SA Loses One More Beloved Station

Power 106.7 has ditched their hip-hop format for a more subdued signal. Virgil Thompson, VP of programming, announced today that the station will no longer be San Antonio’s choice for hip-hop and R&B. Instead, the station plans on introducing a talk format.

This decision was made based on the numbers Arbitron provided to Cox Radio, Power 106.7 parent company. Arbitron, a company that provides a type of listener meter, maintains a diary, taken four times a year, that indicates who is listening and at what frequency. They call it a Personal People Meter. And many of the people it meters are outraged.

Kevin Barnes, aka Rewind, former disc jockey at Power 106.7, says that stations like this one are flanker stations. They change every three years or so to strategically knock down a rival formatted station. “For example,” he says, “the Beat 98.1 was getting a nine share – which is outrageously good – in the ratings. Power went in and tried to take them out and their rating dropped to a six. So the two were basically neck and neck.”

But, despite being able to knock a similarly formatted station out of complete dominance isn’t enough. Virgil Thompson said Power wasn’t bringing in enough money or ratings. “The hip-hop format didn’t appeal to listeners enough – Cox saw the numbers and decided to change.”

To that, Barnes replies, “Those numbers that Arbitron puts together are a joke. “ What the company does is randomly selects households and calls to ask household members what they listen to. But in this day and age, Barnes points out, “How many 18 -34 year olds have house phone? Almost none. That system is flawed. There has been an injunction introduced for ethnic benchmarks to be considered. I think a new system will revolutionize radio.”

“Let’s hope so,” remarks Manual Solis, hip-hop writer for the SA Current. “If we lose our lone hip-hop station, it will kill what so many of our local hip-hop artists have worked towards. Just recently some of the local groups have been nationally recognized. Another blow to the scene, and who knows how much the city will fall off.”

For more on Arbitron, visit their site www.Arbitron.com.