Alex Constantine - October 26, 2012
Did Bain Capital Kill Hip Hop in St. Louis?
October 24, 2012
MK Stallings: I remember a few years ago when St. Louis had two dedicated FM hip hop radio stations, 100.3 the Beat and Hot 104.1. ... Having two hip hop stations felt like a big deal ... Then, in July of 2008, 100.3 the Beat was sentenced to death row when Bain Capital "merged" with Clear Channel. ... Over the next year, the St. Louis American began covering the personnel changes at 100.3 the Beat. According to the paper, Clear Channel had its first wave of layoffs in April 2009. Terminated staffers anticipated a more drastic change when it appeared that Clear Channel no longer wanted to "invest" in the hip hop station. ...
The Beat Does Not Go On: 100.3 Done With Hip-Hop
By Keegan Hamilton
Oct. 30 2009
Big news brewing on the local airwaves: The Clear Channel-owned hip-hop/R&B station KATZ 100.3 The Beat has fired all of its on-air talent and changed formats, as of 12 p.m. today.
As the station's already re-designed websiteindicates, they will now play seasonal music. It's currently "stunting" (in industry parlance) as "Halloween 100.3 Scary Music for St. Louis." ... Expect non-stop Christmas music (perhaps the only thing more obnoxious than Soulja Boy) after this weekend.
Our sympathies go out to some of the better hip-hop DJ's in the area who are now unemployed, including DJ AJ (just named the RFT's best hip-hop DJ of 2009), Dwight Stone and KiKi the First Lady. ...
