Hammer nailed down for
Beatstock '05
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
MC Hammer
At last year's Beatstock, the summer dance concert put on by WKTU (103.5 FM), Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick ended - and stopped - the show.
"They were so great that everybody left talking about them," says 'KTU program director Jeff Z. "And we're sitting backstage saying, 'Okay, how do we top that for next year?' "
Well, next year is here. Beatstock comes to Jones Beach on Saturday and the PNC Bank Center on Sunday, and two of the stars should sound familiar: MC Hammer and Naughty by Nature.
"They're the ones we wanted," Jeff Z. says. "They're show-stoppers."
They'll have company, of course: the Pussycat Dolls, Reina, Stevie B., Kelly Osbourne, Sylver, Narcotic Thrust, Lissette Melendez, TKA, Judy Torres, Lisa Lisa and more.
The shows run 6-10 p.m., with warmup by deejay Scissorhands starting at 4:30.
"No breaks," says Jeff Z. "Nonstop music, two or three songs by each artist, all hits."
It can be tricky booking Beatstock, he says, because dance artists can come and go. WKTU had to drop acts booked in the spring, he says, because their records died. But they were replaced, and Beatstock's lineup covers the range of the station's music, from the '80s onward, hip hop to different flavors of dance.
Dance can use the boost it gets from shows drawing 32,000 fans, says Jeff Z.
"Our listeners are passionate," he says. "Dance is the most downloaded of all music. But a lot of what comes out now isn't radio-friendly, so across the country on radio, the format has been dying."
Record companies must realize, he says, that "that dance is different now." Like more music, fewer drum machines.
The clues, he says, lie in records like the Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha" or DHT's "Listen to Your Heart," which has been on dance radio for six months and finally landed on top 40, where it's in the top 10.
"I'm a big fan of crossover," says Jeff Z. "When songs we broke cross to Z-100 or Lite-FM, that shows their wide appeal."
Mainly, he says, dance music "has to be homegrown. Every city around the country doesn't want the same thing."
And he's optimistic. Even the presence of dance competitor WNEW (102.7 FM) and the emergence of the dance-friendly reggaeton format on Hispanic stations show that a good beat will get 'em every time, he says, and he expects Beatstock will, uh, hammer that point home.
Beatstock '05
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
MC Hammer
At last year's Beatstock, the summer dance concert put on by WKTU (103.5 FM), Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick ended - and stopped - the show.
"They were so great that everybody left talking about them," says 'KTU program director Jeff Z. "And we're sitting backstage saying, 'Okay, how do we top that for next year?' "
Well, next year is here. Beatstock comes to Jones Beach on Saturday and the PNC Bank Center on Sunday, and two of the stars should sound familiar: MC Hammer and Naughty by Nature.
"They're the ones we wanted," Jeff Z. says. "They're show-stoppers."
They'll have company, of course: the Pussycat Dolls, Reina, Stevie B., Kelly Osbourne, Sylver, Narcotic Thrust, Lissette Melendez, TKA, Judy Torres, Lisa Lisa and more.
The shows run 6-10 p.m., with warmup by deejay Scissorhands starting at 4:30.
"No breaks," says Jeff Z. "Nonstop music, two or three songs by each artist, all hits."
It can be tricky booking Beatstock, he says, because dance artists can come and go. WKTU had to drop acts booked in the spring, he says, because their records died. But they were replaced, and Beatstock's lineup covers the range of the station's music, from the '80s onward, hip hop to different flavors of dance.
Dance can use the boost it gets from shows drawing 32,000 fans, says Jeff Z.
"Our listeners are passionate," he says. "Dance is the most downloaded of all music. But a lot of what comes out now isn't radio-friendly, so across the country on radio, the format has been dying."
Record companies must realize, he says, that "that dance is different now." Like more music, fewer drum machines.
The clues, he says, lie in records like the Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha" or DHT's "Listen to Your Heart," which has been on dance radio for six months and finally landed on top 40, where it's in the top 10.
"I'm a big fan of crossover," says Jeff Z. "When songs we broke cross to Z-100 or Lite-FM, that shows their wide appeal."
Mainly, he says, dance music "has to be homegrown. Every city around the country doesn't want the same thing."
And he's optimistic. Even the presence of dance competitor WNEW (102.7 FM) and the emergence of the dance-friendly reggaeton format on Hispanic stations show that a good beat will get 'em every time, he says, and he expects Beatstock will, uh, hammer that point home.
