atlantaboy said:
That hip-hop to pop/dance shift has already happened though, and those huge ATL Urban stations are continuing to dominate - I don't think there's any way you can get those listeners to switch to WWVA because their tastes are shifting more towards dance - New York continued to be the dance capital of the U. S. even when dance wasn't popular, and I think Atlanta will continue to be the hip-hop capital of the U. S. even when hip-hop isn't popular - and I'm also almost positive things will shift back towards hip-hop (and maybe rock) in the next 1-2 years
I'm almost positive there's gonna be a backlash against pop/dance in the next couple years, just like there was a backlash against pop/alternative around 1999-2000 - when everything sounds similar, it's just a matter of time before people get sick of it
The hip hop to dance thing is still a pretty new "event", so in a hip hop dominated city like Atlanta, I could see why four urbans are still dominating, and the brand new rhythmic isn't "up there",
yet... As far as getting listeners to switch from WVEE and WHTA, the ones who are dedicated faithfully will stay on those stations. However, people don't stay young, or the same, forever. The new generation growing up with WWVA will eventually be the new current generation, who aren't seeing WHTA and WVEE as the only two options like the older generation did. New York was the dance capital, but look how they shifted into hip hop (and also look at how long hip hop itself lasted as the genre went through numerous regional sound phases - as the genre itself remained successful, overall). Well, the same way New York shifted to hip hop during a heavy trend, I believe Atlanta could also shift as well. After all, Altanta wasn't always hip hop either... They may continue to be the hip hop capital, but.. I doubt four urbans will
all remain as highly successful all together if WWVA stays "in the game" for the next 10 years (especially if rock makes a resurgence, which was a topic I almost slid into in my last post). If anything, a rock resurgence will hurt a rhythmic less than it would a bunch of urbans coexisting in one city. All WWVA would have to do is tweak to a chr pop/ pop rock sound, or start adding rhythmic friendly pop/rock tunes. An urban would have to do a full flip, even just to become top 40 that was rock/pop rock friendly!
Also, a lot of todays electro/pop/dance is still hip hop influenced, so.. I'm not sure if this will help a hip hop resurgence because if it does, then we could easily just consider the past 2 to 3 decades to be decades dominated heavily with various styles of hip hip influenced sounds (many of them containing rap), and that's a pretty long long time to run with a certain style formula before a backlash! With that being said, I feel that rock (or even something else) will most likely have a resurgence, since that sound is much more different from what has mainly been going on for the past couple of decades. Rap & hip hop have been present in different forms for quite a while, and a resurgence of hip hop will only make that "while" seem even longer! Talk about a serious backlash if this happens!
Honestly, I think today's hip hop and r&b sound more the same than it has ever sounded! How many songs have you heard with "boom... click boom click click boom click" patterned beats? I'll be surprised if hip hop resurges nationwide anytime soon... especially after much of what's being done in chart topping hip hop these days. I think out of all, V103 will be the all time survivor, with one of the r&b urbans, and WWVA hanging in there - if they are given the chance.
Not sure how modernization in communication/radio technology over the next few years will effect the entire situation, though...
