The Takeover: More Than Just a Program

Steve Robinson, Producer, WHUR-WORLD

“As the rhythm designed to bounce, what counts is that the rhymes designed to fill your mind/Now that you've realized the prides arrived, we got to pump the stuff to make us tough/From the heart it's a start, a work of art…” lyrics from Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”

Q: What is Hip-Hop? Is it a genre of music, a movement, a culture, a multi-million dollar a year business?
A: All of the Above

Hip-Hop, in its earlier days, was an outlet, or a voice, for a group of people who, in a rhythmic fashion, had a message to share with the rest of the world. Over the years, and with the inception of mainstream media, the foundation for which this genre of music was initially built on has evolved. The evolution has caused Hip Hop to become one of the highest revenue grossing entities globally. Though this would seem to be a positive progression, it caused a negative divide within the genre. Artists and fans that love the genre for the core values the music was established on are constantly in competition with artists and fans that see the monetary value as the sole motivation to create music. It would seem that, as there once was, there would be room for all of these artists to demonstrate their talents through the music, but that isn’t the case. Well, until the creation of “The Takeover”

Q: What is The Takeover?
A: The Takeover is a program on WHUR-WORLD that allows for the artists of the genre who do not receive an adequate amount of airplay a home to showcase their talents musically. The Takeover has two weekly objectives: To equally entertain and educate. The music library for The Takeover in unconventional: meaning that you will not consistently hear the same handful of songs when you listen to the show.Weekly topics, news, creative segments and an extensive library of Hip Hop music have allowed The Takeover to be referred to as a “breathe of fresh air” by some of the pioneers in the music industry.

Q: Whom is the takeover meant for?
A: Everyone

The Takeover was created for all listeners. For the coreWHUR-WORLD listener, the Takeover allows for insight into the Hip Hop generation. For the older members of the Hip Hop Generation, the show allows for them to reconnect with all the reasons they fell in love with the genre in the first place. For the younger members of the generation, education is key. The Takeover shows this generation the artists who paved the way for the artists they idolize today, while showing love to said idols.

So I encourage you to listen to The Takeover every Friday and Saturday from 6 to 10 pm Eastern Standard Time, on WHUR-WORLD 96.3 HD-2. I also encourage you to follow the WHUR-WORLD staff and me on here as we discuss more topics involving the genre of music I hold near and dear to my heart: HIP-HOP!

srobinson@whur.com

Making the music work

Joe Gorham, Music Director. WHUR-WORLD

WHUR-WORLD 96.3 HD 2 is merely a reflection of WHUR –FM 96.3 the oldest black owned and operated radio station in Washington, D. C. which launched December 10, 1971. WHUR is the first commercial broadcast facility owned by a historically black university. Howard University is the proud proprietor of this heritage radio property.

The original plan for WHUR-WORLD music format was to return its musical format to its glory days reflecting the original music played on WHUR. The blending of Contemporary Jazz, R&B, World Jazz, Afro Cuban Jazz, Poetry, Blues would be the standard for music and with the addition of Hip-Hop on WHUR-WORLD would also make a bold statement to this new stations integrity. A few of the artists that are the staple of our playlist are “The Crusaders, Al Jarreau, Jill Scott, Maxwell, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Sarah Vaughan, Gil Scott-Heron, Elton John, Nate “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Miriam Makeba , Keiko Matsui, Hugh Masakela, Common and T.I.

We actually set up our musical rotation based on its genre. This would allow us the possibility of exhausting our entire library system. So much music had been added to the WHUR library over the years and a lot of music from that format was forgotten, it was necessary to locate those ole songs to make the WHUR-WORLD format operable. So this is what we did. We merged the original WHUR music format with part of the present WHUR format which reflects more of this era’s musical influences.

An original musical program format called “The Quiet Storm” was a big part of the WHUR radio phenomenon. This show has been copied by many other radio stations in America that have totally missed its conceptual intent. One thing to understand about the original musical format is that there was no format.

As you listen to WHURWORLD.COM remember the music format is based on no format. This allows us to program the best of what we consider to be good music. It provides a wide variety of music for the listener at the same time reflecting our different musical genres. We hope to continue to provide this type of programming as long as there remains outside the box thinking in radio.

Please take time to listen to WHURWORLD.COM. It is a product you’re sure to enjoy.

jgorham@whur.com