The Hot Boyz: Are they the New Morning Team at Power 99?

No official word- A New Morning Team by Default

Following the firing of former host Tarsha "Jonesy" Jones, Power 99 immediately replaced her on the air with their popular and long time night show duo "The Hot Boyz", made up of Uncle O and Mikey Dredd. They have been filling in for Jonesy on an unofficial basis since November 2011. This week parent company Clear Channel posted a job listing on their website for a night host and not a morning host at WUSL Power 99 FM Radio. The listing pretty much makes it clear that The Hot Boyz will not be returning to evenings at the station.

Here is part of the job listing:



"WUSL, Power 99 is looking for a new entertaining, creative, relatable & compelling Night Show Host! If you’re someone who can multi task with Social Media & production & you’re a cooperative team player who’s passionate about the Hip Hop and R&B lifestyle & music, and then let’s talk!"


It seems as if Clear Channel has not been able to find talent currently working in radio to fulfill the all important morning drive slot at the station. So rather that spend megabucks on a new morning show or syndicate "The Breakfast Club" from Power 105.1 in New York they have gone in-house to fill the position.

Could it be that urban radio is simply running out of talent to fill a morning spot at a major market station? Syndicated personalities Big Boy's Neighborhood, Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley, Russ Parr are either not available or have already been tried at the station. Who else is there to turn to? Somewhere, someone in corporate radio is looking for an urban/hip hop version of Nick Cannon, Ryan Seacrest, or Khloe Kardashian??? And radio in it's current state says: "It's too risky to go with an unknown personality....especially in a major market."

All we can say is in five years Urban/Hip Hop radio will look nothing like it does today--because the on-air talent pool is dwindling. Radio is no longer the place that will allow personalities to hone their skills.

Besides it's all about more music, less talk right?