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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/a...eaches-a-crossroads.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
Two familiar New York voices shared the radio airwaves on Thursday, talking as usual about hip-hop, but up higher on the dial.
Since the ’90s, Angie Martinez and Cipha Sounds were well-known hosts on the influential rap station Hot 97 (WQHT-FM, 97.1). But last year, after two decades, Ms. Martinez decamped for the rival, Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM, 105.1). After a few months of filling her old afternoon slot, Cipha Sounds, too, parted ways with the station, with 17 years on the job.
“Welcome to my new home,” Ms. Martinez said to her former co-worker when he joined her on air. Cipha Sounds said that it “felt a little weird” to be there, but as he eased into his guest D.J. role, he declared, “I’m in the building, ladies and gentlemen!” In recent months, some of Hot 97’s most recognizable names have left the station, while outside voices have come in. As one of the first formatted hip-hop stations in the country, Hot 97 became a distinctly New York institution in the early ’90s, synonymous with the genre’s rise to cultural ubiquity.
Photo
Nessa was hired by Hot 97 to replace Angie Martinez, who moved to Power 105.1. Credit Alex Welsh for The New York Times
But with the loss of so much institutional memory, including D.J.s and hosts who had witnessed the birth of hip-hop, the station risks slipping from its perch as the nation’s premier regional and hard-boiled rap outlet, current and former employees said in interviews. To them, Hot 97 seems to have succumbed to the homogenization of urban radio.
Look at the roster, they said. On Jan. 26, Hot 97 welcomed a new program director, Pio Ferro, from Florida, along with an afternoon host, Nessa, a 30-year-old from California who moonlights as an MTV personality. Her task: to replace Ms. Martinez, known as the “Voice of New York,” who left in June.
Ms. Martinez’s departure was magnified by those that followed. In December, the D.J. Mister Cee, who had 21 years at the station, also packed his mike, sensing a shifting tide, he said. Amid the news of the new hires, the D.J. Big Dennis Rivera, who had started there as an intern in 1991, was pushed out. Two weeks later, the station announced that Cipha Sounds was no longer with the company, “effective immediately.”
“If you look at this station as a TV show and the people on air as cast members, those are some big character deaths,” said Peter Rosenberg, a host who stayed with the station. But like TV shows, he said, radio stations can get better with turnover. Better, possibly, but different, certainly.
The station “has always had a reputation for being a leader, for breaking records and artists first, and for being more aggressive with what it played,” said Karlie Hustle, who resigned in August after serving as Hot 97’s music director for three years. “Hot 97 sounded like a New York radio station. It’s nice when you go to a place, and it sounds like the city you’re in.” But competition from rivals has forced Hot 97 and its parent company, Emmis Communications, to adjust. Since July, Ms. Martinez has helped lift the ratings of Power 105.1, which came along in 2002 and is run by the conglomerate iHeartMedia, formerly known as Clear Channel.
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Continue reading the main story
Power 105.1 topped Hot 97 in total audience share for five of six months — in August, they tied — as well as in the core demographic of 18-to-34-year-olds from September through December, according to ratings compiled by Nielsen Music.
Now, at Hot 97, “there’s a lot of deference to pop in order to survive in the ratings,” Ms. Hustle said, citing a song like “Latch” by Disclosure, featuring Sam Smith, which has received heavy airplay even though it doesn’t sound like the rest of the station’s more rugged rap and R&B playlist.
“It’s about keeping the lights on,” she said. “If Hot 97 is going to exist, the station must evolve and change with the times.”
By poaching Nessa from an iHeartMedia station in San Francisco, Hot 97 also hits back at its rival.
Photo
Laura Stylez, Mr. Darden and Peter Rosenberg host the Hot 97 morning show. Credit Alex Welsh for The New York Times
Thea Mitchem, senior vice president for programming for iHeartMedia’s New York stations, including Power and the top 40 behemoth Z100 said, “I know Nessa and we wish her the best, but I have my bets on Angie Martinez.” She added that Power’s on-air team “really represents New York City.”
(The radio war is not being fought only in New York. Last week, Emmis sued Kurt Alexander, better known as Big Boy, its longtime morning show host at Power 106 in Los Angeles, for breach of contract after he tried to accept a $3.5 million annual offer from iHeartMedia.)
Mr. Ferro, Hot 97’s new program director, views the recent changes optimistically. “I see a renaissance,” he said, promising to “move forward and build the next generation at Hot.”
Rather than lose its New York edge with those decamping veterans, he said, “This station needs to continue to be what it’s always been: the heartbeat of the city and a reflection of our listeners.” (Of Hot 97’s original crew, only the bombastic Funkmaster Flex remains; he could not be reached for comment.)
The centerpiece of the updated team and “face of Hot 97,” Mr. Ferro said, is Ebro Darden, another product of California who came to New York as music director for the station in 2003. After years in management, including a seven-year stint as program director, Mr. Darden eventually moved to a full-time on-air role last March. His show, “Ebro in the Morning,” competes with Power 105.1’s ascendant “The Breakfast Club.”
“I’ve been here for a lot of transitions,” Mr. Darden said in an interview, citing the departures of previous Hot 97 luminaries like D.J. Clue and D.J. Envy. Continued interest in personnel changes, he said, “speaks to the magnitude of the brand and what it means to the city.”
Cipha Sounds, who lost his morning show to Mr. Darden, said Hot 97 was losing its “quirkiness.” The core group from the old days, he said, included “hip-hop fanatics who somehow got on the radio, as opposed to going to college and studying broadcasting. Everyone used to think that we sounded ghetto, but since we had no competition in the early days, we were just going buck wild.”
D.J. Big Dennis, another casualty of the changes, concurred: “We were just kids from New York, from the neighborhood,” he said, ushering the city through golden eras of local hip-hop, from Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records to Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella, the Ruff Ryders and G-Unit.
But rap has decentralized, and the Internet — not New York City — is now its spiritual center. These days, Mr. Ferro said, the station can “dabble” in more mainstream music, like the current No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart, “Uptown Funk!” by Mark Ronson. But he also acknowledged that there was the possibility of going “overboard” with nonrap songs. “There is absolutely a line that cannot be crossed,” he said.
Moving forward, the hosts have to “be a little more present,” Mr. Ferro added, to foster a connection with the audience. “I want for the listener to know a little something about our hosts every day,” he said. “Does Ebro drink coffee? And if he does, what type of coffee does he like? Does he like dogs?”
Cipha Sounds, owing his views to some “nostalgia,” likened Hot 97 now to the new Yankee Stadium. “The Yankees still play there,” he said. “But I know there’s old people who remember the hot dogs. It still says Hot 97 on the front, but it’s just a different place.”
Two familiar New York voices shared the radio airwaves on Thursday, talking as usual about hip-hop, but up higher on the dial.
Since the ’90s, Angie Martinez and Cipha Sounds were well-known hosts on the influential rap station Hot 97 (WQHT-FM, 97.1). But last year, after two decades, Ms. Martinez decamped for the rival, Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM, 105.1). After a few months of filling her old afternoon slot, Cipha Sounds, too, parted ways with the station, with 17 years on the job.
“Welcome to my new home,” Ms. Martinez said to her former co-worker when he joined her on air. Cipha Sounds said that it “felt a little weird” to be there, but as he eased into his guest D.J. role, he declared, “I’m in the building, ladies and gentlemen!” In recent months, some of Hot 97’s most recognizable names have left the station, while outside voices have come in. As one of the first formatted hip-hop stations in the country, Hot 97 became a distinctly New York institution in the early ’90s, synonymous with the genre’s rise to cultural ubiquity.
Photo
Nessa was hired by Hot 97 to replace Angie Martinez, who moved to Power 105.1. Credit Alex Welsh for The New York Times
But with the loss of so much institutional memory, including D.J.s and hosts who had witnessed the birth of hip-hop, the station risks slipping from its perch as the nation’s premier regional and hard-boiled rap outlet, current and former employees said in interviews. To them, Hot 97 seems to have succumbed to the homogenization of urban radio.
Look at the roster, they said. On Jan. 26, Hot 97 welcomed a new program director, Pio Ferro, from Florida, along with an afternoon host, Nessa, a 30-year-old from California who moonlights as an MTV personality. Her task: to replace Ms. Martinez, known as the “Voice of New York,” who left in June.
Ms. Martinez’s departure was magnified by those that followed. In December, the D.J. Mister Cee, who had 21 years at the station, also packed his mike, sensing a shifting tide, he said. Amid the news of the new hires, the D.J. Big Dennis Rivera, who had started there as an intern in 1991, was pushed out. Two weeks later, the station announced that Cipha Sounds was no longer with the company, “effective immediately.”
“If you look at this station as a TV show and the people on air as cast members, those are some big character deaths,” said Peter Rosenberg, a host who stayed with the station. But like TV shows, he said, radio stations can get better with turnover. Better, possibly, but different, certainly.
The station “has always had a reputation for being a leader, for breaking records and artists first, and for being more aggressive with what it played,” said Karlie Hustle, who resigned in August after serving as Hot 97’s music director for three years. “Hot 97 sounded like a New York radio station. It’s nice when you go to a place, and it sounds like the city you’re in.” But competition from rivals has forced Hot 97 and its parent company, Emmis Communications, to adjust. Since July, Ms. Martinez has helped lift the ratings of Power 105.1, which came along in 2002 and is run by the conglomerate iHeartMedia, formerly known as Clear Channel.
Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
Power 105.1 topped Hot 97 in total audience share for five of six months — in August, they tied — as well as in the core demographic of 18-to-34-year-olds from September through December, according to ratings compiled by Nielsen Music.
Now, at Hot 97, “there’s a lot of deference to pop in order to survive in the ratings,” Ms. Hustle said, citing a song like “Latch” by Disclosure, featuring Sam Smith, which has received heavy airplay even though it doesn’t sound like the rest of the station’s more rugged rap and R&B playlist.
“It’s about keeping the lights on,” she said. “If Hot 97 is going to exist, the station must evolve and change with the times.”
By poaching Nessa from an iHeartMedia station in San Francisco, Hot 97 also hits back at its rival.
Photo
Laura Stylez, Mr. Darden and Peter Rosenberg host the Hot 97 morning show. Credit Alex Welsh for The New York Times
Thea Mitchem, senior vice president for programming for iHeartMedia’s New York stations, including Power and the top 40 behemoth Z100 said, “I know Nessa and we wish her the best, but I have my bets on Angie Martinez.” She added that Power’s on-air team “really represents New York City.”
(The radio war is not being fought only in New York. Last week, Emmis sued Kurt Alexander, better known as Big Boy, its longtime morning show host at Power 106 in Los Angeles, for breach of contract after he tried to accept a $3.5 million annual offer from iHeartMedia.)
Mr. Ferro, Hot 97’s new program director, views the recent changes optimistically. “I see a renaissance,” he said, promising to “move forward and build the next generation at Hot.”
Rather than lose its New York edge with those decamping veterans, he said, “This station needs to continue to be what it’s always been: the heartbeat of the city and a reflection of our listeners.” (Of Hot 97’s original crew, only the bombastic Funkmaster Flex remains; he could not be reached for comment.)
The centerpiece of the updated team and “face of Hot 97,” Mr. Ferro said, is Ebro Darden, another product of California who came to New York as music director for the station in 2003. After years in management, including a seven-year stint as program director, Mr. Darden eventually moved to a full-time on-air role last March. His show, “Ebro in the Morning,” competes with Power 105.1’s ascendant “The Breakfast Club.”
“I’ve been here for a lot of transitions,” Mr. Darden said in an interview, citing the departures of previous Hot 97 luminaries like D.J. Clue and D.J. Envy. Continued interest in personnel changes, he said, “speaks to the magnitude of the brand and what it means to the city.”
Cipha Sounds, who lost his morning show to Mr. Darden, said Hot 97 was losing its “quirkiness.” The core group from the old days, he said, included “hip-hop fanatics who somehow got on the radio, as opposed to going to college and studying broadcasting. Everyone used to think that we sounded ghetto, but since we had no competition in the early days, we were just going buck wild.”
D.J. Big Dennis, another casualty of the changes, concurred: “We were just kids from New York, from the neighborhood,” he said, ushering the city through golden eras of local hip-hop, from Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records to Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella, the Ruff Ryders and G-Unit.
But rap has decentralized, and the Internet — not New York City — is now its spiritual center. These days, Mr. Ferro said, the station can “dabble” in more mainstream music, like the current No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart, “Uptown Funk!” by Mark Ronson. But he also acknowledged that there was the possibility of going “overboard” with nonrap songs. “There is absolutely a line that cannot be crossed,” he said.
Moving forward, the hosts have to “be a little more present,” Mr. Ferro added, to foster a connection with the audience. “I want for the listener to know a little something about our hosts every day,” he said. “Does Ebro drink coffee? And if he does, what type of coffee does he like? Does he like dogs?”
Cipha Sounds, owing his views to some “nostalgia,” likened Hot 97 now to the new Yankee Stadium. “The Yankees still play there,” he said. “But I know there’s old people who remember the hot dogs. It still says Hot 97 on the front, but it’s just a different place.”
