A Tale of Two Radio Stations

dmuhammad | 1/18/2007 3:16 pm | 608 to 414

While this is old news by now, and Southern Wisconsin's residents are no doubt becoming accustomed to a rap-less radio format, it's surprising to me how little farewell Hot 105.9 received, even from Madison's hip hop community, especially in light of the recent attempted axing of the The Mic 92.1. As a point of disclosure, I must admit that I worked with the station as an independent promoter and live event dj while. They co-sponsored the "Hip Hop Generation , Hip Hop as a Movement" conferences and supported other events locally. Here are my thoughts on the loss of the station and what it means for the Madison music scene.The Mic 92.1-I often used to listen to the Mic 92.1 at my horrific lab job. Boring, Preachy, just anti-right, and not pro left anything. Pretty alienating to a left leaning person of color, not to mention the whitest radio station I'd ever heard in my life. It was the kind of self-congratulatory talk radio that didn't spark what the right wing shows do, anger or emotion. The Mic was just blah and whining, Take it or let it alone.

But it inspired something in its base to defend it, and for that it served a purpose at least. Whether it exists as an alternative for the liberals in Madison, or simply the tax write off expense within a bloated radio conglomerate, it serves its purpose and was salvaged for that reason. The community rallied, threw fundraisers, and got their station back.

Hot 105.9-While it featured the same 8 commercial hip hop, Top 40, and r&b songs there were undeniable moments of genius sprinkled in, Old School at noon (when Triple X hosted it), the racially uncomfortable yet funny as hell morning show, and the mix shows. It was almost too good for Madison, at least the half of Madison who could hear it.

Milwaukee has one urban contemporary station, an old school station, and an am hood Station that plays politics, hip hop, and blues (as well as a fishing report). They have nothing that played the amount of new Hip Hop that 105.9 did, and the cities music scene suffers as a result.

As an outlet for local talent, it was immeasurable. While Dane County may incarcerate more Blacks for its population than any other county in Wisconsin, it sure has a hell of a lot more rappers than any other, including Milwaukee. Madison is teeming with rap groups, spoken word artists, live band rap, and record labels that sprung up out of basements and apartment closets. I have no doubt that this had to do with the confluence Hot 105.9 and the underdog shows on WORT and WSUM (which exist like raisins in a sea of milk). WORT hasn't had a mix show in over a decade, I don't care what their schedule says.

Of course, like the proverbial crabs in a barrel, no one from the so-called conscious Hip Hop community rallied around 105.9; in fact what has followed is the irony of these niche shows trying to fill the void that 105.9 leaves. Spoken Word poetry has always been the "Mr. Me Too" to Hip Hop's popularity. Sure we get all the complaints of how Madison doesn't "provide" music or cultural venues, but if all we did was criticize and not support what exists then in effect we isolated it to be destroyed. As much as I love El Guante and Josh Healy, I never saw them at Majestic, partying or performing.

Speaking of performing, it was interesting to see the compiled critics lists of top live shows of 2006. None of them had any major hip hop shows. Method Man destroyed the Barrymore, body surfing and walking on the hands of the crowd, and not a word was written. Chamillionare sold out Majestic at $25 a head (do the math), not a single review or article. Reggaeton had one if it's biggest stars here with Voltio, the Latino community went nuts and Black folks came out too, and not a peep in the cities English-language papers.

Maybe this is all proof why a Hip Hop station didn't work in Madison. Maybe the majority culture (white folks, hey I'm talking about you) are only occasional fans of the genre or fans at a distance at best. Maybe the Hip Hop community of southern Wisconsin can only support a chitlin circuit of artists that draw from a small pool of fans.

105.9 failed for the same reason that urban clothing stores, grill shops, and soul food restaurants fail in this city. Madison is all about diversity, but not the scary kind you watch on TV.

D. Muhammad

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