Page 0: Page 1: THIS IS HIP HOP IN CANADA In Charge - Wayne Williams and Justin Dumont Toronto urban station under fire for replacing popular morning hosts Mark Strong and Jemeni FLOW 93.5ʼs WAYNE WILLIAMS SAYS NO FORMAT CHANGES PLANNED stations like CHUM-FM, CFNY, Q107 and Z103. Williams noted some of the changes he made in the past year, specifically speaking to the tweaking of the OTA and Real Frequency shows, while extending the Soca and Reggae programs. “FLOW can’t be everything to everyone,” he reasoned. “We’re one new radio station independently owned, so a lot of people kind of assume. A lot of people think we’re this rogue station that is not in the same market bound by the same rules and competition. We have to compete with all of them to stay alive. I can’t support urban music, play hip-hop and R&B if we’re not in business. And it’s all about a business.” When queried about the criticism of not promoting its personalities aggressively in marketing campaigns, Williams replied, “FLOW is five years old. The station needs to promote itself first and give that awareness factor out there, build a brand for the name, the FLOW brand before we get into our specific shows, and that’s the bottom line of how a marketing campaign would work on a new radio station.” 2006 is FLOW’s fifth anniversary on-air, and is owned by Denham Jolly’s company Milestone Radio. Williams is looking for the community’s support on its way towards another five years of radio. “Toronto needs to support the only radio station in the country that is still supporting this format and wants to be here for a very long time with it.” Once again for the cynical, is FLOW changing its format? “No, like I said, we currently have no plans to change our format. What we are playing now is what we are going to be playing. There are no guarantees, but all the rumours about how we are going Top 40, playing Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne, no,” Williams says with a chuckle. Kenai Andrews Addressing the rampant rumours regarding the musical direction of Toronto urban radio station FLOW 93.5 FM and its morning show, FLOW Program Director Wayne Williams, in an interview with Swagg Newsmag, stressed while one can “never say never,” the radio station has no plans to change its music format. As program director, Williams oversees all content that goes on the air from morning show hosts, to music and promotions. FLOW has made several changes, the most noticeable being the replacement of longtime morning show hosts Mark Strong and Jemeni with former Vancouver The Beat 94.5 FM morning host Slim and ex-Z103 personality Melanie Martin, which has fuelled much of the speculation. The station has been under attack as a result including online requests for a boycott. “FLOW wants to continue to play hip-hop and R&B and support the urban world, urban culture and also be the number one radio station in Toronto,” Williams said. “In order to do that, changes have to be made, the station has to be tweaked and so forth. So some of the moves that we’ve made recently, that’s why we did that because we still want to be here. We want to be successful on the economic front and still support this [urban music] format.” Williams declined to discuss the specifics of the Strong and Jemeni situation, but when pressed hinted ratings were a significant factor. “I can say it happens in radio all the time, it’s a very competitive business. Radio announcers, shows, change very frequently, and in order for us to compete, sometimes changes have to be made. Yeah, ratings are a part of everything that we do at the radio station, I’ll say that.” FLOW 93.5 is located in Canada’s biggest radio marketplace and within the sixth largest in North America, competing with more established 6 Canada’s #1 Urban Newsmag FOUR Page 2: “FLOW has probably helped raise the bar of urban music in Canada because we constantly raise the bar as to what we will put on the radio station” “Be open to any critiques because the process for some artists, the song could get on that week, some artists it may take a couple of months, some artists it could take going back to the lab and taking a year and a half.” – Justin Dumont “high consideration pile” which contains 35-40 songs at any time. Time does not permit him to respond to everything, but he gives feedback to many with suggestions on how material can be improved so that they can see regular rotation. Dumont notes some artists take the feedback and suggestions personally, but most use them to improve and resubmit their material with many being added successfully on the rotation as songs near the end of their lifecycle get taken off the playlist. This means new artists must wait patiently for their turn as new material is added in much the same way patrons are allowed a few at a time into a full and exclusive nightclub. To compound things, FLOW has a complete playlist of approximately 200-225 songs, which is considered the industry standard amount for a commercial radio station. Dumont invites the critics to do the math. The purpose is to support new artists and give them approximately 3040 spins per week in regular rotation, again in conjunction with their schedules, generating the fanbase in a consistent and effective way for everyone. Dumont has noticed a significant increase in the quality of submissions since his arrival in 2002. “The quality difference of music between then and now is just insane. A lot of it is the same people that have come from those days and kept coming back, and us giving them pointers here and there,” he says proudly. “We always say that FLOW has probably helped raise the bar of urban music in Canada because we constantly raise the bar as to what we will put on the radio station because we want everything to be played, you know, be on the same level quality wise. We want our Canadian stuff to stand beside all the other international stuff. More than half the time you can’t tell, it’s just gotten that much better.” In the last two weeks, he has added about 15 independent Canadian records to the playlist. He rhymes off Classified, Mhedikc, new Ghetto Concept and new artist Marika off the top of his head as part of the recent additions. Dumont laughs when asked to reconfirm William’s assurance of no format changes. “I don’t think you can find two people more committed to keeping this [urban] format,” he says firmly. Kenai Andrews It’s been a summer and fall of intense scrutiny at FLOW 93.5 where recent and rumoured changes have been met with a jaundiced community eye. Some of the changes have prompted heavy rumours of FLOW going the Top 40 route, which have been confirmed as untrue by Program Director Wayne Williams. The rumour flames haven’t stopped there though. They spread to FLOW Music Director Justin Dumont. They ignited when he took vacation in the summer for a wedding honeymoon. He admits to being a little frustrated about all of the commotion when he confirmed to Swagg Newsmag that he has no plans to leave FLOW. He adds that August marked his fourth anniversary at the station. So just what does a music director do? “I schedule the music everyday, so everything you hear on FLOW is done by me usually the previous day,” Dumont explains. “I deal with all the record companies and independent labels and independent artists off the streets. I have weekly meetings, usually on Tuesdays with major labels and independent artists. They come in and play their new music, trying to get on and I meet with Wayne in our weekly music meeting. We go through our playlist and make changes accordingly, and we listen to all the new music and make decisions on that. Wayne has the ultimate final say, but I’d say it’s a pretty good collaboration.” Then there is the paperwork, correspondence and other tasks best described as miscellaneous. “Anything to do with music pretty much is my department,” he adds. Dumont spends a lot of time listening to new material, working hand in hand in many cases with labels to play music in conjunction with their timeframes. A perusal of his office computer shows approximately fifty submissions in his electronic inbox this week waiting for consideration. Beside his desk reveals a basketful of mail, all submissions. He estimates in any given week he receives 25-30 pieces. He puts potential music into a How can artists increase their chances of getting into the high consideration pile? Here are a few pointers from FLOW Music Director Justin Dumont Make sure the material is professionally mixed and mastered. Use the songs you hear on FLOW as a benchmark. Material can be sent electronically via FLOW’s website but must be ready for radio play (320 bit quality). Make sure your submission is professionally packaged with a complete bio. Don’t forget to fill out the necessary submission forms. If you are coming in for a meeting, make sure you present yourself in a cordial and professional manner including being punctual. Make sure you are satisfied with your material before you submit it. Editing is important too. The average song length played on FLOW is 3-4 minutes; therefore, submitting a 15-minute track will most likely decrease your chances. FOUR Canada’s #1 Urban Newsmag 7 Page 3: