Dance Format Coming To 87.7 In DC Area - 4/13 - It looks like DC will be getting a dance-formatted "radio" station. Mega Media says it's signed a "multi-year air lease agreement" with Signal Above, the firm which runs a low-power TV station on Channel 6 in Arlington. That current Spanish outlet will be rebranded as WDCN, Pulse 87.7, and feature a dance music format like a similar Channel 6, Pulse 87.7 operation in the NYC area. The Channel 6 audio carrier is on 87.7 FM, and receivable by most FM radios. WDCN will start broadcasting during the 2nd quarter of 2009, according to Mega at stockpr.com. "The diversity of the Washington DC market will work well for our unique lifestyle music format," says Mega Media CEO Alex Shvarts. Unlike full-power TVers, which will be going digital in June, low-power TVers can stay in analog.....
I didn't even know about this LP ch 6 when I lived there, unless it just recently came on the air. There was a ch 14 in Arlington with spanish programming, though. I assume it's still there.
Looks like a clone of Pulse in NYC.
I've always wondered how an all-dance format would work in DC... Z-104 in the 90's leaned dance, and did pretty well, except for the downtown signal limitations.
Can anyone get a footprint map of this station? I'm curious of what the coverage will be like.
I've not yet been able to locate an estimated broadcast radius for WDCN.
As far as dance music goes, this past weekend I traveled to Birmingham to visit my sister, who is in college there. I had a chance to listen to 103.7 HD2 (WQEN), which airs the "Club Phusion" format, which comes from the Clear Channel format lab. And... it's some really good dance radio. I just found out online that the channel originates from programmers at WFLZ-FM in Tampa, which doesn't surprise me since they have some phenomenal dance cuts there. Anyway, I hope that Clear Channel spreads the format out to more HD2 channels in its chain.
In NYC, they have quite the competition crunch between Now, Z-100, PLJ, KTU, Hot 97, and Power 105.
Plus, they don't have the luxury of an Empire stick, so half the rated metro can't pick them up clearly.
In DC, I assume they would be broadcasting from the Arlington stick. Signal limitations wouldn't be as severe, but maybe they concluded that the market just isn't there for all-dance. DC is notoriously a Hip-Hop town anyway.
And if PGC gets "Amped" soon, the climb gets steeper.