the wee hours of the morning.
tuesday morning, i woke up at 5:30 am to meet my cousin lloyd, the numerologist, at power 105 on 6th avenue in midtown. if you live in the tri-state area or love hip hop dearly, you know power 105 by name. it’s one of the two biggest hip hop stations in new york city. i prefer 105 to hot 97. i can’t quite tell you why because their formats are nearly identical brands of mainstream urban music. according to wikipedia, 105 barely edged out 97 during the fall 2005 ratings.
i got to sit in on tigger (former host of BET's the basement, come on ya'll) and egypt’s morning show for about 2 hours (7 – 9 am) as lloyd read people over the airwaves. the sound booth is unimpressive. it’s about 40 square feet with a sound island curving through the middle. the décor is ironically neo-soul-esque with burnt orange and pea green couches with natural fiber accents. the atmosphere is casual, unassuming, and low-key.
what wasn’t down-to-earth, however, was tigger’s fully diamond encrusted watch. it caught the light every time he went to click on the mouse attached to his 12 inch powerbook. hip hop stars use macs these days?
either way, a cool experience.
i called another cousin later that evening, a radio deejay at atlanta’s major hip hop station. he raised an interesting point. radio lingo is quite extensive from alternative to urban contemporary to classic rock, etc. some pop stations choose to play, say, eminem and the occasional mary alongside a host of jessica, kelly, and your average crybaby rocker. those stations, by definition, are classified separately from stations that stick exclusively to TOP 40 sans “the darkness” aka urban artists.
my cousin Kenny b remarked that only in the urban market are deejays asked to “coon it up” or sound decidedly urban employing proper slang and wearing cultural signifiers when making public appearances. the same is not asked of rock or country deejays instead they are expected generally to have crystal clear radio voices. kenny argues that this industry policy is blatantly racist and, in my opinion, smacks of minstrelsy.
i got to sit in on tigger (former host of BET's the basement, come on ya'll) and egypt’s morning show for about 2 hours (7 – 9 am) as lloyd read people over the airwaves. the sound booth is unimpressive. it’s about 40 square feet with a sound island curving through the middle. the décor is ironically neo-soul-esque with burnt orange and pea green couches with natural fiber accents. the atmosphere is casual, unassuming, and low-key.
what wasn’t down-to-earth, however, was tigger’s fully diamond encrusted watch. it caught the light every time he went to click on the mouse attached to his 12 inch powerbook. hip hop stars use macs these days?
either way, a cool experience.
i called another cousin later that evening, a radio deejay at atlanta’s major hip hop station. he raised an interesting point. radio lingo is quite extensive from alternative to urban contemporary to classic rock, etc. some pop stations choose to play, say, eminem and the occasional mary alongside a host of jessica, kelly, and your average crybaby rocker. those stations, by definition, are classified separately from stations that stick exclusively to TOP 40 sans “the darkness” aka urban artists.
my cousin Kenny b remarked that only in the urban market are deejays asked to “coon it up” or sound decidedly urban employing proper slang and wearing cultural signifiers when making public appearances. the same is not asked of rock or country deejays instead they are expected generally to have crystal clear radio voices. kenny argues that this industry policy is blatantly racist and, in my opinion, smacks of minstrelsy.
it's showtime, i guess.
posted by Shawna at 8:58 AM
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