Okay, seriously.
Am I the only person still skeeved out by 96.3’s slogan “Today’s BEST Hits Without The Rap”?
Every time I turn to the station and listen to a song, they throw that on afterward, and it makes me feel like I’m listening to Jebediah’s All-White Music Selection.
I can’t figure out who they’d target with that slogan since none of their competitors play rap (unless you count 89x’s Eminem and such, but darlin’, Bad Romance has rap in it too).
Maybe there’s a more rational explanation, but shouldn’t slogans not require an explanation not to sound outright racist?
What do you think, am I reading too much into it?
I think you’re reading too much into it. I don’t like rap, and it isn’t a race thing, it’s a music style thing. So I really don’t want to listen to a station that plays rap. *shrug*
But do “the BEST hits” really count as a music style?
If you’re talking Top 40, yeah, it does.
They didn’t say “the top 40″, though…”best hits, without the rap”
They didn’t say “the top 40″, though…”best hits, without the rap”
If you’re talking Top 40, yeah, it does.
Please!!! Tell Us We’re Not Racists!!!!!
Please!!! Tell Us We’re Not Racists!!!!!
But do “the BEST hits” really count as a music style?
I think you’re reading too much into it. I don’t like rap, and it isn’t a race thing, it’s a music style thing. So I really don’t want to listen to a station that plays rap. *shrug*
Dude, they still say that? No, it’s not you. That definitely bothered me as well.
Dude, they still say that? No, it’s not you. That definitely bothered me as well.
I think about you every time I hear that slogan…and yeah, it still bugs me. :(
I think about you every time I hear that slogan…and yeah, it still bugs me. :(
Cool icon!!
Funny, I remember you posting about this once before, and now I think about your comments whenever I hear that line. It’s always been a little weird-sounding, but I don’t think it’s racist really. If they said “ghetto music” or something, that would seem more racist to me.
I basically think they mean “that darn kids’ hip-hop noise they play on 95.5”, which is too long to fit in a slogan, so they shorten it to “rap”. (:
Cool icon!!
Funny, I remember you posting about this once before, and now I think about your comments whenever I hear that line. It’s always been a little weird-sounding, but I don’t think it’s racist really. If they said “ghetto music” or something, that would seem more racist to me.
I basically think they mean “that darn kids’ hip-hop noise they play on 95.5”, which is too long to fit in a slogan, so they shorten it to “rap”. (:
Strikes me as similar to the Disco Backlash
“There are many reasons for the backlash against disco in the extreme late seventies witnessed by the phrase “Disco is dead.” Motivations of the anti-disco backlash ranged from simple personal taste and loyalty to rock, to positions involving not-so-subtle anti-gay and racist feelings; disco music and disco dancing were depicted as not only silly (witness Frank Zappa’s satirical song “Dancin’ Fool”), but effeminate. In Britain, however, during the same year as the first American anti-disco demonstrations, see below, The Young Nationalist publication of the British National Party reported that “disco and its melting pot pseudo-philosophy must be fought or Britain’s streets will be full of black-worshipping soul boys,” though this had been true for twenty years with many white male English teens considering themselves “soul freaks”.
Disco’s core audience
As the minority audiences that originally created and consumed disco watched its appropriation into the mainstream many of them changed their interests and affiliations to other forms of dance music, sometimes simply disco with a new name.
Rock vs Disco
Avid disapproval of disco among some rock fans, who perceived rock as more serious and valuable, existed throughout the disco era, growing as disco’s influence grew, such that the expression “Disco Sucks” was common by the late 1970s.
Riots
One example of this backlash occurred in 1979, when a Chicago rock radio station staged a promotional event with an anti-disco theme, “Disco Demolition Night”, between games at a major league baseball doubleheader. The event involved exploding disco records with a bomb, and ended in a near-riot. The second game of the doubleheader had to be forfeited.”
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Disco
Strikes me as similar to the Disco Backlash
“There are many reasons for the backlash against disco in the extreme late seventies witnessed by the phrase “Disco is dead.” Motivations of the anti-disco backlash ranged from simple personal taste and loyalty to rock, to positions involving not-so-subtle anti-gay and racist feelings; disco music and disco dancing were depicted as not only silly (witness Frank Zappa’s satirical song “Dancin’ Fool”), but effeminate. In Britain, however, during the same year as the first American anti-disco demonstrations, see below, The Young Nationalist publication of the British National Party reported that “disco and its melting pot pseudo-philosophy must be fought or Britain’s streets will be full of black-worshipping soul boys,” though this had been true for twenty years with many white male English teens considering themselves “soul freaks”.
Disco’s core audience
As the minority audiences that originally created and consumed disco watched its appropriation into the mainstream many of them changed their interests and affiliations to other forms of dance music, sometimes simply disco with a new name.
Rock vs Disco
Avid disapproval of disco among some rock fans, who perceived rock as more serious and valuable, existed throughout the disco era, growing as disco’s influence grew, such that the expression “Disco Sucks” was common by the late 1970s.
Riots
One example of this backlash occurred in 1979, when a Chicago rock radio station staged a promotional event with an anti-disco theme, “Disco Demolition Night”, between games at a major league baseball doubleheader. The event involved exploding disco records with a bomb, and ended in a near-riot. The second game of the doubleheader had to be forfeited.”
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Disco
I wince every time I hear about it…
I wince every time I hear about it…
I always felt it was the radio equivalent of Detroit’s infamous “white flight”.
On a barely related note, I love hip hop and I pity those who don’t.
I always felt it was the radio equivalent of Detroit’s infamous “white flight”.
On a barely related note, I love hip hop and I pity those who don’t.
You’re reading to much into it. It came about when one of their major competitors started integrating a lot of rap into their mix throughout the day. 96.3 tried stealing audience from them by pointing out that they were just playing the pop hits, hoping to take the market share that didn’t like the rap as a heavy percentage; while they’ve not dropped the slogan, it has worked for them.
I still think it’s a poor choice of wording. Just like you don’t, as a marketer, name your product “Duu-shnazl” and you don’t defend telling your partner they have a fat ass by saying you like fat asses – making it easy for someone to interpret what you stand for as being racist is just stupid, even if you’re competing against a station that does, indeed, play rap. And it doesn’t seem to me that they are competing with 95.5 so much as 88.7 and 101.1.
Either way, every time they say it, it makes me question their motivation and my interest, which is not, I imagine, their intent.
You *do* realize that by assuming that Rap is equivalent to Black, YOU are being racist and stereotyping, right?
So if 90% of modern rap comes from black people, and rap originates with black culture, and rap stations play black artists, and another station says they don’t play rap, it’s racist of me to point out that the words they are saying are implying that they don’t play music from black people?
I mean I am quite aware of other music made by black people, music which 96.3 also does not play, but my point is that by singling it out the way they do they sound not just like they’re catering to people who don’t like rap, but to people who people who don’t like what rap represents to them. That very well may not be true, and may not be what they intended, but it is a perception they are giving other people.
Check both my LJ and my facebook – people less ‘sensitive’ than I am are also skeeved out by it.
Be that as it may, you asked a question, and I answered with my opinion. And there is no need to put “sensitive” in quotes, as that was never touched on in my response.
I’m not calling *you* a racist. I know you, and i know you are fair minded and so egalitarian it can be irksome. But you are also human, and yes, stereotyping a musical genre to one particular race is, indeed, racist in nature. Not maliciously so, but it is. Deal with it. The artists who create rap frequently come from impoverished backgrounds, whereas many pop artists come from middle class upbringings. One can just as easily shift that slogan to a class war issue as well, with equal validity. While Rap is produced mostly by black artists, one of their largest consumer demographics is the white suburban teenage male. Feel free to check record label stats for the data to back that. Jazz was also produced mainly by black people, as was a great deal of Motown and 50s rocks, all of which had a large white consumer base. When you stereotype a genre solely on the basis of the artists ignoring the listeners you effectively minimize the artist and the art itself by suggesting it has a narrow appeal that only addresses one aspect of the creator of that art.
I don’t care for rap. However, I appreciate it as an art form. I am also dating the former host and producer o Detroit Rap TV who is fairly active in the the Rap scene in Detroit. I love and appreciate him. But do I want to listen to a station that plays rap in the mix throughout the day? Not really, no. Does that make me racist, or just not a rap fan? Should I be ashamed of not liking it nor wanting to have to flick through the channels several times a commute? No. It’s just not my bag. And I’m guessing most people who listen to 96.3 also just don’t like rap, but like the fluffy bunny pop. And what they play is DEFINITELY the fluffiest, bunniest of pop.
96.3 has Bruno Mars, Usher, Rhianna, and Beyoncee on such regular rotation I’ve often gotten ridiculously sick of them (its only one of my many tertiary radio stations that happens to have really good traffic reporting.) They sing pop, yet amazingly, are still black. It appears to be a genre thing far more than a color thing as far as I can tell.
Genre of music is a valid thing that a radio station selects to play. Is the slogan bad? Likely. But I am equally personally bothered by the very premise that rap appeals only to black people. The more people that reflect that idea, the more bothered I am. The fact that so many people leap to that perception skeeves ME.
I enjoy rap, as long as it isn’t g rap.
I think there’s a pretty big difference between pointing out the implications (that I do not appreciate and do not agree with) in someone else’s poor choice of words and saying that I agree with those exact implications.
As you can see, I wasn’t talking about who listens to rap, but who performs it and what that slogan implies about that. I grant your point that they play black artists who are not rapping – I’ve never heard anything remotely like hiphop while I’ve been listening, but I do not listen frequently.
As I stated outright, those words may be contradicted by their actual playlist, but that does not, in any way make them any less unsavory. And listeners certainly don’t have to, and in my opinion would be unlikely to reflect those biases that the words imply – I never said that people who listen to 96.3 don’t like rap because they don’t like ‘black music’. I said that their slogan implies that that is what they want others to believe. And if no one at the radio station’s marketing department thinks that way, it’s a doubly stupid tagline. I’m pretty sure that people who don’t care for rap will figure it out without the tagline, just like 89x doesn’t have to say “The only non-rap alternative”.
Who listens to music is equally important in word choice as to who performs. Remember when 89X used to state “The only new rock alternative” back when they used to compete with the Planet and The Edge who weren’t just playing “alternative” but also “new rock”? Or 99.5 “We only play YOUNG Country” to differentiate it from the stations playing classic country along with the newer? Or when WNIC used to emphasize that they only played “adult contemporary” to distinguish from the River? It is common for radio stations to emphasize what they do and don’t play. Those slogans are saying “Hey i you like this, but don’t like that, this station is for YOU”. And while you may see that as about the artists, to those in marketing and those receiving those slogans, it’s ALL about the listeners. In marketing, who listens is far, far more important than who performs. Its about reinforcing the musical identity of the audience, not derisive to those performing the music.
I agree with Dan, who posted later, that if they had found a way to emphasize what they -do- play rather than what they -don’t-, I wouldn’t have a problem, even if the result was the same.
Ok. Marketing challenge. How would you emphasize what they do play, while setting them apart from other stations in the area, while not using words/phrasing that carry a negative connotation? Bare in mind the target demographic is 25-40, the type of music is pop top 40, and that people 25-40 hate to admit that they listen to it.
Ok. Marketing challenge. How would you emphasize what they do play, while setting them apart from other stations in the area, while not using words/phrasing that carry a negative connotation? Bare in mind the target demographic is 25-40, the type of music is pop top 40, and that people 25-40 hate to admit that they listen to it.
I agree with Dan, who posted later, that if they had found a way to emphasize what they -do- play rather than what they -don’t-, I wouldn’t have a problem, even if the result was the same.
Who listens to music is equally important in word choice as to who performs. Remember when 89X used to state “The only new rock alternative” back when they used to compete with the Planet and The Edge who weren’t just playing “alternative” but also “new rock”? Or 99.5 “We only play YOUNG Country” to differentiate it from the stations playing classic country along with the newer? Or when WNIC used to emphasize that they only played “adult contemporary” to distinguish from the River? It is common for radio stations to emphasize what they do and don’t play. Those slogans are saying “Hey i you like this, but don’t like that, this station is for YOU”. And while you may see that as about the artists, to those in marketing and those receiving those slogans, it’s ALL about the listeners. In marketing, who listens is far, far more important than who performs. Its about reinforcing the musical identity of the audience, not derisive to those performing the music.
I enjoy rap, as long as it isn’t g rap.
I think there’s a pretty big difference between pointing out the implications (that I do not appreciate and do not agree with) in someone else’s poor choice of words and saying that I agree with those exact implications.
As you can see, I wasn’t talking about who listens to rap, but who performs it and what that slogan implies about that. I grant your point that they play black artists who are not rapping – I’ve never heard anything remotely like hiphop while I’ve been listening, but I do not listen frequently.
As I stated outright, those words may be contradicted by their actual playlist, but that does not, in any way make them any less unsavory. And listeners certainly don’t have to, and in my opinion would be unlikely to reflect those biases that the words imply – I never said that people who listen to 96.3 don’t like rap because they don’t like ‘black music’. I said that their slogan implies that that is what they want others to believe. And if no one at the radio station’s marketing department thinks that way, it’s a doubly stupid tagline. I’m pretty sure that people who don’t care for rap will figure it out without the tagline, just like 89x doesn’t have to say “The only non-rap alternative”.
Be that as it may, you asked a question, and I answered with my opinion. And there is no need to put “sensitive” in quotes, as that was never touched on in my response.
I’m not calling *you* a racist. I know you, and i know you are fair minded and so egalitarian it can be irksome. But you are also human, and yes, stereotyping a musical genre to one particular race is, indeed, racist in nature. Not maliciously so, but it is. Deal with it. The artists who create rap frequently come from impoverished backgrounds, whereas many pop artists come from middle class upbringings. One can just as easily shift that slogan to a class war issue as well, with equal validity. While Rap is produced mostly by black artists, one of their largest consumer demographics is the white suburban teenage male. Feel free to check record label stats for the data to back that. Jazz was also produced mainly by black people, as was a great deal of Motown and 50s rocks, all of which had a large white consumer base. When you stereotype a genre solely on the basis of the artists ignoring the listeners you effectively minimize the artist and the art itself by suggesting it has a narrow appeal that only addresses one aspect of the creator of that art.
I don’t care for rap. However, I appreciate it as an art form. I am also dating the former host and producer o Detroit Rap TV who is fairly active in the the Rap scene in Detroit. I love and appreciate him. But do I want to listen to a station that plays rap in the mix throughout the day? Not really, no. Does that make me racist, or just not a rap fan? Should I be ashamed of not liking it nor wanting to have to flick through the channels several times a commute? No. It’s just not my bag. And I’m guessing most people who listen to 96.3 also just don’t like rap, but like the fluffy bunny pop. And what they play is DEFINITELY the fluffiest, bunniest of pop.
96.3 has Bruno Mars, Usher, Rhianna, and Beyoncee on such regular rotation I’ve often gotten ridiculously sick of them (its only one of my many tertiary radio stations that happens to have really good traffic reporting.) They sing pop, yet amazingly, are still black. It appears to be a genre thing far more than a color thing as far as I can tell.
Genre of music is a valid thing that a radio station selects to play. Is the slogan bad? Likely. But I am equally personally bothered by the very premise that rap appeals only to black people. The more people that reflect that idea, the more bothered I am. The fact that so many people leap to that perception skeeves ME.
So if 90% of modern rap comes from black people, and rap originates with black culture, and rap stations play black artists, and another station says they don’t play rap, it’s racist of me to point out that the words they are saying are implying that they don’t play music from black people?
I mean I am quite aware of other music made by black people, music which 96.3 also does not play, but my point is that by singling it out the way they do they sound not just like they’re catering to people who don’t like rap, but to people who people who don’t like what rap represents to them. That very well may not be true, and may not be what they intended, but it is a perception they are giving other people.
Check both my LJ and my facebook – people less ‘sensitive’ than I am are also skeeved out by it.
You *do* realize that by assuming that Rap is equivalent to Black, YOU are being racist and stereotyping, right?
88.7 is also a completely different genre. They are competing against 93.1, 98.7, 98.3 and the college stations.
88.7 is also a completely different genre. They are competing against 93.1, 98.7, 98.3 and the college stations.
I still think it’s a poor choice of wording. Just like you don’t, as a marketer, name your product “Duu-shnazl” and you don’t defend telling your partner they have a fat ass by saying you like fat asses – making it easy for someone to interpret what you stand for as being racist is just stupid, even if you’re competing against a station that does, indeed, play rap. And it doesn’t seem to me that they are competing with 95.5 so much as 88.7 and 101.1.
Either way, every time they say it, it makes me question their motivation and my interest, which is not, I imagine, their intent.
You’re reading to much into it. It came about when one of their major competitors started integrating a lot of rap into their mix throughout the day. 96.3 tried stealing audience from them by pointing out that they were just playing the pop hits, hoping to take the market share that didn’t like the rap as a heavy percentage; while they’ve not dropped the slogan, it has worked for them.
exclusionary advertisement
It does seem odd that they would pick an advertisement based on what they exclude rather than include.
It’s almost as if they are making a value statement.
Contrast it to doug fm and their “we play everything.”
exclusionary advertisement
It does seem odd that they would pick an advertisement based on what they exclude rather than include.
It’s almost as if they are making a value statement.
Contrast it to doug fm and their “we play everything.”