BROOKE GLADSTONE: Once upon a time in New York City, WQHT, known as Hot 97, was "all that" in hip hop radio. The station had the hip hop market all to itself. But now, Hot 97 is duking it out with another top ten station for dominance in a market worth millions in advertising revenues. OTM's Allison Keyes reports. [HOT 97 THEME MUSIC] [SOUNDTRACK OF JAHEIM JERSEY]

JAHEIM JERSEY: Yo what's up New York? This' your boy Jaheim Jersey-- and I'm hangin' out with my dog star on Hot 9 7 - one love still ghetto baby.

ALLISON KEYES: Until March, Emmis Broadcasting's Hot 97 was the only game in town for hip hop fans. The Clear Channel, the gargantuan radio conglomerate decided to muscle into the market. It switched its oldies station, 105.1, to hip hop and changed its name to Power 105.1. Almost immediately Power 105.1 nearly tied Hot 97 in the ratings and confused a number of fans. [SOUNDTRACK OF CALL INTO SHOW ON POWER 105.1]

DJ: Hi, right on there - just tell me what station you made the switch to.

WOMAN CALLER: 105.1 baby.

DJ: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. There's something that goes before the 105.1.

WOMAN CALLER: Hot--? Or--? [LAUGHS]

DJ: No. No! Now, now you, now you know you-- [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

DJ: Noooooooo. Noooooooo.

DJ: See? That's why you should have voted for Clara! Cause Clara knows! [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

WOMAN CALLER: Power! Power! Power! Power!

DJ: Nah, you can't have no tickets now.

DJ: Told you, you should go for Clara! [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

WOMAN CALLER: Now I'm sorry!

DJ: Forget about it.

ALLISON KEYES: David Hinkley who covers radio and television for the New York Daily News says the competition between the stations has made listening to the radio fun again, especially at a time when too many stations deliver focus group-based programming anchored by what he says sounds like robots.

DAVID HINKLEY: When you've got this kind of conflict between two radio stations or saying "I'm better" -"No, I'm better! You're worse!" "No, you're worse!" As long as it isn't carried to, to really silly levels which so far it hasn't been, it's just a lot of fun to listen to, because it-- it feels like, you know, human drama that's unfolding day by day for you. [EMINEM SONG UP AND UNDER]

ALLISON KEYES: Hinkley says back in 1993 when Hot 97 first went hip hop, people thought it was a huge mistake -- no one would listen to this music, and any station who played it certainly wasn't going to make any money. Wrong! Last year, Hot 97 grossed 39.7 million dollars in revenue. The same year, 105.1, then known as WTJM, grossed just 16.4 million in advertising. Clear Channel assumed it would do better with hip hop. There aren't any hard numbers yet, but the station's programming bulges with ads for everything from cell phones to luxury cars.

DAVID HINKLEY: Gradually I think the advertising community has realized what should have been obvious all along which is that the hip hop audience is not in fact just kids who wear their hats backwards on the streets. It's a group of people who cover the same range as the whole population. You've got business executives; you've got students; you've got very responsible people who just like this music. [SOUNDTRACK - NELLY/CROSSFADES TO 'DISSIN'-J-LO]

ALLISON KEYES: Fans of both stations also love the way the DJs keep them on the latest celebrity news.

DJ: We haven't talked about Bobby Brown in 48 hours!

DJ: Cause he didn't -- now what could Bobby be up to right now?

DJ: He's just wakin' up. [LAUGHS]

ALLISON KEYES: And hip hop reviews--

DJ: Hey I didn't give-- Jay Z's CD a rating between - from 1 to 10--

DJ: Oh, yeah, yeah - you gotta do that.

DJ: I'll give it a 6.

ALLISON KEYES: The drama often heard on the airwaves actually spilled into the streets this fall. Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex whose real name is Aston Taylor was arrested. He was charged with assaulting Stephanie Saunders, known as Big Steph Lova, who left Hot 97 for Power 105.1. As the story goes, the whole dispute stemmed from a June interview Lova did with rapper Nas after Nas stormed out of a Hot 97 concert. Matt Conaway, who writes for hiphopsite.com and Vibe Magazine runs it all down.

MATT CONAWAY: He ran to 105 - their main competitor - and basically just went on like a 2 or 3 hour verbal rampage of how Hot 97 was ruining hip hop and you know how Funkmaster Flex was already suspected of making people pay to get air play and things like that.

ALLISON KEYES: Flex has denied accepting money to play certain disks. Neither station returned calls. Power 105.1 also raised Hot 97's hackles by hiring away veteran hip hop personalities Doctor Dre and Ed Lover. Fans at a Harlem record store, Jasmine, Vanessa and Casey, are fascinated by the theatrics and aren't afraid to take sides.

JASMINE: And I like 105.1 cause I like-- Ed Lovers and Doctor Dre. I like Ed Lovers and Doctor Dre cause I like the roll call in the morning and the bootie call thing in the morning. I listen before I go to school.

VANESSA GARCIA: I like Hot 97, cause they put in like [...?...] - they be having hot stuff in there. The other st-- the other one just be having, like, slow songs like you know--

CASEY: I think it's, it's pretty good, you know? It's good for the, the people to have more than one station to listen to.

ALLISON KEYES: And it's a choice that has netted the two competitors an incredible ten percent of the radio audience in New York City. For On the Media, I'm Allison Keyes.