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Could FM Bring back a Music Radio Station like the old WABC ?

Now that WCBS-FM has completely messed up the Oldies format could a station be created on FM like the old WABC playing songs from the 60s & 70s for New York ? Could New York support such a station ?
 
Now that WCBS-FM has completely messed up the Oldies format could a station be created on FM like the old WABC playing songs from the 60s & 70s for New York ? Could New York support such a station ?

Not in New York City. It won't happen until there's a way for radio stations to get advertising for programming that appeals to listeners over 60.

Right now, that kind of advertising is primarily long-form infomercials that the audience doesn't like.
 
Now that WCBS-FM has completely messed up the Oldies format could a station be created on FM like the old WABC playing songs from the 60s & 70s for New York ? Could New York support such a station ?

New York City is what is called a "transactional" market. That means that most ad buys, particularly on major stations, are placed by agencies or large ad departments that do quantitative analysis of the audience of each station. They look at cost vs. the delivery of the desired target listeners.

There are essentially no ad buys for people over 55, at least on music stations. A station playing 60's music would mostly appeal to those over 65, which has even less appeal to advertisers than the group of 55-64.

New York could not support such a station. That's why CBS-FM quit doing "oldies" well over a decade ago.
 
then i have to ask a question why has there been a new station on 101.5 The Breeze in New York playing music from the 60s & 70s though i believe they are a translator. Also heard on 93.5 HD 4.
 
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Apparently that's coming from WVIP in Westchester. As I said, suburban station. They're running several translators off their HDs.

101.5 is a low power translator located in Queens.
 
then i have to ask a question why has there been a new station on 101.5 The Breeze in New York playing music from the 60s & 70s though i believe they are a translator. Also heard on 93.5 HD 4.

It's a suburban station on Long Islan, W268AN Plainview, with a local client base. It has 13 watts and is essentially a local station to Plainview and Syosset and a few miles around. No matter how well it did, it does not cover enough people to be on agency radar screens, so it has to look at really, really local business for advertisers.
 
I would love to hear 101.1 HD2 become an oldies station. I don't see the point of WCBS 880, WOR, and WINS being rebroadcast on HD2 stations. HD2 stations should play formats that are no longer commercially viable. Smooth Jazz on 102.7 HD2 is the only such station.
 
I just learned that Cumulus, the company that owns WABC, WPLJ and WNSH is filing for chapter 11...i wonder if any of those stations might bring Oldies back to New York with the new owner.
 
Cumulus will still own their stations. Programming will not change unless they had already planned on it.
As much as I love oldies, there just isn't that much of an ad market for it; Especially in NYC. The format does survive elsewhere on smaller stations.
 
Cumulus will still own their stations. Programming will not change unless they had already planned on it.
As much as I love oldies, there just isn't that much of an ad market for it; Especially in NYC. The format does survive elsewhere on smaller stations.

Not to mention that if the format was done in the way WABC did Top 40, the original poster might be disappointed. Such a station would have strong personalities and imaging (the best things about WABC back in the day), but the playlist would be tight, conservative and limited to chart-toppers that research shows people still want to listen to today. Nostalgia has dimmed a lot of bad memories about WABC -- including the songs it refused to add, or didn't add for weeks until they were already hits in "lesser" markets. It was not a particularly interesting station to listen to for music, more a follower than a leader.
 
Nostalgia has dimmed a lot of bad memories about WABC -- including the songs it refused to add, or didn't add for weeks until they were already hits in "lesser" markets. It was not a particularly interesting station to listen to for music, more a follower than a leader.

Plus it was primarily a currents station. They threw a "Gold" song in every now and then, but those were more recent songs than what people might expect today. If someone were to replicate WABC, you'd have to pick an era, because the music was constantly changing.
 
Plus it was primarily a currents station. They threw a "Gold" song in every now and then, but those were more recent songs than what people might expect today. If someone were to replicate WABC, you'd have to pick an era, because the music was constantly changing.

Or do a somewhat toned-down version of the campy, everything-goes format of WLNG, the eastern Long Island oldies station that has such a cult following among oldies geeks, playing songs from three or four decades with no research at all behind them and with motor-mouth DJ's rambling on using reverb between every two songs. But even with a less frenetic approach, such a station still would have no chance today, either to build a measurable audience or to attract advertisers.
 
The superhit sound of 77 WABC was lots of fun in its day, but the hot line of hits was disconnected long ago. For better or for worse, radio has changed.
 
I just learned that Cumulus, the company that owns WABC, WPLJ and WNSH is filing for chapter 11...i wonder if any of those stations might bring Oldies back to New York with the new owner.

Chapter 11 is "reorganization", not liquidation. Management has said "no changes" in day to day operations. The changes are all related to the owners of shares and lenders. So, as has already been said, no change.
 
I just learned that Cumulus, the company that owns WABC, WPLJ and WNSH is filing for chapter 11...i wonder if any of those stations might bring Oldies back to New York with the new owner.

What? Oldies has changed? For the formats survival it would need the top songs of the 80's and 90's at this point given the current demos. It would have to be like Entercom's KRTH though.

Even KRTH has played some 90's songs recently like this
Torn
Natalie Imbruglia
Left Of The Middle

http://kearth101.radio.com/playlist/
 
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