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Super Soul 16?

W

WFNERBSHX

I remember listening to WUNR's overnight block of soul music during the 90s.

Have tuned into the truncated version on Monday/Thursday evenings of late. There never seems to be any variation in the program. Same spots, same homages to WUNR and 20K watts of broadcast power, and same song snippets.

Anyone know the back story? Really enjoyed the late night show and music mix.
 
I believe that all programs on WUNR are brokered (bought time) by the program producers/hosts, who are responsible for the content of their own programs. They pay the station for the airtime, and they produce their own shows. The station itself does not produce the programs.

If the program hours have been reduced, perhaps the producer may no longer be able to pay the station for as much airtime as he had in the past. If the content is repeating, perhaps the producer may no longer have personal time to produce fresh programming.
 
When I worked at WUNR thirty years ago, the broker for "Super 16" was a man named Daood Abdallah, and he paid a low rate for what amounted to a lot of time on the station. He ran a lot of spots, many of them for gas stations, convenience stores, and the like. One of the reasons for his success is that with WILD off the air after sunset, no one else on the commercial radio dial was targeting the black audience (one of Daood's drop-ins ran "for years black stations have been reluctant to say... black. But now it's time... black radio time!").

It's hard to say to what extent demographic changes and changes in listening habits over the past three decades have affected the commercial viability of a music-driven overnight AM radio program targeting African-Americans in Boston. But I wouldn't be surprised if "Super 16" is no longer profitable today.
 
4CX1000A said:
But I wouldn't be surprised if "Super 16" is no longer profitable today.
Click to expand...

WUNR is a cash cow and I'd be willing to bet that it is still quite profitable. Maybe just less profitable than it was a generation ago.
 
"Your man, Bobby G" is probably still running the two half hour "Super 16" progams that remain. He and his partner, presumably as mentioned Mr. Abdallah, went into real estate management. Met Bobby back about 10-15 years ago and he was doing the little bit of airtime "just to keep the message out there." He used the reverb effect trick of potting up the reel to reel on record while bringing up the mike at the same time (Iiiiirrreeee Jamaican Restaurant). He worked years before in RI at WSVP (1450) in West Warwick when they were doing as he put it "faux Drake top 40." He said back when Super 16 was all night overnights, they would have national advertisers like McDonalds and Chrysler. A show he had on tape included Rupert Holmes' song, "Him," but he said they would pick songs that worked even if not pure "soul" (kind of like a local Frankie Crocker ala NYC's WBLS). From what I heard, the music they picked DID work. Bobby continued to use a health feature taken from a vinyl album of health tips.
 
theres great soul mx on 1580/1620/1640 overnight. a bit of motown/r&b and a lot of Serge Gainsbourg type stuff
 
carmen said:
theres great soul mx on 1580/1620/1640 overnight. a bit of motown/r&b and a lot of Serge Gainsbourg type stuff
Click to expand...

There are no stations anywhere in New England on any of those frequencies.
 
4CX1000A said:
carmen said:
theres great soul mx on 1580/1620/1640 overnight. a bit of motown/r&b and a lot of Serge Gainsbourg type stuff
Click to expand...

There are no stations anywhere in New England on any of those frequencies.
Click to expand...

1620 and 1640: pirates? Don't think any out-of-region X-banders program classic soul.
 
Listening again tonight. It seems as though it is the exact same broadcast I heard last Monday evening.

If that's the case, good for Bobby G and others in doing their part to keep the message out there.

Wonder if they ever mix things up and record some new programs?
 
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