New York's BIN 1600

[drt]

I’m still shocked iHeart put BIN on a full market FM signal in Norfolk, VA. That’s some kind of commitment!

That is a shocker, the nearest BIN station to me is on a HD2 and my HD radio can’t even receive the main channel(95.7) as I’m about 68 miles from their antenna, but listening online was painful due to the repetition and stale news cycle mentioned by MIKEY Radio and AMRocks.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

When the wife and I drove to Florida around 2000, we took US 13 down the peninsula. Linda had the poor judgement to nap and wake up and ask where we were. I told her, uh, we were in the second tunnel underneath Chesapeake Bay -- on that bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge thing. Urping for a while, she and I got off the highway on the Norfolk side, and she eventually spewed up a few days' worth of meals on the back step of the very first 7-11 we found
.
We two honkies went inside. I only wanted a soft pretzel or two. Linda, though, a 7-11 girl herself, struck up a conversation with the two 'Sev folks on duty. Black girl and a Black fellow.
It's as though the three of them were back in high school, swapping tales of tragedies and triumphs solely from their 7-11 resume' days. Exploding coffeepots. Bagels with either too much or not enough butter. Terrific communicaations.

Point is, I *ALWAYS* liked Norfolk and its radio -- as a teen punk on vacation, then the Navy years, then as a radio DJ lifer. There was this one 850 station in the 60's, WRAP (if they only had known, eh?) that played and presented R&B that was almost 'soul' nough to make WWRL in NYC sound like Bautiful music, lol.
So having a huge-signalled FM station in the 2021 market sits very swell with me and my memories.

 

[davideduardo]

We two honkies went inside. I only wanted a soft pretzel or two. Linda, though, a 7-11 girl herself, struck up a conversation with the two 'Sev folks on duty. Black girl and a Black fellow.
It's as though the three of them were back in high school, swapping tales of tragedies and triumphs solely from their 7-11 resume' days. Terrific communicaations.

Isn't it amazing how common interests or experiences erase all those other differences between people... race, age, gender, tax bracket, income and all the rest!

When i did a project for a new FM in Pakistan, I was concerned about the cultural and religious differences. The station owner / manager said, "Don't worry. We both love radio, and we can fill each other in on the other things."

 

[AMRocks]

Perhaps instead of operating as a second-rate all news service, BIN would be better off transforming into a news/talk outlet. I believe there are few Black news/talk stations in the U.S., and such a format could be a worthwhile voice for many communities. Perhaps it could be similar to Urban View, on satellite radio.
Urban View

I would not be surprised if it morphs into that, especially at night and weekends.

 

[atthestars]

I’m still shocked iHeart put BIN on a full market FM signal in Norfolk, VA. That’s some kind of commitment!

Honestly, it wasn't TOO surprising. Yes, it's a big signal in the market, but iHeart hadn't had anything that gathered any sort of ratings success in nearly a decade plus on it. (Classic Hits, CHR, out-of-market tracked Alt). Even before that, as Urban AC or Smooth Jazz. In a market that's 32% black, it wasn't a bad idea to give it a shot on the signal.