NYC Radio: Report..Hip Hop Pioneer Hot97 At Crossroads

On Jan. 26, WQHT 97. 1 FM /Hot 97 welcomed a new program director, Pio Ferro, from Florida, along with an afternoon host, Nessa, a 30-year-old from California who moonlights as an MTV personality. Her task: to replace Angela Martinez, known as the “Voice of New York,” who left in June.

According to the NYTimes, Martinez’s departure was magnified by those that followed. In December, the D.J. Mister Cee, who had 21 years at the station, also packed his mike, sensing a shifting tide, he said. Amid the news of the new hires, the D.J. Big Dennis Rivera, who had started there as an intern in 1991, was pushed out. Two weeks later, the station announced that Cipha Sounds was no longer with the company, “effective immediately.”

“If you look at this station as a TV show and the people on air as cast members, those are some big character deaths,” said Peter Rosenberg, a host who stayed with the station. But like TV shows, he said, radio stations can get better with turnover. Better, possibly, but different, certainly.

The station “has always had a reputation for being a leader, for breaking records and artists first, and for being more aggressive with what it played,” said Karlie Hustle, who resigned in August after serving as Hot 97’s music director for three years. “Hot 97 sounded like a New York radio station. It’s nice when you go to a place, and it sounds like the city you’re in.”

WQHT 97.1 FM (6.7 Kw) Red=60dBu Local Coverage Area

But competition from rivals has forced Hot 97 and its parent company, Emmis Communications, to adjust. Since July, Martinez has helped lift the ratings of Power 105.1, which came along in 2002 and is run by the conglomerate iHeartMedia, formerly known as Clear Channel.

Power 105.1 topped Hot 97 in total audience share for five of six months — in August, they tied — as well as in the core demographic of 18-to-34-year-olds from September through December, according to ratings compiled by Nielsen.

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