Tuesday, October 8, 2013

NYC Radio: Funkmaster Flex On Radio Failing Listeners

Funkmaster Flex has a history. He started carrying records for pioneers like Red Alert and Chuck Chillout 30 years ago in the Bronx, which places him squarely at the birthplace of hip-hop radio DJs. He also has a present: his six-times-weekly radio show is on New York’s WQHT Hot 97. But most importantly, Flex has a future.

According to theverge.com, FM audiences have been on the decline for more than a decade, and in a panel at last week’s SF MusicTech Summit, Flex shared his common-sense view of exactly how the radio business is failing listeners.



“It’s not paying attention to where people are getting their music from, where people are listening to music — your phone has replaced your Walkman and your computer.”

Your computer is still apparently pretty important, though: In Flex We Trust gets around 10 million page views every day. In a sea of poorly executed online radio strategies, it’s obvious that he puts as much care into crafting his online presence as he does into his radio show: his newsy WordPress site is the place for artists to break songs and news.

The key to Flex’s continued success is his ongoing devotion to giving his fans what they want — something that’s far easier to measure online than it is with notoriously murky Arbitron radio ratings.  “The best part … is when we put Google Analytics on there, we started to see what was reacting, what people liked. I remember we posted Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky before it was even doing well, and that getting hits on the site.  I was starting to learn it was a different world — radio hits and internet hits, I started to see the difference.”

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