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Biggest radio failures in NY

R

RBRadioWaves

Based off of the chicago boards, I decided to start a new thread: what do you think are the biggest radio failures in NYC?

My opinions (in no particular order)

-Blink 102.7: Started in April 2003 as an "Entertainment AC", flipped to Mainstream AC in September 2003, and was dead by the time santa arrived. I'd go as far as to rank this as #1, because of how long it lasted under it's basic original format.

-105.1 The BUZZ (Modern AC): Not a lot exists about the station, except that it lasted from October 1996 to Summer 1997, before the format went to AC.

-101.1 JACK FM: We all know what happened here. Only good thing is that when it died, WCBS-FM went back into the spotlight.

-FM News 101.9: The only thing preventing this from reaching #1? Lasted longer then Blink.

Any other examples?
 
This one would not be near the top of the list, but Mike Bloomberg's WBBR is a famous failure. Started off with high hopes, but no one listens and no one advertises.
 
WBBR doesn't care about ratings. They are only there to have a presence in New York. Same with WQEW..they are only there to have a Radio Disney affiliate in the city. Two 50,000 watt stations totally wasted.

As far as biggest failures in New York, I agree...Blink 102.7 and it's various incarnations, FM News 101.9 and Jack. Jack had semi decent ratings, but the fact it replaced WCBS-FM sealed it's fate. Dumbest programming move in New York history.
 
When it comes to WBBR, it' was just to get the Bloomberg name out.

Although it's coming up on 20 years, WNEW-AM 1130 didn't have to go of the air, and the station was making money at that time.

There's no way of telling how successful WNEW would be if they were still on the air in 2012. The only other station in the New York metro area playing music simular to what WNEW played is Long Island's 1100AM WHLI. And they're still holding their own.

When it comes to Radio Disney WQEW, the New York Times had to do something with that frequency. Even before the Pop Standards format WQXR-AM had low ratings, because they were simulcasting on WQXR-FM 96.3. Also the operating cost of the AM was high.

With the Pop Standards format WQEW wasn't really making much in ad revenue, lower than what WNEW-AM
did in 1991.

Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy
 
Univision purchasing WLIR for $62 million to first simulcast 105.9 in areas where it already could be heard, and then to get an 0.3 with La Que Buena, surely ranks up there.

No mention of Free FM on 92.3? That was another big failure.
 
95.5 - WPLJ - MOJO Radio - 1991

As good a programmer Scott Shannon may have been, he really missed the mark on this one.
 
There was also WQIV, the rock station which replaced and then was in turn replaced by classical station WNCN on 104.3. It was perhaps best known for having Rosko among its personalities, and broadcasting in quadraphonic stereo. Like HD now, few listeners had quad FM receivers, so that gimmick did not help them. WQIV was on the air from November '74-August '75. The classical music fans were relentless in pushing for the return of WNCN. Ironically, WNCN was flipped once again to rock, in 1993.
WQIV 104.3: http://www.nyradioarchive.com/wqivfm.html
 
And don't forget the other two stations including WTJM's "Jammin' 105". That was one of my favorite stations where they played "Jammin' Oldies". That was from 1999 until 2002. Famous Amos, Al Bandiero, Freddy Colon and many others are on that station. And then came WNEW's former "Mix 102.7". They played AC songs and then tweaked into a "Jammin' Oldies" kinda station. That lasted until 2007. The others are WQCD's "New York Chill" at 101.9, WFNY's "Free-FM", WDBZ's "The Buzz" at 105.1 and of course "Big 105.1". Those are the biggest failure in NY radio in the past.
 
I haven't seen the station posted because while some of you think of it as a failure, you were probably fearing that I was going to lash out on it :).

I'll say it like this. WNYZ - Pulse 87, musically, wasn't a failure. It was the VARIABLES that made it a failure (weak antenna, low dial position, mismanagement of the parent company). Fans of dance music loved the station because it was something different than traditional CHR and despite the bad signal, bad dial location, people went out of their way to find it and stick with it.

However when Party 105 in Long Island took the 87.7 frequency as a simulcast, on November 2009 - a week after Pulse went off the air, that was a failure. While they were trying to be somewhat consistent with the format that Pulse 87 did (even bringing on DJ Serg), they also added elements of hip-hop in there that the dance music community, still hurting by the loss of Pulse, could and would not accept. And while Pulse wasn't a huge ratings winner, based on that frequency location, they did hit to a million cume while Party 87.7 had half of that. The Party 87.7 simulcast only lasted 2 months. They may have stronger management out of JVC Broadcasting but people still wanted Pulse 87 back and that's what hurt them.
 
I agree on the Pulse analysis. You can say anything you want...it was a failure. Where I disagree is if the format had any sort of "legs" it would have been picked up on a station above 92.1 MHz by now.

I'd also put the first incarnation of WRXP on the list as well. It was horribly programmed. The jury is out on the current version.
 
My List:
1. FM News 101.9
2. The 1st Incarnation of WRXP
3. 92.3 Free FM
4. The 2nd Incarnation of K Rock
5. Blink 102.7
6. Mix 102.7
7. 107.1 Rumba
8. 105.1 The Buzz
9. 101.1 Jack FM
10. Z-100 During their Rock Years
 
And a few more:

WAPP's flip from AOR to Top 40 in late 1984. Would had probably worked if they had begun WAPP as a Top 40 in 1982 after WABC flipped to News/Talk, but by 1984 there was already 2 Top 40s (Z100 and WPLJ), plus WKTU was a Dance-leaning Top 40 at the time.

WPIX and their inability to find a format and stay with it.

Robyn
 
XCountry285 said:
My List:
1. FM News 101.9
2. The 1st Incarnation of WRXP
3. 92.3 Free FM
4. The 2nd Incarnation of K Rock
5. Blink 102.7
6. Mix 102.7
7. 107.1 Rumba
8. 105.1 The Buzz
9. 101.1 Jack FM
10. Z-100 During their Rock Years
Click to expand...

are we going on actual performance or our personal tastes? because some of these were not "failures" really the modern rock incarnation of Z100 still had ratings and billed well, as did Mix 102.7 one would think. otherwise this ias a very comprehensive list and Xcountry deserves much credit for his observations

I will of course cite Blink 102.7, the brief" AAA" incarnation of WNEW when they reported as AAA to the trades and played Sarah McLachlan etc ,..The initial year of WRXP. Although I personally liked it a lot i'd have to say Jammin Oldies and of course Pulse 87.
 
XCountry285 said:
My List:

9. 101.1 Jack FM
Click to expand...

Not a failure, except in the mind of oldies fans.

Jack had higher 25-54 when it went out than CBS-FM did prior to converting to Jack.
 
[quoteNot a failure, except in the mind of oldies fans.

Jack had higher 25-54 when it went out than CBS-FM did prior to converting to Jack.][/quote]

What was Jack's billing though?

One of the former GM's of Mike-FM in Boston said that it was almost impossible to sell because it was nobody's first choice radio station... It was the station that people tuned to when all the others were in a break.

I define the success of a station based a little on the ratings and a lot on the billing.
 
Biggest failure? You got to go back a ways. WMCA had just beaten WABC to be the top rated music station in NY (WINS was solid with All News), and owner Peter Strauss decided to turn the station into half music and half Liberal Talk. That was 1969. The ratings fell like a rock as did the billing and profits. Peter’s folly was the biggest failure in NY radio history. :mad:
 
luperm said:
I agree on the Pulse analysis. You can say anything you want...it was a failure. Where I disagree is if the format had any sort of "legs" it would have been picked up on a station above 92.1 MHz by now.
Click to expand...

Only because of the anomalies that it was a failure, not because of the music.

I STILL stand strong on the fact that if the station was above 92.1, it would have been in the top 5. But then again, radio only sees things in a "straight path" and not with the peripheral visions.
 
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