Chattanooga’s premier urban radio station, Power 94, WJTT 94.3 FM, is known for being one of the longest-running hip-hop and R&B stations in the Scenic City, operating for over four decades now.
Lauded as Chattanooga’s "People Station,” Power 94 has long been focused on community connection, as well as playing contemporary urban music with a few throwbacks, strong personalities, and their signature syndicated show, Yung Joc and the Streetz Morning Takeover, alongside hit programs like Afternoons with Tula and Zainab Kay.
Throughout the decades, Power 94 has been a consistent and steadfast presence in Chattanooga’s radio landscape, offering up high-quality shows and playing all the hits. They are also heavily steeped in the community, where they frequently help promote local events and concerts through giveaways, a local calendar, and frequent interviews.
Power 94 is more than just an urban music station; they are a hub for culture and music and for facilitating conversation and dialogue about local stories and local musicians. One of their signature series in promoting local talent is Street Flava, which has been active in Chattanooga for close to three decades, since it was created by Keith Landecker in the early nineties. In 2018, he handed the reins over to Power 94’s Jeremiah Itula, also known as Tula.
Street Flava serves as a launchpad and platform for local hip-hop and R&B musicians, connecting radio to the streets and providing independent, unsigned, and unknown artists a chance to have their music featured on a hit radio station.
The exposure that folks get is incredible, and as long as the tracks meet certain quality and content standards, they get a play, and sometimes even another play and a shoutout. The series serves the area as not only a discovery platform for local musicians but also strengthens community ties by keeping things grounded in a hyper local connection.
I got the opportunity to speak with Tula about how the series has evolved since it was handed to him in 2018, and with Keith Landecker about the history of the incredible platform. In speaking with Keith, he detailed some of the early days and how the series got its start, including playing the incredibly famous Chattanooga native, Usher.
“We started thinking about Street Flava in the early nineties, and at that time, we had some artists in the community that were making some noise, and Usher was one of those artists. We got involved with him when he first started his journey. It kind of started off real slow, playing local artists on Saturday evenings," Landecker explains.
"When the first couple of artists started getting on the air, it went crazy, and it became a monster of its own. Here it is today: we play seven days a week, and the only time we don’t play is during Gospel on Sundays. The music has gotten to be incredible now. You can’t tell the difference between an artist who has millions of dollars behind them and a street flava artist. That’s what you want. We have repeat artists, but we have a lot of new ones too.”
Keith went on to discuss that while they may get song submissions from other regions and states, the true focus of Street Flava has always been hyperlocal, on the up-and-coming musicians of Chattanooga.
“Even though we do get a lot of stuff from North Georgia and Alabama, our number one priority is the people here in Chattanooga, because we’ve gotten the chance to know a lot of the producers and the artists that are here. They come first and get top priority because it is a Chattanooga thing," he says.
"Street Flava grew in the streets of Chattanooga, and we’re super proud that we’ve been doing it for close to thirty years. You can go get music from anywhere, but what makes us special is that we serve our community. We talk about the kids in our community.”
In talking with Tula about how the series has evolved since he was handed the reins eight years ago, he mentioned that they transitioned from one song a week to now playing a song every day, every hour, giving the Street Flava artists more play and more exposure.
“In 2018, when Keith first had me take it over, and up until that point, they were just doing one song a week, featured during the evening shows, so when I took it over, we talked about increasing that. Originally, we looked at doing it once an hour from 3 to 10 p.m. So we created a Street Flava playlist that had 20-30 songs and would just rotate those," Tula notes.
"Then it grew from there into what it is today, which is every day, every hour. There are some exceptions, like during the Gospel hour and the quiet storm at night, because that is lower, laid-back music. That’s how it evolved; more plays, more exposure for the artists, and more often, more frequently.”
Tula went on to discuss what he looks for when selecting local artists for Street Flava and the fact that the quality and message of the content are so crucial for radio play, as they have children listening on their way to school in the mornings.
“The first thing we look at is the quality; the second is if it is radio-edited and appropriate to play on air. That’s the language, the content, and the message, just to make sure that overall, it is something that is beneficial to our listeners. We have a lot of kids who listen on their way to school in the morning, and we do try to make sure that the music is squeaky clean.”
When asked where he sees Street Flava headed in the next 3-5 years and the impact that the series has had on local musicians and creatives, Tula discussed how important it is to give someone a voice, how inspiring that can be, as well as his plans to expand the series.
“We have had talks with different venues on having features and showcases and ways to highlight Street Flava artists. I know there have been different venues that have asked for artists’ names, and I provided them. There are some things we’ve done with Dynamo Studios with a lot of Street Flava artists reading books, and things like that have expanded it some. Possibly try a mixtape to try and get the music out there a bit more, where I can host something, and I can try to feature them more," Tula explains.
"Anytime you can give somebody a voice, I think that it’s something positive. If Street Flava were to end tomorrow, people would still be making music, but I think that it does give them something to strive for, something to push harder for, and something to step their music game up for.”
Power 94 is owned by Brewer Media Company and licensed to Red Bank, Tennessee.
Power 94.3 Street Flava Series
- Send submissions to: tula@brewermediagroup.com
- Learn more at power94.com/music/