Alt 92.3 to Become WINS Simulcast

[MVB13]

That was the launch. It was sloppy. They were doing it from a studio that was not designed for news reporting. They were still using automation from the previous format, the NexGen system was brought in later.

I have a whole bunch of airchecks of it. They started off trying to be more chit chat, trying to target women. That was not working, so in the fall they shifted to a more traditional news, changed the call letters from WWWN to WIQI. There was a period where at the top of the hour they would do a countdown of the top news stories. They also promoted something like "10 minutes of nonstop news" A lot of it was voice tracked, pre recorded. At the very very end before they took it off the air, they started doing longform talk segments.

The staff were pros. Great anchors and reporters. They just made too many overall management mistakes and nobody listened to it.

In Early 2012, Merlin leased the 87.7 frequency to relaunch the Alternative format in Chicago. They brought in a really good staff for that one. Jim Richards, and PJ Kling were the ones programming it at the time. That format was getting slightly better numbers than FM News was, on a signal not every radio could pick up. It was also getting better 6+ ratings than WKQX was getting before they signed off the Alternative format for FM News.. I guess as early as the year they signed off FM News, Cumulus was already interested in relaunching the Alternative format on 101.1. It ran a filler format until 2014.

I think they had a year to get FM News to either be successful or sign off. That's what it seemed like.

Merlin only leased the Chicago stations to Cumulus. They never sold those until a couple years ago. Cumulus had the option to buy, but went into bankruptcy. Randy Michaels was getting impatient. That's how WLUP wound up being sold to EMF. Cumulus was able to buy 101.1 while they were still in bankruptcy while they had the chance.

NYC deserves a station like Q101.

 

[Larry]

For example, as mentioned up-thread, WNEW-HD3-102.7 has 1010 WINS now;
there would now be much less of a need to duplicate it.

You would think so but Philadelphia’s KYW started broadcasting on FM in November 2020 but also still airs on Audacy WIP-FM HD2.

 

[Larry]

If you look at their ratings now, they're pretty much exactly the same as where they were back then

That could be a win. In an all news format where the audience is aging maintaining the same audience (instead of losing listeners) is a win.

 

[davideduardo]

That could be a win. In an all news format where the audience is aging maintaining the same audience (instead of losing listeners) is a win.

Not really. Most top dollar agency buys don't go for listeners over 55, so if the audience ages with you the format will restrict you to direct accounts that do not mind getting older customers or clients.

 

[DOB]

I'd like to see what the fm does during a snowstorm. Is radio so uncool that people under 50 risk their lives while driving for info when 923 is so easily accessible?

 

[101tm]

The Merlin outlet in Philadelphia was a bit different - and didn’t prompt KYW to add an FM until almost a decade later. I believe IQ 106.9 had News blocks with some talk shows initially before shifting to talk toward the end. Maybe CBS/KYW didn’t see it as much of a threat, because it certainly wasn’t. Perhaps it was more of a threat to WPHT.

106.9 was a commercial station for about 18 months - then it went back to the non-commercial status with K-LOVE that it had held since the late 1960s.

All News had a comeback in the early 2010s as far as launches. They failed, but you had the Merlin stations, WYAY in Atlanta, KROI in Houston, and WDCH (then WNEW) in DC go all news. WDCH was probably the best and most legitimate effort, but it was signally challenged and it was an impossible lift to go against WTOP.

Side note: had Merlin not been desperate to get out of NYC and wanted to unload 101.9, we may have either seen WFAN migrate to a different station already owned by CBS, or the move could have occurred later down the road. But they couldn’t let ESPN have a leg up for very long (even though the programming is inferior IMO).

 

[MarkW]

Ratings wise, IQ 106.9 was by far the most successful of Merlin's spoken word stations, although I suspect A25 - 54 was still soft. Averaged north of a 2 share in ages 6+ during its final year. Not bad for a station that was on almost no one's presets previously. I believe they carried Rush, which certainly helped.

I thought the programming clock on All News 99.1 in DC stunk for a good chunk of the time it was on the air. Extremely repetitious.

 

[DOB]

Was the name IQ for real, or meant as a joke making fun of those elitist with their biased news at the other end of the dial?
It's funny, nothing IQ about repeating news headlines just like "all things considered" when you only cover one side of the issues outside of belittling anyone who doesn't agree with you with limitless strawmans.

 

[TheBigA]

The Merlin outlet in Philadelphia was a bit different - and didn’t prompt KYW to add an FM until almost a decade later. I believe IQ 106.9 had News blocks with some talk shows initially before shifting to talk toward the end. Maybe CBS/KYW didn’t see it as much of a threat, because it certainly wasn’t. Perhaps it was more of a threat to WPHT.

IQ was a direct threat to WPHT because Merlin took Rush away from PHT. They did it by agreeing to run all of Premiere's talk shows, including Glen Beck & Sean Hannity:

Rush Limbaugh joins Merlin’s IQ 106.9 FM | Radio & Television Business Report

El Rushbo has moved from CBS Radio’s WPHT-AM in Philly to The Fortress of Free Speech—Merlin Media’s WWIQ-FM–on 6/25. Weekdays from noon to 3 PM, the Delaware Valley now gets to enjoy Rush without the fading and static that comes with AM. Also, no longer will Philadelphia residents hear Rush...

www.rbr.com

 

[CTListener]

Was the name IQ for real, or meant as a joke making fun of those elitist with their biased news at the other end of the dial?
It's funny, nothing IQ about repeating news headlines just like "all things considered" when you only cover one side of the issues outside of belittling anyone who doesn't agree with you with limitless strawmans.

I'm sure the IQ was meant to reinforce the core conservative audience's belief that they were smarter than the other side, in the same way Rush's "Excellence in Broadcasting" catchphrase/trademark was.

 

[Marcos_C]

IQ was a direct threat to WPHT because Merlin took Rush away from PHT. They did it by agreeing to run all of Premiere's talk shows, including Glen Beck & Sean Hannity:

https://www.rbr.com/rush-limbaugh-joins-merlins-iq-106-9-FM/

This marked Rush Limbaugh's return to Philly's FM dial, although a brief one. He was on talk station WWDB-FM during the 1990s.

 

[wprt949]

IQ was a direct threat to WPHT because Merlin took Rush away from PHT. They did it by agreeing to run all of Premiere's talk shows, including Glen Beck & Sean Hannity:

https://www.rbr.com/rush-limbaugh-joins-merlins-iq-106-9-FM/

they weren’t successful At taking coast 2 coast am from WPHT would have been cool to hear that show on fm

 

[MVB13]

I noticed Z100 playing more older rock artists from the 2K & 10's like Evanescence and The Neighbourhood.

 

[101tm]

Ratings wise, IQ 106.9 was by far the most successful of Merlin's spoken word stations, although I suspect A25 - 54 was still soft. Averaged north of a 2 share in ages 6+ during its final year. Not bad for a station that was on almost no one's presets previously. I believe they carried Rush, which certainly helped.

I thought the programming clock on All News 99.1 in DC stunk for a good chunk of the time it was on the air. Extremely repetitious.

I wonder how much money Merlin had to put in to 106.9 - considering Family Radio was almost out of money at the time, I can’t believe the facilities were in the best of shape…but then again, maybe Merlin didn’t do anything even if that was the case. I highly doubt it was in similar shape to the two Emmis signals.

 

[DOB]

I noticed Z100 playing more older rock artists from the 2K & 10's like Evanescence and The Neighbourhood.

The Neighborhood song has become popular again with it getting bigger steaming numbers than currents. That one is special for that reason.
Otherwise, it does seem like a robust gold library of hits going back to the turn of the century is complimenting a mass Appeal sound, making up for the lack of consensus hits and those hits being shorter lengths as well.

As for Rush, I always took his e.i.b and the half my brain thing as his way of saying that he never took himself too seriously and it was like an inside joke with his supporters as ha ha this stuff drives the left mad, they don't understand it, but you are in on it with him.

Like Stern, Elvis, Super Shan etc, You didn't have to agree with or like him to appreciate the brilance of how he used the medium.

 

[RadioRonnie285]

You would think so but Philadelphia’s KYW started broadcasting on FM in November 2020 but also still airs on Audacy WIP-FM HD2.

In this case the KYW fm signal is only a class A and 94.1 hd2 a class B offers full market coverage. 92.3 & 101.1 in NYC have a similar signal

 

[mikerock]

New Arrivals used to be just 20 songs on a loop. BTW they fixed the smart phone app for Audacy.

Anything is better than 1010 WINS. I am old and I do not even listen to it.

 

[gr8oldies]

As for Rush, I always took his e.i.b and the half my brain thing as his way of saying that he never took himself too seriously and it was like an inside joke with his supporters as ha ha this stuff drives the left mad, they don't understand it, but you are in on it with him.

I think that was true until Newt Gingrich and other Republicans convinced Rush that he could be a kingmaker.

 

[mikerock]

Over at ALT 92.3 FB page, the pinned post still getting traffic with complaints and notice someone posted a petition.

ALT 92.3 | New York NY

ALT 92.3, New York. 10,735 likes · 90 talking about this · 136 were here. Find ALT 92.3 on 92.3 HD2 - or on the free @Audacy app. Search for ALT 92-3 HD2 on Audacy to listen!

www.facebook.com

Probably will not do any good for any stations Audacy owns but who knows if they get enough signatures perhaps a competitor in the market will take notice.

 

[MTNProductions]

Now that “Alt 92.3” pulls the plug as of October 27th to become “92.3 WINS-FM”, a lot of you fans of alternative rock in NYC would like to go to WRRV which is in Poughkeepsie, NY in the Hudson Valley area. I recommend to check out WRRV, you would love it. It’s a ton better than “Alt 92.3”. This should bring enough listeners from the loss of “Alt 92.3”. There is a stream available on the RadioPup app, you can check it out!

92.7/96.9 WRRV – The Hudson Valley's Alternative – Hudson Valley Rock Radio

92.7 96.9 WRRV Radio, a Townsquare Media station, plays the best rock music in Poughkeepsie, New York on WRRV-FM and WRRB-FM.

wrrv.com