Urban One Dallas

[neosolbrudda]

With Majic 94.5 having better numbers than 97.9 The Beat lately, I wonder if "the powers that be" at Urban One has considered switching frequencies. 97.9 has the strong signal, and with KRNB being the top Urban in this market, Majic would then be a legit competitor.

 

[salemjedi54]

With Majic 94.5 having better numbers than 97.9 The Beat lately, I wonder if "the powers that be" at Urban One has considered switching frequencies. 97.9 has the strong signal, and with KRNB being the top Urban in this market, Majic would then be a legit competitor.

KZMJ may have better ratings, but KBFB pays the bills. 97.9 still bills more than 94.5 so nothing will change unless its absolutely necessary.

 

[neosolbrudda]

KZMJ may have better ratings, but KBFB pays the bills. 97.9 still bills more than 94.5 so nothing will change unless its absolutely necessary.

Which sparks another question. What format in general bills better? Hip Hop or R&B?

 

[davideduardo]

Which sparks another question. What format in general bills better? Hip Hop or R&B?

There is a lot of name confusion there, as many stations playing mostly Hip Hop are listing themselves as "R&B" in the trades and "Urban" with Nielsen. In many cases, it's hard to tell the difference as those two possible format names are generally defined as "Urban".

 

[lanceventa]

There is a lot of name confusion there, as many stations playing mostly Hip Hop are listing themselves as "R&B" in the trades and "Urban" with Nielsen. In many cases, it's hard to tell the difference as those two possible format names are generally defined as "Urban".

There's no trades to report a format to anymore. Outside of what a station tells Nielsen (which is not always reported correctly) or when Mediabase classifies a station for reporting status, the only other place that really spends any time classifying a station is RadioInsight as we do not rely on the classifications of others but use them for guidelines.

I'm not sure where you see that much of a blurring between the two outside of a couple stations that blur the line between the two like WVEE Atlanta as noted below.

Since I stopped using the "Urban" terminology in 2020 for its coded racism, the classifications we use for the most part are :

Hip Hop - Station mostly playing current/recurrent Hip Hop. KBFB clearly in that mode. But different from Rhythmic CHR, which usually targets a broader white or Hispanic leaning audience too. WQHT New York is Rhythmic CHR. WWPR New York is Hip Hop.

Hip Hop/R&B - Station such as WVEE Atlanta that skews slightly older (more or less a Hot AC) with mix of both genres

Adult R&B - The former Urban AC such as KZMJ/KRNB Dallas.

R&B Oldies - Self explanatory such as WDIA Memphis

Classic Hip Hop - Gold based station (Differs from some that are Rhythmic AC/Rhythmic Hot AC that also have pop records or recurrents and target a more mass-appeal demo). As an example WBMX Chicago is Classic Hip Hop, but sister KHTP Seattle is Rhythmic Hot AC

 

[Kent]

Which sparks another question. What format in general bills better? Hip Hop or R&B?

As a general rule, hip-hop is tougher to sell. The audience tends to be younger and male.

The FCC has tried to crack down on discrimination by advertisers and agencies, but, last I'd heard, stations targeting minorities tended to bill less than those targeting a white audience. While it can vary significantly from market-to-market and station-to-station, hip-hop tends to have a more diverse audience than adult R&B. Outside of a few individual stations, adult R&B has little appeal outside of African American women.

 

[davideduardo]

There's no trades to report a format to anymore.

To me, the websites that have replaced the printed equivalents are still "the trades" as they serve the same purpose.

Outside of what a station tells Nielsen (which is not always reported correctly) or when Mediabase classifies a station for reporting status, the only other place that really spends any time classifying a station is RadioInsight as we do not rely on the classifications of others but use them for guidelines.

I'm not sure where you see that much of a blurring between the two outside of a couple stations that blur the line between the two like WVEE Atlanta as noted below.

Since I stopped using the "Urban" terminology in 2020 for its coded racism, the classifications we use for the most part are :

Hip Hop - Station mostly playing current/recurrent Hip Hop. KBFB clearly in that mode. But different from Rhythmic CHR, which usually targets a broader white or Hispanic leaning audience too. WQHT New York is Rhythmic CHR. WWPR New York is Hip Hop.

Hip Hop/R&B - Station such as WVEE Atlanta that skews slightly older (more or less a Hot AC) with mix of both genres

Adult R&B - The former Urban AC such as KZMJ/KRNB Dallas.

R&B Oldies - Self explanatory such as WDIA Memphis

Classic Hip Hop - Gold based station (Differs from some that are Rhythmic AC/Rhythmic Hot AC that also have pop records or recurrents and target a more mass-appeal demo). As an example WBMX Chicago is Classic Hip Hop, but sister KHTP Seattle is Rhythmic Hot AC

All of these are valid subsets. However, if an agency even looks at station formats, they see the Nielsen names which are much fewer and thus, less specific. Some stations use an imprecise one of the Nielsen choices because they feel that a different term enhances "sales appeal" of a station. The purpose that Nielsen has meshes with the MRC criteria on using format names that define the type of station, not the precise subset of a kind of music.

 

[neosolbrudda]

There is a lot of name confusion there, as many stations playing mostly Hip Hop are listing themselves as "R&B" in the trades and "Urban" with Nielsen. In many cases, it's hard to tell the difference as those two possible format names are generally defined as "Urban".

I had read somewhere a few years back that the tag, "Urban" was being replaced with "Hip Hop" and "R&B Adult".

 

[neosolbrudda]

There's no trades to report a format to anymore. Outside of what a station tells Nielsen (which is not always reported correctly) or when Mediabase classifies a station for reporting status, the only other place that really spends any time classifying a station is RadioInsight as we do not rely on the classifications of others but use them for guidelines.

I'm not sure where you see that much of a blurring between the two outside of a couple stations that blur the line between the two like WVEE Atlanta as noted below.

Since I stopped using the "Urban" terminology in 2020 for its coded racism, the classifications we use for the most part are :

Hip Hop - Station mostly playing current/recurrent Hip Hop. KBFB clearly in that mode. But different from Rhythmic CHR, which usually targets a broader white or Hispanic leaning audience too. WQHT New York is Rhythmic CHR. WWPR New York is Hip Hop.

Hip Hop/R&B - Station such as WVEE Atlanta that skews slightly older (more or less a Hot AC) with mix of both genres

Adult R&B - The former Urban AC such as KZMJ/KRNB Dallas.

R&B Oldies - Self explanatory such as WDIA Memphis

Classic Hip Hop - Gold based station (Differs from some that are Rhythmic AC/Rhythmic Hot AC that also have pop records or recurrents and target a more mass-appeal demo). As an example WBMX Chicago is Classic Hip Hop, but sister KHTP Seattle is Rhythmic Hot AC

Lance, it might have been your publication where I read that...

 

[lanceventa]

I had read somewhere a few years back that the tag, "Urban" was being replaced with "Hip Hop" and "R&B Adult".

There was never an official edict or industry determination. I started doing it and a few ownership groups have done the same in their press releases, but like I mentioned earlier outside of Nielsen and Mediabase there really aren't official determinations anymore like the days of R&R. Nielsen uses "Urban Contemporary", "Urban Adult Contemporary" and in the case of WVBW Norfolk "Urban Adult Hits". Mediabase uses Urban and R&B.

There is a lot of name confusion there, as many stations playing mostly Hip Hop are listing themselves as "R&B" in the trades and "Urban" with Nielsen. In many cases, it's hard to tell the difference as those two possible format names are generally defined as "Urban".

@DavidEduardo , can you give an example of where you see a mostly Hip Hop station classifying as R&B?