Misplaced Pages

#465534

98-830: Kawann "Ohene" Shockley was born and raised in the North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later moved with his aunt and uncle to Accra , the capital of the Republic of Ghana , West Africa, where he spent his teenage years. He recorded his first demo tape at the age of 13, which led to his first television appearance in 1997 on Smash T.V. , a national television show in Ghana. A year later, Ohene made his first major concert appearance at The Vibrant Street Carnival in Accra, with approximately 50,000 in attendance. 1998 also brought his first professional production,

196-522: A hot adult contemporary format. Its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building . The station originally began operations as an experimental FM station in 1939, spun off from 710 WOR . It then became one of the first licensed commercial FM stations in 1941. Until 1965, when the FCC prohibited this practice in larger markets, the station served as an FM simulcast of WOR. At that time,

294-695: A Native Funk Lords track entitled "Amfuo", which received frequent airplay in Ghana. Ohene returned to Philadelphia in the United States, where he established the Christian hip hop group "Exit-Us". From 2002 to 2004, he taught a course entitled "The Art of Rap: How to Emcee" at Temple University through the Pan African Studies Community Education Program. While teaching at Temple University, Ohene wrote his first full-length album, The Rapademics , which

392-625: A Sunday night reggae show with Sting International. The battle between WRKS and WBLS continued into the 1990s, but a major turning point occurred in the spring of 1994, when WQHT changed formats from dance music to primarily hip-hop by luring "Funk Master Flex" away from WRKS, who, at the time, was a fill-in DJ for "DJ Red Alert" when Red Alert was out on tour or making appearances, thus competing directly with WRKS. WRKS responded by adding "The Bomb Squad Mix Show", hosted by "The N.O." (also known as "The Native One") featuring "DJ Enuff", "DJ Ace", and "Supernatural

490-419: A black woman named Odessa Bradford got into an argument with two police officers, one black, Robert Wells, and the other white, John Hoff, after her car stalled at 23rd Street and Columbia Avenue. After Bradford refused to comply with the two officers' orders to move the car, because the car had stalled, and she was unable to drive it, an argument ensued. The officers then tried to physically remove Bradford from

588-512: A brief moment in history, peaking in the late 1920s. Upper-class foremen and executives lived farther north along Broad Street , in what is now the West Diamond Street Townhouse Historic District. Thriving commercial districts sprung up along the great northern avenues: Columbia (renamed Cecil B. Moore Avenue), Susquehanna, Dauphin, Erie, Lehigh and Olney, to name a few. However, just as this wealth

686-488: A call letter change back to WOR-FM, but an FCC challenge from competing crosstown WRFM (now WWPR-FM ) prevented the call letter change from happening. Still, Kelly attempted to make the station the same adult contemporary format he had in Chicago. These changes did not gain any new listeners for WXLO, and ratings sank even lower. Later, Kelly adjusted the music and very slowly and gradually began mixing more disco and soul into

784-412: A contest in which listeners had to guess the identity of six Beatles songs blended together in a sound montage. The Beatles montage was about three seconds in duration and contained one or two notes of each of the songs. They were "Hey Jude", " Got to Get You into My Life ", "Day Tripper", "Come Together", " Do You Want to Know a Secret ", and "Ticket to Ride". The station announced that the contest winner

882-531: A format focused primarily on dance music (such as disco ) and R&B ; the format officially launched in August 1981, with the station becoming WRKS-FM, Kiss FM . The new format was immediately successful; in 1983, the station became the first in New York City to regularly play hip hop , furthering its success. For a time, WRKS-FM was New York's highest-rated radio station, and was a prominent outlet for

980-494: A hip-hop reimagination of a Nina Simone's originals with slight variations in subject matter. The album ends with the track "Nina Simone By O (Bio)," an audio biography of Simone, including her discography. After being urged to review Mysterion 7 and Nina Simone by ... Ohene by his students, Princeton University professor and social commentator Dr. Cornel West referred to Ohene's work as "genius." In 2008, Ohene returned to Ghana, West Africa to showcase his talents as part of

1078-453: A move made to spark development of FM stations as individual entities. On July 30, 1966, WOR-FM began running a freeform -based progressive rock format for most of its broadcast day, though the station continued to simulcast WOR radio's morning program Rambling with Gambling for a time afterwards. Under the leadership of legendary disc jockey Murray "the K" Kaufman , and featuring other notable disc jockeys such as Scott Muni and Rosko ,

SECTION 10

#1732764690466

1176-449: A new broadcasting company with Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson, and RKO appointed Charles Warfield (former general manager of WBLS) as the new general manager of WRKS. With Vinny Brown as the station's program director, WRKS became the No. 1 radio station in the largest media market in the world for six years right through the mid 1990s. By the late 1980s, however, RKO General was forced out of

1274-503: A new morning show featuring Ken "Spider" Webb and Jeff Foxx along with then-unknown Wendy Williams . (Foxx and Webb would continue on for the next several years, while Williams held various shifts on the station.) For many years, WRKS was number one in the Arbitron ratings due to its hip hop -influenced format. WRKS was also the first radio station in the United States to embrace dancehall and reggae music by adding Dahved Levy to do

1372-630: A number of the nouveau riche : ambitious first or second generation immigrants or those that had made their fortunes starting manufacturing firms. Many were German Jews who had settled in the area, later founding companies and building synagogues. For a time, an age of opulence and grand architecture returned to North Philadelphia, centered on what is now zoned as the Historic North Broad Street Mansion and Speculative Housing Districts. Gentlemen's clubs, upscale restaurants and shopping districts grew in this southern tier for

1470-735: A passthrough for overflow programming, including the national ESPN Radio weekday schedule. The station's call sign changed to WEPN-FM on May 14, 2012, to match the AM call sign. YMF Media then transferred the WRKS call sign to the ESPN Radio affiliate in the Jackson, Mississippi area. In December 2021, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin -based Good Karma Brands —an operator of ESPN Radio affiliates in other markets—announced that it would acquire operational control of WEPN-FM from Disney/ESPN, with Good Karma assuming

1568-468: A small yet growing population of Hispanics living west of Germantown Avenue, and already significant population of Blacks living east of that street. The area between Broad Street and 5th Street is increasingly becoming a "transition zone" between the larger predominantly black area west of Broad, and the smaller predominantly Hispanic area east of 5th. This section of Philadelphia has nearly equal populations of Hispanics and Blacks, although Germantown Avenue

1666-482: A time, Lower North Philadelphia became a great center of black culture and music, most notably jazz . Many commercial corridors were maintained for decades, and a great many musicians came to North Philadelphia, like John Coltrane and Stan Getz . By 1964, North Philadelphia was the city's center of African American culture, home to 400,000 of the city's 600,000 black residents. As the century marched past middle age, many other problems symptomatic of all US cities of

1764-494: A two-year period beginning in 1987. Two years after WOR-TV went to MCA (and renamed WWOR-TV ), on June 26, 1989, RKO sold WRKS to the Summit Communications Group of Atlanta . Around the same time, WOR radio was sold to Buckley Broadcasting . That same year, WBLS lured on-air personality Mike Love (formerly of the original Kiss Wake-Up Club ) to their morning drive show. WRKS immediately formulated

1862-419: Is a section of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . It is immediately north of Center City . Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as everything north of either Vine Street or Spring Garden Street, between Northwest Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia . It is bordered to the north by Olney Ave along Broad Street, Spring Garden Street to the south, 35th Street to

1960-545: Is divided into several "clusters," which administer individual schools. By region, these clusters are: Lower North Philadelphia Upper North Philadelphia Olney/Oak Lane YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, which is chartered by the School District of Philadelphia , is also located in North Philadelphia, just south of William Penn High School. The Mastery Charter Schools system operates

2058-488: Is headquartered in the neighborhood. Several parts of North Philadelphia, especially those that border the Center City district, have recently been experiencing varying levels of gentrification . Once economically divested neighborhoods like Brewerytown , Francisville , Northern Liberties , Poplar and West Kensington have seen large scale development break ground. Other regions have seen virtually no change, save

SECTION 20

#1732764690466

2156-414: Is highly racially and socially segregated block by block. A noticeable pattern in the area is that, in the southern part of North Philadelphia (south of about Erie Avenue), Germantown Avenue (which later becomes North 6th Street) is the dividing point between the areas that are predominantly Black (to the west), and the areas that are predominantly Hispanic (to the east). However, this is slowly changing, with

2254-553: Is made up of African Americans and Puerto Ricans . The eastern half of North Philadelphia has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the country, this section of North Philadelphia is over 75% Puerto Rican, and over half of Philadelphia's Puerto Rican population resides in this section of the city. North Philadelphia also has a high concentration of Black Muslims . The area also has significant Irish and other White Americans , Dominican , Haitian , Cuban , Korean and Polish populations, among others. About half of

2352-514: Is still seen as a divider street, with areas between Germantown Avenue and Broad Street "more black" and areas between Germantown Avenue and 5th street "more Hispanic". East of Front street, blocks start to get more diverse, with significant populations of Hispanics, blacks and whites. Also, as the Hispanic community continues to grow eastward, the ethnic white enclaves of eastern North Philadelphia continue to shrink. See [1] North Philadelphia

2450-539: Is the first hip-hop album to use the Waltz time signature 3/4 (nearly all hip-hop songs are in 4/4 time signature). In addition to Temple University, Ohene has lectured at Rowan University , University of Delaware , and Virginia Tech . He is referenced in songwriter and author Cynthia Bigg's "The Poetic Cries of the Impoverished", which was published in 2009. Ohene also met rap artist Christopher "Play" Martin of

2548-402: Is usually described as an area north of Center City, between Front Street and Fairmount Park. Sub-sections include: Today, many remnants of these more prosperous eras remain. However, many historic buildings have collapsed, either from neglect or demolition, and thousands more still lie abandoned. A handful have become protected historic properties, and 67 properties and districts were added to

2646-489: The BSL subway line garnered a reputation for violent crime and rape. The great art deco office buildings and government institutions were mostly abandoned, as were the mansions of the many ruined industrialists. As in many poorer African American city ghettos, drug addiction became a major blight in North Philadelphia, further destabilizing families and social networks. North Philadelphia, like many other sections of Philadelphia,

2744-583: The Kiss branding, now focused on R&B. In 2012, the Kiss brand came to an end when Emmis leased the station to The Walt Disney Company under a 12-year local marketing agreement (LMA). The station switched to sports radio as WEPN-FM, the flagship of the ESPN Radio network. In 2021, the LMA was transferred to Good Karma Brands . In August 2024, the LMA with Emmis expired; as a result, WEPN-FM's programming

2842-475: The National Register of Historic Places . Several blocks, with numerous old mansions, have been re-zoned as the aforementioned historic districts. A great many extravagant churches were built over the years, as well. Some still stand, but all too often money is scarce to preserve their deteriorating architecture. The trolley lines that once criss-crossed the northern streets and linked the region with

2940-542: The Philadelphia Free Library located in North Philadelphia. Uptown Theater is an iconic part of the music scene of North Philadelphia. It was a springboard for many notable artist of our time. 40°00′24″N 75°08′34″W  /  40.006762°N 75.142863°W  / 40.006762; -75.142863 WEPN-FM#As WRKS WEPN-FM (98.7 FM , "TJ 98.7") is a radio station in New York City. Owned by Emmis Communications , it broadcasts

3038-432: The golden age of hip hop . Amid RKO General's exit from the broadcasting industry in the late-1980s, the station was sold to Atlanta-based Summit Communications Group in 1989. WRKS was, in turn, acquired by Emmis Communications in 1994, forming the first duopoly in New York City radio; prioritizing the urban contemporary format of new sister station WQHT , Emmis flipped WRKS to urban adult contemporary while maintaining

Ohene - Misplaced Pages Continue

3136-460: The house music album The House That O Built under his new moniker O'hene Savànt. In 2012, O'hene surprised fans with the unscheduled release of a twelve track EP, The Unknown. He announce via Facebook that his self-titled fifth studio solo album is due out early 2013 with planned features by Big Daddy Kane and Meshell Ndegeocello. Featured: Production Credits: North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly ,

3234-414: The " North Philly Badlands " is notorious nationwide for it. Many North Philadelphia neighborhoods are blighted, and abound in abandoned homes and vacant lots. Pep Boys is headquartered in North Philadelphia. Certain sections of North Philadelphia were highly commercial. TOPPS Cards were once produced in North Philadelphia until moving to New York. Temple University is the seventh largest employer in

3332-671: The 1960s and 1970s; after 1996, the station began reintroducing current R&B back into rotation. But in 1999, WRKS switched from a classic soul-based Urban AC format to a mostly current R&B format. That same year, Frankie Crocker was hired as an announcer and a weekend DJ. The station slowly began to reintroduce rap in 2000. When WWPR-FM was launched in March 2002, the station shifted back to classic soul. In 2003, Barry Mayo briefly returned as general manager for WRKS, WQHT and jazz-formatted WQCD (now WFAN-FM ), and WRKS returned to its full-fledged Urban AC format. In April 2001, WRKS became

3430-572: The 98.7 FM frequency on August 31, 2024. GKB had made an offer to acquire WEPN-FM outright, but talks with Emmis were unproductive. The original plan was to consolidate WEPN-FM's local programming onto 1050 AM, and direct users to the ESPN New York digital platform for overflow programming. However, on August 12, 2024, GKB instead announced that it would enter into an LMA with Audacy 's 880 WCBS beginning August 26, replacing its all-news format with WEPN-FM's former programming as WHSQ . After

3528-520: The American manufacturing sector led to the closing of many of the factories that many northern neighborhoods were centered on and depended on. Increased urban blight and the general decline of Philadelphia in the late 20th century even saw the decline of many of the strong black communities in North Philadelphia. The legendary Connie Mack Stadium was closed in favor of the new Pattison Sports Complex . North Philadelphia Station lost Amtrak Service, and

3626-535: The BSL these major railways made the region a thriving hub of transportation. For a time, North Philadelphia station became the second most heavily trafficked rail station in the city, and the Olney Ave station the most used subway stop. Along with many of Philadelphia's major manufacturing concerns came the nearby estates of the wealthy industrialists who had founded them. Lower North Philadelphia in particular housed

3724-528: The Bob Marley 61st Anniversary Birthday Show. He also released the instrumental jazz album Without Words , which led to an introduction to legendary producer James Mtume , who now serves as Ohene's manager and mentor. That same year, Ohene began working on a new album, to be executively produced by Mtume, that promised another reinvention of Ohene's production and songwriting. This highly anticipated album will feature such greats as Tawatha Agee (lead singer of

3822-501: The City of Philadelphia, Temple University Hospital, Inc is number 11 (PA Dept of Labor and Industry, 1st Quarter 2019). Notably, Broad Street roughly bisects North Philadelphia north-south. Broad Street is a six-lane arterial street that is designated as Pennsylvania Route 611 . The Broad Street Line or 'Orange Line,' runs along Broad Street, directly connecting North Philadelphia with Center City and South Philadelphia, as well as with

3920-772: The Clymer School in North Philadelphia. The system opened the Mastery Charter Lenfest Campus (7–12) in September 2001 in an office building in North Philadelphia. The school moved to Old City in Center City in 2002. North Philadelphia has the largest concentration of Charter Schools in Philadelphia North Philadelphia hosts a number of institutions of higher learning. There are thirteen branch libraries of

4018-552: The FCC updated its call letter policy to allow FM stations to have call signs similar to those used on the AM band. The station initially chose WOR-FM, but six weeks later changed it on December 14 to WBAM. In 1945 the FM band was moved to higher frequencies, and WBAM was initially reassigned to 96.5 MHz, before moving to 98.7 MHz in October 1947. WBAM changed its call sign to WOR-FM on June 13, 1948. Like most early FM stations,

Ohene - Misplaced Pages Continue

4116-521: The Freestyle Fanatic". The Bomb Squad began "breaking" hot new hip-hop artists and ushering in the "Golden Era of Hip Hop". The Bomb Squad was the first hip-hop mix show in the country to play the records of The Notorious B.I.G. , Wu Tang Clan , and Mobb Deep . The Bomb Squad introduced its signature "bomb dropping" whistle sound effect as they played exclusive new hip-hop music and produced fresh remixes not heard on other urban stations across

4214-623: The Morning Show co-host TJ Taormina. The station's on-air imaging and programming was developed in around a week, which would be automated and voice-tracked using the Radio.Cloud platform to integrate localized content. At midnight on August 31, 2024, WEPN-FM abruptly ended its ESPN Radio programming (to the point that it joined " Shut Up and Dance " by Walk the Moon already in progress) and flipped to hot adult contemporary as TJ 98.7. It

4312-565: The New York home for the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show , as Isaac Hayes chose not to renew his contract with the station; he remained for a few months to host the local segments within the program (known on the station as The Tom Joyner Morning Show with Isaac Hayes ). Joyner's first stint on WRKS lasted only two years. D. L. Hughley was brought on to host The D. L. Hughley Morning Show in July 2009. Emmis planned to syndicate

4410-587: The Redevelopment Authority in 1964. These regions are (from north to south) Olney-Oak Lane , Upper North Philadelphia and Lower North Philadelphia . Other sections of North Philadelphia include Brewerytown , Fairhill , Fairmount , Francisville , Franklinville , Glenwood , Hartranft , Koreatown , Northern Liberties , Poplar (roughly bound by Girard Avenue, Broad Street, Spring Garden Street and 5th Street), Sharswood , Strawberry Mansion , and Yorktown . Prior to its incorporation into

4508-567: The United States to play rap music in regular rotation. Also that year, non-R&B dance music and disco were phased out, as the station played strictly music catering mainly to an African-American audience. WBLS responded by hiring Mr. Magic to conduct a weekend rap show, which helped WBLS reach number-three in the ratings that year, beating out WRKS. Nevertheless, the station had made such strides in its first two-and-a-half years that it resulted in Barry Mayo being promoted as general manager,

4606-537: The Walt Disney Company. Inner City/YMF also moved WBLS and its AM sister station WLIB into WRKS's former office/studio space at Emmis' New York broadcast facility. The 98.7 frequency simulcast WEPN , the ESPN owned-and-operated AM station until September 7, 2012, when the AM station switched over to ESPN Deportes Radio full-time. After the closure of ESPN Deportes Radio in 2019, the AM station became

4704-564: The air for you" a DJ said on that weekend. WXLO evolved to a younger skewing Top 40 format and the "99X" moniker remained until late 1979, when it became "FM 99 WXLO". This iteration had decent ratings for a while, but by the spring of 1980, the ratings fell dramatically. RKO General phased out the Top 40 format, and brought in new program director Don Kelly from successful sister soft adult contemporary WFYR in Chicago in an attempt to duplicate that format's success on WXLO. The station at first attempted

4802-601: The broadcasting business when the FCC began revoking its licenses to its radio and television stations in New York, Boston and Los Angeles because of gross misconduct and lack of candor on the part of its corporate parent, the General Tire and Rubber Company. Having already been stripped in 1982 of its license to WNAC-TV in Boston, RKO was left with no choice but to break up its broadcasting unit. In New York City, RKO's three stations were sold to different companies during

4900-497: The burgeoning worker population. This expansion was also the impetus for breaking ground on the Broad Street Line subway, designed specifically to carry a passenger from the northern hub of Olney to Philadelphia City Hall in under 20 minutes. Major freight and passenger rail lines were built to intersect at the newly constructed North Broad Street Station and transmit cargo from the bustling factories. The completion of

4998-491: The call sign W2XWI. In June 1940 experimental operations were moved to 444 Madison Avenue in New York City, now operating under the call sign W2XOR. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began permitting commercial operations by FM stations in 1941, and Bamberger's New York station was included among the first authorizations made for the original FM band. The station was given the call sign W71NY, which reflected its operation at 47.1 MHz. Effective November 1, 1943,

SECTION 50

#1732764690466

5096-491: The car. She resisted and a large crowd assembled in the area. A man tried to come to Bradford's aid by attacking the police officers at the scene, but he and Bradford were arrested. Rumors then spread throughout North Philadelphia that a pregnant black woman had been beaten to death by white police officers. Later that evening, and throughout the next two days, angry mobs looted and burned mostly white-owned businesses in North Philadelphia, mainly along Columbia Avenue. Outnumbered,

5194-486: The city proper, North Philadelphia was little more than a collection of primarily agricultural townships above the original City of Philadelphia. In the 18th century, as Philadelphia grew in importance and, consequently, population, then pastoral North Philadelphia became an attractive alternative to the burgeoning city. The mansions of wealthy Philadelphians began to dot the landscape, and by the late 18th and early 19th century, several small town centers had developed to anchor

5292-526: The country. Leaning towards a younger demographic, the station formulated a new morning show featuring Wendy Williams, who was replaced by "The Native One" during her former 6 p.m.-10 p.m. weeknights shift. Based on WRKS's success, several radio stations in other markets began to use the " Kiss FM " moniker for branding the station itself or its format. In the case of WRKS, the branding was grandfathered even as Clear Channel Communications trademarked "Kiss FM" for its use on its mainstream top 40 pop stations in

5390-424: The end of North as a suburb of Philadelphia. North Philadelphia's decentralized towns were gradually meshed into a sprawling network of the ubiquitous Philadelphia rowhouses . Many of the newly created neighborhoods retained the name of their ancestral towns and townships, for example, Northern Liberties was formerly Northern Liberties Township. Philadelphia was one of the most important centers of manufacturing in

5488-517: The expiration of the LMA, WEPN-FM's operations would be returned to Emmis; it planned to carry a music-based format on 98.7 in the interim, pending the search for a new operator or the outright sale of the station. Shortly before the expiration, Emmis would reach an agreement with syndicator United Stations Radio Networks to provide interim programming for WEPN-FM; plans were made for the programming to be anchored by The TJ Show —a United Stations-distributed show hosted by former WHTZ – Elvis Duran and

5586-643: The first African-American to hold such a position in the RKO radio chain. WRKS incorporated artists such as Kurtis Blow , Whodini , Run DMC , Fat Boys , LL Cool J , and Public Enemy into the same rotation as such established acts as Ashford & Simpson , Kool and the Gang , and Gladys Knight . In 1986, Indianapolis -based Emmis Communications launched WQHT (then at 103.5 FM), which had an early emphasis on dance music, forcing WRKS and WBLS to add more dance music to their playlists again. In 1988, Mayo left to organize

5684-567: The format. In the fall of 1980, Kelly, in consultation with RKO General, decided to go after WBLS-FM 's urban audience and WKTU's Rhythmic audience by bringing in new music director Barry Mayo . Mayo, shortly before his arrival, suggested a new format for the station to Kelly and then-general manager Lee S. Simonson after he received a surprising lambasting from his idol, WBLS Program Director Frankie Crocker (who would later become his rival). Mayo would later become WXLO's program director when Kelly left to start his own consultancy. By December 1980,

5782-477: The freeform format was the first of its kind in New York City radio. Later, Muni and Rosko departed for WNEW-FM , where the same progressive format would become a huge success. Initially, the Drake-Chenault -consulted, Top 40-formatted WOR-FM played new songs but in less of a rotation than WABC , which was then New York's big Top 40 station. Some of the notable early personalities included Bill Brown (who

5880-473: The growing population. However, this suburban landscape was to be interrupted around the middle of the 19th century, as rapid urban expansion led to The Consolidation Act of 1854 . This state law annexed all of the townships within Philadelphia County to the City of Philadelphia. With new territory now under the aegis of Philadelphia's city planners, a rising influx of European immigrants led to

5978-427: The intellectual property and trademarks of WRKS, primarily the New York City market rights to "Kiss-FM". As a result, Kiss signed off on the 30th with a goodbye show featuring all of the remaining airstaff, and went off the air at midnight, with "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" by Willie Hutch being the last song on Kiss. Immediately after, ESPN Radio began broadcasting on 98.7 FM under a local marketing agreement with

SECTION 60

#1732764690466

6076-450: The late 1940s as these residents became more affluent and Northeast Philadelphia began to develop new housing with lawns and conveniences such as modern plumbing. In most cases African Americans moved into the vacant houses and as this began to increase, true white flight began. Increasingly, people moved out of North Philadelphia not solely to move into newer homes, but to avoid facing decreasing property values and increased criminality. For

6174-487: The late 1990s, largely based on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, whose "KIIS" name was trademarked by prior owner Gannett Company in 1986. In December 1994, WQHT's parent Emmis Communications took advantage of newly relaxed FCC ownership regulations and agreed to purchase WRKS from Summit, forming the market's first FM duopoly . WRKS subsequently stopped playing hip-hop and flipped to urban adult contemporary format using

6272-461: The legendary R & B group "Mtume") and Miles Davis' lone protégé trumpeter Wallace Roney. In 2009, a life-threatening car accident while on the way to meet Mtume at Kiss FM in New York delayed the album's release. While continuing to work on his own music, Ohene also served as the main producer for jazz legend Jimmy Heath's Big Band/Hip Hop Fusion album. Heath mentions Ohene in his book "I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath", which

6370-502: The lyrical focus being more spiritual and political. Surpassing the critical acclaim of The Rapademics , Inner City Soul was touted as one of 2007's best albums by Hip Hop Linguistics. In 2006 he met musician and producer Dexter Wansel as well as R & B/Soul singer-songwriter William Hart of the Philadelphia singing group The Delfonics . Both of these musicians currently serve as mentors and advisers for Ohene. Ohene released

6468-442: The mid to late 20th century, if not in a more pronounced fashion. While residential corridors like Hope Street and Delhi Street had long housed primarily African-American residents, white residents moved out of the city as waves of poorer black residents moved in. During the 40s and 50s, much of the area was racially integrated , although smaller streets were usually completely black or white. Whites began to move out slowly at first in

6566-457: The police response was to withdraw from the area rather than aggressively confront the rioters. The race riots of 1964 became iconic for the rising ethnic tensions in the region, and the continued withdrawal of white residents. The riot, which virtually destroyed the central shopping district of North Philadelphia, signaled the beginning of the end for the North's commercial sector. The withering of

6664-479: The population lives below the poverty line. Most of Philadelphia's crime pertains to the drug trade. In a 2007 Philadelphia Weekly article journalist Steve Volk states that anti-drug activists said that North Philadelphia has a lot of open air recreational drug dealing because the act is a tradition and because many areas have consistent poverty. Though several blighted Philadelphia neighborhoods are known for open-air drug dealing, as well as open-air drug using,

6762-457: The rap duo Kid 'n Play . Martin still aids him as a career consultant since their initial meeting in 2004. Leaving Temple University to focus solely on music, Ohene released his second album, Inner City Soul in July 2006. This time, Ohene handled most of the production himself (with one contribution each from Rapademics producers Mr. Throwdown and DJ DN3). Inner City Soul represented a shift from his first album, mixing doo-wop and rap, with

6860-546: The remainder of Disney's lease agreement with Emmis Communications; Emmis maintains ownership of the station's license. In the same transaction, Good Karma purchased full ownership of WEPN (AM) and ESPN Radio-owned stations in Chicago and Los Angeles from Disney. On September 19, 2023, GKB owner Craig Karmazin told the New York Post that it would not renew the LMA with Emmis when it expires and would thus relinquish

6958-419: The rest of Philadelphia were shut down by SEPTA in 1992. Immense, abandoned factories sit idle; warehouses lie empty; and disused heavy rail lines scar the landscape. The names of the old industrialists, such as Gratz, Poth, Uber, Bouvier and Schmidt, still adorn many buildings and street signs in the area but are otherwise foreign to many modern-day residents. The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative or NTI,

7056-414: The rest of Philadelphia's public transit system: SEPTA . As of 2017 , Taiwanese airline China Airlines provides a private bus service to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for customers based in the Philadelphia area. This service stops in North Philadelphia. Public and Charter schooling in North Philadelphia is handled by the School District of Philadelphia . The region

7154-530: The rising housing values that have accompanied increased attention in urban markets. Many residents of communities in North Philadelphia have voiced resistance towards these gentrifying forces, viewing the sudden investment as an invasion that threatens the traditional character of the neighborhoods. According to the 2010 census , 340,350 people live among the ZIP codes of 19132, 19133, 19121, 19122, 19130 and 19123. ( Map ) Most of North Philadelphia's population

7252-467: The show, but after a dispute between Emmis and a proposed distributor over who would pay his salary, Hughley left the station and the program was cancelled on August 7, 2010. The station picked up Joyner's program again in 2011. In 2003, author and "relationship expert" Michael Baisden became host of the afternoon show, which later became syndicated nationally in January 2005. In early September 2010,

7350-477: The slogan "Smooth R&B and Classic Soul ". The shift in format resulted in notable personalities associated with the previous format, such as Wendy Williams and Red Alert, moving from WRKS to WQHT. The new sound on WRKS was introduced by the station during its annual "Twelve Days of Kiss-mas" promotion during the Christmas holiday, and was fully implemented in January 1995. Soul music legend Barry White became

7448-472: The slogan for the station, "Old School & Today's R&B", changed to "'80s, '90s & Today's R&B", which included dropping most pre-1979 titles. This would later change to "Classic Soul & Today's R&B", which would last until the station's demise in 2012. Following the death of Whitney Houston —who was born in nearby Newark, New Jersey —on February 11, 2012, WRKS dedicated the subsequent weekend to commemorating her career, including tributes by

7546-644: The station initially simulcast AM sister station WOR . Macy's/Bamberger sold the WOR stations (which launched a television station in October 1949) to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1952. General Tire reorganized its broadcasting division into RKO General in 1957. WOR-FM simulcast its AM sister station's full service Talk/MOR format. In 1965, the Federal Communications Commission ordered AM stations in large markets to end continuous simulcasting on co-owned FM frequencies,

7644-554: The station to often fall into the bottom half, or out of New York City's top ten stations entirely. In addition, an increasing debt load at Emmis's corporate level which forced the company to sell 80 percent of WRXP to Merlin Media in 2011 was also a major factor. On April 26, 2012, the Walt Disney Company and Emmis Communications agreed to a 12-year-lease of the 98.7 FM frequency for an undisclosed price. YMF Media (which acquired WBLS' parent Inner City Broadcasting Corporation ) acquired

7742-424: The station was classified as " Urban Contemporary " (which today would be considered as a strictly R&B -type format whether Rap or Soul ). In June 1981, the station was known on-air as "FM 99 WXLO making its move to 98.7". By the middle of July, the station had changed its call sign to WRKS-FM (the meaning of which originally referred to its being an RKO Station) and adopted the on-air brand 98.7 Kiss FM , as

7840-415: The station was leaning towards Disco and R&B . The station dropped American Top 40 in January 1981. The evolution was gradual, and by May 1981, WXLO was nearly all rhythmic, playing almost all disco, soul, and rhythmic-friendly pop. Almost all the rock and AC crossovers were gone. By today's standards, this station would be called " Rhythmic CHR ", but that term did not exist back in 1981. Therefore,

7938-572: The station's call sign to WXLO, and starting in April 1974, it became known as 99X , a reference to the WXLO frequency's close proximity on the FM dial to 99 MHz. This was a version of what was known as the "Q" format, so named because it was modeled after station KCBQ in San Diego. The format featured about 15-20 currents, with a heavy emphasis on constant contests and promotions. In 1976, WXLO held

8036-533: The station's imaging voice and promotional face, and would remain in this role until his death in 2003. In September 1995, WRKS hired another deep-voiced bass singer , Isaac Hayes , as its new morning show host, and later added Ashford & Simpson to helm its afternoon drive program. Funk musician Roger Troutman (of the band Zapp ) and former disc jockey-turned-motivational speaker Les Brown also hosted programs on WRKS around this time. WRKS's playlist for its first year consisted almost exclusively of songs from

8134-540: The station's staff and alumni, and listener phone-ins. Notable station personalities during the KISS-FM years included: While WRKS had a long-standing repertoire among listeners in the African-American community alongside WBLS, it suffered an advertising revenue setback in later years. This was due in part to Arbitron switching to the portable people meter system to monitor ratings around 2010, which caused

8232-527: The station's transition to this new urban contemporary format was completed by that August. The first song on "Kiss FM" was Make That Move by Shalamar . Early on, WRKS played a great deal of R&B and dance music , and became an almost instant hit with listeners, as its ratings skyrocketed from 22nd place to third. Notable Kiss FM Mixmasters at the time Shep Pettibone and, later, Tony Humphries , were commissioned to create longer versions of current popular songs. Longtime urban contemporary leader WBLS

8330-483: The station—by then owned by RKO General —flipped to one of New York's first free-form radio formats , focusing on progressive rock . In 1974, it adopted a top 40 format. Amid declining listenership, the station briefly adopted an adult contemporary format modeled after Chicago sister WFYR in 1980. Beginning in December 1980, after further declines in ratings under the format, the station began to transition to

8428-414: The themed EP Mysterion 7 on July 7, 2007. It was available for seven days, selling for $ 7.07, containing seven songs (the last of which ended at the seventh minute), and explored the numerology of the number seven . 2007 also saw Ohene's third full-length studio album, Nina Simone by ... Ohene . A tribute to the works and life of Nina Simone , written and produced solely by Ohene, each song represents

8526-429: The time came about. Many of the neighborhoods in North Philadelphia sprung up around one monolithic factory, which was the center of the community's income. Each factory that closed down devastated its host neighborhood. In this way, the wave of national industrial collapse caused the rapid break up of numerous "factory neighborhoods" in the predominantly working class North Philadelphia. On the evening of August 28, 1964,

8624-519: The west and Adams Avenue to the east. The Philadelphia Police Department patrols five districts located within North Philadelphia: the 22nd, 25th, 26th, 35th and 39th districts. There are thirteen ZIP codes for North Philadelphia: 19120, 19121, 19122, 19123, 19125, 19126, 19130, 19132, 19133, 19134, 19137, 19140 and 19141. The city government views this sprawling chunk of Philadelphia more precisely as three smaller districts, drawn up by

8722-601: The world between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, and North Philadelphia is one of the sections of the city whose landscape was most deeply shaped by the industrial era. Its landscape still strongly reflects this heritage. As the industrial age peaked in America, North Philadelphia became a working man's town. Upper North Philadelphia , Olney , Brewerytown , became major hubs of production. Large factories and industrial complexes were erected, covering vast swaths of city land. Thousands of row homes were constructed to house

8820-463: Was a City program launched by Mayor John F. Street . The program called for the demolition of thousands of condemned buildings and the construction of large-scale, medium-density public housing, with restoration efforts to be employed on salvageable houses. Many blocks of old rowhouses have been bulldozed and replaced with suburban-style tract houses . This program has radically changed some sections of North Philadelphia. Some charge that little effort

8918-455: Was a holdover from the rock format and would leave for then-rock station WCBS-FM in 1969); Joe McCoy (who would later become general manager of WCBS-FM); Johnny Donovan (who would go to WABC in 1972 and remain there until his 2015 retirement); Tommy Edwards (announcer) , later the longtime midday personality on Chicago Top 40 giant WLS (AM) ; and Al Brady (who would program WABC in 1979), among others. On October 23, 1972, RKO General changed

9016-412: Was caught off-guard by the sudden rise of the new station, which represented its first direct competition in that format. Around mid-1983, the station approached Afrika Bambaataa about an underground hip hop music show. He liked the idea and appointed DJ Jazzy Jay , a fellow member of Zulu Nation . He then passed the gig on to his cousin, DJ Red Alert . In Fall 1983, WRKS became the first station in

9114-417: Was from Tappan, New York . The prize was a Rock-Ola jukebox stocked with Beatles 45s. The station also once held an all- Elton John weekend. Listeners had to count how many Elton songs were played and win his Greatest Hits Vol. 1 album. Another weekend they held a "No Bee Gees" weekend, where they asked their listeners to request Bee Gee songs that they didn't want played. "I'll be sure to not get that on

9212-462: Was made to save a number of historic buildings, others that NTI was needed to change blighted neighborhoods. The lasting effects of the program remain to be seen. Some areas, like Olney, Allegheny and Erie, still have relatively active communities, but even they are often troubled by drugs, crime and/or social underfunding. Allegheny West has advanced, mostly from the support of some of the last industries in North Philadelphia, such as Pep Boys , which

9310-676: Was migrated to the former WCBS under a new LMA with Audacy , while WEPN-FM flipped to an automated hot adult contemporary format in the interim. In the late 1930s WOR (710 AM), then licensed to Newark, New Jersey , and owned by the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., a division of R.H. Macy and Company , became interested in the newly developed technology of FM radio. In the summer of 1939, WOR engineers, working with Bell Telephone engineers, set up an experimental 1,000-watt transmitter in Carteret, New Jersey, with

9408-674: Was released in 2010. From 2008 to 2009, Ohene toured with Jazz/gospel harpist Jeff Majors in promotion of the compilation album Sacred Eight . Ohene produced and wrote "Trying Times" for the album, which peaked at 15 on the Billboard Gospel Charts. Ohene performed "Trying Times" on TV One 's "The Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors." In 2011, Ohene released his fourth solo album, I Am Ohene , self-produced with all live and synthesized instruments (no samples) played by Ohene himself, featuring time signature changes and distinct movements on each track. That same year, he also released

9506-493: Was released in November 2004 and rereleased in January 2006. The majority of The Rapademics tracks produced by DJ DN3, with a few cuts produced by Mr. Throwdown, Greg Soundz, Jee-Eye-Zee, and Ohene himself. On this album, Ohene introduced the concept of "neo cubism," in part inspired by Picasso's Cubism , in which stereo panning creates alternate endings to the story. The Rapademics also fuses classical music with hip-hop and

9604-459: Was so suddenly gained, it would just as suddenly be lost. The new money culture proved to be an unstable foundation for a lasting community, and like so many constructs of the Gilded Age , this core of wealth was doomed to rot. Over the next few decades The Great Depression , outsourcing and white flight took their toll on North Philadelphia in a fashion similar to other major US cities of

#465534