San Diego’s Hip Hop Blazin 98.9 Pink Slips Staff. Will they hire black Radio DJs?

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 width=While it’s the best place to make money if you have your own ideas, one of the most racist radio states in the country is California. It’s a horrendously RACIST radio market just like Hollywood. For anyone working back east, it’s hard to imagine that a station can call itself a hip hop music station and not have any black Radio DJs but it happens DAILY in the California market and has been for the past 30 years.

The staff at XHMORE-FM (98.9), licensed to Tijuana, Mexico, were recently informed that the station would remain a Hip Hop station but it would be automated fulltime, without the live personalities. Where I come from, that clearly means the current staff could not execute the format properly. Those hand ed pink slips include morning driver Chris Loos, afternoon DJ Vanya, DJ Seph, production staffers Chris Morrison & Noah Alaya, and promotions manager Jeanice Lee (Jeanice? that sounds like a sister). OM/Brand & Marketing Manager Lee Cornell was also relieved of his duties (Lee Cornell? That sounds like a brother) has been maintained to work in a new capacity (… for a hip hop music station? Why not make him a, Oh I don’t know…. PROGRAMMER?) Cornell says he believes Loos and Vanya “are exceptional talents and performers””and will “be a great asset””to any station bringing them on-board (Oh those station politics).


19 COMMENTS

  1. Lee is not only White, he’s Australian. I’m rather certain the promotions chick wasn’t Black either. I think the part that’s sorely missing from
    your piece is that there’s an extremely low percentage of Blacks in Southern California. The stations hire what is represented in the community and their target demo. You can’t win in LA when your primary target is Blacks. We are 7% give or take and we are shrinking. I don’t want to argue whether or not you have to be Black to execute a hip hop format. As a jock, you have to A-love the music and B- Live or at least understand the lifestyle. When Compton and Crenshaw and the LBC hoods are filled with more Mexicans than Blacks, it’s safe to say they get it when NWA said Fuck The Police.

  2. I agree and disagree. It was the same in LA in 1990 when the population was 11 to 12% and in 1975 when the population was at about 18%. For some reason, as beautiful as LA is, the black population there has always been small and its always been dwindling. I agree that the Latino population there is almost 50% and many of them do enjoy hip hop and urban music. You would be a fool not to market to them and have jocks that reflect the culture. However, I don’t think the Latino community would mind if a station that played all hip hop or urban music had a couple of black jocks too. If you are saying there would be no reason to have black jocks I would disagree. First, we also have to consider that white people and the small percentage of blacks there may like hip hop too. I could even see a white jock who had a love for the music being hired. Make no mistake, there are MANY non black people who listen to KJLH… Mark Wahlberg admitted it was his favorite station on Jay Leno but I agree with you that you have to be careful how you market a package like that. There is still an issue with racism in the radio industry how many black jocks do you see at other formats besides urban like Talk, Rock, CHR, Country, Jazz, Classical, Smooth Jazz (which is really not a format), Asian and many others but a CHR station for example will hire almost any race EXCEPT a black jock (not all but MOST). To an extent I will take responsibility for my own race as the black jock dominates urban radio by about 98% but who wants to work in urban radio? (laugh)(just kidding, I kill me)

  3. San Diego has even fewer blacks than LA, about 6%, and has never been able to support a “black” station. Except for Gospel KURS, which is black oriented, both XMORE and Jammin’ Z 90 are hip hop but Latino oriented. I believe Z 90 has one black on the staff. Most of the black kids listen to Z 90 and seem not to notice or care that the jocks are Latino or white. There’s a large (relatively) middle class and I’m not sure what the adults listen to.
    It’s also interesting that Magic 92.5, which is an R n B oldies station also is mostly if not completely non black. #1 rated in July in fact.
    Another aspect is that all three stations are liscenced in Mexico, as was the old XHRM back in the 80’s, a black RnB station.

  4. HAHAHA this is too funny to me.

    How about Mec Network the company that owns XMOR-FM /Blazin 989 made some bad business moves that cost others their jobs.

    How about research people before trying to guess there race. I wasn’t let because of my race or my ratings.

    Im full blood Haitian American btw. My parents born were born in Haiti. Just fyi.

    Thanks have a fabulous day because I am;-)

  5. To No. 3, I think most adults listen to KIFM, the smooth jazz station, by default. I’m a part-time San Diego resident and a relatively rare black native, and I’m about to get satellite radio.

  6. you morons they got pink slips cause there was more money and less to spend by going to all sports programming with the border so close and the sports book just a 5 minute drive away youd be nuts not to cater to gamblers also listen to their show on the weekends its all about how to gamble just my opinion money is green not white black or any other color btw espn sucks!

  7. I live in San Diego and I have lived here for more than ten years. Let me tell you, whomever might read these comments, that it has nothing to do with race. So just stop. Stop trying to make it race, and stop making uneducated guesses. Both Vanya and Chris Loos are both very talented DJs. It has nothing to do with them or their ethnicity. There are only 2 radio stations that claim they are hip-hip stations here in San Diego. Those are Z90 and Blazin 989. Both play the same music. The only difference is that Z90 has been around a lot longer. I personally used to just switch between the two. Everybody here that listens to hip and rap pretty much does the same thing. So if you think that racial statistics and demographics have anything to with 989 dissolving, I ask you this: how come z90 has not had the same thing happened to them?

  8. let’s be real the station sucked!!!!! Vanya was alright but when you constantly play the same BS all the time, even she can become lame. i don’t see a black or white issue but you have to be a realist and reconize that this is cali, where there aren’t too many blacks as there is back east or down south. also we are close too the boarder….duh!! i just thought that there music selection was lame and more “98 degree, britney spears, and pop for the most part which in fact is trendy which equals LAME! so instead of complaining i just got XM radio.

  9. the ppl who are trying to make this about race are probably the racist ones making posts on this site. if you dont work work in the industry, you dont realize just how much money goes into it. if you make bad decisions or dont align yourself with the right ppl, you wont get or keep the financial backing that you need. clear channel is a national company that owns tons of stations. thats y their stations stay afloat. when your a little guy trying to tap into a big boys market, you better do it right or you wont last long. just accept that it didnt work out behind the scenes not
    some racial crap. look at vanyas response and take it from someone who works in the industry.

  10. FM radio is dying fast anyway. I worked in radio from the late 80’s till 2001… in major markets like Baltimore and San Diego. The time spent listening is about the same…but less than half the amount of people compared to 10 or more years ago. Companies like iHeartmedia (formerly Clear Channel) have ruined FM radio in so many ways I don’t know where to start. San Diego radio right now sounds like shit! Last I heard iHeartmedia (formerly Clear Channel) was in danger of going bankrupt. I hope they do! More than once they have put me and tons of old radio friends out of a job and ruined their lives!

  11. i personally hip hop is dead- it sound lame- its really mainstream now- we need a station that plays house-electro-disco n techno music- anyone feel the same?

  12. Ok, this is something stupid. I am not racist or anything, but I am assuming that all of you are African Americans. Why does everything have to be racist with you guys? Why cant you guys accept the fact that there is a possibility that the Australian DJ is good and that there was not a African American that applied for the job that did a better job than the Australian. If you ask me, African Americans are always so caught up in Racism, I think that the most racist people in this earth is African Americans. You guys are so close and understand EACH OTHER so much that you guys keep other races from coming into your little group of friends. Don’t believe it? I have seen it and plenty of times. And no, I am not racist, I am a minority just like any other African American in this world. I just dont bitch about how racism has affected my life. If you ask me, I dont even look at color. Anyways, I know that I am going to get bombed with emails because of this, but honestly, I dont care. I am fed up with hearing all of this bull shit everywhere I go…

  13. im from san diego ca and i can honestly say blazin 989 is raciest they only played mexican artist especially on the weekend they played spanish music form friday to sunday

  14. actually 989 was called more fm when it first came out for chicano community i loved it then after a while it became a normal dull hiphop station I’m glade it’s gone now when it comes to certain music san diego is very hateful I miss more fm with the mexicans in the morning they were funny but hey screw SD radio they all suck

  15. OMG … i was all w0nderin wat had happened 2 this radi0 stati0n … i th0ught it was 0n c0mmercialz every time i w0uld flip thru it!!! JAJA well i used 2 l0ve it way back n da dayz wen it was “M0RE FM 98.9” && they w0uld play SPANISH ROCK … jajaj l0lZ !!! but yea, t0tally agree w/ALEX … SD stati0nz suckkkk!!! i rather listen 2 POWER 106, LATION 96.3, KGGI 99.1 or KIIS 102.7 jajaja && i really d0ubt it happened cuz 0f racism … why d0 hispanicz&african americanz … g0tta alwayz blame it 0n RACIST*part 0f da st0ry!!!

  16. wow this is funny no one except vanya knows what there saying i work for the station and nobody was fierd them ppl are too f**** broke too pay us thats what happind and im bori/black the names combatt and nobody was fierd over race. just the station is broke!

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