“Friday Night EDM…its premise is to capitalize on the immense amount of Dance product available to programmers, and showcase that genre to the common CHR listener.”
Eric Chase
Eric Chase, PD, WAEB (B104)/Allentown
We always hear and discuss musical cycles, but do we ever actually tailor programming around them? Sometimes.
Ten years ago, we were in a Rhythmic Pop cycle much like we are now. The Urban music was more Rhythmic than Urban and the Pop music was more Dance than Pop. That’s about where we are now with the Taio Cruz’s and Usher’s, Katy Perry’s andPink’s headlining our playists.
In that time frame, while I was working at 93.1 WDRQ in Detroit, under the guidance of then PD Alex Tear, we attempted a nightly show within a show called DRQ Dance. Its premise was to capitalize on the immense amount of Dance product available to programmers, and showcase that genre to the common CHR listener.
We knew the concept would at least be worth an attempt, based on the fruitful efforts of two Rhythm/Dance stations in Florida: WPYO (where I later worked) in Orlando and WPYT in Miami. To get started, we borrowed quite a bit of music from these stations. In addition, a month didn’t go by where our local Detroit DJs (Mike Scroggs, DJ Godfather,DJ Marquis) didn’t introduce us to more than a few radio friendly tracks they were slamming in clubs.
The music was there. We found it! And we were going to expose it, even if it bit us in the backside. (And if it had done that, I think we’d have been smart enough to kibosh the whole effort.)
But, really, was this going to work? Daniel Bedingfield, iio, Darude and Ian Van Dahl succeeded in Dance heavy Florida, but would these House and Trance artists work in middle America’s Motor City – which was known much more for its Detroit techno than any other electronic music genre.
Those aforementioned artists went from Detroit clubs, to mixshows, to the nightly DRQ Dance show hosted by night DJ, Tic Tak, to all day hits on the station.
The project worked. We picked the right tracks, and the audience, even the at-work listeners, accepted this music with opens arms (ears?). High ratings and drinking ensued.
Now, ten years later we’re experiencing a bit of musical déjà vu. Except this time, the standout Dance hits are coming from traditional mainstream artists such as Pink, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. By making the music they are, these artists are paving the way, with the bricks being BPMs, for artists like Edward Maya, Deadmau5, BT, Afrojack and Robyn to have a shot with PDs and MDs that they once wouldn’t have been afforded.
All that said, with DRQ Dance being the inspiration for it (and nods to Brian Fink’s Saturday Night House Party, and the Sirius BPM and Area channels), B104’s Friday Night EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is the newest piece of specialty programming that we have to offer to the Lehigh Valley.
The show, for now, is positioned at 11pm on Friday nights. I know PPM has been the executioner of many mix shows, but let me introduce the fact that this is not a mix show. (Also, we are not PPM here) For now, Friday Night EDM is a carefully hand scheduled hour of electronic Dance music from all genres (House, Electro, Trance, Chill, Progressive, etc.), with proper descriptive and “vibe” imaging placed strategically throughout the hour. It’s also a show that’s such a huge passion of mine, so I allocate an extra hour of my time so the show can be properly hosted with timely and intelligent artist and song prep.
Will B104’s Friday Night EDM be successful? Will it grow into a two hour show? Will it be a weeknight staple? I’m not sure. But I certainly think the Dance product is idling in front of programmers for it to be utilized…just as it was ten years ago.
