WPGC-FM, CHR/Rhythmic or Mainstream Urban

[*Who Is?*]

Washington DC's station WPGC 95.5 has always confused me. They are formatted as a CHR/Rhythmic Contemporary but their playlist is identical to that of a Urban Mainstream.

Disturbia by Rihanna, Paper Planes by M.I.A., Just Dance by Lady Gaga, Love Sex Magic by Ciara and Justin, these songs never play on this station. Heres a sample of their playlist.

Soulja Boy - Kiss Me Thru The Phone (w/ Sammie)
16.05.2009 11:16am

Ciara - Never Ever (w/ Young Jeezy)
16.05.2009 11:19am

Rick Ross - Magnificent (w/ John Legend)
16.05.2009 11:23am

Maxwell - Pretty Wings
16.05.2009 11:26am

Jeremih - Birthday Sex
16.05.2009 11:33am

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite
16.05.2009 11:37am

Jamie Foxx - Blame It (w/ T-Pain)
16.05.2009 11:41am

Pleasure P - Boyfriend #2
16.05.2009 11:58am

Lil' Kim - Download (w/ T-Pain)
16.05.2009 12:01pm

Soulja Boy - Turn My Swag On
16.05.2009 12:08pm

Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (w/ Ne-Yo & Kanye West)
16.05.2009 12:12pm

Birdman - Always Strapped (w/ Lil Wayne)
16.05.2009 12:17pm

Twista - Wetter (Get It Wet, Part 2)
16.05.2009 12:20pm

Young Money - Every Girl In The World (w/ Lil Wayne)
16.05.2009 12:32pm

The Roots - You Got Me (w/ Erykah Badu & Eve)
16.05.2009 12:38pm

The Dream - Rockin' That Sh**
16.05.2009 12:41pm

Hurricane Chris - She's Fine (w/ Supastarr)
16.05.2009 12:45pm

Drake - Best I Ever Had
16.05.2009 12:58pm

Musiq Soulchild - SoBeautiful
16.05.2009 1:03pm


Jamie Foxx - Blame It (w/ T-Pain)
16.05.2009 1:07pm

The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
16.05.2009 1:11pm

Maxwell - Pretty Wings
16.05.2009 1:15pm

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite
16.05.2009 1:28pm

T.I. - Live Your Life (w/ Rihanna)
16.05.2009 1:32pm

Beyonce - Halo
16.05.2009 1:36pm

Young Money - Every Girl In The World (w/ Lil Wayne)
16.05.2009 1:40pm

Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (w/ Ne-Yo & Kanye West)
16.05.2009 1:56pm

Soulja Boy - Turn My Swag On
16.05.2009 2:01pm

Jeremih - Birthday Sex
16.05.2009 2:09pm

Lil Wayne - Mrs. Officer (w/ Bobby Valentino & Kidd Kidd)
16.05.2009 2:12pm

Pleasure P - Boyfriend #2
16.05.2009 2:17pm

The Dream - Rockin' That Sh**
16.05.2009 2:21pm

Musiq Soulchild - SoBeautiful
16.05.2009 2:33pm

Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
16.05.2009 2:38pm

Ne-Yo - Miss Independent (She Got Her Own) (w/ Fabolous & Jamie Foxx)
16.05.2009 2:41pm

Hurricane Chris - She's Fine (w/ Supastarr)
16.05.2009 2:45pm

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite
16.05.2009 2:57pm

Young Money - Every Girl In The World (w/ Lil Wayne)
16.05.2009 3:01pm

Chrisette Michele - Epiphany
16.05.2009 3:06pm

Keyshia Cole - Let It Go (w/ Missy Elliott & Lil' Kim)
16.05.2009 3:09pm

Ginuwine - Last Chance
16.05.2009 3:15pm

Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (w/ Ne-Yo & Kanye West)
16.05.2009 3:27pm

Usher - Love In This Club (w/ Young Jeezy)
16.05.2009 3:31pm

Birdman - Always Strapped (w/ Lil Wayne)
16.05.2009 3:35pm

Jeremih - Birthday Sex
16.05.2009 3:39pm

Honestly, whats up with that? Do they appear Mainstream Urban to you? Or just a CHR/Rhythmic heavily leaning urban.

[tico]

It's a rhythmic-in-name only. Some stations do this to curry favor with advertisers, since rhythmic formats actually target white audiences. The belief is that companies will advertise with stations with whiter audiences than blacker audiences. Sad, but true.

[shadster]

No question about it. They are absolutly URBAN! They may play an occasional 'gold' song from the 80s or 90s but even those are rhythmic leaning (eg: New Edition). Their head-to-head competitor is KYS 93.9. The 2 stations formats are nearly identical to me. But alas, I don't really listen to em much since I'm more a CHR/Pop guy.

[atlantaboy]

May 16, 2009 20:21:54 GMT -5 @tico said:

It's a rhythmic-in-name only. Some stations do this to curry favor with advertisers, since rhythmic formats actually target white audiences. The belief is that companies will advertise with stations with whiter audiences than blacker audiences. Sad, but true.

Yeah agreed...even think it extends to Rhythmics having white D. J.'s vs. Urbans havin black D. J.'s, so yeah must be a target audience thing

[Minor Scratch]

Memphis, Tennessee has an even bigger mess than this. KXHT is a Rhythmic and plays virtually all Urban local hiphop. The Urban WHRK plays a more national playlist. I'm not sure how that works out.

www.yes.com/#KXHT
www.yes.com/#WHRK

[tico]

I'm gonna be in Memphis this weekend, so I'll have to check that out. Memphis has a fledgling local hip-hop scene, which is probably why KXHT would lean that way. Plus, with their limited signal, it's a great way to separate themselves from the more-powerful WHRK. KXHT is also one of those stations that is rhythmic in name only and have been that way for a long time.

Though I mentioned that these urbans title themselves rhythmic for better advertising dollars, don't publications like Mediabase actually determine what format they are? I ask this because I remember some time back, some people wondered why Star 94 in Atlanta was labeled CHR and not hot AC and it was because they played enough currents at the time to be labeled CHR.

[atlantaboy]

May 18, 2009 15:35:17 GMT -5 @tico said:

Though I mentioned that these urbans title themselves rhythmic for better advertising dollars, don't publications like Mediabase actually determine what format they are? I ask this because I remember some time back, some people wondered why Star 94 in Atlanta was labeled CHR and not hot AC and it was because they played enough currents at the time to be labeled CHR.

Yeah actually remember this comin up before and a bunch of posters had said that it's essentially the station's call what format they are (within a certain framework I guess) - with Hot AC vs. CHR, I think it comes down to whether the station adds songs when they go for Hot AC adds or whether (like Star 94) they wait til they go for CHR adds - Star 94 does play somethin like 85% currents (nearly 100% evenings) but some Hot AC stations like KUDD/Salt Lake and KRQ/Cincinatti play just as many currents, only they consist of a lot of tracks that never went for CHR adds

Guess what I mean is...by adding songs when they go for adds at a particular format, the station is essentially choosing that format - so wouldn't be surprised if Rhythmics/Urbans kinda get to choose their own format also

[Marv]

I have no idea when WPGC evolved from a CHR/Rhythmic format, where it was the #1 such station in the nation for over twenty years, into being reclassified as an Urban station at R&R/BB, although I do think it's been less than a year since they made the switch.

Longtime PD Jay Stevens left almost two years to become VP/Programming for Radio One, overseeing their Urban & Rhythmic stations.

[Slinky]

They may have just been reclassified recently, but they've been an Urban for at least a decade now. I doubt they've played any Pop or Dance whatsoever since the 90's.

[radioguru979]

95.5 WPGC is definitely an Urban station, and I'm still confused as to why it is still considered CHR/Rhythmic? I don't get it, just like Memphis' Hot 107.1 and a few other CHR/Rhythmic stations that are DEFINITELY Urban. The only thing I can think of is when they mix on tha weekends & holidays they do plan to play rhythmic songs during their mixes. Other than that, I don't get it lol.

[*Who Is?*]

^^^ LOL Reminds me, one of the DJ's were messing around and ended up playing Womanizer by Britney one Saturday evening and someone in the station, im guessing the PD, cut to commercial