Happen to know how many signatures it had? Y100's now up to over 16000, and it's only been 2 days since it went up (and one day since the station went down). People are also planning a protest outside of the studio.
Something else VERY cool is that Y100 has Weezer supporting them!
weezer.com wrote:...in a different, disturbing note, we've learned that Philadelphia's Y-100 radio station, a HUGE weezer supporter over the years, has unexpectedly been forced off the air! You can help try and get it back on, go to this website and sign the web petition! Y-100 played weezer more than virtually any other radio station and has had the band on twice for its famous 'Sonic Sessions'. Please help save it (and good music on the radio in general!)
I <3 =w=.
Anyway, the more I learn about this, the more rage I'm filled with. Turns out that Radio One is the same company that bought WDRE back in 1997, then changed it's format to rap. And now not only have they done the same thing to Y100, but they replaced it with the SAME EXACT STATION that DRE got replaced with... they wanted the stronger signal of 100.3, so they moved it and the old station (which back in the day was DRE) is now going to turn into FREAKING GOSPEL. The same program director (and a lot of the same staff, who moved to Y100 when DRE was shut down) has now been fired TWICE by Radio One.
Y100 was not suffering at all, in fact it was doing better than the rap station they moved into its place.
None of this is really a surprise when you read the company's profile on their website:
Radio One, Inc. (
www.radio-one.com) is the nation's seventh largest radio broadcasting company (based on 2003 net broadcast revenue) and the largest company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners. Radio One owns and/or operates 69 radio stations located in 22 urban markets in the United States and reaches approximately 13 million listeners every week. Radio One also programs “XM 169 The POWER” on XM Satellite Radio and owns approximately 40% of TV One, LLC, an African-American targeted cable channel, which is a joint venture with Comcast Corporation.
Our strategy is to expand within our existing markets and into new markets that have a significant African-American presence. We believe radio broadcasting primarily targeting African-Americans has significant growth potential. We also believe that we have a competitive advantage in the African-American market and the radio industry in general, due to our primary focus on urban formats, our skill in programming and marketing these formats, and our turnaround expertise.
Radio One, Inc. is led by our Chairperson and Founder, Catherine L. Hughes, and her son, Alfred C. Liggins, III, Chief Executive Officer and President, who together have over 45 years of operating experience in radio broadcasting. Ms. Hughes, Mr. Liggins, and our strong management team, have successfully implemented a strategy of acquiring and turning around under performing radio stations.
Our market portfolio includes stations in Atlanta, Augusta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, St. Louis and Washington, DC.
I'm amazed they allowed the station to be modern rock as long as they did. This feels like racism to me.
