MR BOB DAVIS (earthjuice@prodigy.com)
Wed, 7 Apr 1999 08:32:01, -0500
Blind CC Recipient:
NYC radio wars are legendary for those of us who grew up there and they
continue to be so. A new station/format just came on the scene that
threatens to upset the balance of power that exists today.
I know that some of you will say ...."who cares about radio in NY, I
don't live there...".
I would maintain that what happens in NY on the radio, will soon be
happening in your city as well.
First a little history:
There are several radio stations involved here and I'll try to give a
capsule description of each....
WWRL - 1600 AM - The once legendary station low powered down at the
"other end of the dial" that during my childhood was the station that
taught me all about this music. They abandoned secular music during the
1980's for an all Gospel music format, but returned 2 years ago with a
format they call "100% Pure Soul"
WBLS 107.5 FM - Another legendary station that I always refer to online
as the first FUNK radio station, led by Frankie Crocker, they pretty
much put WWRL out of business in the 1970's as Blacks preferred
listening to FM radio as opposed to AM radio. They floundered badly
during the 1980's as they were unable to meet the competition from 98.7
WRKS and WKTU (Disco), and never really understood hip hop at all, even
though it was the first radio outlet in NYC to carry rap music on a
regular basis. Today they focus on "Today's R&B"
WRKS - 98.7 FM - formerly known as WOR FM while I was growing up. They
had an "Album Oriented Rock" (AOR) format during the 1960's, later
switched to a Top 40 format during the first part of the 1970's. At
some point in time during the mid 1970's they discovered that there was
a real market for Black music and switched to a format which was EXACTLY
the same as that of WBLS. For most of the 1980's the two stations were
indistinguishable from each other, even to the point where the same
"sound alike generic Black DJ's" (EX: Ken "Spider" Webb) would jump back
& forth between the two stations so much that you couldn't tell the
difference between the two. They were the prototypes for the type of
radio station that Ice Cube slams in the song "Turn OFF the Radio MF".
Today WRKS plays a confusing format that it describes as "Classic Soul &
Today's R&B", heavy with "celebrity DJ's" (Ashford & Simpson, Isaac
Hayes & Roberta Flack) to me the station sounds like one LONG and BORING
commercial for whatever the latest projects are of these "celebrities",
with little in the way of actual music.
WKTU 92.3 - 103.5 - This was the legendary NY "disco" station of the
1970's. Staffed equally by Black, White and Puerto Rican DJ's came in
and blindsided both WRKS and WBLS during the 1970's when both stations
underestimated the appeal of Disco music among whites/latinos. During
the early 1980's they also floundered as disco became less popular and
eventually changed formats and call letters to WXRK (that's where Howard
Stern is). Several years ago radio giant Chancellor media decided to
create a new dance music radio station for NY and they brought back the
call letters "WKTU" and it is now quite popular among club goers.
WHQT - 97.1 FM - "Hip Hop & Blazin R&B", I won't say much about this
station except that it has been the #1 station off and on in NYC for the
past 6-7 years since going to this format. They also have a hand in
this "oldies" market as well with their...."Old Skool at Noon & Old
Skool Traffic jam" (1980's hip hop). It's owned by the same company that
owns WRKS and is sometimes openly criticized by Black "leaders" in NYC
for being owned by whites.
WCBS 101.1 FM - The original "oldies" station in NYC. It's got a
powerful signal and plays top 40 oldies from the 1950's thru the 1980's.
There is one like it in every city, but this was the first!
3/4 years ago when WRKS switched from a "Today's R&B" type of format to
"Classic Soul & Today's R&B" format they made a HUGE mistake. What they
should have done was go to a 100% Classic Soul format because the
marketplace was ripe for it. Instead they hedged their bets with this
"Classic Soul & Today's R&B" format, which makes NO sense at all and
then compounded that with the hiring of big name celebrities as air
personalities, taking away any local flava whatsoever.
Ex:
VALARIE SIMPSON: "Oh Nick HONEY CHILLE wasn't that wonderful for Patti
Labelle and Tina Turner to stop by our wonderful Connecticut mansion
last weekend so we could get down with some chittlins and red beans and
rice as we sat around the piano and SANG UP A STORM, just like we wuz
still in the ghetto....maybe next weekend Maya Angelou and Luther
Vandross will show up"?
NICK ASHFORD: 'yes dear..."
Then the music itself began to become predictable as they seemed to have
a playlist containing only about 100 "Classic Soul" tunes.
This left an opening as wide as a MACK TRUCK for.......
....WWRL who recognized that the audience for Classic Soul wasn't
interested in listening to "Today's R&B" (singing rap music) or "self
important celebrities". They promoted themselves as "100% Pure Soul"
and really got people excited! Matter of fact I got so excited that I
wrote a whole web page about them
<http://pages.prodigy.net/earthjuice/wwrl.htm>.....lol
Despite this recognition, WWRL had many things working against them such
as 1) Being on AM, 2) Still having a weak signal and no staff whatsoever
when they first came on. But the music was FANTASTIC because in
addition to playing what one might have expected, they also played
rarities such as a LIVE version of the "That Lady" - Isley Bros. I was
hoping that they would bring back some of the old Jocks from the 60's &
70's to also explain the music in context, much as they had in the past.
Unfortunately WWRL is a small time radio station with limited resources
and started out by hiring people who didn't have a profile in NY radio
(Ex: Crystal Holmes) who while competent, never really explained any of
the music. Then they followed in the footsteps of WRKS and began to
bring in celebrity DJ's, except their celebrity DJ's (Mary Wilson, Ray,
Goodman & Brown, "Bowlegged" Lou) had lower profiles that the ones at
WRKS. Recently they made two more disastrous moves in recycling Ken
"Spider" Webb and by reducing their music programming during the daytime
and running infomercials for investment schemes and wonder vitamins to
raise revenues. WWRL wasn't ever going to make it because, just like in
the 1970's, they lacked the money/vision to effectively compete. But
what they did do was correctly identify EXACTLY what the need was and
the audience to be served.....
"Jammin 105 Oldies"...
This station is also owned by Chancelor media. Their format is
difficult to describe. Like the name would imply, they are mostly
focused on " music you can dance to", so it's a "disco station" right?
NOPE
They play stuff from 1960-1980....Motown, Stax "Black Disco", Funk,
Santana, Sly, Rick James, AWB, Jackson Five, Philly International, P-
Funk, Al Green, Archie Bell & the Drells, EWF, etc. In other words they
are playing "Classic Soul" without using the name .......hmmmm
. On this station you can hear "Two Lovers" - Mary Wells mixed in with
"Fire" - Ohio Players, followed by "Since I Lost My Baby" - Temps,
followed by "Suavacito" - Malo, followed by "Ain't Gonna Bump No More
With No Big Fat Woman" - Joe Tex, followed by "Ring My Bell" - Anita
Ward, followed by "Summer Maddness" - Kool & the Gang, etc This is
EXACTLY the format that WRKS should have went with, but didn't have the
guts to go for!
Pretty eclectic, eh?
They seem to be well poised to destroy WWRL and WRKS. They will also
draw listeners away form WKTU who listen to their "Classic Disco"
programming but more importantly, they have an arrow pointed directly at
the heart of WCBS-FM. In one of their commercials they say:
"You won't have to suffer thru hearing this...":
SPLISH SPLASH I WAS TAKING A BATH...
"In order to hear this...":
STOP THE LOVE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN....
(Interesting maketing concept)
here is what I predict will happen...
WWRL - will return to Gospel or go with Infomercials 24/7
WRKS - will take HOT 97's "Old Skool at Noon & Old Skool Traffic jam"
(1980's hip hop) and make that into a 24/7 format and capture the Black
25-35 market in doing so.
WBLS - will remain the same with "Today's R&B", but will lose audience
to the new WRKS
WCBS - will mount an expensive (racist?) advertising campaign directed
towards "white ethnics"
(can the return of WRVR be far behind?)
Bob Davis
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URBAN SOUNDS
http://pages.prodigy.com/urbansounds/
CLASSIC SOUL:
http://pages.prodigy.net/earthjuice/
P*FUNK REVIEW
http://pages.prodigy.com/funk/
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