Interview with Yesi Ortiz of L.A.’s Power 106 FM by Tim “Styles” Sanchez

Styles: We are here with Yesi Ortiz from Los Angeles’ Power 106 FM. She is the stations host from 10 am to 3 pm, Mondays thru Fridays -she also co-hosts the New at 2 segment with DJ Felli Fel. How has it been going at the station, Yesi?

Yesi: It’s been good! There have been a lot of changes overall at the station as far as music is concerned. We’ve added the Power Party Mix at 12 with DJ Reflex. We no longer do the 10 am 2Pac segment though.

Styles: Why is that?

Yesi: It was time for a change. It was a decision made by the station and it was pretty much out of my control. They felt it wasn’t working as well as they thought it would, so they parted with it.

Styles:: Did you replace the segment with anything?

Yesi: No. It’s just straight up music now.

Styles:: If you were given complete control of this station, would you do anything different?

Yesi: We are really good already at being aggressive with music and the features. We’ve been moving in a good direction, so I would continue that – plus have a really strong presence in the streets.

Styles: No Yesi personal touches?

Yesi: No. We’re already aggressive with breaking new music. We’ve been able to do that over the years and maintain our ratings. I don’t think I would do anything too different. Well, maybe I would allow more talking because I like to talk.

Styles: What kind of sound works for this station? I know you guys get a lot of submissions. What is it that you are really looking to play?

Yesi: The way music is changing right now is crazy. What is Hip-Hop? Hip-Hop is different now. Right now it’s Hip-Hop mixed with Electro or Pop. It’s Hip-Hop & R&B. I think right now what is working for us as a station is mainstream Hip-Hop, Electro Hip-Hop and out of the box thinking Hip-Hop. It’s taking it back but with a little twist of the future. For example Wale and Drake, they are Hip-Hop yet they are a different sound of Hip-Hop. That’s what’s working. It’s taking something that is recycled and making it new and it’s hot now. Like The New Boyz and “Jerking”, which is crazy right now.

Styles: What doesn’t work?

Yesi: The Gangsta rap. It’s not working like it used to.  Let’s use Hot Dolla as an example – and I love Hot Dolla. He started out the year great with the song Two Steppin’ and it was a great gangsta record.  Now in comparison to that record to where the times are now, he’s got a record with Pitbull. Now Pitbull is known for the upbeat club records and Hot Dolla is more street. By mixing those two together, He (Hot Dolla) is finally seeing what is working and what is selling. Gangsta rap isn’t working anymore like it used to. Mack 10 is kind of stepping out on his own too, keeping it West Coast but yet still trying to maintain a mainstream sound. Look at what Common did. We all know that he’s a great Hip-Hop legend but he came out with UMC – Universal Mic Control, which is something different. There is a pattern of change and that’s what the people are asking for. The music has to be catchy. Whether people know it or not, they want to be able to sing in their cars or flow to an easy hook. That has always been the most important element in making a great hit.

Styles:: Do you guys get music from artists that you do traditionally play and don’t really want to play a particular song because you feel it will not work?

Yesi: We’ve gotten songs like that. Were we are like, “Hmmm.”

Styles: And these are artists that you normally play?

Yesi: Yes – artists that we would normally play all of the time. But the song didn’t work for us and it didn’t work for the audience. We gave it a shot and it didn’t work. The perfect example is Eminem. The song was “We Made You.” Eminem has proven time and time again that he is a great artist. He sells albums and he’s a big performer – but when “We Made You” came out we were iffy on it but decided to give it a try because it’s Eminem. The song didn’t work for us as well as we thought it would work.

Styles: What are you using to determine what works and doesn’t work these days?

Yesi: We have a system that is generated through a company called Arbitron and they have what is called Call-Out Sheets. It’s a list of 30 songs. It’s a Call-Out list where they call different homes in the L.A. area and they play the song for them over the phone. It’s a survey and they ask different demographical questions. They also have a database of these new meters called the PPM’s or Personal People Meters.  Those are now out in L.A. and there are about 3,000 of them. Those meters are carried by certain individuals. That allows us to go and check what people are listening to, how long they are listening for and what they switched to.

Styles:: So you guys no longer gauge by caller’s requests?

Yesi: Not as much - unless it’s something like the New Boys. They were huge on Myspace and huge in the streets. We didn’t know it because that song never came to us through a label or through a management. The only reason why we picked up on it because I kept getting requests for “You’re A Jerk” and I thought at first people were calling me a jerk! Finally I came to realize that it was a song and one of our DJ’s got a hold of the song via Myspace. She told us that it was the biggest song on the streets and that in turn got us to play it. That can happen but does it happen a lot? Not really. A lot goes in to investigating what works and what doesn’t work for us and that’s going to change because of the PPM’s. DJ E-Man has strictly taken a new role of gathering all of that information. There’s a lot of information to go over from day-parts to times and minutes – you can look at minutes now. E-Man has created a whole job and position just for that.

Styles: So do you have any say at all in anything that gets played?

Yesi: They do come for me and ask me what I think of a song and I do give out that female perspective that the station needs. I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to call out some hit records for us. I believe that the station respects my opinion on songs – which is cool and very hard to get being a female in this business.

Styles: What makes up your biggest demographic?

Yesi: 18 to 24 Male Latinos.

Styles: What about females?

Yesi: We are not as big with them but we’ve been noticing a change – an increase in female Latinas.

Styles: Oh really? I always thought based on some of the songs played that it was the females who were more prominent!

Yesi: I think it’s because of the mixing. I believe our male followers are listening to the mixing that’s going on. There are a lot of DJ’s out there and they are mostly male.  We do a lot of mixing at our station – obviously with Big Boy’s morning show and then my show at 12. Then we mix again from 3 to 7 and then from 9 to 10.

Styles: Power 106 has maintained a top spot for Rap and R & B. You’ve had a lot of competitors over the years. Who do you consider your stations real competition?

Yesi: It used to be just KIIS FM but right now its AMP and KIIS. We kind of have an advantage because AMP and KIIS are a direct competition to each other and that leaves our road open for more Hip-Hop than mainstream Pop. They want to be like us (laughs).

Styles: Is it a friendly competition? Or are you guys out to crush and destroy?

Yesi: No, we are friendly about it. We don’t care. In all honesty, around this building, we can care less what they are doing. They are in to the whole, “We made the switch from Power to AMP” but we can care less. We know who we are. We know what we are about. In this L.A. market, Power has the swag and the better music. It’s just a matter of time before people realize that AMP is just another KIIS FM and they are trying to imitate what we do. Its ok – with patience comes greatness and we are ok with that.

Styles: You are working here at the station and I see that you are hosting events. I see you twittering late at night. You never rest – like me (laughs).

Yesi: That’s good though. It’s good to keep busy and a good position to be in right now. I am hosting events and still trying to get my foot in the TV world. I’m taking classes for that.

Styles: You are taking classes in the midst of all this?

Yesi: Yes, I’m taking some television and film classes.

Styles: When do you sleep?

Yesi: I really don’t! My mom has always told me, never be the quickest to rise because you will be the quickest to fall – so I am enjoying slowly working my way up.

Styles:: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Yesi: Hopefully having my TV show launched. I’ve had a few meetings with some television networks to pitch my ideas. It takes a long time because of the responsibilities I have at home and then trying to link up with the right people that aren’t going to screw you over – it takes time to make all of this happen. I’m hoping by the end of this year that I have a few networks interested in my ideas.

Styles: Have you shot some pilots yet?

Yesi: I have. I just shot one recently that I hope gets picked up by MTV. I signed a confidentiality agreement so I can’t tell you the concept behind it. I can tell you that it’s a really dope concept about music. I can say that much.

Styles:: You have a website too now…

Yesi: YesiOrtiz.com. You can get information on the world of Hip-Hop and Entertainment. I do get exclusive songs and I post them.

Styles: Oh, you are trying to go against all of us now (laughs)?

Yesi: Um – I bring my own style to it (laughs). There are times where I do get exclusive pieces of information from friends and I post it up. I blog about some of the events that I go to and I’ll post pictures.

Styles: People send over exclusives?

Yesi: Actually I’ll get them from here at the station. We have a good relationship with the artists.

Styles: Oh, so you’re actually cheating then (laughs)?

Yesi: (laughs) I do, I do! I cheat a little bit. I think it’s a great website. A lot of people really like it. It’s been growing. You should all check it out when you can. It’s at www.yesiortiz.com