5 Biggest Things Evolution 101.7FM Radio Will Do To Boston

By Max:

Evolution 101.7 FM is disrupting the Boston EDM FM radio community/market, as Clear Channel media launches one of their riskiest plans to date in our community. As we all know in the EDMBoston community, EDM has made quite the ruckus over the last two years in the mainstream. After such commercial success and viability in tv commercials, comes Clear Channel with an EDM station in the Boston radio market. Whether it's good or bad is entirely another debate, albeit something big is going to happen. That got us thinking.

What are the possibilities for this radio station and what does it mean for the Boston area? Below are our 5 biggest things 101.7 Radio will do to Boston.

1. Enlarged Music Festival

Having a clear channel radio station in town, testing a brand new market means many things for Bostonians. Among them are new methods of marketing, and a more aggressive effort on behalf of the station to spread its name to household status. That means we believe some sort of music festival will come about in the Boston market sponsored by Evolution radio. Clear channel has taken the risk to tap into the electronic market and while there maybe some money to be made from local and national advertisers trying to reach the EDM market, the money still lies within live events. That being said, we can easily see Evolution radio getting involved in a Music Festival or mega club event near the bay state.

The alternative is the radio station will feed into last years iHeart Radio Festival, to make it larger. Deadmau5 and Swedish House Mafia, all formative bookings, will no longer be the only ones at this festival as a side stage would be added if Clear Channel desides not to go the dedicated EDM festival route.

Read More after the JUMP

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Boston's 2nd EDM Radio Station Nova Launches?

***UPDATE***
Greater Media was in a stunt phase in between transitioning there talk radio FM station to a Pop radio station.  96.9FM lasted only a day as an EDM station...sad face emoticon


As we flipped around the dial on the FM airwaves tonight we were greeted with familiar electronic sounds, on a station other then the newly launched First Boston EDM FM radio station on 101.7FM.  The channel was 96.9 FM. Until January 2nd 2013, the station had been reserved as a talk FM station for the Jim and Margery show.  However the lights went dark on the station, on the aforementioned date, and transitioned to a music station.  The station played hip-hop and top 40 but didn't last for long in that format.  In fact the station has switched formats to a new EDM station Nova.  The channel is owned by Greater Media Boston.

It's unclear if this will be a primary EDM station or will remain as the mainstay format on 96.9.  As of right now its a healthy blend of pop and EDM. What's interesting is Greater Media has hired Pebbles formerly of JAMN' 94.5 to run the new stations morning show.

That being said, in our time tuned into 96.9 EDM Station Nova we heard Armin, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, and Will.I.AM to name a few.  We will keep you posted as we know more information on Nova.

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Evolution 101.7 Boston EDM Radio Line Up

Early today we broke the news that a new Boston EDM FM radio station hit the airwaves on 101.7.  It's a massive move by Clear Channel Media and definitely their testing market to see if EDM will be successful on the radio.  If it is, we believe you will see similar radio stations pop up across the country.

That being said, below you can find the weekly lineup for the current week. Enjoy!

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Boston EDM FM Radio Station Launches - Making Country's First

The wild ride for Electronic Dance Music in Boston continues! Whether you've been following EDMBoston.com from the start or joined the movement today with the big news, it has been a wild ride. Our city went from a scene remiss of public acknowledgement of dance music to it being one of the hottest cities in the country for dance music. Along the way, we saw artists gradually increasing their frequency to the hub to it now being a semi-mandatory stopping point for them.

This proliferation of electronic music in Boston hasn’t gone unnoticed. Among the people paying attention are the executives at Clear Channel Media. This week they took the risk and launched Evolution radio on FM 101.7. If that station is familiar to you it is the old home of indie rock station, WFNX(now relegated to online radio).

Evolution, 101.7 is Clear Channel Media’s first broadcasted EDM station in the country. It launched yesterday (December 20 at 6pm) on 101.7, which is now renamed WHBA, with a special hour-long program by Pete Tong. Pete Tong (the mastermind behind the infamous Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1).

Now Evolution radio isn’t exactly unique to Boston. The radio station will be a broadcast extension of the popular online station Evolution on iHeartRadio. Nevertheless, this station will feature a two hour daily show from Pete Tong called “All gone Pete Tong”. In the program Pete will feature his essential New Tune of the Week, as well as the hottest tracks from the global Top 100 chart on Beatport.com. Monday-Friday 7-9pm. In addition, we will be spoiled with programs from Diplo, Wolfgang Gartner, Fatboy Slim, Manufactured Superstars, Paul Van Dyk, Roger Sanchez, Congorock, Dillon Francis, John Dahlback, and the list goes on.

"We've seen the impact of EDM in Boston through music downloads, sold-out concerts and passion for iHeartRadio's new Evolution channel," said Dylan Sprague, Vice President of Programming for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Boston. "We're proud to bring Evolution 101.7, the company's first EDM broadcast station, to Boston, and to team up with format-leading artists like Pete Tong. The music scene in Boston has a vibrant EDM community as well as a rich history of bringing new music to audiences in the area and around the country. We're excited to continue the tradition by giving dance music a home on Boston's airwaves."

We are extremely happy that Boston has been so blessed for this experiment. We are hoping Evolution radio sees a big jolt in numbers upfront to encourage Clear Channel Media to build an Evolution radio Studio in Boston.  If that happens you can guarantee that we will be blessed much like NYC is with the SiriusXM studio and the DJs that visit that with frequency.

Nevertheless, it’s time to tune in and see what kind of quality Clear Channel Media is throwing at us on Evolution Radio Boston EDM Radio.

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