One year ago today, the #NEWATNINEBOYZ were put together on your airwaves for the first time.
I, Soosh*e!, had only been working in radio for two months, and DJ Danny Cee was a veteran from the originating days on the 103.5 frequency-though he hadn’t been on air in years.
When our boss, DJ Tosh, originally told me that Danny was going to be my DJ, I had no idea what to expect-and apparently, neither did Tosh.
We went on air for the first time at 9pm on March 3rd, 2014, for the first ever ‘New@9′-as it was originally called-and Danny played slap after slap after slap.
…To the point that we got in trouble the following day. We were told that the mix was way too Urban for the station’s format.
The day before, the station was a Pop station, and it was our first night in a new format that wasn’t playing artists like One Direction and 5SOS.
So, for us to take the radio to a whole new level with no type of transition was blasphemous, and misleading for the listeners.
We were told that the show was pulled for the rest of the week, unless Danny cleaned up the mix and played closer to the format.
The following night, Danny went on air and did just that. He played closer to the book and didn’t go for the gusto, as he did the night before.
Though saddening, it was still satisfying to know that we weren’t fired on our first night on the scene.
A couple months passed, and the station started seeing success from the #NEWATNINEBOYZ show, as well as all of the changes that were made across the board.
As those changes saw such a positive response, the #NEWATNINEBOYZ show became more liberal, and the rules started to get broken.
During one of the shows in May, Danny said, “I’m gonna play a little less Pop these next couple mixes and see if anybody says anything.”
Sure enough, nobody said a thing.
Each week, Danny began weeding out the Pop tracks from the mix, and leaning more on the Hip Hop side-playing to the streets, and playing to the Urban music enthusiasts.
The juxtaposition of the Boyz’ Urban take on the market, against the general theme of a more neutral station seemed to give listeners something of an escape from the norm.
More and more often, listeners called and tweeted, requesting that the whole station take on the concept of the #NEWATNINEBOYZ: playing the street-hot records all day long.
In response to such requests, the station, as a whole, began to test the waters.
Hot 103.5 has since become the most aggressive station for music in the market-allowing listeners a fresh new take on radio in Sacramento.
Fast-forward to today:
The #NEWATNINEBOYZ have broken the rules of ‘the book’, and have broken records for countless artists.
In 2014, the Boyz even teamed up with Thizzler.com to do a special Bay Area Freshman 10 Edition of the show, as well as dedicate an entire night to Sacramento artists on 9/16: Sacramento Day.
I didn’t write this to brag on the #NEWATNINEBOYZ name, nor to discount the work of our higher-ups.
I actually wrote this with the exact opposite in mind.
Nowhere-AT ALL-is there a mainstream station where such risks are allowed to be taken.
And nowhere-AT ALL-is there such a team that continues to support the views of the listeners while catering to the needs of the corporation.
We didn’t put ourselves on this station. We didn’t give ourselves this time slot. We don’t sign our own checks.
To the entire Hot 1035 staff, to the entire Entravision Corporation, to all of the sponsors, to all of the artists, and-most of all-to all of the listeners:
Thank you. We would not have the opportunity to make this happen if it weren’t for all of you.
Your support, and your faith in us, has allowed us this attempt at making a positive change in terrestrial radio.
Here’s to many more anniversary celebrations.
Peace, Love, & ReBlogs;
Soosh*e!
#NEWATNINEBOYZ
#ServedFreshShow
#Hot1035Sac
