WILD-FM

I'm glad to see that the sale of WILD-FM and format change to a rock station has has stirred anger and contempt from residents around the metro area and from local media in the target demographics. I wouldn't go as far as H2Otown in blaming a legislator for the sale of the station, though. The owners of Radio One are at fault for selling us out and leaving us with nothing. As the Banner reports this week, Radio One specifically, and the industry generally, have a reputation for buying stations and making sudden format changes:

“They sold us out,” echoed Karen Seymore, a community activist. “All for the sake of a dollar. I’m just angry and upset that they could disregard our community.”

The “they” in this case are the owners of Radio One, Inc. — Cathy Hughes and her son Alfred Liggins. Started 25 years ago, the company owns and operates 69 radio stations in 22 American cities, and programs a channel on XM Satellite Radio. The publicly traded company also owns a 40 percent stake in TV One, a cable and television network started in 2004.

Like many other large radio station owners, radio analysts say, Radio One has a strategy of buying stations in a given market and making sudden format changes they believe will make money.

Such was the case in 1999 when Radio One bought a country radio station near Boston, and turned it into “Hot 97.7” with an urban format. A year later, in November 2000, Radio One spent about $5 million in cash and stocks to purchase WILD-AM from longtime owner Bernadine Nash.

That was the beginning of the end — at least for Boston’s black community. As one radio insider put it, “Radio One is a cold-blooded company that is only concerned with the bottom-line.”

As I mentioned the other day, Radio One could've put more effort into learning more about the local market in order to broaden its base in the Boston area. As the reaction to the sale and change of the station becomes more public and widespread, it's clear that there was a large community of listeners. Radio One's mistake was in thinking that the community of listeners was only from the Black community, instead of from the hip hop community, which is more diverse and widespread here than in other areas of the country. Unfortunately, Radio One's hasty departure is our loss. They were so quick to leave town that they didn't even bother to take down the station's website or update their own. With management like that, perhaps losing Radio One isn't such a bad thing. Now someone with stronger ties or more commitment to the community can step up and provide something better.

Comments

[Teddy K]

As I wrote in my blog last week, the situation is just depressing for anyone who likes hip hop in the Boston area. There are still some good college station hip hop shows, but Jam’n 94.5 which has a play list of about 5 songs is un-listenable. I glad that this is getting a strong reaction from there area because I still think there is some hope of reviving 97.7 as a hip hop station. Having WAAF on 2 station that nearly have a lot of overlap seems like a silly business model. This leads me to think that WAAF on 97.7 is a temporary stop gape until a permanent replacement is found. I fear that it may end up being another FM talk station, but I still think it is viable as a hip hop station. I still think the biggest problem Hot 97/WILD had in competing with Jamn was that 97.7 signal was not strong enough. If they boost the signal so you can clearly get it in the Boston metro area then I think they could of siphoned a significant portion of Jamn 94.5 audience.

[3D]

I don't know what the likelihood is of returning 97.7 to hip hop, but there's definitely enough room on the FM dial in Boston for a another (and better) hip hop station. WILD definitely could've benefitted from having a stronger signal. That would've made it a more viable option to Jam'n 94.5 and KISS 108. Those other stations can be heard as far as Worcester and Rhode Island. WILD was hard to hear in parts of Roxbury and Cambridge sometimes when the wind was blowing the wrong way. We'll see what fills the void next. Wish I had the cash to start my own station.

[lois]

Where am I now going to find the "Classic Soul and R+B" that WILD-AM played, and somewhat carried over to FM?

I have listened to WILD-AM for 30+ years, and for a short while FM, but where do I go now?

My demographics are: 61 year old white female, Worcester, MA.