> I classify urban as a station that plays more than 60% of
> their music from African American artists, I am not
> including stations from other markets, just Philly.
That's a very poor (and almost bigoted) identifier for "urban" stations for a couple of reasons.
First, what about African-American artists like Lenny Kravitz or Victor Wooten who play what I'd imagine you'd classify as "white" music? Their style is definitely in the vein of Adult Alternative/Rock, not urban. Just because they're black doesn't make their music urban.
Second, what about artists like Luther Vandross or Whitney Houston whose appeal crosses both race and genre lines? You would hear Vandross on WRNB just as much as you may hear him on WSNI or WBEB. You wouldn't classify his or her music as urban because it's not. Again, their race doesn't make their music urban.
Third, urban music is defined hip-hop and R&B (and reggae and calypso depending on who you ask), and that's it. No one you talk to will say that urban music is music produced by African-Americans. What about Eminem, is he less "urban" because he is white? What about the countless others that are white, hispanic, latino, et cetera? Just because they're
not black doesn't make their music
not urban.
> My take
> on this: Urban=96.5/98.1/98.9/100.3/102.1/103.9/105.3/106.1
> and 107.9: Not considered
> urban=92.5/93.3/94.1/95.7/101.1/102.9/104.5...Results
> 9-urban 7-non urban. Do the math, is this the future of
> radio, due to the fact the radio execs WILL NOT embrace any
> new Rock and non-urban product, even though Disturbed has
> the NUMBER ONE album now, and last month it was Trapt. They
> continue to push and shove repitious urban music to the
> public and youth of America. We must also remember, out of
> the 7 non-urban formats only TWO are rock.
As for this, you need to break it down a little bit better.
There really are only three true urban stations in market (Power, Wired, and Beat) with one urban leaning CHR (Q102).
Of WPPZ and WRNB, only 'RNB could be considered urban, though it's really AC; so for your benefit, I'll count it as an urban station (even though it really isn't). The same for WDAS.
How the heck can you say WJJZ and WOGL are urban? Oh that's right: black people only make urban music, period. Might I suggest that you have more than just problems with "their" music?
So now let's take another count (from your list of stations). For the sake of argument I'm splitting the urban category in two (urban rhythmic and urban AC).
3 - urban rhythmic stations (96.5, 98.9, 100.3)
3 - rock stations (93.3, 94.1, 102.9)
3 - AC stations (95.7, 101.1, 104.5)
2 - urban AC stations (105.3, 107.9)
1 - country station (92.5)
1 - CHR (with an urban lean)(102.1)
1 - oldies station (98.1)
1 - gospel station (103.9)
1 - jazz station (106.1)
Of the sixteen stations, only
five are urban (and only three of those truly urban by today's standards) and another one has urban in the rotation.
I think you need to do the math; of these stations, three are primarily rockers, with another three that would have rock in the rotation (one of which being the same station that is the extra on the urban side).
Five stations play rock; five stations play urban; one station plays both!
Looks like radio in Philly matches up pretty well with the charts you're using to defend your case. Before you rant, at least break it down logically and not base it on whatever prejudice you may have.<P ID="signature">______________
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