What Is Really Being Heard? Urban stations with deep footprints across several generations may enjoy the luxury of being able to color outside the lines. But is that enough? Talk breaks that lasted 10 or 20 seconds or longer used to be all right, especially if they ...

Expanding The Niche Notion As we look at today's shifting environment, we find there is more cognitive awareness of what this shift means and how extending the niche can help to grow new audience. In this editorial we are referring to that as an "inflated reality." ...

Adjusting Programming And Scheduling Strategies For PPM In response to some Facebook and Twitter requests we've gotten lately, this time we're going to take a look at some programming and music scheduling strategies that can give us an edge in the PPM world. The first ...

PPM Critical Mass As more and more markets move from being diary-measured markets to meter markets, it's time to examine the facts and recognize that Urban radio and music remains an ethnic subculture in a lot of markets. We also have to accept the challenge of ...

Maximizing Moments Of Choice Not every programmer fully understands effective format penetration. They don't know that what separates and distinguishes a station is being in a position to provide some musical identity. Some music fits very well and reinforces the ...

Beating The Bulge A few years back, when urban AC stations were just coming into their own, some of us recognized that the format needed some new blood in terms of younger artists. We also needed to reach out to and nurture young adult listeners. Now that the format has ...

African-America With Its Top Down As we wrap up our current series for Black History Month 2011, we want to take a look at African-America with the top down -- where history is constantly being made and written about … from America's foremost civil rights heroes to ...

Not Everyone's Celebrating In this, the third in our current series for Black History Month 2011, we take a real look at where we are and where we're going. Even though some African-Americans have entered the realm of the privileged and have offices in (or tantalizingly ...

One Vision ... Many Struggles This week we continue with our month-long celebration for Black History Month. It is a month in which we hope to continue the celebration of African-American history, virtue and music. One thing that is becoming apparent lately is how black ...