Radio is top news on Social Media

There have been rumblings that the radio industry is dying. With the growth of the Internet and social media, traditional radio has suffered from a lower number of listeners and competitors like Pandora and ITunes Radio. This week, however, the radio industry was ignited due to two New York based urban radios stations.  Social media newsfeeds were lit up with the news of legendary hip-hop radio personality Angie Martinez announcing her resignation from HOT97. HOT97 has been an influential station in the hip-hop and R&B music industry. Angie Martinez is one of those voices and personalities that you immediately associate with HOT97 and more specifically east coast hip hop culture. On June 18^th, Martinez announced that she would be resigning from the post she’s held since she was a 16-year-old intern for the station. Her announcement resulted in her name trending on Twitter. Many assumed that she was retiring from radio and moving on to other endeavors. It’s no secret that Martinez has dabbled in music herself. She’s been featured on songs with Kelis as well as the hit song “Ladies Night” featuring Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, Da Brat and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. So it wasn’t an out of pocket assumption that she may leave radio to pursue more music.

However, the bomb was dropped on everyone today, when HOT97’s rival station announced on their most popular show “The Breakfast Club” that Angie Martinez was in fact hired and will begin working for Power 105.1. Power 105.1 is part of the radio powerhouse Clearchannel and Martinez will be taking the afternoon slot starting this August. Some take this as her being disloyal to the station that made her. Others see it has her expanding her brand and leaving a “sinking ship” before it was too late. HOT97 has had its share of negative publicity. For example, Nicki Minaj and Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money crew tookissue with the station after Rosenberg, another radio personality presumably dissed Minaj on stage prior to her set at Hot97’s annual concert Summer Jam. Lil Wayne pulled Minaj from the show and she ended up not performing as scheduled.

Personally I think this is an amazing thing for the radio industry as a whole. When was the last time an issue between radio stations and personalities made news in this big of a way? Angie Martinez leaving HOT97 is the end of an era, however it will be very interesting how her new beginning at 105.1 will affect both stations.