Could she be joining the station’s biggest rival?
Wednesday, Angie Martinez resigned from New York's Hot 97.
Hot 97, which is owned by Emmis Communications, was turned into New York’s first hip-hop station in 1993 by a newly hired program director, Steve Smith. During the transition, Martinez was the 18-year-old assistant to the station’s general manager, Judy Ellis, who decided, along with Smith, that Angie — Puerto Rican, with a Brooklyn accent — was a better voice than any radio vet for the young, white, black, Latino, and Asian New York audience they wanted to build, so they put her on the air as an overnight host. “I was the girl that was dressed like TLC. There weren’t many people like me in the building. So they’re like, So what do you wanna do? I was like, in heaven,” she told BuzzFeed in April.
Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed
"WQHT HOT 97 FM confirms the departure of Angie Martinez," Hot 97 wrote in a statement.
"Angie has given over 20 years of service to the HOT 97 brand, where she exemplified professionalism and passion for music. We thank her deeply for her commitment to Hip Hop, radio, and broadcasting."
