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Rock radio war in Philly is over -- WMMR wins!

B

Bill_W

With CBS' announcement of WIP going to FM and replacing WYSP, WMMR has won the rock war that has been going on in this town since I was a child. I grew up listening to DeBella and da Morning Zoo. It ironic that Howard Stern came here 25 years ago and now another one of stations he was on is gone. Even though Greater Media has not owned WMMR for a majority of this war, I sure bottles were popping over at GM in Philly and up in Boston on the news that WMMR will still be here and WYSP won't and that this is caused by another GM station, WPEN-FM. And even DeBella is sitting there in the background still doing mornings in Philly on still another GM station. Even Howard Stern commented on it from his Sirius-XM show this morning.
 
There hasn't been a "WAR" for a long time. WMMR won that a long time ago, and for good reasons.

WMMR has always had more class than WYSP. When WYSP switched to FREE-FM years ago, Pierre Robert "wished them well." On the other hand, Stern had the "funeral" for DeBella in the early 80's and had his fans scream "John, I f'd your wife," back when DeBella was going thru his divorce. YSP showed little to no class and because of that I'm glad it's gone.

CBS found out the hard way that once you abandon your audience, it's almost impossible to get them back. One exception to that rule may be CBS-FM in NYC.
 
In all the years I've lived here, I've never really listened to WYSP. Didn't hear Stern until he went to Sirius and even then it's in the afternoon or evening driving around. Ive always liked local morning shows. In all the years, it's been DeBella, then Barsky, now Preston & Steve. I've been a WMMR fan for a long time except for the period that WMMR wasn't very good. During that period, I listened to Y-100. After Y-100 left and Preston & Steve came to WMMR, 'MMR came back to the station that it used to be in the '80s. I'm glad that CBS had to sell WMMR. WMMR would have been killed years ago by CBS to protect WYSP.
 
Am I the only one who remembers DeBella's brief stint as a talk show host on 1210 back in the 90's? Seems to me that his views leaned libertarian if I remember correctly. I actually liked him as a talk show host and I don't know why the show ended. Maybe it was to bring on Hannity.

Anyway, he was on from 3-5 PM, and I know it was after a morning show on another station but I don't remember which station. This would have been around 1998. I don't think it was WMMR because wasn't the morning zoo over by then? And it couldn't have been WYSP because Stern was still on at the time.

Was he already on 102.9 by then? Does anyone know for sure?
 
YSP always had more edge and that's why I liked them. Rock n Roll should have an edge not overly reverential jocks all the time. I miss YSP with Cousin Ed and Matt & Huggy. Those shows were fun and those guys always seemed like regular people.
 
Yes, DeBella was on WYSP after doing the show on 1210. There was a pool as to when he would say the wrong call letters. He never said them on-air, but did say WMMR once while pre-reading some copy. Likewise, I liked his talk show.
 
Quoth Bill W.: "I'm glad that CBS had to sell WMMR. WMMR would have been killed years ago by CBS to protect WYSP." And could you imagine if CBS actually did own both today? WIP may have already been on 93.3 FM, and we may not be having these discussions this week...

And apparently, before Tampa had "MJ/Schnitt" (CHR morning host by day, syndicated conserva-talker on WFLA by afternoon), Philly had DeBella doing the moonlighting thing... ::)

@Ben: I miss WYSP with Don & Mike. :-X
 
And while DeBella was at WPHT doing talk radio, I kind of remember Don Lancer who was also on KYW at the time doing a talk show on WPHT also. Was CBS just filling time with local CBS talent? I don't remember DeBella being on 1210 very long. Also he was the 1st DJ on WYSP to take the station away from classic rock to more active rock. His line was it doesn't have to be a classic to rock.
 
This incarnation of 1210 launched with primarily local shows. Didn't take all that long before they dumped that approach and poached the big syndicated shows from 96.5.
 
Was DeBella hosting his talk show on 1210 before, during or after the WPTS ("We're Philadelphia's Talk Station!") days?

Yet the ultimate format switch on the frequency will always be linked to one Terry Mulholland... By the way... that anniversary was earlier this week.
 
DToTheJ said:
Was DeBella hosting his talk show on 1210 before, during or after the WPTS ("We're Philadelphia's Talk Station!") days?

Yet the ultimate format switch on the frequency will always be linked to one Terry Mulholland... By the way... that anniversary was earlier this week.
Click to expand...
WPTS wasn't around long. CBS changed to WPHT because WPST Trenton and Philadelphia objected to the WPTS call letters. Too close. Can't even get WPST anymore in Chester County since they moved to 94.5.
 
And, to come full circle and back on topic, WPST was only 0.1 behind WYSP in last month's 6+ ratings. They were tied in the previous month.
 
What exactly has MMR won? As of the last book it's only .3 ahead of WRFF/Radio 104.5 which has actually had a higher cume for several books now. YSP has been dead for a while. If that's a 'victory' I must be missing something.
 
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