User:DominiquesMusic/sandbox

Urban vs Rhythmic

My name is DominiquesMusic. I have recently started my WikiPedia profile. For years, I have seen many users, audience and listeners who have been confused with two major formats, Urban and Rhythmic.

Urban

We all know that Urban contemporary is a format that was coined from the genre of music called R&B. Since the 1990s, music directions have changed. In fact, nowadays, there is now hip-hop, rap and R&B that are played on Urban stations. However, since then, Urban radio has spawned into several formats, including Urban AC, Rhythmic and Mainstream urban. To better understand these, we must break them down based upon the idea of demographics and sociology. Here's a story that will paint the picture. Remember that this is a fictional-story.

Story

'85-'91

Brandon Bishop graduated from Baskin High School in 1985. He was not sure of what to do, but he really had an interest in music. Brandon had talent in writing love songs, and at one time, he performed his poem to a girl named Jennifer Lovett. Jennifer had a crush on Brandon and thought the poem was beautiful. When he saw how she reacted to his poetry, he knew that he would someday be married to Jennifer. Brandon was no ordinary guy; his father, Martin Kevin Bishop, Jr. owned an R&B station in Vice City (which was the city in which he, Jennifer and his family resided in). Brandon spoked and negotiated with his father about recording a song to the radio about Jennifer. Martin agreed, and he had given him a few locations in the city to look for. There were not that many black record producers back then. Brandon finally found a man named Joey Foster. He wasn't black. However, he had worked with few local artists in the city.

The Song

Brandon, with the help of Joey Foster and his group The Sound, produced a hit called The Love of My Life. It was comprised with synth sounds from New wave and a 120-beat per minute background. Brandon's father introduced it onto his radio station. The station's call letters were VRNB. And at the time, they were an Urban station with slogan "Vice City's R&B and Soul Everyday", playing artists like Stevie Wonder, Klymaxx and Aretha Franklin. The people of the city loved the song, and of course Jennifer Lovett loved the song as well. It wasn't for long 'til she realized the song was written about her. 5 months later, Jennifer Lovett became Mrs. Jennifer Bishop. During that year, Brandon Love spawned several hits, including "If You Weren't Here", "On the Floor" and "Treat a Woman Right". These hits crossed into the country. He now became a star.

1987

Unfortunately in 1987, Brandon's father died from lung problems he caught from smoking tobacco. Brandon also gave birth to two children, Brandon Bishop, Jr. and Aaliyah Bishop. He did not want to leave them alone with Jennifer. Brandon had a tough decision, but decided to stay with his family. Along the way, he was known in Vice City as a singer who had the voice. Brandon turned his eyes away from the fame, and glued it towards his father's number one dream, radio. VRNB hired Brandon to be their personality during the evening and dark time of the day. He agreed and began radio. As Vice City's R&B and Soul Everyday, he and the station played new R&B and Classic soul like The Temptations, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Patti LaBelle. They also started their own weekday evenings as "Quiet Storm", playing soul and slow R&B. 102-5 RnB was the station for that kind of music to soothe you and your spouse. If you did not have a spouse, at least you had your lover or even your parent. The entire year, they were "The Black People's Station". Throughout the '80s, VRNB was the #1 R&B station, and VKIS-FM 97-9KISSFM was the #1 Pop Station. It was until the winter of 1987 that things started to change.

The Change

Vice City had grown a different crowd during the latter parts of the 1980s. Many people's focuses were not on those soulful and heartbreaking R&B jams. Even the ones who listened to pop wanted something different. They were tired of the New Wave sound that triggered artists like Eurythmics and A Flock of Seagulls. The city started two new stations called, B102 and Hot97. VAQB B102 at the time included dance-leaning songs from artists like Janet, and dropped rock songs from artists like Def Leppard and U2. Unfortunately, less than 6 months later, they would turn away from dance and mix Adult songs to form Hot AC.

Hot97

The other was Hot97. Many in the black communities felt that VRNB was too R&B and soul like. There were a few artists who were in the streets, doing dances and calling themselves DJ's and MC's. There, they called themselves Hip-Hop. They felt 102-5 wouldn't play music from Run-DMC and Sugarhill Gang. Even 102-5 RnB called it Trash and a sound of clashing words. VHOT began in November 1987. By radio and critics, they became 1 of 2 stations in Vice City to be considered Rhythmic contemporary; the other being VAQB. It was until March 1988 B102 moved to a Hot AC format.

VRNB 102-5 RnB and VHOT Hot97 became 2 black stations of Vice City. 102.5 continued playing R&B hits from Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and Patti LaBelle. 97.1 played music from Run-DMC and other hip-hop groups and MC's. However, during the evenings, Hot97.1 played dance music and a few R&B tracks. With Brandon Bishop playing Quiet Storm music in the evenings, neither one of the stations were similar. You can say 97.1 was for Hip-Hop and the young crowd, while 102.5 was R&B for those who were from ages 25-34. Not only was that the case, there was a new wave of R&B smashing the charts. It was called New jack swing. Boyz 2 Men were amongst those who were played widely on both 97.1 and 102.5. But, Hot97 would play these more often while playing hip-hop and dance 24/7 (something that Brandon and VRNB considered law-breaking to radio).

1991

This continued on, and eventually Vice City likened Hot97 over 102-5 RnB, thus causing the ratings for 102.5 to decrease dramatically. 102-5 started added dance-flavored jingles to the project. This did not help. Brandon Bishop, now the owner of VRNB, decided to allow the station to play R&B, new jack swing and a few singles that crossed over to the Pop Charts. It became 1991, a very confusing year to radio stations, or an awesome year to listeners and music lovers. Top 40 (CHR) stations and Urban stations began mixing together. The music played on both formats were similar. Boyz II Men could be heard on all VHOT, VKIS, VAQB and VRNB. July 21, 1991, Vice City's listeners sturred up questions regarding 102-5 and 97, wondering if the stations were publicity stunts. If 102-5 finished playing Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up", Hot97 would play the same song just seconds after it went off on 102.5. In response to this, Hot97.1 completely dropped it's R&B list and continued playing hip-hop during the day and dance, Techno and House in the evenings. Hot 97 changed their slogan from "R&B and a New Sound called Hip-Hop" to "Where Hip-Hop Lives". It was also the year that CHR stations were dying off one by one. This may explain why there is not a single CHR/Pop station on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

July 27, 1991

Furthermore, VRNB became known for playing "Vision of Love" by Mariah Carey several times a day. VHOT on the other hand played 3rd Bass's Pop Goes the Weasel several times. As it had seemed, 102-5 RnB played artists like Keith Washington, O'Jays, En Vogue, and Teddy Pendergass, while Hot97 played artists like Nikki D, DJ Quik, Chubb Rock, and Son of Bazerk. This continued on the entire year.

The '90s

The 1990s were a different decade. New artists, new sounds and everything in between. Hot97 continued its name. New Jack Swing began to die off after the early '90s. Mary J. Blige and others like Monica began to flourish the urban radio stations. Vice City wanted to add another urban station that would play not only R&B, but Hip-hop as well. They had been planning for this since December 1993. And eventually, they adopted 'VCRH 107.9, PoWeR 107.9. The station started out as using the slogan "We Play R&B AND Hip-Hop", emphasizing the "And" to incorporate Hip-Hop music as well. Sometimes, they would say "102.5 is for R&B ONLY, Hot97 is for Hip-Hop and White/Pop music ONLY". Both VRNB and VHOT started lawsuits against the station, saying that their slogans were bashing their stations and listeners. However, Vice City favoured PoWeR's side. Throught out 1995, VRNB, VHOT and VCRH continued battling each other. It was until 1996, that Vice City's younger black communities favoured Power 107.9 over 102.5 and 97.1.

'96-'02

Brandon Bishop's long-time radio station, VRNB, had lost ratings and tried adding jingles in the mornings, including "Come On Ride The Train and Ride It", using Quad City DJ's music, calling their station the Train that Brought R&B music to the City. The method once again did not work. Bishop and RnB had to give up their Urban format. They figured out that Vice City had listeners who were of older age who wanted more music from the '60s, '70s and '80s. VRNB kept its name, callsign and frequency. It dropped the urban contemporary format and adopted an urban oldies format. It would soon include R&B hits during the 90s and new R&B songs. It would soon become an Urban AC station.

VHOT kept its Rhythmic format, playing Hip-Hop during the day and dance during the evenings (including Saturday evenings). VCRH PoWeR 107.9 dropped its urban contemporary format, and it had begun adding hip-hop and heavy/hard rap from Vice City. It was still hip-hop, but it wasn't golden age hip hop or old school rap. They would even play 2pac and Biggie Smalls, but would shy away from A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes, since Hot97 heavily played them. PoWeR 107.9 became a Mainstream urban station, playing more hip-hop and less R&B than VRNB 102-5 RnB.

Then in October 2000, Hot97 dropped its slogan, "Where Hip-Hop Lives", to "Vice City's Party Station". It would soon add R&B male/female groups to their playlist (i.e. Destiny's Child, NSYNC and TLC). It had also stop playing dance/club music during evenings of the week. It moved this toward the Saturday evenings through the Sunday mornings (Rhythmic contemporary). Because of this, PoWeR 107.9 did not want to drain the African-American communities with two stations with identical playlists. 107.9 dropped the Mainstream urban format and re-adopted the Urban contemporary format since VRNB dropped it in 1997. For the first time in Vice City, Hot97 pitched up the songs higher and sped the songs up a little bit so that listeners could tell the difference between the two stations. For the first time in Vice City, PoWeR 107.9 started playing gospel and inspirational music sunday mornings from 8am to 12noon.

Throughout the early 2000s, both station continued their formats. It was until the beginning of 2002 when the stations began draining each other with similar playlist. Back in 2000, Hot97 was known for playing Alice Deejay's Better Off Alone, while PoWeR107.9 strayed away from playing this song and similar music. January-February 2002 was different. Power 107.9 would play U Got it Bad by Usher and Always on Time by Ja Rule & Ashanti first. Then 4 or 5 weeks later, Hot97 would eventually play these songs more often. It was as if VHOT was behind on urban singles. But Vice City paid no minds to it. However, later that year, Lil Bow Wow released his single, "Take Ya home". Power 107.9 mentioned about the song, but Hot97 played it and it became a jingle on 97.1 every afternoon rush hour until November 2002.

2k's

Throughout the 2000s, both stations battled to be the #1 Urban station in Vice City. Hot97 dropped the slogan, "Vice City's Party Station", and changed it to, "V.C.'s New #1 for Hip-Hop". They began to minimize urban adult songs from artists like Carl Thomas, Jill Scott, Avant and Musiq; however, Beyoncé and Usher were still aired. Because PoWeR107.9 had the higher ratings, they also dropped their slogan, "We Play R&B AND Hip-Hop", and replaced it with, "The People's Station". VCRH would emphasize that Hot97 was a good station, but scared away the R&B audience of Vice City; VRNB was for the Ol Skool, since they play music from Stevie Wonder, Supremes, Jackson 5 and The Sylvers. One thing for sure was that Hot97 would play Beenie Man, Baby Bash and Akon, while Power would play Angie Stone, Keyshia Cole and Ginuwine. In the fall of 2004, Hot97 occasionally played Over And Over by Nelly and Tim McGraw; but Power 107.9 and the young community viewed the song as a terrible mix, wondering why Nelly or another rapper would ever make a song with a Country artist. However, Hot97 said its station gears toward an African-American, Asian and Hispanic crowd. Nelly's and Tim McGraw's song reached #1 on Pop radio stations, being heavily played on VKIS and VAQB and reaching #1 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream/Pop Songs. Not saying that no urban/black singles topped the pop charts; it was just the fact that the black communities felt it wasn't "black" or "urban" to be Rap/R&B.