Jamaica-born DJ Mikey Jarrett, now residing in the U.S., waves a Jamaican flag during a short performance at the recently held seventh staging of the Irie Jamboree Reggae Festival in Queens, New York.

- Says genre was abandoned by US mainstream commercial radio

- Plans dancehall/reggae tour of US this summer in celebration of 'Jamaica 50'

Hot97Boston.com announced over the weekend, its move from Terrestrial Digital Radio back to a Digital Internet Radio platform and pledged its continued support of real hip hop, dancehall-reggae, and R&B, saying it stood ready to chart an even bigger course forward for real hip hop and dancehall-reggae in particular; both of which had been basically abandoned by mainstream commercial radio stations in the United States.

"Hot97Boston originally operated as a digital Internet radio station focussing on the region's many colleges and universities for almost an entire year. It was based on that tremendous success that led to us lending our amazing brand locally for simulcast on terrestrial radio. There was such a loud outcry by the local Boston community for Hot97Boston that we felt a specific responsibility as a Boston-based urban broadcaster to lend our programming to serving the needs of local urban and minority communities of Boston. But there should be no confusion as to what the Hot97Boston brand is and always will be," said Paul 'VOG' Parara, Hot97Boston GM/programme director. "We continue to be a legal, well-respected, trendsetting, digital radio powerhouse that is listened to on seven continents in over 100 counties worldwide."

As most independent radio stations in America which operate on terrestrial radio have come to realize Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations are designed to make it almost impossible for independent broadcasters to succeed. These rules and regulations favour larger multi-million dollar conglomerates that generally do not serve urban/black/minority listeners and do not know how to programme genre-specific music such as dancehall/reggae to a mainstream/white audience. As a result, independent radio is all but non-existent on terrestrial radio.

VOG added, "Hot97Boston is proud that we have been able to change the old narrative in mainstream radio in America. We have proven the strength of dancehall/reggae as a viable genre on commercial radio today. We've watched as national radio powerhouses such as Hot97 in New York and Jamn 94.5 in Boston abandoned most of their dancehall/reggae programming from rotation. We have supported reggae/dancehall 100 per cent and have proven that it can be done, if done correctly. And as a result; in recent months we've seen broadcasters around the country begin to follow our lead by reintroducing dancehall/reggae back into mix-shows and regular rotation."

By recognizing the strength and success of Hot97Boston's unique approach to urban programming; which was perceived as a big threat to many local and regional broadcasters who represented an old approach to programming, Hot97Boston has decided to take their success national by introducing a new uHotRadio product.

The new uHotRadio will compliment Hot97Boston by allowing listeners to tune into their favourite radio programme no matter where they are - including hip hop, reggae-dancehall, R&B, morning talk, entertainment news, weather, traffic, and sports.

The New uHotRadio will include apps for all platforms including the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. uHotRadio apps will allow listeners to take one of the world's hottest radio stations and their DJs with them wherever they go. Wherever 'u' have a smartphone 'u' will have uHotRadio.

"This is what you call a game changer," said DJ Chubby Chub, APD Hot97Boston. "My own personal app for my show has 10,000 listeners daily on the strength of Hot97Boston programming, so I can only imagine the positive impact uHotRadio will have on our overall listenership."

Dancehall/reggae tour of US

Parara a legendary concert and tour promoter himself, who has been instrumental in the success of many national reggae concerts and tours in the US over the past two decades, added "We are planning a major national uHotRadio dancehall/reggae tour towards the end of summer to select US cities in celebration of Jamaica's 50th anniversary and a hip hop tour to follow in the fall. This will not only introduce uHotRadio nationally on a scale never seen before, but will mark the return of dancehall/reggae artistes to the national US touring market."

"It is a major accomplishment when you are able to reintroduce an entire genre of music to the urban consciousness in America as we have done with dancehall/reggae," said Cecil Whyte, deputy GM and director of operations at Hot97Boston Radio. "We know our new national approach will allow us to do even more in supporting dancehall/reggae music and artistes than any other radio station in America."