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800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 Urban AC moves to blunt impact of classic hip-hop. As the classic hip-hop format sweeps the nation, urban AC stations are making moves to protect their turf. Some have devoted new specialty shows to the genre or sprinkled more throwbacks into the mix. But defending against a format that has yet to prove itself long-term is a tightrope walk for urban radio’s most successful format. Urban AC programmers are being ultra-selective with the genre, emphasizing big regional hits, while not losing sight of what their core audience counts on the station to deliver. “You have to be very selective and not become too broad or run off from what your core comes to you for,” says Skip Dillard, PD at Emmis urban AC WBLS, New York (107.5). “You find the songs that mean the most to your listeners and give them just those.” During the past four to five years, Dillard and other programmers have observed more back-in-the-day joints surfacing in music research. Consultant Tony Gray says music tests turn up a “select number” of titles with scores high enough to warrant regular airplay on urban ACs. But he questions whether there are enough to build an entire format around. In fact, some of the songs he’s heard on classic hip-hop stations weren’t even hits when they were first released. Says Gray, “If it was a stiff in 1987, why play it in 2015?” Still he says it makes strategic sense for urban ACs to weave in the right throwbacks as a defensive move, “as long as there isn’t any pushback from the audience or dilution of the essence of what consumers look for from the station.” Shining a spotlight on classic hip-hop while staying true to the brand. With a demographic core of 25-44, classic hip- hop has the potential to siphon listening from both urban AC’s younger-end and urban contemporary’s upper-end. That has stations in both formats jockeying to cover their bases. In early February, Crawford Broadcasting’s urban AC “Soul 106.3” WSRB, Chicago began playing a two-hour block of throwbacks every weeknight, starting at 10pm. Appropriately branded as “The Basement,” the specialty show is hosted by Lateefa Harland Young, a Chicago rap artist better known as Teefa. A 12-year on-air veteran of Chicago urban radio, Young believes the show will help satisfy the city’s old school jones. “Throwback hip-hop has been homeless in terms of mainstream radio in Chicago for a long time now,” she tells online publication Rolling Out. In Atlanta, home to three classic hip-hop stations, Cox Media Group urban AC “Kiss 104.1 FM” WALR-FM has expanded its positioner to “Atlanta’s Best R&B and Throwbacks.” That dovetailed with adding one classic hip-hop song an hour to regular rotation. Songs from acts like 50 Cent, Young MC and Notorious B.I.G. are preceded by a produced “It’s throwback time” stager. There’s more on a Saturday night specialty show. CMG SVP of radio programming Steve Smith says it’s intended to protect the station’s brand while growing its variety and enhancing its appeal. “There’s a way to cover that position with your existing brands without having to devote a frequency just to classic hip-hop,” Smith says. For some urban contemporary stations, that means judiciously adding some up-tempo old school hip-hop. For instance, iHeartMedia’s recently launched “Real 92.3” KHHT, Los Angeles plays about one classic hip-hop song an hour, emphasizing the West Coast sound. Bringing back the personalities that made the classics classic. In New York, where hip-hop was born and where pioneering DJs first introduced the city to the music, programmer Skip Dillard says it’s important for Emmis urban AC WBLS (107.5) to stake its claim on the genre’s classics — right after owning R&B. “We are an R&B station first and foremost,” [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 Dillard says. WBLS has for years devoted Friday and Saturday nights to an uptempo party mix of classic hip-hop, dance and R&B from the era when Frankie Crocker ruled the city’s airwaves. It recently added pioneering hip-hop DJ Chuck Chillout to its Saturday night schedule to focus exclusively on old school hip-hop and R&B with “Ciroc Saturdays.” WBLS has a history of putting some of the genre’s radio trailblazers back on the air, like Mr. Magic, Marley Marl, DJ Red Alert and Chuck Rock. “These weekend shows give us an opportunity to utilize some of the big-name talents in New York that were huge on the hip-hop scene,” Dillard says. Ratings for the specialty shows have been in line with the station’s total week performance, according to Dillard, sometimes better. WBLS has integrated the hosts into station appearances at parks and festivals in the warm weather months. “We bring the DJs that do those shows out with us, into the streets,” Dillard says. “You have to do everything you can to serve your community — so someone else won’t decide to serve it better than you can.” Nielsen: Radio still reaches 91% of America each week. This year’s record-setting Super Bowl ratings showed the seemingly unavoidable game was watched by only half as many people as radio reaches in a typical week. And radio’s reach is nearly seven-times the number of people who watched last month’s Oscars telecast. That’s how big radio remains. Nielsen’s latest Audio Today report shows the long reach of FM/AM touches 243 million Americans on average each week. That means more than 91% of people aged 12 or older are listening. Those figures are on par with the data released by Nielsen in the fall. “The power of radio extends across all major demographics and ethnicities,” the report says. The age group with the highest reach overall is 45-54 year olds with 94.4% of the demo listening to radio on a weekly basis. The 35-44 year old break-out ranks second with a 93.8% reach in that demo. Generational milestone as Millennials become radio’s largest listener group. Sorry Baby Boomers, you’ve been overshadowed. Of the 243 million Americans aged 12 and older who listen to the radio each week, Nielsen says it’s now Millennials who make up the largest share of the audience. The demo makes up 27% of radio’s total weekly cume with its 66.6 million listeners overshadowing both Boomers and Generation X. Each of those generations contributes an estimated 57.9 million weekly listeners to radio. The report has implications for advertisers. For Millennials the most listened to daypart is afternoon drive, while Gen X’s listening peaks in morning drive and Boomer listening tops out in middays. Radio also has a strong selling point for marketers targeting Millennials since nearly three quarters (73%) of their listening occurs while outside the home and close to making purchasing decisions. While 91.3% of Millennials listen to radio, Nielsen data does show that isn’t quite as high as among Gen X (94%) and Boomers (93.5%). And even as digital native Millennials spend an average 11 hours and 26 minutes a week with FM/AM radio, that’s nearly two hours less than Gen Xers’ listening time and about four hours less than Boomers. “The country format is tops for Gen Y audiences throughout the week,” the report points out. Radio’s other royalty fight: Congress looks at how ASCAP and BMI rates are set. The music community thinks federal judges should be removed from the equation when ASCAP and BMI rates are set. But if the Department of Justice keeps the current status quo, songwriters are again pushing legislation that would allow judges to look at what radio pays in streaming fees when setting songwriters’ rates for broadcast. The proposed Songwriter Equity Act would change copyright law by allowing ASCAP and BMI members to potentially be paid more by also taking into account the rates paid by Sirius XM Radio, television stations and even restaurants and bars. Songwriters have grown frustrated as royalty rates have grown rapidly for digital performances while increases in what’s paid to them have been “below-market rates,” according to bill sponsors Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA). National Music Publishers Association president David Israelite says songwriters have “suffered under a system that devalues their work,” pointing out three-quarters of a songwriter’s income is regulated by rate-setting reviews. The bill has also received support from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. At issue is the fact that ASCAP and BMI get 1.7% of revenue from radio stations for musical composition rights. Compare that to Pandora which must go through SoundExchange, which forces the webcaster to turn over half of its revenue to cover royalties. National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton says the bill may raise important issues, “But we can’t support legislation dealing with the financial imbalance between songwriters and artists by subjecting free, local [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 radio stations to new fees.” He says NAB is open to working with Congress to find “balanced solutions” that work for both songwriters and broadcasters.