What was arguably Toronto’s only radio station dedicated to hip hop is no more, and its favorite personalities have been let go.
The Flow 93.5 brand was sold to G98.7. On February 14, G98.7 became Flow 98.7 and Flow 93.5 became 93.5 Today Radio. In 2020, Neeti P. Ray won a bid for G98.7.
People who tuned into the 93.5 frequency over the past two days heard pop tunes from City and Colour, Ed Sheeran and Tragically Hip rather than the familiar hip hop and talk shows the station had become for. known.
Flow 98.7 still plays hip hop, R&B, soca and reggae, and has a transition message posted on their website.
“Flow has been a powerful brand in the GTA for over 20 years, associated with the historic legacy of G98.7 and what it has meant to Toronto’s Black community, and we are thrilled to bring these two respected stations together. “, we read in the message.
“The ‘All New’ Flow 98.7FM will continue to be Toronto’s ‘hip hop and R&B’ station, playing various genres of music including but not limited to hip hop, R&B, soca and reggae.”
Ricochet, Blake Carter and Peter Kash all posted that they were fired from their jobs due to the transition. Kash had worked at the station for 12 years.
— Peter Kash (@PeterKash) February 9, 2022
The loss of the radio personalities is seen as a huge misjudgment for the rebrand.
@flow935 fumbled the bag dropping Peter & Blake
— Ⓜ️ (@mlx95) February 14, 2022
Hip-hop fans are upset with Flow’s demise, but there are also people who are upset that both stations have lost their original formats.
So @flow935 takes control of G98.7? I see the #Caribbean content is slowly removed from the air.
— 𝚒̄𝚔𝚊̈𝚗 (@youseernhame) February 12, 2022
Some people are commenting online that this effectively merges two Toronto black-focused radio stations into one, and effectively removes more Caribbean music from our airwaves.
So goodbye to flow935, the irony of its coming in the Black History Month the market was supposed to promote. I actually enjoyed g98.7, it was a very good station. I hated that he became a trash can. Please don’t screw up 98.7 too.
I might go back to 93.7WBLK— Chris S (@Bushmonke) February 10, 2022
One person pointed out the hypocrisy of the change taking place during Black History Month.
The fact that this story (which @flow935 “merged” with #G987FM to become @FLOW987FM) is not trendy in Toronto and I had to dig hard to find out. Serious setback for black music in this city and this country. happy #BHM2022! https://t.co/LG7wccvMJm
— Ian Steaman (@iansteaman) February 10, 2022
It’s true that the new “Today Radio” format doesn’t have much new to offer listeners other than the same recycled Carly Rae Jepsen tracks that play on many other stations.
management of @flow935 already demonstrated their disconnect with their local listeners when they decided to replace a popular morning show with “the breakfast club” for several months – a horribly bad call – and now they’re giving us even less of what the community wants?
— sam (@speckledsam) February 13, 2022
At some point before, Flow had also introduced a non-local show The Breakfast Club, replacing local morning programming, to poor reception.
First half hour of reception @flow935(98.7) heard local hiphop, afro beats and soca 🙌🏾 okkkkk
— King KE (@k_ngke) February 14, 2022
However, some people seem to agree with the way the “All New” Flow sounds.