Member Since: 3/6/2011
Posts: 7,353
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While many declined to comment, several R&B programmers - the gatekeepers of the format where Brown has scored the bulk of chart success - and industry trackers were willing to talk about the songs (albeit Rihanna's more than Brown's) when asked by Billboard.biz.
"My philosophy is to play the hits," said Hollywood Hernandez, program director of Cumulus' syndicated R&B channel "The Touch," although he said the song has not yet crossed over into his Adult R&B format. "If it's a hit song, I'll play it."
Don Parker, PD of mainstream R&B KMEL San Francisco concurred. "We are playing ['Cake'] on KMEL. Not only have our listeners responded to us that they want to hear it, but we also feel it will likely be a hit for our market."
"Yes, we are playing 'Birthday Cake' in rotation," said Kelly Mc Daniel, PD of mainstream R&B station WUSL in Philadelphia. "The original version of 'Birthday Cake' was already hot with just Rihanna, and when our Mix Show Director 'Cosmic Kev' walked the remix in the other day the entire music team decided this was a smash and also a highly anticipated record, so we jumped on it immediately. The station's Twitter and Facebook pages have been going crazy and buzzing with lots of interaction since. What's funny is we haven't even listened to the Chris Brown song with Ri Ri on it yet."
"I have no problem with them getting together to do a collaboration or them getting back together as a couple," said Bob O'Brien, WKJX Nags Head, N.C. PD. "We all make mistakes. It is what we learn from them that matters most." He noted that WKJX is not playing "Cake" yet, but may. "We will follow it and see what it does nationally," he said, adding that the poppier "Turn" "does not fit my format."
Kevin Ross of industry news site RadioFacts.com said he believes that "Turn" has a chance at leading to widespread acceptance. "Chris Brown and Rihanna are both exceptionally talented and this is a marketing business. I'm sure their fans want to hear from them and it's a brilliant idea to show that they can both move past the situation and still support each other.
"Who are any of us to judge anyone else?" he continued. "Black radio is very conservative but the black community is often very forgiving at the same time.
"I think radio, both urban and pop, will respond well. Even if it doesn't, I think the fans will."
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Too much good news for Team Breezy recently...The world is not ready
So that's false?
I'm still so disappointed in them and their labels for letting them do this.