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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

In Celebration Of Michael

Michael Jackson

June 25 marks the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. It’s been an eventful year in fact, with Jackson’s estate earning close to $1 Billion since the singer’s death. Billboard magazine reports that has been due to mostly record sales, as well as the “This Is It” concert movie, licensing rights, deals to release new albums and a Cirque du Soleil stage show in Las Vegas. In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports that executors of Jackson’s will have paid off over $200 million of the $500 million debt left when Jackson died.

Stations across the country – in all formats – will have their own ways of paying tribute to the “King of Pop,” but for Urban and Urban AC outlets, it’s like remembering one of the family. Here’s how some stations plan on celebrating Michael’s life:



WERQ “92Q” Baltimore will be running special produced Michal Jackson mixes through the day on June 25. Urban AC sister WWIN “Magic 95.9” dives a little deeper- dedicating the entire weekend to highlighting the music of Michael Jackson. Listen live to WERQ here: http://92q.com/ and to WWIN here: http://magicbaltimore.com/

from Al Payne, OM, Radio One Baltimore WERQ,WWIN-AM & FM



In Dothan, AL, Urban AC WBBK “Magic 93.1” will celebrate with “Off the wall-to-wall” Michael. Starting at 6AM June 25, the station will play only Michael Jackson music for 12 hours, with snippets from local and famous folks sharing their thoughts on what Michael Jackson meant to them. Listen on line at www.magic931fm.com.

from JJ “Big Daddy” Davis, PD of Magic Broadcasting’s WBBK Dothan, AL



Starting June 23, WCFB Orlando’s website Star94FM.com [http://star94fm.com/], will feature Michael Jackson in its artist spotlight, highlighting his music and videos. In addition, the station will salute Michael on air with the Friday Star Mini Concert at noon, and for the entire Classic Soul Weekend (from Friday at 7 pm through Sunday at 7 pm. Every hour, a Michael Jackson song will be spotlighted. Finally, the station is working on getting the new single from Michael, rumored to be featured on an upcoming album, slated to be released in August. If that’s true, the station will play the single and give away copies of the album – in advance of its release.

from Kevin Gardner, PD of Cox Broadcasting’s WCFB Orlando



In Cleveland, WZAK is celebrating with a huge Off The Wall Black Music Month Salute to Michael at a local club on the anniversary of his death, at which they will play all his songs, theme the different rooms in the club to different MJ albums, and broadcast the entire party live on the station. Listen live here: http://wzakcleveland.com/ In addition, the station is hosting a Michael Jackson Dance party at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame on June 26.

from Colby “Colb” Tyner, OM, Radio One Cleveland WENZ-WZAK-WERE-WJMO



Houston’s Radio One cluster will do several online tributes including a series of all request hours, with listeners hosting and introducing their favorite Michael songs. There will also be mini mixes featuring Michael, and finally, an hour-long tribute mix aired on the 25th.

from Terri Thomas, OM of Radio One Houston KBXX, KMJQ & KROI



Philadelphia’s “Power99” will focus its daytime mixes 9AM, 12Noon and 5 o’clock on Michael’s music, while some of the more ballad driven tracks will be spread throughout the day.

This past weekend (June 19 & 20), WDAS paid tribute to Michael in its Black Music Month celebration series “the Roots of R&B.” Michael, along with one of his idols and mentors, James Brown, were highlighted. WDAS will also feature his music throughout the day on Friday- the anniversary of his death. In addition we will feature some audio from interviews as well. We will again pay tribute to Michael in our “Gone But Not Forgotten” series for his birthday in August. Lastly, we will have an extensive tribute on our websites on the King of Pop.

from Ken Johnson, Director of Urban Programming for Clear Channel Philadelphia

About the Writer

Display In addition to overseeing all content on Radio-Info.com as executive editor, veteran trade journalist and former radio programmer Dana Hall is editor of Urban First, a weekly newsletter for the urban radio and music industries.

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Barry Scott
Commented June 24, 2010 at 10:12PM:

I did 5 hours this week on WODS/Boston...now on my web site all week. Response was overwhelmingly positive. So much music to play from the Jackson 5 to Michael solo and Jacksons stuff...It's easy to forget how much material there is from Michael. Easily could have done more than 5 hours...but added cool rarities and demos, just to keep it different. Hard to believe it has been a year. Barry Scott "The Lost 45s" http://www.lost45.com

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