Avoiding The Monument To Sameness Now that we're in the midst of Fall Arbitron sweeps, this is probably as good a time as any to look at where we are with our programming strategies. We have to ask ourselves: What we can do to be different and distinguish ourselves from ...

How Have They Changed And Why? This fall we've been asked to again look at trending and technology. So we're going to re-examine both. As the industry continues to change, Urban and Urban AC stations will find they have to do things differently and take intelligent ...

Ridiculous Radio Traffic Reports Well, it's time now for our annual Fall classic. Just to lighten the load this year, I thought we would have a little fun as we again tackle the traffic tie-up reports. It's a hilarious look at the way traffic reports are handled on a ...

Exodus, Revelation & Reality One of the biggest challenges that Urban radio programmers face this fall is finding and then scheduling the right music for their audience. One of the sub-challenges under that is how do you meet the audience's expectations and still ...

A Balancing Act With Genre-Based Sound Increasingly today, each market is becoming unique in terms of how a station has to niche itself in order to maximize its position and force a few more fickle fingers to its frequency. It's difficult to place a standard formatic ...

There are many among us who feel that the Urban radio industry is heading down a dangerous road. I hope we spot the cliff before it's too late to avoid taking the plunge. The problem is that it's affecting so many of us and creating an environment that sends chills up and ...

Is The Format At A Crossroads? As we sail deeper into the diminishing moments of the summer of 2007, this is a good time to take a brief look at the current state of the Urban formats. We want to examine the necessary changes caused by increased competition and cume ...

Are Urban AC Stations Losing Audience To Smooth Jazz? Smooth jazz is being called the Clark Kent of formats. Much like Superman's alter-ego, it's mild-mannered, even dull. It looks like the other button-down guys. Yet it pops up seemingly everywhere, often on great ...

I have always held that some of the most successful programmers are no "strangers to fiction." They almost have to be in that mental state to create programming that's more than ordinary. With all the competition out there, today more than ever, programming requires ...