WAMO sold (Pittsburgh, York, Republic: neighborhoods, live, radio)

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

How does it reflect poorly on us jw? I think it's more of the station's constant showing of new crappy music over the stuff that was 5x better 5 10 years ago IMO.

Because it makes Pittsburgh look like a white only city, which it basically is, and this coming from me, a white person. I never knock Pittsburgh and I never complain about things so please don't assume I am one of those people here to do that. I am just speaking my honest opinion on how I would feel if I came here (for school, business, relocation, travel, whatever) and found that the only radio stations covering the area were white djs playing music for a white audience.

I think people are missing the point LMP and I are trying to make. It's completely fine if you don't like the music played on WAMO. I'm not here defending hip hop from the 80s to today. I agree that it was better then but you have to know that THE MARKET CHANGED. Turn on BET and then turn on WAMO...same songs. Go to another city and turn on their station, same songs.

Again, the point really isn't about the songs WAMO was playing. If you read someone elses post, WAMO consistently ranked high in Pittsburgh as one of the top stations, so clearly it has the fan base, and people aren't concerned about the quality of songs. Public radio space is exactly that...public; which is why it will be okay for this to become a catholic radio station. Not everyone is going to be catholic and like what is on it, but it can be on there because it represents something for a certain AUDIENCE, which is what WAMO did. WAMO represented a culture of music and people. Whether they were playing a ridiculous hip hop song, a throwback R&B song, or gospel, or Steve Harvey Morning Show, it catered to an audience interested in any of those things. And now there is nothing like that left for people in Pittsburgh. WAMO brought black entertainment to Pittsburgh, whether it be comedians, musicians, speakers, whatever...there was a station to represent that. You think KISS FM is going to do that? I think the last hip hop tour KISS sponsored was Nelly back in the early 2000's. If radio was dying, they wouldn't have sold the station to be replaced...it would have just went dark, so please spare the Internet lectures. People probably think nobody uses the library anymore now that Google exists?

Radio Business Report, an industry trade publication, expects the sale will leave a void in the Pittsburgh market.
“Sheridan was the only company serving the African American population of Pittsburgh, which comprises only about 7 percent of the market’s population,” the publication said. “However, it leaves a huge format gap — and we expect at least one operator in the market will step forward to fill it.”

[MarqueseGilmore]

1.) I rarely listened to WACKO......I mean Wamo ever!!
2.)Wamo wasnt even close to being the epitome of Hiphop or even close to Hot97!!!
3.)I doubt that there will ever be another Hiphop R&B station in PGH.
4.)Terrestial radio has sucked since the early 90's!!

Good riddens Wamo!! I do feel bad for a few comrades of mine that used to DJ at Wamo but they hustlers,they'll bounce back!!

[MarqueseGilmore]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

Because it makes Pittsburgh look like a white only city, which it basically is, and this coming from me, a white person. I never knock Pittsburgh and I never complain about things so please don't assume I am one of those people here to do that. I am just speaking my honest opinion on how I would feel if I came here (for school, business, relocation, travel, whatever) and found that the only radio stations covering the area were white djs playing music for a white audience.

I think people are missing the point LMP and I are trying to make. It's completely fine if you don't like the music played on WAMO. I'm not here defending hip hop from the 80s to today. I agree that it was better then but you have to know that THE MARKET CHANGED. Turn on BET and then turn on WAMO...same songs. Go to another city and turn on their station, same songs.

Again, the point really isn't about the songs WAMO was playing. If you read someone elses post, WAMO consistently ranked high in Pittsburgh as one of the top stations, so clearly it has the fan base, and people aren't concerned about the quality of songs. Public radio space is exactly that...public; which is why it will be okay for this to become a catholic radio station. Not everyone is going to be catholic and like what is on it, but it can be on there because it represents something for a certain AUDIENCE, which is what WAMO did. WAMO represented a culture of music and people. Whether they were playing a ridiculous hip hop song, a throwback R&B song, or gospel, or Steve Harvey Morning Show, it catered to an audience interested in any of those things. And now there is nothing like that left for people in Pittsburgh. WAMO brought black entertainment to Pittsburgh, whether it be comedians, musicians, speakers, whatever...there was a station to represent that. You think KISS FM is going to do that? I think the last hip hop tour KISS sponsored was Nelly back in the early 2000's. If radio was dying, they wouldn't have sold the station to be replaced...it would have just went dark, so please spare the Internet lectures. People probably think nobody uses the library anymore now that Google exists?

Radio Business Report, an industry trade publication, expects the sale will leave a void in the Pittsburgh market.
“Sheridan was the only company serving the African American population of Pittsburgh, which comprises only about 7 percent of the market’s population,” the publication said. “However, it leaves a huge format gap — and we expect at least one operator in the market will step forward to fill it.”

Not so true.....You have Hot97 which breaks new artists and new songs. Hot97(NYC)is and will always be groundbreaking radio. Its funny because we(Black folk)are getting scaled down alot in the entertainment industry. I can name on one hand black tv on primetime. I dont wanna turn this into a race discussion though.

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by MarqueseGilmore

Not so true.....You have Hot97 which breaks new artists and new songs. Hot97(NYC)is and will always be groundbreaking radio.

Right, I said in an earlier post that, to me, Hot 97 IS the epitome of Hip Hop.

Hot 97 playlist:
http://www.hot97.com/playlist/blogen...tryID=10031914

WAMO playlist:
http://www.wamo.com/playlist.php (broken link)

Not exactly the same...but somewhat close...obviously completely different markets so that is to be expected but hit songs are hit songs.

[bradjl2009]

Maybe WAMO should have broadened out its audience or something idk. A new station will probably be up again by summer 2010.

[TheReason]

There were a lot of good points in this thread... And a lot of not-so-good points.

I grew up in southern Ohio, about 75 minutes from Pittsburgh. I grew up listening to WAMO as a teen more then 15 years ago from 70 miles away. Put KISS on, and you'll lose a good connection if you're 30+ miles outside the city.

Another great point that was made is how this will effect concerts... Expect to see a major decline in that aspect of entertainment.

You can't really be mad at the city... The city doesn't own WAMO do they? I'm assuming that WAMO was owned by a bigger communications company... They are the people who should hold the blame here. I wonder what their reason for selling was? Strictly money?

Something to consider...

Radio stations make 90% of their revenue off of advertising dollars... And with our economy in shambles, advertising budget is one of the first funds that businesses stop spending.

Maybe they took a big lose this year and projected a bigger lose next year so they got out while its still good...

Who knows...

Will this ruin Pittsburgh? No.

Does it sting? Sure it does.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I actually was wondering if there would even BE anymore hip hop concerts/performers coming to the Burgh without a station to sponsor them. I mean just go to WAMO Pittsburgh's Home for Hip Hop and R&B and see the advertisements flash by for John Legend and others coming this summer. People don't see the repercussions of this loss, and most on here don't care, which isn't surprising. Glad to see you understand Little Mizz Pittsburgh!

To be honest, I rarely see hip hop concerrts coming to Pittsburgh.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by raubre

To be honest, I rarely see hip hop concerrts coming to Pittsburgh.

They come, but they come to smaller venues. And, instead of a whole line up of artists, they'll be only a few, or just ONE, especially if they're performing at a club.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by TheReason

T
You can't really be mad at the city... The city doesn't own WAMO do they? I'm assuming that WAMO was owned by a bigger communications company... They are the people who should hold the blame here. I wonder what their reason for selling was? Strictly money?

Will this ruin Pittsburgh? No.

Does it sting? Sure it does.

No, the city doesn't own WAMO, but like it has already been stated in this thread, by Sheridan Broadcasting silencing the ONLY black radio station in the city says a lot about a city and reflects it in a somewhat negative light, IMHO.

I guess my boy Brotha Ash and my homie that own the Soul Pitt's website will start making good money now, due to promoters going to them to get the word out about their events once WAMO folds.

[ditchdigger]

I grew up listening to WAMO as a teen more then 15 years ago from 70 miles away.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't WAMO swap frequencies and transmitter power with another station some time ago, which resulted in them having a considerably weaker signal? That in itself would be either a barometer of how good the market is (not very), for that segment, or a cause of their market share being smaller, or possibly both, wouldn't it?

Like I said up above, if there's money to be made in the Pittsburgh market, in that format, somebody will step in and fill the void. It does surprise me that somebody thinks there's better money to be made here with a religious format though...