And People Wonder Why RXP Is Failing...

[Indielover]

"WABC DID play "I Love Rock n Roll" quite a bit...it did well".

WABC NEVER played "I Love Rock n Roll", by the time that song came out WABC was in its last months as a music station, and the format was AC.

 

[lalumia]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

 

[BACKnUSSR]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

It did indeed get airplay. However is was not listed on the weekly music survey (its #1 slot) was simply left blank.
But WABC did play the song (albeit dayparted).

 

[neo11]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

With the real emergence of Top 40 radio on FM and MTV, WABC's days as an AM hit music station were severely numbered, no matter what they did. There's a reason why stations like that have disappeared nationwide since the late 80s at the latest.

 

[Indielover]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

It did indeed get airplay. However is was not listed on the weekly music survey (its #1 slot) was simply left blank.
But WABC did play the song (albeit dayparted).

This from the survey page of Sniffen's website...SPECIAL NOTE: This week, for the third time (fifth week) in its
Top 40 history, there is no #1 on WABC's chart! This time, there
is also no #2! The consensus here is that #1 is either "I Love
Rock 'n Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on the Boardwalk
label, or "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band, on EMI America.
Whichever one is #1, the other would be #2. Neither song was ever
played by WABC, as it had softened its format to a more Adult
Contemporary sound by early 1982.

They never played it...

 

[Indielover]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

With the real emergence of Top 40 radio on FM and MTV, WABC's days as an AM hit music station were severely numbered, no matter what they did. There's a reason why stations like that have disappeared nationwide since the late 80s at the latest.

Yes WABC's days were numbered...but not over, they could have continued deeper into the 80's like WLS did.

 

[adma]

The New York's "not a rock town" is pretty accurate....
In fact, NY was never a great sales maket for most rock bands (except for a few)
During the 60's the dominant AM's WMCA and WABC were so big and so strong, that their was little chance for one of those great
underground FM's to really emerge. WOR was the one that really started to breakthrough, but they did so in that Drake format setup
....so it never was as crunchy as rock in other markets....same with WNEW where they followed the lead of Scottso, Bob Lewis and other
ex-ABC types, and tried to be anti-Top 40 with that slow, laid back pacing.....
During the 70's "rock" had its NYC heyday with WNEW and WPLJ...but remember, these were always rock stations that were heavy on the
Billy Joel and light on the KISS.....they rocked.....but in that "not too hard" sort of way.....(I always remember WNEW being that weird "Rock" station that pounded "She's Always A Woman").
Then came the 80's....WNEW played rock hits but......it was mainly Billy, Bruce, Petty, The Band, Journey and not so much Ozzy, Judas Priest, Metallica,
and that sort of stuff.....
We were always an "RXP" rock sorta town.....nothing like Detroit, Denver, or even L.A.

But one thing you're notably not mentioning is the indigenous punk/new wave strain: Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc. And with good reason; the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift, everywhere, save a KROQ or two.

So if anything, it isn't that New York's not a rock town; it's more that it was the first "post-commercial-radio" rock town--not even RXP, so much as FMU. Under the circumstance, you might as well be using commercial talk radio as proof that New York's not a liberal town...

 

[chacha]

you are correct WABC did NOT play Joan Jett, and they dropped Rick Springfield/ "Jesse's Girl" as it reached #2 on their 'survey' cos it was 'too hard'...lol
they shot themselves in both feet, at the dawn of MTV when they could have capitalized on the emerging 80s youth culture..totally lost in space, they were...

It did indeed get airplay. However is was not listed on the weekly music survey (its #1 slot) was simply left blank.
But WABC did play the song (albeit dayparted).

This from the survey page of Sniffen's website...SPECIAL NOTE: This week, for the third time (fifth week) in its
Top 40 history, there is no #1 on WABC's chart! This time, there
is also no #2! The consensus here is that #1 is either "I Love
Rock 'n Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on the Boardwalk
label, or "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band, on EMI America.
Whichever one is #1, the other would be #2. Neither song was ever
played by WABC, as it had softened its format to a more Adult
Contemporary sound by early 1982.

They never played it...

For whatever its worth WABC did play Joan Jett. I have an aircheck of Mark Sommers doing so.

 

[neo11]

But one thing you're notably not mentioning is the indigenous punk/new wave strain: Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc. And with good reason; the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift, everywhere, save a KROQ or two.

So if anything, it isn't that New York's not a rock town; it's more that it was the first "post-commercial-radio" rock town--not even RXP, so much as FMU. Under the circumstance, you might as well be using commercial talk radio as proof that New York's not a liberal town...

Bingo.

 

[RADIO TRUTH]

DO PEOPLE ALSO WONDER WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF LOVE?

 

[BACKnUSSR]

But one thing you're notably not mentioning is the indigenous punk/new wave strain: Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc. And with good reason; the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift, everywhere, save a KROQ or two.

So if anything, it isn't that New York's not a rock town; it's more that it was the first "post-commercial-radio" rock town--not even RXP, so much as FMU. Under the circumstance, you might as well be using commercial talk radio as proof that New York's not a liberal town...

A very good point.....but I think we're talking in terms of radio.
And even those bands never really got much NYC airplay...(Long Island was about the closest).....

And a better argument that NY is not a liberal town (if you wanted to make that argument), is that it has elected Republican mayors for the past 15 years.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I thought Bloomberg was a RINO ?

 

[SoulCrusher]

Bloomberg is now Independent, and I would definitely call someone a RINO if they wanted to push a ridiculous plan like congestion pricing as he did.

 

[adma]

But one thing you're notably not mentioning is the indigenous punk/new wave strain: Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc. And with good reason; the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift, everywhere, save a KROQ or two.

So if anything, it isn't that New York's not a rock town; it's more that it was the first "post-commercial-radio" rock town--not even RXP, so much as FMU. Under the circumstance, you might as well be using commercial talk radio as proof that New York's not a liberal town...

A very good point.....but I think we're talking in terms of radio.
And even those bands never really got much NYC airplay...(Long Island was about the closest).....

...for the reasons cited above: "the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift".

So we're not just talking in terms of radio; we're also talking in terms of (commercial) radio's failure.. And honestly, BACKnUSSR; with all due respect to this forum, for you to view the last 30 years, especially, of "rock" so narrowly through the radio prism marks you as a little deficient on the taste or cultural judgment level.

And a better argument that NY is not a liberal town (if you wanted to make that argument), is that it has elected Republican mayors for the past 15 years.

...though to some degree, in spite of the party label. And I rest my case re your deficiencies on the taste or cultural judgment level...

 

[BACKnUSSR]

...for the reasons cited above: "the tasteless hacks and frightened fatherly types running radio gave them short shrift".

So we're not just talking in terms of radio; we're also talking in terms of (commercial) radio's failure.. And honestly, BACKnUSSR; with all due respect to this forum, for you to view the last 30 years, especially, of "rock" so narrowly through the radio prism marks you as a little deficient on the taste or cultural judgment level.

And a better argument that NY is not a liberal town (if you wanted to make that argument), is that it has elected Republican mayors for the past 15 years.


...though to some degree, in spite of the party label. And I rest my case re your deficiencies on the taste or cultural judgment level...

Actually, I dont view it through a radio prism, my friend. However, the original premise that NYC has a deficiency in rock music was in the context of radio airplay.
In fact, over those years, it sold more Blondie, Talking Heads, Ramones and Patti Smith records than any market in America....but without substantial airplay....that was my point. Radio stations never attracted listeners with any of it....so for purposes of that medium, it isnt a ROCK town. If you've heard stations outside of the tri-state area, you'd also be very well aware that NYC hasn't really had a real-rock radio station in decades.
So in terms of the NY Radio Info board....yes, these discussions ARE in terms of radio. If you'd rather have the larger cultural debate, I'd be happy to take you on, but I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.

The NYC Mayor comment was satirical.....one plugged in culturally would certainly pick up on that.

 

[p_herring]

Can we stop beating a dead horse? The station does poorly because it has no focus. How is there any incentive to listen to it when you know only 20-30% of the music being played will appeal to most people's tastes? Also, there is no point to any radio station playing the likes of 70's punk/new wave unless they want to attract the same 12 aging hipsters. Sorry, there are just no ad dollars that want to be spent to reach that demographic.

 

[neo11]

Can we stop beating a dead horse? The station does poorly because it has no focus. How is there any incentive to listen to it when you know only 20-30% of the music being played will appeal to most people's tastes? Also, there is no point to any radio station playing the likes of 70's punk/new wave unless they want to attract the same 12 aging hipsters. Sorry, there are just no ad dollars that want to be spent to reach that demographic.

Thank you.

 

[lalumia]

most of the Hot Topic kidz walking around in custom t shirts for NY Dolls, Ramones, Stooges,etcwould debate you on that one;
you say there's a pooe focus, but then you offer no solution; you must work for krOCK

 

[Brooklyndon]

New York cannot support an AAA station. It never has and never will.

New York has in the past, during certain cultural circumstances, supported alternative, to the point where even Z-100 was basically alternative.

RXP went wrong in going AAA, they should have gone straight alternative. Bands like the Rapture, MGMT, Black Kids, Klaxons, Death Cab for Cutie, the Hold Steady, Weezer, Artic Monkeys, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, and Spoon should form the core of their currents, they should throw in some 90's alt gold, like Sublime, Radiohead, Rancid, Green Day, No Doubt, Blink 182, Soul Asylum, Vitology-era Pearl Jam, Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, Tiny Music-era STP, and not be afraid to throw in the occasional new wave cut from bands like U2, REM, the Cure, Blur, Stone Roses, Talking Heads, Police, Blondie, berlin-Bowie, the Clash, and other bands I have neglected to mention, except that no-wave crap.

RXP messed up by adding new music, which they've been reasonably successful with, to the core of "gold" from the 70's and 80's heyday of 'NEW, they should have added new music to the "gold" from mid 90's Z-100 and WXRK, alongside with the new wave from late 70's and early 80's WNEW.

They need to tweek their library, reimage themselves towards the analyst-in-brooklyn/hoboken/morningside heights set, and I think they'll find a lucrative niche.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

most of the Hot Topic kidz walking around in custom t shirts for NY Dolls, Ramones, Stooges,etcwould debate you on that one;
you say there's a pooe focus, but then you offer no solution; you must work for krOCK

I would make the argument that many of the "Hot Topic kidz" wearing those NY Dolls, Ramones and Stooges shirts have never
owned a cd by those bands, much less ever attended a concert. Its just a pop culture fashion statement.
Kind of like Che Guevera shirts, most kids have NO CLUE as to who he was....but the shirts look cool.