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“You gotta put that stuff on the radio. Let’s say you don’t like the content or what they’re talking about in the music, but you play the other people that are not from here. So might as well give that kid the opportunity.”
Spokespeople for both Hot 89.9 and JUMP! say they have contributed to the local music community through partnerships, promotion and fundraising, but acknowledged the frank realities of being a Top 40 radio station.
“Ultimately, no one’s going to be getting any support if we don’t have ratings,” Josie Fenech, Hot 89.9’s program director, said. “I have to play what a mass audience in this city is going to want to hear. That is how we keep this radio station afloat. So I don’t have the freedom, if you will, to be experimental or take perceived risks on maybe a less familiar artist simply because they are local.”
Stephanie Hunter, brand director at JUMP!, echoed a similar sentiment.
“Though we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve done locally since launching a few years ago, ultimately JUMP! 106.9 is a top 40/pop radio station and the mainstream nature of the artists we play and promote reflects that,” Hunter said in a statement.
The door to Hot 89.9 is always open, Fenech added.
“It is on us to stay open-minded and certainly from time to time, even to give a local artist a shot. It’s also on the artist to do their research and know the product they’re trying to get their music played on.”
She noted the station’s traffic jam DJs have aired a number of local hip-hop artists, including TwoTiime, City Fidelia, Hevve, Black Iri$h, Hueso, SVLM and Night Lovell. And in mid-September, the station added TwoTiime to it nightly rotation.
