92 Q Research Paper

Radio has been very important in joining listeners over the world. Radio originating in 1899 by Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, has united listening ears for over one hundred years. The invention of radio came from the experimental physics professor at Cambridge University, James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell published a theoretical paper stating that electromagnetic currents could be perceived and travel distances (PBS). Years later, with Maxwell’s theory leading to the invention of radio, this medium has provided commercial and non-commercial outlets allowing different programming to travel distances. While listening to WEAA 88.9 known as a non-commercial radio station and 92.Q a commercial station, I was able to distinguish many differences

One of these commercial stations is 92 Q based in Baltimore Maryland. This radio station follows more of an urban format and is operated by Radio One located in Maryland. Radio One is an American media company with holdings in radio, cable television and digital media; Radio One owns and operates 55 radio stations in 16 US markets (Wikipedia). While listening to 92 Q on Sunday October 18 from 6:55 p.m. to 7:55 p.m, I was able to recognize several characteristics of commercial radio. The segment was known as “Rap Attack” playing hip-hop music. Two songs I heard while listening were, “Post Malone” by White Iverson and “Beaming” by Lupe Fiasco. These songs were of the hip hop genre. The music was crisp, clear and sounded mainstream. The talk sets on this station were very short. This segment focused more on music than talk sets. The segment was led by DJ AJ Baby. Her talk sets focused on the Ravens game that was airing. There were many segment ID’s; “Rap Attack” was mentioned numerous times during the programming. They aired commercials for a good portion of the

The commercial station 92 Q played hip hop music while the non-commercial played smooth jazz. The commercial station focused more on the music and commercial advertising. The non-commercial station focused mainly on self promotion through its membership drive and music. Since WEAA is a non-commercial station it has to rely on support from its listeners. However, because 92 Q is a commercial station it advertises based on its commercial sponsors; its commercials took about 40% of the segment’s time. According to Planetary Group, this is true for commercial radio. They state, commercial radio, “tends to play advertisements in long, attention-grabbing strings tucked in between shorter blocks of music (Planetary Group). I also noticed, the non-commercial station focused more on the community. The guests on the show mentioned WEAA’s influence in the community since the 1800’s. The guests also mentioned how diverse the station was. They have various programming for many genres of music including not only hip hop and jazz but reggae, gospel, and house music. One of the guest said, “no other radio station in Baltimore addresses the needs of the community like WEAA.” The commercial station mainly plays R&B and Hip Hop genre of music. Both stations used station ID’s a lot, about every couple of minutes. As far as the sound of the stations, I noticed a difference in quality. The commercial station sounded clearer than the