Well, for one thing, it's not 2018 anymore. Alternative is shifting back to leaning rock, but the thing to keep in mind is that Alternative is a potpourri format, and it always has had a unique blend of music from its inception in the early 80's to what it is now.
A number of the rising rock songs on the format right now tend to have pop-rock or pop-punk flavorings like "Monday" by The Regrettes or "Pieces of You" by nothing,nowhere. There are also a number of songs that are leaning heavier like "fleabag" by YUNGBLUD or "Kill The Noise" by ex-staple-trying-to-come-back Papa Roach. There are also the synthpop songs like "I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)" by Glass Animals and "Bad Dream" by Cannons, which are still pretty relevant.
New York City is a unique place to try to make the Alternative format work. I get WHY it's being programmed the way it is - the playlist is almost exclusively alternative pop with golds that largely crossed over to pop radio. Should be a slam dunk, right? But it's not working. Why?
I think a huge part of the problem is that it is not truly offering the listener new experiences. WNYL has dropped from five heavies to three in recent weeks. The three heavies are "Heat Waves" by the afore-mentioned Glass Animals (a recurrent), "Follow You" by Imagine Dragons, and "Beggin" by Maneskin.
Here's the problem: you can hear all three of these songs on Z100.
The songs on medium right now are "Saturday" by Twenty One Pilots, "Way Less Sad" by AJR (recurrent), "Without You" by Kid LAROI (also a recurrent), "My Universe" by Coldplay & BTS, "i hope ur miserable until ur dead" by Nessa Barrett, "A-OK" by Tai Verdes, and "My Ex's Best Friend" by Machine Gun Kelly.
Guess what they all have in common? You can hear, or could hear earlier in the year, all of these songs on Z100.
The only medium rotation songs that did not cross to pop are "Mariposa" by Peach Tree Rascals (crossed to Hot AC though) and "All My Favorite Songs" by Weezer (Audacy is playing the AJR remix that was sent to Hot AC and pop, but failed to chart on the latter format). They're also recurrents.
Pop crossovers are good for the format, but relying on them to basically be your playlist has eroded WNYL's identity. They are not getting the younger people who listen to pop radio if any radio at all to consistently tune in to WNYL. WNYL periodically pivots their golds to try to get the dwindling older audience to tune in, but the older audience seems to lack tolerance for the pop fare. The problem with the playlist is that they are making no one happy. WNYL does not have a loyal audience, and their focus on almost exclusively playing pop crossovers past and present has made listeners both young and old confused about who they are. One thing that is obvious, though, is that this is not a true Alternative station. They're just a variation of Z100 - except with old Panic! At The Disco songs instead of Doja Cat.
When the real thing, which is a NYC icon, is right around the corner, who is going to tune into WNYL? Not many, as we've been discovering.
When you consider that Z100 has an established group of DJs who are well-known or outright iconic in the NYC area, WNYL trying to be Z100-lite is doomed to failure from the outset. Plus, all of the DJs are trying to serve multiple markets besides NYC, and Audacy does not have the mastery of this the way iHeartMedia does. You get the feeling of inadequate show prep, low morale, dissatisfaction from listening to the DJs. They're not connecting to the listener because they are trying to reach people far outside New York City. Cane & Corey trying to please people in Miami and Detroit along with New York City means no one is pleased nationwide.
WNYL also lacks anything on their website, or in their promotions, that truly connect to New York City. I attached an image of part of their website, and it's all national. You'll find this on every Audacy Alternative website, 98% of the same information. Audacy has truly brought into the mindset of "national/regional is the future", and listeners seem to be rejecting this hard.
Also, this is purely nitpicking, but Audacy's websites are butt ugly. Compare KNRK in Portland to the station it's getting slaughtered by, their competitor Triple A KINK. Look at how inviting KINK is compared to KNRK's messy page (which is identical to WNYL's page by the way). KINK puts a mixture of national and Portland-centric headlines, and also posts the comforting message of "there is so much great music out there, let us help you find it", which leads you to a page filled with rock, pop, and indie songs that they recently added to the rotation. It's way more inviting than WNYL, or any other Audacy station.
This is a long enough post as it is, so I'll talk about my solutions tomorrow when I'm fresher. But this is my diagnosis of what WNYL's maladies are.
Attachments
Last edited:
