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August 1st as come and gone and still no new format on 101.9

I am beginning to wonder if what we are hearing now is the permanent format. They already launched the news format in Chicago, so what is taking so long to do it in NYC. I guess they are keeping people in the radio business guessing.

Bruce
 
I heard the segment between 2 AND 3 PM. Whether it can be called all news depends on what one considers to be news. There was a small amount of national news (stock market, economy etc.), some local news, lots of gossipy stuff, lifestyle reports and entertainment related info., accompanied by banter between the co-hosts.
Nothing wrong with that for people who like that sort of thing. But I would not consider their programming all news in the traditional sense of stations such as CNN, or WINS.
It reminds me more of the Today show on morning TV- A few minutes of hard news (unless something really major is going on), weather, local news, and then long segments of fluff.
Maybe it could be called Lite News.
 
In Chicago they did it the same way, the day before the launch. An hour with non stop news. Same scenario I think...
 
Barry said:
I heard the segment between 2 AND 3 PM. Whether it can be called all news depends on what one considers to be news. There was a small amount of national news (stock market, economy etc.), some local news, lots of gossipy stuff, lifestyle reports and entertainment related info., accompanied by banter between the co-hosts.
Nothing wrong with that for people who like that sort of thing. But I would not consider their programming all news in the traditional sense of stations such as CNN, or WINS.
It reminds me more of the Today show on morning TV- A few minutes of hard news (unless something really major is going on), weather, local news, and then long segments of fluff.
Maybe it could be called Lite News.
Click to expand...

I don't think CBS needs to quake in their boots just yet, or at all, if that's any indication. Sounds like (for now) their traditional all-newsers are safe.
 
TomBenson said:
Get an inside peek of new 101.9 fm...see photos here.

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.com/2011/08/peek-inside-merlin-medias-new-1019-fm.html
Click to expand...

The logo looks the same as Chicago's 101.1 FM News, except in New York it's 101.9 FM News. The studio looks very nice and very modern, but when do we get to hear what it sounds like?

This is reminiscent of when Infiniti started selling cars in this country. For months, we saw pictures of nature, but no car. Crazy promotion strategy! ::)
 
From what we heard in Chicago, Merlin wasn't prepared to launch an all-news station there, but CBS forced them to hurry up. In New York, there aren't any other stations that can flip to all-news. If they wanted to, CBS could easily fake that one of their stations is flipping to all-news in NYC soon, and when Merlin launches 101.9 haphazardly, then CBS can claim that due to "popular demand" their station is staying with its current format.
 
We don't know what's going to happen at 101.9, but I'm sure that people such as Jeff McKay, Alice Stockton Rossini, and Racquel Williams do. If these longtime, long-respected personalities were lured away from their previous roles, they must have confidence in the format. Either that, or the folks at Merlin are great salespeople (which we know they are, as they've got commercials during stunting!)

But as I type this, they're offering a prize of lottery tickets to the 9th caller. That reeks of low-budget desperation. I suspect they're using it as a method to count phone calls and see how many people are really listening.
 
I have one format they are using now.

News/Talk/AC

Nobody talks about that....They are trying to be the next WKXW/WXKW FM Trenton which has a News/Talk/Oldies format.

Open for discussion.
 
Over the weekend, 101.9 was running traffic reports every 10 minutes "on the 5's", and constantly cutting off songs in the middle. Fitting music between 10-minute intervals can be done -- 600 WICC did it for many years, and NJ101.5 still does it today on weekends -- but they really need a live host on hand to fill in the gaps with some chatter. Either that, or just run another few chocolate promos, rather than starting a song and then abruptly fading it out a minuter later to do the traffic.
 
satech said:
Over the weekend, 101.9 was running traffic reports every 10 minutes "on the 5's", and constantly cutting off songs in the middle. Fitting music between 10-minute intervals can be done -- 600 WICC did it for many years, and NJ101.5 still does it today on weekends -- but they really need a live host on hand to fill in the gaps with some chatter. Either that, or just run another few chocolate promos, rather than starting a song and then abruptly fading it out a minuter later to do the traffic.
Click to expand...

That's the beginning of something what's comming today...? But still no rumors on the web/Twitter about a possible start.
 
Scott E said:
We don't know what's going to happen at 101.9, but I'm sure that people such as Jeff McKay, Alice Stockton Rossini, and Racquel Williams do. If these longtime, long-respected personalities were lured away from their previous roles, they must have confidence in the format. Either that, or the folks at Merlin are great salespeople (which we know they are, as they've got commercials during stunting!)

But as I type this, they're offering a prize of lottery tickets to the 9th caller. That reeks of low-budget desperation. I suspect they're using it as a method to count phone calls and see how many people are really listening.
Click to expand...

Well, they got the New York Lottery to sponsor them, and considering the Powerball's $220 million, it's a pretty good giveaway at the moment. Just imagine if they give away a winning lottery ticket and the winner buys the station.

They also got a specialty chocolate shop to sponsor a giveaway.

101.9 FM New: Chocolate, stale music, and traffic.
 
WBBR should call shenanigans on WEMP. They are the first local news station to do "traffic and weather on the 5's."
 
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