106.9--Point's lack of play of African American artists

[HoustonListener]

The POINT (pun intended) is that I am not enjoying the music on 106.9 because it plays the same things over and over again, and it is missing so much of the variety of the 1980s.  My point isn't that 106.9 is being racist but that there are big holes in their play list that drive me not to listen to their station.  As someone who grew up in the 1980s I should be in their target market but I can't listen for very long because the station is boring and tiring.

[ilistentotheradio]

I see a new movement coming on.... "What's The Point?" 

Aww crap. I just gave their imaging director (or lack there-of) an idea.

[CHRles]

The original poster is right - the Point sounds like an overly vanilla white station. Folks, this is Houston we're talking about not some conservative little blink if you miss it kinda town. This is a market that had some of the best Top 40 stations in the country in the 80s - 93 Q and Power 104. Neither one of them shied away from hard Rock, Modern Rock, Dance, R&B, Rap, and pure Pop. These stations garnered huge ratings, were very active on new music, and weren't afraid to play youth-friendly Rap and Dance. There were some very conservative sounding CHRs in the 80s, especially in places like Milwaukee with WKTI, and there were quite a few markets where the CHRs were afraid or late on Rap, but this was anything but true for Houston. You'd think that with that kind of history and heritage factor that a station claiming to be focusing on 80s hits woulds get it, and play all of the big hits that got played in Houston. You'd think that an 80s station would have no problem playing hits from Michael Jackson, the biggest selling artist of the decade, especially from Thriller which was the biggest selling album of the decade. You'd think that in a market where over half the population isn't white with lots of Hispanics, blacks and Asians, there would be a great sounding 80s station. Instead, you end up with an 80s station that sounds VERY sanitized and very segregated.

Country stations focus on Country music, Rock stations focus on Rock music, and you don't see a lot of black artists these days partaking in these musical genres. As such, you don't expect to hear a lot of African Americans on those stations. Conversely, most of the best Rhythmic Pop music that's being released is made by African Americans, which is why they're the ones you hear on stations like The Box.
Blacks made a lot of great music in the 80s, and a lot of that music did well on the Pop charts. If the Point's premise is to play 80s Pop, then be a true Pop station, look at old KRBe and KKBQ playlists, look at old Hot 100 charts from Billboard, and play a good selection of 80s music.
I know the Point bills alright for such an automated station, but it could see an increase in ratings if it somewhat adjusts and expands their 80s libraries, and adds some cool features like nightly 80s mixes, a couple of daily Top 10 countdowns focusing on a particular years this week in the 80s, and even by featuring some fun 80s documentaries on the weekends.

[petertrip]

And the overall problem is that The Point just sucks.  Get XM, listen to 80's on 8 to hear all the 80s hits and more.

[truthsayer]

I agree with the original poster.  I think the reason is they test maybe for 150 song playlist.  They have not added anything since they threw some 90's songs and subtracted some of the 80's stuff to keep the playlist tight.  A Journey song every hour!

It is very sad!  Local radio has no clue what the people want.  The number though only speak since all the stations play a tight list listeners dont have a choice. 

Jack FM has about the largest list in town.  I have heard more Black artist there than on the Point.  Just a few more to be clear.

May say suggest XM or Sirus.  They offer all your hearts desire.

[sdh483]

That reminds me when I was listening to Jack one day and they aired a caller saying that Jack had better 80s music than "the other 80s station in town."  Jack responded with something to the extent of if "you don't enjoy it, what's the point?"  Obvious pun to The Point. 

Good point, you don't even hear MICHAEL JACKSON on the point, who had a few songs that had a rock flavor to it.  There was that one song that he did where he had this guitarist from some band called Van Halen play in the song.

With that in mind, here's some advice for the point: add some more music or BEAT IT!

An active rocker (like 99.5 KISS San Antonio) or a classic rhythmic (like 105.9 in Austin) would go good on the signal   

 

[purpledevil]

Lord knows it wouldn't kill 'em to play some Tone Loc, Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, Paula Abdul, Biz Markie, Taylor Dayne, Whitney Houston or Bobby Brown. Michael Jackson is a bit of a stretch since his bedtime antics got him run out of the country. I see Houstonlistener's point, but as another poster said, the same can be said for most any station in town. You don't hear "The Beastie Boys" on KBXX or KPTY and they could certainly be classified as a rap group. I seriously doubt their lack of airplay on any station other than The Buzz can be attributed to their Jewish heritage.

[sdh483]

I seriously doubt their lack of airplay on any station other than The Buzz can be attributed to their Jewish heritage.

I thought the Beastie Boys were Buddists

[salemjedi54]

Lord knows it wouldn't kill 'em to play some Tone Loc, Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, Paula Abdul, Biz Markie, Taylor Dayne, Whitney Houston or Bobby Brown. Michael Jackson is a bit of a stretch since his bedtime antics got him run out of the country. I see Houstonlistener's point, but as another poster said, the same can be said for most any station in town. You don't hear "The Beastie Boys" on KBXX or KPTY and they could certainly be classified as a rap group. I seriously doubt their lack of airplay on any station other than The Buzz can be attributed to their Jewish heritage.

You don't hear the Beasties Boys on 97.9 because they dont fit the format now.  Some of their older stuff would fit, but not the stuff they record now. 

[vj4dj]

The Point started out as 80's Retro  (Yaz, Erasure, The Clash) and eventually morphed into a Stars format, which is non-Urban oldies (Fleetwood Mac, John Cougar Mellencamp, Pat Benatar), at least the last time I listened to them at least 3 years ago (I wasn't even sure they were still on the air). It's not an 80's oldies station like the 80's Music choice channel on cable.

Michael Jackson would fit in on The Point just as well as Blondie on The Box.