You can get more classic hip-hop stations on your radio dial these days.
Last month, three stations playing hip-hop from the early 1990s and 2000s debuted in Atlanta.Broadcast version of this story.
“Classic Hip-Hop,” as it’s been dubbed by industry experts, is the newest trend, says radio analyst Tom Taylor.
“The people who grew up with Missy Elliot and [Dr.] Dre and those folks are now ready, in their 30s – they’re now ready to hear that music on the radio,” said Taylor. “And it’s turning out to be a format that’s showing explosive early growth.”
The trend began earlier this year in Houston when a local station switched their news programming to play all classic hip-hop.
According to Nielsen data, the change in format worked – that station has now more than tripled its audience.
Since then, classic hip-hop formats have popped up across the country in cities like Dallas and Philadelphia, but Taylor says having so many here in Atlanta is unique.
“It may be that the competition in Atlanta is a kind of laboratory,” said Taylor. “We’ll learn some things as we go along about what songs work, what don’t, what presentation works … what names work.”
Taylor says he doubts all three stations will survive long-term and eventually there will only be one.
For now, the three stations are Old School 99.3 , OG 97.9, OG stands for Original Gangsta, and Boom 102.9.
9(MDAxODM0MDY4MDEyMTY4NDA3MzI3YjkzMw004))
