New FUNKEDUP Radio Format

Listeners gave the FUNKEDUP radio station a lot of feedback as to how it should be programmed and with every change there’s always supporters and detractors. The new programming change to the Funkatopia radio show and the FUNKEDUP app shouldn’t be any different.

The old programming consisted of two 6 hour Prince blocks (6am-12pm and 6pm-12am EST). The remaining 12-6 blocks would feature other artists like Ohio Players, Parliament, Childish Gambino, and even Prince related artists like Madhouse, Sheila E, The Time, etc. Those 12-6 blocks also featured at least 2 or more Prince songs. “It seemed like a good schedule that would cater to everyone“, noted Funkatopia founder, Chris Horton aka Mr. Christopher.

He continued, “However, the drop in listenership during the 12-6 blocks was dramatic. 75-85% of the traffic would drop off and not return until the next Prince block.”

“Many Funkatopia followers were pushing for a 24/7 Prince radio station and I couldn’t do that in good conscience. Even when Prince had his monthly Ahdio shows, he wanted people to hear new artists and the classics. I had to discover a way that created a balance that would keep both parties happy. I think we found it and we’ve been testing it when we soft launched it last week.”

As of Friday, July 20th at 3pm EST, the FUNKEDUP radio station changed to a 24/7 Prince radio station, so that no matter when you tuned in, you were going to get a massive dose of Prince. The caveat was that every hour would also feature a few selections from other artists as well. While a typical hour can support around 15 songs, 3 of them would be artists other than Prince. That equates to 80% of every hour being Prince.

“I’ve received emails asking about what happened to the Prince blocks and when I explained the change, there’s been no pushback. Most people are okay with that change because it accomplishes a couple of things. The first is that it gives people their 24/7 Prince station that isn’t locked into just the 6-12 block. When a non-Prince artist comes on, the Prince fans can expect to hear at least 3 or 4 Prince songs afterwards. And a good portion of the time, those other artists are Prince related like The Time, Jesse Johnson, The Family, and similar bands.”

“I think this is a fair trade off that allows the lesser known bands that we play to get some airtime during a period of time where people are actually listening. We are consistently playing bands like The Monophonics, The New Mastersounds, Lettuce, Dag, Lenny Kravitz, Jamiroquai and others. And it’s not very fair that they get allocated to time blocks where everyone has already left. We’re about supporting artists in general. It’s how Prince chose to broadcast when he had a station and we’re continuing that tradition, but still very heavy handed in playing Prince.”

So what do you think about the new format? Tune in to take a listen for yourself.