WFAN to 101.9

[DavidEduardo]

The sheer fact that one company owns the two biggest sources of LI news by far is deplorable. But that's for another thread.

You are referring to Cablevision and Newsday?

[liradioisbad]

The sheer fact that one company owns the two biggest sources of LI news by far is deplorable. But that's for another thread.

You are referring to Cablevision and Newsday?

Yeah. Specifically News 12 Long Island and Newsday. I don't count the NYC-based media since they're mainly concerned with NYC issues.

I believe Cablevision fought nail and tooth against must carry rules in the early 90's so they wouldn't have been forced to carry WLNY (then WLIG), back when they had their own Long Island-centric newscast.

[carolinaradio]

In response to the Alternative format being less popular; yes, while I think it has declined in popularity gradually since around 2000, there have been quite a few Alt. bands crossing over to CHR since 2010, particularly in the past year, which may generate new interest in the format.  Foster The People, Gotye, Fun, Neon Trees, etc.  I would say the format seems to have bottomed out.  I doubt it will ever reach the popularity it enjoyed in the 90s again, but I think the crossover to CHR may say something about the format.

[d21ofnj]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! NO! WE HAVE NO OTHER STATION PLAYING ROCK IN NEW YORK CITY! CBS AGAIN KILLS ROCK FOR A SECOND TIME! NOW FM is useless! Don't they get that talk and sports DO NOT BELONG ON FM IT FAILED BEFORE! Someone better bring rock back to NY! This is the worst news in history!

You seem to have the same problem that many in this industry have... An insistence on looking backwards or trying to stay the course, and an inability to look forward and to see where the industry is headed.  Time marches forward.  AM listenership will never increase.  Ever.  It had a great 90+ year run.  Radio needs to provide a service that isn't readily available in many other places.  The money-making spoken word formats will migrate to FM.  There are more music choices than you could ever conceivably imagine available online, and through music storage.

This is the future.

Internet radio is where it's at my friend.  Get a $5 FM transmitter from Five Below, download the TuneIn Radio app, or iHeartRadio, and enjoy thousands of rock alternative stations around the world.  My data cap doesn't max out and I use TuneIn nearly 4 hours a day in the car or bus, and even a bonus if you can find free public wifi spots from your cable providers. 

[Jacko]

WRXP is only .3 behind 92.3 Now and is trending upward, while Now is on a slide.  I'd imagine that WRXP's demo skews a bit older and may be a bit more appealing to buyers than Now, so CBS would be foolish to flip WRXP now.  I agree that alternative is having a bit of a resurgence.  The past year or two has seen a number of crossovers, not to mention a fair deal of alternative songs being used in commercials.  Right now, 'RXP is doing a nice job balancing the newer product, especially the crossover stuff, with the big tracks from the 90s and early 2000s.  NYC has enough CHR and pop music.  The only down side is CBS's mis-management of its rock properties.  If by some miracle CBS is to keep 'RXP as a rock station, they should not make too many tweaks--what Merlin has done seems to be working.

Jacko

[DavidEduardo]

WRXP is only .3 behind 92.3 Now and is trending upward, while Now is on a slide.  I'd imagine that WRXP's demo skews a bit older and may be a bit more appealing to buyers than Now, so CBS would be foolish to flip WRXP now.  I agree that alternative is having a bit of a resurgence. 

They bought it for a WFAN on FM presence. There is nearly no way they will reverse the public statements about putting WFAN on the new acquisition.

[DToTheJ]

The Fan will fail on FM, ESPN isn't lighting up in ratings at all, what a joke.  They will regret dropping the alternative rock on 101.9...

Nice to see a moderate opinion from "HardRocker9" on this... 

Meanwhile, if you think about it, Emmis technically made it possible for both AM sports stations to migrate to FM!

[luperm]

Yeah. Specifically News 12 Long Island and Newsday. I don't count the NYC-based media since they're mainly concerned with NYC issues. I believe Cablevision fought nail and tooth against must carry rules in the early 90's so they wouldn't have been forced to carry WLNY (then WLIG), back when they had their own Long Island-centric newscast.

Those days were actually quite interesting. Where Cablevision really fought the rimshot UHF stations (WLNY-TV, WRNN-TV, etc.) was when they were pushing for carriage across the entire Cablevision footprint. For example, WRNN -- a Kingston, NY TV station, was looking for carriage on LI and NJ systems. There was no demand for the channel...WRNN just wanted to be in more homes to command a bigger rate from the infomercial providers. There were years of court cases and negotiations there.  And, while both sides had some valid points, the so-called local news on WRNN and others was a real hack job...maybe 30 minutes a day of poor production surrounded by 23.5 hours of infomercials and religion...which is more or less what WRNN is today.  Love or hate News 12, they do put out a respectable product with real journalists.

[ansky212]

Oddly enough, Cablevision's systems in places like Hoboken, Bayonne, and Newark don't even carry WLNY. I find this odd as I thought WLNY had must-carry status everywhere in the NYC DMA. Other CV systems in NJ, like Morris County do carry WLNY.

[DG02816]

Totally agree with d21. This is the direction FM is headed in. Here in Philly, CBS blew up WYSP 94.1, a fourth-in-the-market rocker, and replaced it with a simulcast of 610 WIP, revamping the lineup.It's doing quite well, and 610 will clear the national network here in January. Another group, Greater Media, blew up an also-ran Hot AC on 97.5, and also is doing sports talk. It's pulling respectable shares, too. Philly has news-talk on FM too with the 106.9 they got from Family Radio. I'd suggest XCountry and Hardrocker drop the pitchforks and torches and grow up.