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- Thread starter spongebag7890
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sfradio said:
Yes, radio geek types do tend to hate hip hop. This is probably the single most common trait they have in common. This has always been true. In 1989 a hardcore radio geek would send letters to the station I worked at predicting the next weeks CHR chart. He would always under estimate the urban crossovers. At the same time he would predict rock songs would be huge and most of them were total stiffs. Around that same time many radio geeks were stunned when the new format known as CHR/Rhythmic (actually it was called "Churban" back then or sometimes CHR/Dance) would often beat mainstream CHR in the ratings.
What's bad about some of the hip hop haters is that they expect the world to cater to their personal tastes. Just because they hate it, they don't understand how anybody else could like it.
I don't think there are as many hip-hop haters on this board as many claim there are. The issue isn't so much the fact that it's hip-hop as it is that hip-hop is currently in a very, very dull place. There really aren't very many good tracks in the genre right now. Can anyone honestly tell me "Chains Hang Low" is a great song? Does anyone actually think "Dem Jeans" breaks the mold? And can someone please tell me what Scott Storch has done that's so terribly original and jaw-dropping?
This is coming from someone who is a die-hard fan of the genre, so face it: this format is in a doldrums.
This is coming from someone who is a die-hard fan of the genre, so face it: this format is in a doldrums.
Josh C. said:
maybe because Rhythmic is almost the same as Urban and all the Hip Hop people are on the Urban board
Hell, WKQI in Detroit is listed as CHR/Pop, and it could easily be considered Urban.
Yep, WKQI is Urban. But, Rhythmic and Urban aren't the same.50 Cent's "In Da Club" is Rhythmic. T.I.'s "What You Know" is Urban. Slight difference, but there is a difference nonetheless.
Exactly... you take out the pop elements and KQI is Urban.
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htowler said:
All of those are Urbans disguised as Rhythmic/Crossover.
It's not so much the playlist, it's what goes on between the songs that seperates CHR/Rhythmic and Urban.
CHR/Rhythmics target a general audience. They are aimed at all races and ethnic groups. On the other hand, Urbans are targeted exclusively to the African-American community.
A station like WKQI in Detroit might lean rhythmic and play lot's of hip hop but their audience composition is mostly young, suburban white (and probably young Arab-Americans as well since Detroit has such a large Arab population). WKQIs sister station WJLB has long been a part of Detrot's African-American community and has an almost all black airstaff and audience. So even if they share some music, the stations are very different from each other.
CHR/Rhythmics target a general audience. They are aimed at all races and ethnic groups. On the other hand, Urbans are targeted exclusively to the African-American community.
A station like WKQI in Detroit might lean rhythmic and play lot's of hip hop but their audience composition is mostly young, suburban white (and probably young Arab-Americans as well since Detroit has such a large Arab population). WKQIs sister station WJLB has long been a part of Detrot's African-American community and has an almost all black airstaff and audience. So even if they share some music, the stations are very different from each other.
Jay F said:
Have you ever actually listened to WKQI? I'd say the vast majority of their listeners, based on the jocks, the topical material and the calls one can hear on the station, are African-American. Believe me, the reason the pop elements are there is to make sure the station doesn't alienate the minority listeners, which in the city of Detroit, are white. Get out to the 'burbs and that changes, but the station isn't programmed for the 'burbs, it's programmed for the largest city in the market. You've got to remember, they're realistically the only station in the market playing pop material right now... and that's the only thing separating them formatically from WJLB. Take out the pop music, and WKQI would be 100% urban.
Josh C. said:
I have to take Jay's side for this one. While I agree with Josh on the fact that WKQI does try to get blacks to listen, face it, WKQI will never be a priority station to anyone. Maybe something you turn on once in awhile when WJLB is playing D4L, but otherwise, WKQI is different both playlist and their interaction towards their listeners. Pop and rap together, makes a rhythmic, not an urban. Nelly Furtado, Rihanna, Ciara, Sean Paul, Lady Sovereign, Diddy...sounds like a rhythmic lean. They do have some urban in their playlist to stimulate blacks, but not a ton. Remember, WKQI's target: Whites that like rhythmic and hip-hop. No one else. Not blacks. Ever. Never in a million years unless they change the format. They could indeed change to an urban lean, but whites would not listen, and what is their target audience again???
Historically, CHRs in Detroit have always leaned urban. In the 1980s and most of the 90s the old WHYT played a lot of Urban. Even going back as far as the 70s Jerry Clifton programmed a very urban leaning top 40 in Detroit. Playing a lot of urban product is a formula for success for Detroit CHRs.
No matter how much urban crossovers these CHRs have played, the audience has always been and still is mostly white. WJLB and other urban stations have superserved the black audience.
No matter how much urban crossovers these CHRs have played, the audience has always been and still is mostly white. WJLB and other urban stations have superserved the black audience.
Well, I live in detroit and very frequently listen to WKQI. Trust me, they're main listening audience is white. Whoever said most people that call in are black; I disagree, most are white. About 80% of KQI's jocks are white, as for the listeners also. Not to mention they broadcast from one of the most suburban areas in lower Michigan in Oakland county, and get a weak signal south of Detroit and a strong signal when I listen in suburban areas. They are far from urban-lean; they are a CHR/pop station with a rhythmic or even dance lean, and have been for about 3 years. On Friday and saturday nights, they play a LOT of dance music, and have one of the best underground dance shows on saturday from 2-5AM.
I personally find it prejudice to base someone's music preferences on race, but I guess in radio it's a key element and everyone here seems to think so also. But when it comes to WKQI, they are far from Urban, and this is coming from someone who listens to the station on a daily basis.
I personally find it prejudice to base someone's music preferences on race, but I guess in radio it's a key element and everyone here seems to think so also. But when it comes to WKQI, they are far from Urban, and this is coming from someone who listens to the station on a daily basis.
You take a look at the ratio of urban to pop tracks, though, and you can easily see that they're more urban than rhythmic. You can't tune in and go for a whole music set without hearing at least 40% urban, with 30% being rhythmic and 30% pop. And yes, I include urban/rhythmic crossovers as urban in that count.
On top of that, dance and urban can be mixed together quite well if done properly. Just look at Power 96 in Miami throughout the late 80's and into the 90's. That was, in my experience, the basis for their success. Add to that the fact that Detroit is considered to be the birthplace of EDM, there's no reason why an urban station couldn't add dance to their playlist (and is one of the reasons many have been wondering why there isn't a full-blown dance station in the market altogether). It's not an issue of formatic differences... quite the opposite.
Nateman360, I completely understand your idea about judging musical preferences based on race being prejudicial... personally, I share that opinion. I'm white, and I love urban music. At the same time, I know plenty of black people who absolutely despise it and would rather listen to John Mayer or Dave Matthews instead. However, the fact of the matter in radio is that the vast majority of people who listen urban-formatted stations are black. One might be able to find or claim any number of reasons why that is, but no matter what the reason, it's just the case.
I also listen to WKQI on a daily basis... at least for as much time as I can pick up the signal (I live in Hillsdale).
On top of that, dance and urban can be mixed together quite well if done properly. Just look at Power 96 in Miami throughout the late 80's and into the 90's. That was, in my experience, the basis for their success. Add to that the fact that Detroit is considered to be the birthplace of EDM, there's no reason why an urban station couldn't add dance to their playlist (and is one of the reasons many have been wondering why there isn't a full-blown dance station in the market altogether). It's not an issue of formatic differences... quite the opposite.
Nateman360, I completely understand your idea about judging musical preferences based on race being prejudicial... personally, I share that opinion. I'm white, and I love urban music. At the same time, I know plenty of black people who absolutely despise it and would rather listen to John Mayer or Dave Matthews instead. However, the fact of the matter in radio is that the vast majority of people who listen urban-formatted stations are black. One might be able to find or claim any number of reasons why that is, but no matter what the reason, it's just the case.
I also listen to WKQI on a daily basis... at least for as much time as I can pick up the signal (I live in Hillsdale).
Josh C. said:
Looking at the playlist and listening to the station, they lean to rhythmic. Period. However I do get you point on how some of the rhythmic/urban crossovers (Snap Yo Fingers, You Don't Know, Freek-A-Leek, etc) are added. But again, they are indeed crossovers which means they don't quality as tracks you would decide to see what they lean to. Also their top 10 alone has only Rhythmic and some Rhythmic that charted to Urban. This station also sounds quite like a Rhythmic AC.
And again, Detroit (along with Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia) have an odd audience in which whites listen to mostly Rhythmic based tracks.
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Willie Jones
Guest
What's sad is that the rhythmic format has to be there. a lot of them are almost urban with some CHR powers sprinkled in with CHR imaging in between. Is there really a need for that? Is the racial divide that great in radio still that the only way to play back to back hip hop songs without a nickelback record in between is to have non threatening mainstream sounding guys talking up the ramps? there are tons of synonyms for a rhythmic station sounding too black...sounding too "hood" or "street" at least those are the terms used in the middle/smaller markets...what does it all mean? it means that people think non urban listeners are afraid of black (sounding) jocks...have any of you ever been intimidated by listening to the radio? I will say some jocks do go overboard but it's the equivalent to the quintessential CHR puking. So the point is white women 18-34 and in a lot of cases 25-54 are no longer completely shunning Hip Hop....I'm sure many people on here have been mobile DJ's before...remember when In The Club was big. I Don't know about you but I had a lot of middle aged women getting into that and no, it wasn't an isolated event. Thanks for reading...gotta go my ramens ready!
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