley Pride was a great country singer.)

Feb. 4 marks the 93rd birthday of someone who well may have been the best-known disc jockey for black radio in Pittsburgh, who readily played those hits and won an audience for them on a Homestead daytimer. I refer, of course, to Porky Chedwick, and the station, WHOD, later was WAMO-AM, now licensed to Millvale.

It is today one of three Pittsburgh-area stations playing Catholic programs (and dead air now and then) under the watchful eye of the bishop of Greensburg, but that's another well-overworked topic.

WHOD/WAMO and old WILY (now WWNL-1080, a bartered-religion outlet run by Wilkins) briefly had a fierce rivalry in the 1950s. There were quite a few remarkable announcers on both stations.

By the way, say what you may about "Pittsburgh oldies," but if Porky wasn't playing them then, you wouldn't be hearing them today on such stations as WLSW-103.9, WEDO-810 and WKFB-770.

 

[Talk_Dude]

By the way, say what you may about "Pittsburgh oldies," but if Porky wasn't playing them then, you wouldn't be hearing them today on such stations as WLSW-103.9, WEDO-810 and WKFB-770.

Say what you will about tested music, but nothing Porky played would ever get airplay if he had to work under any modern program director. Whenever anyone suggests playing obscure, never-heard before deep cuts, b-sides, or other songs that weren't hits when they were new and everyone jumps on the person making that suggestion with the usual "it will never work", remember those are the kind of songs Porky played.

 

[Jimmy128]

I know that I'm late in this discussion. It stinks what happened to WAMO. I read the excuse letter from the Catholic archdiocese. I'm from Boston and a similar thing happened to us. We had a good Urban station WBOT 97.7 and it was bought as a translator to get Rock station Worcester WAAF into Boston. What happened is now there are a number of pirate stations in Boston with an Urban format notably Touch 106.1 and WPOT 87.7. I noticed that you have a great Urban station WLTJ HD2. "Q In the City" I've been listening to it on my computer. No commercials. It seems that we have to go to other alternatives to get good radio. A decent HD radio isn't that expensive and plugs into your stereo.

 

[laidback]

Re: Still...............No Urban Outlet??? / HD radio

HD might work if the same research it to death, I already know what the research will say before it comes back, programming geniuses were not programming it ! If HD had more of an XM programming feel without the ridiculous over processed audio..ie.. (DVEHD2) it would then be well worth the price of a radio. Right now, for the most part, it's more of the same old same old.

 

[cingram]

Whenever anyone suggests playing obscure, never-heard before deep cuts, b-sides, or other songs that weren't hits when they were new and everyone jumps on the person making that suggestion with the usual "it will never work", remember those are the kind of songs Porky played.

A station that plays obscure, never-heard-before deep cuts, B-sides, or other songs that weren't hits when they
were new, will end up with low ratings or no ratings. Listeners want variety, but the old adage still holds: If they
don't know it or don't like it, don't expect them to listen to it, at least not for very long.

C.

 

[laidback]

Hit radio is long dead. The personality jocks, ie.. Jackson Armstrong, were too talented to read liner cards and say absolutely nothing and by the 80's, the 60's/70's jocks like Quinn were busy re-inventing themselves. The last great top 40 station was Ted Atkin's Hit Radio in the early 80's. Bobby Christian failed miserably chasing WDVE and Ted flipped the AM staff onto FM 96.1. The station went from a 2.7 to a 6.1 in one book. Yes Ted used research but the difference was, he also used gut instinct. The days of longer playlists and personalities is over. If you imitate DVE you better do it better or don't bother. Today pop music is worse than the formula drek of Debarge and the New Kids on the Block. The 80's Hit Radio 96.1 died off once Ted handed the programming reins to other programmers that kept the playlists tight. When the talented Pat Suitcase Simpson Callaghan left all that was left was fast talkin', smooth sounding liner card readers or ass kissers that used that skill rather than talent. Glad that I got to experience top 40 during it's hey day of KQV, WAMO, AM 13Q, WZUM. Today one of the best sounding jocks is Sean McDowell whose smooth delivery reminds me of Callaghan, the guy puts a lot of show prep into it. If you can sit through the DVE jukebox repitition, Sean is worth hearing.
With all the alternative's out there, satellite, internet, I-pods most folks are fed up with the repitition of todays terrestial music radio. The older demo is completely forgotten. So you genius programmers just keep on researching everything that moves, soon if not already, nobody's going to give a crap about the waste land on the radio dial. Long live Porky Chedwick !