How much longer for WLNG to last?

[JimA]

Will WLNG continue to survive with oldies?

 

[nd2023]

It's consistently in the top of the ratings. It's one of the few oldies station to have that oldies sound. I can get up to 4 oldies stations on 92.1 in NJ when the tropo hits, and I can pick out WLNG just based on the sound.

 

[radioli]

It's consistently in the top of the ratings. It's one of the few oldies station to have that oldies sound. I can get up to 4 oldies stations on 92.1 in NJ when the tropo hits, and I can pick out WLNG just based on the sound.

WLNG is history thats frozen in time. Want to hear radio the way it sounded 50 years ago? Tune in to WLNG. As far as ratings go, unfortunately, Hamptons / Riverhead book is so unreliable. The #1 station today could be #12 tomorrow, and back again 1 book later. That's why they went from a 4 book year to 2. LNG happens to have that audience that has nothing better to do during the day, so they sit at home filling out diaries. They must have been upset cutting back to 2 books for the year.

 

[DaveWilliams]

I've been a fan of WLNG for many many years, having listened to them on 1600 on my trips to the Jersey , Delaware and Maryland shore area years ago, to their all night storm broadcasts, to openings on the FM band and now the net feed. I'm sure that listeners tune them in because they know its going to be there, that they're going to hear something thats informative (such as local news!) that there is a weather report and time check given, and that the format isn't going to be changed 10 times in the last 5 years. Paul Sidney should be given a medal of honor for what hes done, and I'm sure that WLNG will survive way into the future! Being INVOLVED with whos listening must still work.

 

[wgliradio]

As long as Gary and Rusty are there to carry it on, it will be the same.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

It's the only game in town....that's why they get away with running so many damned spots.

 

[radiosgreatest1]

It's the only game in town....that's why they get away with running so many damned spots.

Yea, I was listening last weekend and it was Song then 2 or 3 spots and then song and 2 or 3 spots with weather and sports thrown into the mix...As long as the money is there so will LNG'

 

[nd2023]

That's what I like about it. A few songs, 2 spots, and more music and local information. The stopset is short enough that I won't change the station. I'm sure I'm not the only WLNG listener who picks it up on 92.1 in NJ.

 

[SockHop921WLNG]

Although there is a certain amount of bias of my feelings regarding WLNG, what I fail to understand is the apparent denial that an oldies station can survive. The way the leading question was phrased, "Will WLNG continue to survive with oldies", would lead one to think that the station is condemned with some kind of incurable, terminal disease. Admittedly it's not the biggest demo on the planet. But oldies stations offer a haven for listeners who can't tolerate the hate and violence of Rap and Hip-Hop, the noise of head banger rock & roll, the mundane droll of AC artists or the continual whining of contemporary country. Not only do oldies provide nostalgic relief, that same music is used quite often in various ads on TV to try to get you to buy something. For my program in particular, I hear from my listeners over and over that there is nothing else on the radio for them to listen to except WLNG. WLNG's approach to programing is also unique, and as WGLIRadio mentioned, as long as Rusty and Gary are there to steer the station, it will prosper in the way Paul Sidney started it.

Survive? I think so.

Mark Edwards

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

What's going to happen as this current audience continues to age and die off?

There are some of us in the "salable demos" who like older music, but most people who are 20-30 years of age like whatever is current. So....I wonder what's going to happen say five or 10 years down the road. Would WLNG adopt a "80s, 90s" type oldies format? Who's going to want to listen to 50s, 60s rock & roll by then? ???

 

[Martesque]

Here's a question that has been asked since 1971. The answer is, "as long as they continue to make money."

 

[SockHop921WLNG]

One interesting thing about music is that even old music (read oldies), when heard for the first time, is new music to someone. A perfect example can be found in Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite". As Jackie's first chart-making solo effort, it never climbed any higher than position #62 on the hot 100 in 1957. Pretty much a throw-away song at that point. However the record was re-released in the UK in 1987, some thirty years later, and a whole new audience discovered a great old song.....one they had never heard before. The record went to the #1 position in England and stayed there for 5 weeks, selling nearly a million copies and becoming Jackie's only #1 song (posthumously as well).

Admittedly something of that nature is infrequent and is the exception rather than the rule. But not every 20 - 30 year old listens to rap and hip hop. Maybe not a lot, but enough to make a difference. The same circumstances prompted me to enter the radio industry in the first place. Having an over abundance of disco as a radio staple in my 20's lead me to the point of "there HAS to be something better out there!" I gave up listening to radio in the mid 70's and finally decided to something about it myself several years later.

Obviously the oldies market will eventually dry up beyond the point of profitability for stations. "Who will want to listen to 50's and 60's music 10 & 20 years from now?" Hopefully those who are still around to remember the memories for as long as they can and new audiences who will stumble upon the music one day and say "wow, listen to THIS!" Plus a station that performs as WLNG, by having a more robust playlist to air, stands a better chance of retaining their audience and not sending them to sleep with a daily dose of "Walk Away Renee."

Mark Edwards
Sock Hop Saturday Night, WLNG-FM
sockhopsaturdaynight.com

 

[radioli]

One interesting thing about music is that even old music (read oldies), when heard for the first time, is new music to someone. A perfect example can be found in Jackie Wilson's "Reet Petite". As Jackie's first chart-making solo effort, it never climbed any higher than position #62 on the hot 100 in 1957. Pretty much a throw-away song at that point. However the record was re-released in the UK in 1987, some thirty years later, and a whole new audience discovered a great old song.....one they had never heard before. The record went to the #1 position in England and stayed there for 5 weeks, selling nearly a million copies and becoming Jackie's only #1 song (posthumously as well).

Admittedly something of that nature is infrequent and is the exception rather than the rule. But not every 20 - 30 year old listens to rap and hip hop. Maybe not a lot, but enough to make a difference. The same circumstances prompted me to enter the radio industry in the first place. Having an over abundance of disco as a radio staple in my 20's lead me to the point of "there HAS to be something better out there!" I gave up listening to radio in the mid 70's and finally decided to something about it myself several years later.

Obviously the oldies market will eventually dry up beyond the point of profitability for stations. "Who will want to listen to 50's and 60's music 10 & 20 years from now?" Hopefully those who are still around to remember the memories for as long as they can and new audiences who will stumble upon the music one day and say "wow, listen to THIS!" Plus a station that performs as WLNG, by having a more robust playlist to air, stands a better chance of retaining their audience and not sending them to sleep with a daily dose of "Walk Away Renee."

Mark Edwards
Sock Hop Saturday Night, WLNG-FM
sockhopsaturdaynight.com

As you said Mark, in order for an oldies station to stay profitable, it needs to update it's playlist every now and then. Remember the start of B-103? Lot's of Doo-wop which I hardly hear anymore. I hate to think that the music I grew up with in the 70's is now considered oldies, but it is and we all have to grow up sometime. It's nice to flip it on every now and then to take that stroll down memory lane. The only thing in my mind that draws listeners to WLNG is the fact that they are more community focused than any other station on LI. I remember Paul having dinner at a restaurant and suddenly turning his night out into a live broadcast. If I want real local flavor when i'm on the east end, I'd tolerate the AM mono sound of LNG on my FM dial....for a little while. I turn it off around Christmas time. The dollar a holler station becomes one giant commercial with station jingles and an occassional song thrown in. Profitable? Absolutely. The stations probably been paid off for quite sometime, and never having been there, I would assume the equipment is not as current as it could be (you'd know better than me).

 

[mcmannors]

I would assume the equipment is not as current as it could be (you'd know better than me).

The last time I stopped by there (about 4 years ago), I was shocked to see that a lot of their "10,000 golden oldies' were in fact stored on a computer! And the ol' rotary pot Gates board was gone in favor of a normal looking slide pot board. And the ol' Spotmaster cart machines were replaced by newer ones, and the turntables were repalced by CD players. Culture shock!!! ;D

 

[islanddxer]

I miss the sound of the vinyl on there, I actually think it sounded much cleaner than the computer and CDs.
I wish WLNG would've kept the vintage studio equipment, but I guess when it wore out they couldn't find a replacement so they had to go modern. At least they still got the reverb.

 

[fennessy]

WLNG will survive because it's listeners don't just like it. They NEED it. WLNG is a full-service content driven radio station disguised as an oldies station. The majority of "Oldies" stations are juke boxes.

Wanna hear another content-driven station that most people think should be going out of business? Try WWJB, 1450 in Brooksville Florida. Search for them on-line, they stream. A class IV in the shadow of a large metropolitan area...and their community needs it, because WWJB understands what that is.

CONTENT.