Disco radio station replaced!

[HustleBaby]

Last week the UNTHINKABLE happened!!!! My radio station has been replaced with a rap/hip-hop station!!!! My alarm clock is set to 105.1 disco classics which I wake up to every morning. So last week when I woke up to rap music, I thought that I was dreaming or there was some kind of frequency mix up. I WISH!! 105.1 was abrubtly snatched off the air and replaced by some GODDAMN HIP-HOP CRAP!!!! I don't know if it was something to do with their contract or what. Unfortunately, someone feels that the classics isn't as "marketable" or "generate enough revenue and listeners" as todays toliet tunes!! 105.1 has a HUGE following for it is the ONLY radio station in NYC that plays disco/funk consistently. I'm in disbelief as well as pissed off so in the meantime, I'm listening to CBS FM (Lounge/Motown and early 70's music), CD 101.9 (Jazz) and 104.3 Classic Rock(Hendrix/Doors). This action has ruffled many feathers of the "Jammin' 105 crowd!! I just hope that the station returns to the airwaves very soon!!!



*DISCO DELIGHT*

[Funky Dude]

That's awful. Did that station even go as low as to play that farty Eminem bullshit?



If they don't put the disco classics back on, I suggest you write a formal complaint to the station regarding this farty hip-hop shit music of today and see what they have to say about it. Maybe they might have moved the disco classics to another time slot.



If you can contact them by phone then it would be a good idea to give that station a buzz and ask why they are replacing disco classics with rap and hip-hop.

[Boodikka]

105.1 surely experienced a bizarre rise and fall. Originally it was "Jammin' Oldies", programming 70s as well as early 80s and late 60s R&B/Disco/Funk, with a hardcore disco show (no wedding crap) on Saturdays during its first year, little or no DJ patter (which was GREAT!) Then, a few months ago they began adding crap such as R. Kelly, a "morning show" (I hate "morning shows" with a passion), and almost no music from White or Latino artists. They were obviously going for an older, upscale Black audience.....when that bit of fishing flopped, they cut bait and ran.

I have heard there will be a new "dance" station in NYC soon......the country station is going to switch formats. It will be a contemporary format, so the disco crowd is out in the cold AGAIN.

It's amazing that no one attempts to fill this void.

[Jeff H]

HustleBaby--The same thing happened a few weeks ago here in Pittsburgh. Is the station you're referring to owned by Clear Channel Communications? This is true corporate marketing mentality at work! When CCC first launched "The Beat" here about 3 (?) years ago, the station played classic R&B and LOTS of disco! But eventually, the songs from the '60s and early '70s were dropped and records from the '90s were added. Destiny's Child will NEVER compare to the Supremes, but at least they still played disco--until a few weeks ago, when "toot toot hey beep beep" gave way to "uh uh uh uh what it is you know wha i'm sayin." Soooo depressing.

[Robbie]

HustleBaby, Boodikka-- I too am upset that there is no longer a station in NY that doesn't play the disco music anymore. I agree with (I believe it was Boodikka) who said that Jammin' had a disco show on Saturday nights. I remember it: Studio 105. Great music. Unfortunately, the "mixes" always overshadowed it and these mixes were not of the Jellybean/Larry Levan variety for it sounded absolutely canned with the "whoosh" effects in between the songs.



I don't even bother with KTU anymore because ever since they dropped the Saturday evening "Funhouse" with Jellybean (which made early Saturday nights awesome). I have no use for Joe Causi's show because the songs are the same ol' songs.



Could this be a "dark age" for disco music on NY radio now??

[Outsider]

Hustlebaby, that fucking sucks majorly. It sounds like it was a popular station, so how could their owner even think about changing the format? And to turn it into a rap station, of all things. That really bites.



This reminds me of when hard rock station KNAC in Los Angeles (where I'm from) went off the air in 1995 (they're now a Spanish-language station and have different call letters) and last summer when Mega 92.3 (the local R&B oldies station) became Hot 92.3, which supposedly plays a mix of old and new R&B but concentrates on the newer stuff. Believe me, I was pissed off both times, and gave me two fewer reasons to listen to the radio (which I rarely do anyways). I'll be even more pissed off if KBIG 104 ever drops their "Disco Saturday Night" show (they're adult contemporary the rest of the time). So far there don't seem to be any signs of that, but if that ever does happen, I'll never listen to the radio again.

[DJ P]

Radio unfourtantly is going after the 'younger money' (they want all of thier allowances) vs. the consumers that own houses, cars, have larger bank accounts (then the 20' somethings) and most of all we HAVE MONEY to spend. The radio station here in Clearwater, Fl. that delt with 70's music (first Coast 107.3, then the corparation went to JO 101.7-Jammin Oldies-which did a live broadcast from a local niteclub of thier 70's night, next was for time for the corparation to turn the station in to a 80's pop and current hit (if we can call the 'noise' on these stations 'hits') music format. This same situation happened in the 70's when the radio considered the 'Happy Day's' format (50's rock and roll) oldies and the rave format of the time was 'Disco'. Such is life, but boy do I miss the mix the from the live broadcast of Disco from JO 101.7!!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DJ Phil on 2002-03-18 18:23 ]</font>

[Robbie]

Outsider--Although I'm not a radio whiz, Jammin's format was destined to fail in the last year or so.



I remember when it debuted in late '98. There were no deejays except for anonymous people doing their own presentations (through call-ins). The music was basically 60's/70's R&B, but the problem was that so much of it was repeated umpteen times during the day that they could've been bigger hits in '98 then they were in its day (how many times can you hear Staple Singers' "Express Yourself")??



Eventually, the music started to get a little more variegated; the addition of Al Bandiero to the morning show could only mean that disco was going to be an integral part of the station, and eventually it did. It was the best thing to happen to Jammin'. At that time, they were known as "Jammin' Oldies", and a lot of their music was Motown and other 60's/70's R&B. Little by little, disco started to find a home, and when it got to the point where it was getting hot, Jammin' started their late-night disco show. It was hours of mixes, but they sucked because it wasn't the mixing style in the tradition of 2 of my faves (Jellybean Benitez and Larry Levan); it used sound effects to keep the songs in a non-stop mix and it just didn't sound like they were spinning vinyl.



Studio 105 was their newest creation, and it was good because they played a great deal of club disco classics, as opposed to the songs that made the "Top 10". But alas, it was dropped eventually and the mixes won out.



Jammin' Oldies became the "heart and soul of NY" with a shift away from 60's/Motown R&B and towards a more eclectic mix of R&B, even opening the door to 80's R&B. It was known as Jammin' 105, and then they became "Jammin' 105.1" (why I have no idea). This format began to include current R&B music plus a bigger emphasis on 80's R&B. 60's R&B was basically extinct and disco music was almost unheard of, except for the weekend mixes (which were veering off into some strange direction; 70's disco was fading away). Last week, they became hip-hop/R&B.



The Jammin' format was no mom-and-pop music station. This was under the Clear Channel conglomerate (they own practically every big-number station here in NY). There were Jammin' formats all across the country, and the writing was on the wall eventually for NY: almost all the Jammin' formats failed; NY was holding on by a shoestring up until this month.



I am sad to see a station that I always enjoyed listening to when I was driving home from work and on weekends go away like this. There aren't any decent stations for me to listen to anymore (except for maybe Q104--classic rock, but they play the same old music 24/7).



Somewhere disco is going to kept alive.

[markydefad]

FYI, The Staple Singers sang "Respect Yourself" not "Express Yourself".

[discosavvy]

There was a nice Jammin' Oldies disco-oriented station in Hartford, Connecticut that ran for a few months around 2000 somewhere between 92 and 95 FM but it was also suddenly and without warning replaced by a rap format. That was awful! But by the end of 2001, WYBZ in New Haven, Connecticut, 94.3 FM, got a strong signal and presented a mix of R&B hits, old and new, plus some disco songs. And luckily WYBZ is still avoiding rap. Here are the disco songs I've heard WYBZ play over the past few months: "Ladies Night", "Bounce, Roll, & Skate", "Under Your Spell", "What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'", "Forget Me Nots", "And the Beat Goes On", "Good Times", "Holding On", "Make That Move", "let's Groove", "Ain't No Stopping Us Now", "Never Too Much", "Boogie Wonderland", "Never Knew Love Like This Before", "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", "Boogie Oogie Oogie", "Lady Marmalade", "I Don't Believe That You Want To Get Up and Dance", "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else", "Grooveline", "Celebration", "Shame", "I Love the Nightlife", "Got to Give It Up", "Don't Leave Me This Way", "Upside Down", "Young Hearts Run Free", "Turn the Beat Around", "The Glow of Love", "You Can't Hide from Yourself", "You're the First, the Last, My Everything", "Livin' it Up (Friday Night)", "Got to Be Real", "You & I Back Together Again", "Just a Touch of Love", "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody To Get On Down", "Rock With You", "All Night Long", and "Do It Til You're Satisfied". Is that an awesome playlist or what? Too bad the songs aren't repeated that often and that about 95 percent of what they play seems to be contemporary R&B. But if you're ever in southern/western Connecticut and can pick up the signal, WYBZ is pretty good, and they play a couple of disco songs every day but especially on Friday afternoons after 5pm. And there's still the disco & funk Saturday Night program in Norwalk, Connecticut on WEBE 108 FM with DJ Kevin Quinn, usually 6 hours in length but it was 8 hours this past Saturday!!

[paul]

Well, to borrow a line from one of my favorites Presidents, I feel your pain Delight. Here is San Diego there was a station that jammed disco on Saturday nights but it only lasted a year. That was a few years ago. I got fed up and that is what caused me to rack up a fairly sizeable disco cd collection on top of the vinyl I already had.

Radio here in the states is generally getting bad anyway. I'm not just saying this because I'm not in 16 to 25 demographic. A few large corporate giants like Clear Channel dominate. We are therefore given formula programming.

[Robbie]

Discosavvy--All of those songs you mentioned were Jammin' staples back when it was great!! Some of them ("Make Your Move" by Shalamar) were added to the playlist once disco music found a home at Jammin'.



Whoops! Sorry about that. It is "Respect Yourself". Well, respect/express whatever... It was played too much when the station first started.

[discosavvy]

Hi Robbie,

It's WYBC not WYBZ that I've been tuned into. Sorry for the typo. I forgot to mention that WYBC also plays "Get Down On It" from 1981 and "I Need Your Lovin'" from 1980. They picked many of the best popular disco songs, avoiding any of the garbage tracks. They enjoy playing a higher concentration of oldies dance music for the afternoon commuters. I just heard Stephanie's "What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" there a few minutes ago. They also have played funk tracks like Parliament's "Flashlight" and Rick James' "You and I".



If a new radio station wants to pick up a disco-friendly audience, they could play some modern pure disco songs like The Company's "Should I Let Him Go?" and Sophie Ellis Bextor's "Murder on the Dancefloor", then segue into some disco classics which have the same sound, and if they had to they could play a few select new techno and house songs by Kylie Minogue and Cher. That solves the problem of appealing to young listeners' tastes for the contemporary scene while still catering to oldies fans. Jamiroquai's no '70s act either. But I bet no American station will try it. It's just a fantasy of mine, and with the proposed CARP rules about webcasting there won't be an affordable way to broadcast such a playlist on the Web either.

[HustleBaby]

Ladies and Gents



I received the official report that Jammin 105.1 has found a new home! WHOOPPEE!!! As of this saturday at 10am, 105.1 will be playing on 88.3 WBGO hosted by Felix Hernandez. I didn't expect them to find a new home so suddenly I guess they received a lot of HEAT from their listeners so the show will go on!!!



Boodikka - I agree with you on the "morning shows" they need to get rid of them! I wish that they wouldn't play occasional R&B tunes like Destiny's Child or R.Kelly! Heck if I wanted to hear them, I'll tune into KISS.FM or WBLS.



Robbie - I was a devoted fan of Brooklyn JOE CAUSI'S Studio 54 clubhouse especially when they had JellyBean Benitez mixing the classics. This was about four years ago but now (in your words) they continue to play the same songs over and over. Joe used to air from 6pm-9pm every sunday night but now they cut his show an hour short! I HOPE that WKTU don't get rid of the classics because Joe is the only DJ that plays euro disco.



*DELIGHTFUL* DELIGHTFUL* DELIGHTFUL*

[Robbie]

Discosavvy--Stephanie Mills' "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" is one of my favorite songs. Back when Jammin' 105 did a "Top 500" countdown a few years ago, I selected that as one of my choices.



Rick James' "You and I" another fave!! I used to love to drive home from work hearing that song.



Kool and the Gang's "Get Down On It" was another Jammin' 105 staple; unfortunately it got overplayed (it was the only K&TG song Jammin' ever played, it seemed).



In the mid-90's (early '94), here in NY we have a station called WPLJ (don't listen to it anymore, so I don't know the format) that had a Saturday night 70's show hosted by former Jammin' morning host, Al Bandiero (who was also at Hot 103 back when he did the Sunday night disco show--this is going back 10+ years!!). It was called "Saturday Night At The 70's". Even if they played the gamut of 70's music, their disco selections in the early years were top-notch. It was a great idea that ballooned (and that was the problem). It went from Saturday night (which was great 7-midnight) to daily (except for Sunday). It was overkill.



HustleBaby--I didn't know Joe Causi's show is only an hour now. I think KTU is going to phase disco out soon enough. It has never been the same since they stopped playing Jellybean's mixes on weekends. The other mixes that replaced it were not the same.