Dance Radio Post •• |
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
Copyright © 2002-2012 Simpatico.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.
U.S. Dance Radio History and Directory A funny thing happened in 2002: Five commercial FM radio stations in top 25 U.S. markets switched to an all-dance format. That was the most significant development in the history of dance radio since the late 1970s. Even though some notable dance stations have come and gone—KXDC Denver, KDLD/KDLE Los Angeles, KKDL Dallas, and WPYM Miami—the beat goes on—with a little help from satellite and digital HD radio. So while dance music will probably never completely recover from the early 1980s backlash, at least it’s back on the airwaves. (Check out what’s popular on dance radio by clicking on Radio Megamix. Click on Radio Airplay for our compilation of real-time playlists.)
Industry Recognition Coincidentally, the Recording Academy (grammy.com) moved the best dance recording category out of the pop division in 2002, a move that meant the nominations for this Grammy would be in the hands of a smaller group of more qualified voters. The dance recording and remixed recording Grammies were added in 1997—the former is essentially the reincarnation of the best disco recording category introduced in 1979 and discontinued thereafter. The best remixed recording was originally known as best remixer for the first four years. The Dance Music Hall of Fame (hybridlinks.com/dmhof) held its inaugural ceremony in New York, and the Recording Academy added the best electronic/dance album category in 2004. If awards are only as meaningful as the nominations, then the Recording Academy has much to learn from Dance Music Awards (dancestar.com). The Main Players Just as we should judge people by the content of their character, we should review radio stations based on their weekly playlists, putting aside secondary features such as recurrents, mix shows, and DJs. The quality of a playlist is determined by its length and variety. Any non-oldies station should play at least 30 current or new tracks. We frown on stations that never heard a dance remix of a top 40 hit they didn’t like. In general, terrestrial radio is the least progressive.
* Songs that have failed to make our Megamix page during the previous six or 12 months. ** Quality tracks that have received fewer than 70 weekly spins from entire Megamix panel during the previous six or 12 months (they appear as A-rated Bonus Tracks on our Megamix page). *** Facebook Likes. Unless the government steps in to force the whole country to convert to digital radio (as it did with digital TV), it seems HD radio will remain grounded in the foreseeable future. Still, some HD2 channels are serious about the dance format. So we have decided to review these “hidden” stations every six months just like the more visible stations above. Given that HD2 airplay is not monitored yet by BDS or Mediabase and most radio stations don’t bother to publish the playlists for their HD2 channels (when a Web page exists at all), we can obviously only review HD2 channels that provide audio streaming on the Internet.
* Based on at least seven sample hours in March or September. ** Facebook Likes. Note that TuneIn (tunein.com) provides limited airplay monitoring (last 12 hours) of these and other HD2 channels. [See the Dance Radio Guide] Player Hater As radio stations fight for listeners wherever they may be, an Internet broadcast is no longer optional. Relying on one of the popular audio players to implement this feature seems like an open solution. But if they really want to make sure anyone can listen to their streaming audio, they should follow YouTube and others and use a self-contained player. That’s because most public computers and some corporate PCs don’t allow users to download and install third-party software. It’s a good Web design rule in general if you can avoid forcing your visitors to download something. Most stations do offer a stand-alone player that requires no setup; Fusion Radio, 1Dance.FM, WBZC Pemberton, N.J., and KNHC Seattle, are notable exceptions. What audio quality should such a preset player maintain? Anything close to 64 Kbps is a good compromise between quality and bandwidth. Some support the Playlist format, which provides a ready-to-go audio stream—depending on your Web browser. The other thing radio stations should provide is the information regarding artist, title, and mix—right on the audio player page and without the listener having to refresh the screen. And again most dance stations fail to do this. And speaking of bad Web design…white text on black background is so 1970s, not to mention a strain on the eye. 2009 After signing a lease with a similar low-power TV station in the Washington, D.C., area, the owner of WNYZ-LP New York launched in June a sister dance station on WDCN-LP. When the parent company of Billboard magazine acquired Radio & Records in 2006, the Justice Department could’ve made an antitrust case. As expected, Nielsen Business Media ceased publication of Radio & Records and shuttered its Web site in June. Once there were several magazines about record sales and radio airplay: Billboard (1894), Cash Box (1942-1996), Record World (1946-1982), Radio & Records (1973-2009), Billboard Radio Monitor (1993-2006), and Gavin Report (1958-2002). Now we’re down to just one print magazine in this space. (Note that CMJ New Music Report continues its coverage of college radio.) Why does it matter? Well, some people have criticized Billboard for being a little stodgy. Case in point: The magazine didn’t publish a modern rock chart until 1988, a good six years after the debut of the first new wave/modern rock stations in California. And that’s what it was like when Billboard faced competition. With no competing magazines since 2006, who will keep Billboard honest? To be fair, Billboard has always been a strong supporter of dance music. The magazine introduced its dance radio airplay chart in 2003, just one year after the revival of the dance format. Indeed, it was a surprise move considering the chart was based on a very small panel (only eight stations at the time). Billboard would later add noncommercial, satellite, and TV stations in order to maintain the size of the panel. If Billboard wants to be a little bit more on the cutting edge, it should include at least one Web-only station. And let’s not forget the first Billboard club chart was published back in 1974 (though Record World unveiled a national survey before Billboard). By the way, this club play chart is long overdue for a major overhaul. Something doesn’t seem right when Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” peaked at No. 29. Billboard named as the No. 1 club track of 2004 a song by the former lead singer of the 1970s group High Inergy. She does have a great gospel voice. But can you name the title and the artist? Didn’t think so. This chart is also the only one that’s not electronically monitored. And who are the anonymous club DJs who submit their playlists? Talk about a lack of transparency. 2008 in Review SIRIUS and XM completed their merger in November. The bottom line for dance radio: At one point before 2008, there were as many as nine different dance channels on XM and SIRIUS (including three oldies stations). After SIRIUS acquired XM, only three dance channels survived. The only thing we were grateful for is the fact that the new company decided to keep XM’s BPM and drop The Beat, the former SIRIUS channel with an extremely short playlist. WNYZ-LP New York switched to dance in February. What’s unusual about this dance station is that WNYZ is actually a low-power TV station. KVBE Las Vegas also switched to dance in May. After six years, KNRJ Phoenix ended its dance format on Halloween. And, as we mentioned above, three dance channels on SIRIUS and XM were phased out in November. To ensure the survival of KNHC Seattle—school funding being the way it is—everyone who listens to this station’s Internet broadcast should make a donation. Washington companies should lend a helping hand, too. Does RealNetworks have a foundation? Rob Glaser must have something to compete with the Gates Foundation. KNHC is like a teacher’s pet: you wish other terrestrial dance stations could be more like this high school standout. And while you’re at it, you should support WMPH Wilmington, Del., as well. 2007 in Review The biggest news in 2007 was the proposed SIRIUS-XM merger. Except for the two companies involved, almost everybody else was against it. The other big story that affects music in general was the pending royalty hike for U.S. Webcasters. It was greed that killed the physical single. It was greed that contributed to the decline in CD album sales. And it’s greed that’s hurting Internet radio. Go to savenetradio.org for more information. Webcasters are not the only ones getting squeezed. The recording industry is lobbying to make terrestrial radio stations pay performance royalties (traditional radio has only had to pay the songwriters historically). On the one hand, it seems only fair that if Internet radio has to pay performance royalties, then perhaps regular radio should too. You may not care what happens to the large corporations that own most of the commercial radio stations in the U.S. But the proposed change currently has no waiver for college stations and other public organizations. The industry’s aggressive posturing could backfire if some lawmakers rethink why any broadcaster should pay performance royalties at all. So while artists and record companies try to triple the fees for Internet radio and collect from terrestrial radio for the first time, it’s only a matter of time before songwriters demand a royalty raise. By year’s end, some royalty issues remained unresolved. 2006 in Review It seems dance music takes center stage on a global scale every two years. At this year’s Olympics, the parade of nations marched in to a mostly 1970s disco soundtrack. And two years ago in Athens, Tiesto’s music played a similar role during the opening ceremonies. KENU Enumclaw, Wash., the lone AM station devoted to dance music since 2001, switched format. WJND-LPFM Orlando gave up after just one year. And WTBT Saginaw, Mich., dropped the beat after only a few months. Citadel Broadcasting flipped one of its dance-leaning stations in Louisiana to something else in September. With the concerted effort to launch digital HD radio this year, seven more current-based dance channels were added—in addition to the two that debuted last year. Kudos to Billboard for removing WKTU New York from its dance radio panel. This station is way too gold-oriented to be included. Recent TV commercials continued to feature dance tracks in the background (refer to In the Mix for more details). The end of 2006 also marked the end of the once proud Tower Records, a California institution since it was founded in Sacramento in 1960. Known for its wide selection and reasonable prices—until mass merchants started selling records—Tower became an international brand and reached an estimated $1 billion in sales at one time. Always a supporter of the single—vinyl and later CD— Tower was one of the few major retailers to sell 12” vinyl singles and their digital replacements, CD maxi-singles. Indeed, the company went to great lengths to rally the industry to save the CD single in the 1990s. To offset the dwindling supply of domestic CD singles in the 2000s, Tower stores began stocking more import CD singles. For consumers of dance music, the days of browsing and listening in a conveniently located store are over. The Internet has been a wonderful alternative to that physical, tactile experience; we just didn’t figure it would have to be the only way so soon. For one thing, there aren’t too many on-line stores that can match or beat Tower’s brick-and-mortar prices ($5.99 for most domestic CD maxi-singles and $7.99 for most import CD maxi-singles). But the loss of Tower has ramifications beyond the immediate future. The Tower Web site was sold at the auction and continues to operate under new ownership. 2005 in Review Despite enjoying its best ratings last summer, South Florida’s WPYM, partly responsible for the return of dance radio in the 2000s, changed format in February—it will live on as an Internet-only dance station. Then 10 days later, Dan Balan (o-zone.go.ro) and Lucas Prata (lucasprata.com) performed their English version of “Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tei)” on “The Today Show.” Now that we didn’t see coming. Most dance stations played the original Romanian version by O-Zone last year; only KNHC Seattle added the English version as well (refer to In the Mix for more details). After losing WPYM, Florida regained a dance station when WJND-LPFM Orlando came on-line in April. Citadel Broadcasting added another dance station in Louisiana in June. The whole “diva” brand and pink Web pages are a bit too campy. If they don’t take their format seriously, will their listeners? In September, WTBT Saginaw, Mich., became one of the few small-market dance outlets in the country. Have Your Say Dance Radio Post welcomes your comments and submissions. Send your e-mail to simcoblog at the domain gmail.com. Please specify “Danceradio” in your subject line. Depending on how your browser is set up, you can also do this by clicking on Mail-Off.
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