Portland’s only full-time rap and r&b station, Jammin’ 95.5, is flipping over to sports on June 12. The Oregonian’s blog framed the switch with the introductory sentence: “Ready for a second sports talk radio station in town?” Not, mind you, “Ready for one less mainstream rap station?” Priorities, I guess.

Now I’m not saying losing Jammin’ is a tragedy. I’ll leave that up to you to decide. But there are certainly folks with jobs at the station whose lives will be flip-turned upside down in less than two weeks, and you also have to decide whether to hate or appreciate those djs, MCs, hosts and paper-pushers. Some are kinda skeezy, to be sure (cough, the Playhouse crew, cough), and then there are the not-so-skeezy: DJ O.G. One, for example, has consistently used his position as a Jammin’ personality to heighten his visibility as a community activist (he’s running a clothing drive as we speak) and legit performer. Even DJ Wicked, who dedicates a good portion of his existence to spreading “Fuck the Radio” gospel, appeared—ok, if not smiling, snarling anyway—with O.G. when the two were co-awarded custom Adidas kicks back in ‘06.

So where then, does Wicked come down on this? The outspoken turntablist is none too broken up about 95.5’s fizzle. “Apparently the scumbags over at Portland’s nescient [sic] radio station (better known as “KXJM Jammin’ 95.5″) will no longer be spewing their ignorant, watered-down, mainstream pop/rap garbage over the airwaves any longer!” Wicked wrote via a MySpace bulletin last night. “GOOD RIDDANCE YOU DOUCHEBAGS!!! Don’t let the door hit you in the back on the way out!” Comments on Wicked’s site, JustPlainTerror.com, had a largely similar slant.

That’s to be expected. With occasional exception, Jammin’ does (understatement alert) little to support Portland’s own hip-hop scene, and the attempts that are made—Starchile’s Jammin’ Underground/Hood Radio program on Sunday nights was one of the few Jammin’ shows to feature local beats and rhymes—comes under fire from local artists who feel excluded (again, to be expected).

This is a conversation that’s going on elsewhere on the web. On the Lifesavas’ blog, on pdxradio dot com’s forums and on Wicked’s own Just Plain Terror site. (I’m also trying to get a conversation started at Superhappywax—which is probably the best resource out there for local hip-hop, if ya haven’t heard—as well).

But despite of its disregard for much of Portland’s homegrown scene, is no dedicated rap station better than a mainstream one? The kids will miss it, right? Whaddya think? Good riddance or cause for concern? Are we gentrifying the radio waves or was Jammin’ just some dude in a suit’s idea of what was hot out on the streets? Has Jammin’ been downhill since ‘Sheed and the Family? And, lastly, to rock fans: if we lost KNRK to a talk station, would you be bummed?

Endnote: Rumblings on the various blogs indicate that tastemakers from Jammin’ may be headed over to 107.5 (currently Movin’, which plays a little of everything that is cheesy and the occasional jam) for a format change-up.

Links:
95.5 (old)
95.5 (new)

Graphic: Jammin’s web header