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101.9 in NYC sounds like a Train Wreck

E

Ejxit

Guest
Sirius/XM channel 15 disco music classics from the days of Studio 54 and a mix with cuts used on the old Disco 102 would easily get the MILF's their trying to appeal to. That train wreck programing fiasco their pushing should be used as torture instead of waterboarding. Never had so many people ask me if I heard the new channel 15. It's like startup days of the original disco 92 WKTU. Good work Sirius. It should have happened sooner.
 
This has nothing to do with 101.9 FM News.

And I like the sound of the new Studio 54 station when I sampled it last week.
 
Nick said:
This has nothing to do with 101.9 FM News.

And I like the sound of the new Studio 54 station when I sampled it last week.
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That's the point. Their wasting big bucks on the News/Milf Talk on an FM in NYC? Like Jerry Carrol (Crazy Eddie) would say "that's insane". Others were stating how this FM insanity programing will give WOR, WABC, WNYM, WCBS, WINS and WWRL competition. Not a chance. LOL
 
I guess "FM News 101.9" is a dead giveaway of a news station to go against one of the two AM news giants in New York City including WCBS-AM and 1010 WINS. I listened to a little bit over the weekend when I was on my way to the Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY. I cannot stand why they programmed the wrong way. Too much extended traffic reports, why not make it a bit shorter during the "Traffic on the 5's". That has gone crazy as Bugs Bunny would say "What a maroon!"

I hope if Merlin doesn't get the job done in the first few weeks, they would either go back to smooth jazz or bring back WPIX-FM since it left back in 1989 for smooth jazz. I've never listened to WPIX-FM since the 80's as a kid, it was a soft AC station playing Air Supply, Melissa Manchester, Christopher Cross, Joe Cocker and a few artists that you remembered from back in the 80's when WPIX-FM was a great station before smooth jazz came along.

This is a do-or-die situation! Either get the right news or Merlin will go out of business. Look what happened to Inner City as of this week, they're under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Inner City owns WBLS and WLIB, but I hope Inner City will go out of business in the future. And then, about a year ago, the liberal talk network, Air America was in its last legs, that went out of business as well. If 101.9 will continue to have a news station, tell Batman to get it off the air and bring back smooth jazz.
 
So, one poster wants it to be 1978 again...

Ejxit said:
Sirius/XM channel 15 disco music classics from the days of Studio 54 and a mix with cuts used on the old Disco 102 would easily get the MILF's their trying to appeal to. That train wreck programing fiasco their pushing should be used as torture instead of waterboarding. Never had so many people ask me if I heard the new channel 15. It's like startup days of the original disco 92 WKTU. Good work Sirius. It should have happened sooner.
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And another wants it to be 1983 and "Nothing but Love Songs..."

disney fanatic said:
I hope if Merlin doesn't get the job done in the first few weeks, they would either go back to smooth jazz or bring back WPIX-FM since it left back in 1989 for smooth jazz. I've never listened to WPIX-FM since the 80's as a kid, it was a soft AC station playing Air Supply, Melissa Manchester, Christopher Cross, Joe Cocker and a few artists that you remembered from back in the 80's when WPIX-FM was a great station before smooth jazz came along.
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WPIX-FM a great station? The home of "Format of the Month?" PIX-FM couldn't make anything work until the early 90's with smooth jazz. Speaking of smooth jazz...

It's not coming back. It just isn't. Smooth jazz isn't looking forward, it's a niche format and not a money maker. It's called commercial radio for a reason, and smooth jazz isn't commercially viable.

Also, comparing the heavily leveraged Inner City to Merlin is apples and oranges. Inner City bought properties at their highest prices, and the revenue isn't there to support the debt. Merlin got relative bargains, and 2 weeks of programming isn't enough to say whether or not they can make money.

I'm telling you... Haters wanna hate, but I say you've gotta give the station a year. Can anyone show me a 100% local 24/7 spoken word format that launched without growing pains?
 
YIKES! Did you feel that too?

reelyreal said:
Can anyone show me a 100% local 24/7 spoken word format that launched without growing pains?
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Now I'm REALLY concerned.
This question BEGS for MedianJ to tout Young Walteaux.
Y'know, "radio is a hobby, not a business?"

Send out the bloodhounds.
WHERE IS MedianJ?

YIKES! Did you feel that too?
Earthquake??? In New York???

Good thing there's all-news on FM.
Or were they all about picking-the-perfect-puppy?
 
Holland, totally felt it in Eastern CT! No FM news out here anymore though :-( (well, WEAN-FM simulcasting WPRO does get it done, but none of our own anymore.)

WKXW doesn't really count as all news if they're doing music weekends, but it's definitely close. I think you're right though if i can make an assumption as to your meaning, that if you're doing all-news 5 days a week, what's 2 more days?

When it comes to news-talk, I definitely take your word above all others... do you agree that this station needs time before a final judgement can be made?
 
I was in the car today when the earthquake moved through the region...

All 3 news stations were a bit disjointed and stunned when it first happened, but quickly pulled it together. 880 was having their staff and reporters chime in from all over the city. 1010 had the same thing going on. 101.9 was having "regular people" call in and some coverage from ABC news that sounded like it was being pulled off a 24kbps stream, along with clumsy sounding anchors.

A big event (and this one really was nothing when all is said and done for the NYC metro) is a good test of a news station's staff and ability to pull it together. 880 and 1010 have nothing to worry about so far.
 
Picture Telly Savalas as Kojak, saying "Tick-tock, baybeee..."

reelyreal said:
do you agree that this station needs time before a final judgement can be made?
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If asked for adjectives-that-describe-Noo Yawkers, would you say "patient?"
 
I tuned in 101.9 shortly after the earthquake, and they sounded like a joke. Asking listeners to call in? Isn't that a *talk* station, not a "news" station? And then they made it sound like they were going to get one of the ABC reporters to give a special report exclusively for 101.9... but no, they just dumped straight to the ABC network feed for a few minutes.

1010 WINS has nothing to fear. In fact, I was in Somerville, NJ about 15 minutes after the quake, and somebody had WINS on a boombox blasting out of their window in the main downtown area, loud enough for everybody on the street to hear.
 
Ejxit said:
Others were stating how this FM insanity programing will give WOR, WABC, WNYM, WCBS, WINS and WWRL competition. Not a chance. LOL
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That's because I expected Randy & Co. to actually show some programming smarts.

This isn't smart. This is utterly brutal.
 
satech said:
I tuned in 101.9 shortly after the earthquake, and they sounded like a joke. Asking listeners to call in? Isn't that a *talk* station, not a "news" station? ... 1010 WINS has nothing to fear. In fact, I was in Somerville, NJ about 15 minutes after the quake, and somebody had WINS on a boombox blasting out of their window in the main downtown area, loud enough for everybody on the street to hear.
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1. That last line invokes an old line from Howard Stern: "I could yell out the window and get better ratings than [insert Stern imitator here]..." ::)

2. FWIW, I understand NJ 101.5 - Sabo's former stomping grounds - was also polling listeners on "what were you doing when the big one hit at 1:51 PM?" Then again, they don't promote themselves as an "all-news" station...
 
Sabo is radio's biggest snake-oil salesman! Hard to believe that somebody with Randy Michael's programming experience would be suckered in by this guy. What a complete waste of a NY signal.
 
It will be interesting to see how all 3 stations sound with coverage of Irene. Long Island will likely seriously feel teh effects.

This is a "planned" news event -- a possible "disaster." That will show you how well 101.9 will hold up.
 
FLjack2 said:
This is a "planned" news event -- a possible "disaster." That will show you how well 101.9 will hold up.
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They'll probably be asking for listeners to call in again with eyewitness reports, because FM News doesn't have any of their own reporters. Why hire them, when you can get your own listeners to do it for free?
 
Actually, as one who has been involved in long form coverage of many big time weather events, I can tell you that some of the best, most compelling moments come from the mouths of regular folk. Trust me, I've done it both ways...People hearing the first hand experiences of of other real people is hard to beat.

I am amazed how many people bitch about the sameness of radio but when someone tries to do something different - albeit outside the acceptable limits of what's right at least according to the experts on this board - those same people bitch about it...jeez!
 
Faraway said:
Actually, as one who has been involved in long form coverage of many big time weather events, I can tell you that some of the best, most compelling moments come from the mouths of regular folk. Trust me, I've done it both ways...People hearing the first hand experiences of of other real people is hard to beat.
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Yes, but every other "news" station (TV or radio) has reporters on the scene getting those sound bites from the "regular folk". 101.9 is the only one I've ever heard asking listeners to call in directly, and then using clips from those listener calls as part of their on-air promos.

That is normal for a talk station -- NJ 101.5 does it all the time -- but is highly irregular for a "news" station. News stations are supposed to be a *trusted* source. I trust professional reporters, but as much as I like my neighbor down the street, I wouldn't trust him to provide the "news" that I hear on the radio. There is just too much opportunity for incorrect "through-the-grapevine" information to be passed along as the facts, like when 101.9 reported that the earthquake originated in Manhattan.
 
satech said:
They'll probably be asking for listeners to call in again with eyewitness reports, because FM News doesn't have any of their own reporters. Why hire them, when you can get your own listeners to do it for free?
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Hmmm...user-generated content. That's the basis of Facebook, YouTube, and every other successful web page.
 
TheBigA said:
satech said:
They'll probably be asking for listeners to call in again with eyewitness reports, because FM News doesn't have any of their own reporters. Why hire them, when you can get your own listeners to do it for free?
Click to expand...

Hmmm...user-generated content. That's the basis of Facebook, YouTube, and every other successful web page.
Click to expand...

Right or wrong, more people today seem to give greater credibility to their friends, neighbors and even total strangers posting on a web page than they do to news-gathering professionals working in the media. Radio that "sounds like" Facebook might be a big hit in this atmosphere.
 
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