While WQHT (97.1 FM) wasn't happy yesterday that some media reports linked the shooting there to the station itself, Hot-97 hosts still plunged into the story as hip hop's biggest news of the day. Since WQHT went hip-hop in 1993, it has worked to position itself as part of the hip-hop world, not just a place that plays the records.
It's a policy that has made the station a ratings powerhouse, but has also led some to associate Hot-97 with hip-hop's violent side or to charge that Hot-97 exploits it. That's what Star, ex-morning host on Hot-97 and now morning host on rival WWPR (105.1 FM), charged yesterday in connection with Monday night's incident, in which a man was shot in the leg outside the station while 50 Cent was on the air with Funkmaster Flex.
Calling hip hop "the new drug game," Star said, "A lot of these people want to throw more gasoline on the fire. They don't care what they say."
Reiterating that "I'm ashamed of some of the things I took part in" at WQHT, he said, "Parents need to educate your children to what's going on in the media."
His counterpart on WQHT, Miss Jones, who has generally said little in the ongoing scrap between Power and Hot, made it clear yesterday she doesn't think Power has anything to brag about.
Any hip-hop fan who turns to Power, she said, will get "refurbished nonsense."
Noting that other stations picked up audio from 50 Cent's interview with Funkmaster Flex - implying that Hot-97 is still the real source for hip-hop information - she added, "And then they have the nerve to call themselves 'New York' stations."
Jones led a long discussion of Monday's shooting early yesterday and then pulled back, saying, "We needed to put it out there, but we don't want to exploit it."
In the monthly Arbitrend ratings that came out Monday and provide a snapshot en route to the quarterly ratings that really matter, WWPR edged slightly ahead of WQHT for the first time ever.
ROCK OUT?: Joel Hollander, CEO of Infinity, dropped a grenade Monday when he said Infinity "could potentially change the format" of WXRK (92.3 FM) after Howard Stern leaves.
Truth is, he said, K-Rock has never had great ratings for the rock it plays after Stern's morning shift.
It has a loyal core of fans, but New York has always been considered a rhythm town - that is, a shaky market for current or alternative rock.
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