WEMP-FM Time to give up?

[XCountry285]

It's been almost a year, they haven't gone anywhere. I think it's about time they throw in the towel. Here's what we NEED and is NOT represented at all currently in NYC radio now.
Alternative Rock (much like stations such as WRFF in Philly, WRRV in Middletown/Hudson Valley)
Country (Cat Country 96 in Lehigh Valley, Thunder 102 in Monticello, NY & Thunder 106 in Jersey Shore)
It's about time, we don't have either format represented in NYC.

 

[reelyreal]

It's been almost a year, they haven't gone anywhere. I think it's about time they throw in the towel. Here's what we NEED and is NOT represented at all currently in NYC radio now.
Alternative Rock (much like stations such as WRFF in Philly, WRRV in Middletown/Hudson Valley)
Country (Cat Country 96 in Lehigh Valley, Thunder 102 in Monticello, NY & Thunder 106 in Jersey Shore)
It's about time, we don't have either format represented in NYC.

You're confusing "need" with "want" and "we" with "me."

 

[nd2023]

We also don't have a dance station, not even on HD radio.
FM News 101.9 is going nowhere at the current rate. I was listening to a traffic report today on WEMP and the reporter seemed to have a silly tone and was almost laughing when she was saying that the Lincoln is backed up an hour. Compare it to the seriousness of WCBS and WINS. I could understand a silly traffic report on Z100, but not on FM News.

 

[XCountry285]

Dance is represented by a multitude of stations Now & KTU. While we have no stations in the market playing New Rock or New Country. Plus Dance 24/7 I feel won't work not even in NYC in the entire NYC market including NJ/LI who wants to wake up to Dance Music on at 6 AM?

 

[mjb1124]

Dance is represented by a multitude of stations Now & KTU. While we have no stations in the market playing New Rock or New Country. Plus Dance 24/7 I feel won't work not even in NYC in the entire NYC market including NJ/LI who wants to wake up to Dance Music on at 6 AM?

We've been through this before. Saying that Dance is represented by KTU and 92.3 Now is like saying that Modern Rock is represented by Fresh 102.7 and WPLJ. And I'd rather wake up to Dance music at 6 AM than Country, but that's just me. I'd love to see any music format that's not currently on the NYC dial, with Alternative being my first choice. But alas, it's probably a pipe dream at this point.

 

[TonySantiago]

Dance is represented by a multitude of stations Now & KTU. While we have no stations in the market playing New Rock or New Country. Plus Dance 24/7 I feel won't work not even in NYC in the entire NYC market including NJ/LI who wants to wake up to Dance Music on at 6 AM?

OKAY, I've been pretty nice about this but I gotta say it. YOU DO NOT GET IT!

I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about country other than what I do hear in other cities if I flip around the dial. My "alternative" experience would be what WLIR did in the past. I have said that dubstep SHOULD be a part of an alternative format because of the "angst" and "rebellious" sound of the music. Either or, I never claim to know either form of the music to say that Z-100 or another station covers it.

Yeah, there's a hole on the formats you've listed. But DO NOT DARE tell me for the umpteenth time how Dance is on 'KTU and Now. Just as you may be core with your music, I am core with mine. To that, I have told you for the umpteenth time how 'KTU is "what it is" for the audience they serve (mainly women 25-54) and that 92.3 Now, while they do play aspects of it, is a CHR and the "dance" you are hearing is Flo Rida, Rihanna, Pitbull, Chris Brown. The word "dance" is in quotes because that sound on Now based on those artists do not come close to what core fans view as dance music. We don't hate, but we also know as soon as R&B/hip-hop has a strong cycle again, these artists based by commercial labels will bail out.

BTW, if I am up at 6AM, I WILL listen to dance music. I'll listen ANY TIME!

Look, fight for your format. If you really believe in these formats, start up a coalition. Get like minded fans such as yourself together, make your points, do your homework and fight for this. If you don't like dance music, fine. If you don't like me, fine. But I'm certainly going to take issue and squash the heck out of ignorant posts like yours especially that you don't know the music as I, and other core minded fans, see it.

As far as WEMP goes, they are NEVER going to give this up. The presentation may be questionable but the reality is that there will be more spoken word formats coming to the FM in the future.

 

[ansky212]

Look, fight for your format. If you really believe in these formats, start up a coalition. Get like minded fans such as yourself together, make your points, do your homework and fight for this.

10 years ago maybe it was worth doing that. But this day in age it's totally not worth fighting for a radio format. There are way too many alternative sources of music that are far better than FM radio. I recently started using Spotify which is basically an online jukebox where I can play any song or album at any time, on demand. No annoying DJ's, and I don't have to sit through 7 minutes of commercials between songs. Between Spotify, Pandora, and other music apps I could sell my radios and not miss a beat.

 

[MoldaMania182]

Dance is represented by a multitude of stations Now & KTU. While we have no stations in the market playing New Rock or New Country. Plus Dance 24/7 I feel won't work not even in NYC in the entire NYC market including NJ/LI who wants to wake up to Dance Music on at 6 AM?

OKAY, I've been pretty nice about this but I gotta say it. YOU DO NOT GET IT!
...

Yeah, there's a hole on the formats you've listed. But DO NOT DARE tell me for the umpteenth time how Dance is on 'KTU and Now. Just as you may be core with your music, I am core with mine. To that, I have told you for the umpteenth time how 'KTU is "what it is" for the audience they serve (mainly women 25-54) and that 92.3 Now, while they do play aspects of it, is a CHR and the "dance" you are hearing is Flo Rida, Rihanna, Pitbull, Chris Brown. The word "dance" is in quotes because that sound on Now based on those artists do not come close to what core fans view as dance music.
...
But I'm certainly going to take issue and squash the heck out of ignorant posts like yours especially that you don't know the music as I, and other core minded fans, see it.

Tony - I have much respect for the DMC and the work you do but rants like this are confusing. You get so worked up about this every time and frankly, you're wrong. Music much like any art form is in the ear of the beholder. Who really are YOU to tell anyone what is or isn't? Are you the artist? You're arrogance wreaks through posts like this and the fact remains, MANY people agree with the original poster. You should embrace and adapt that, not mock them in the face. You remind me of many people in the EDM scene these days, like other past genres' fans that have hit mainstream at some point, that live in denial that it's not 'real xx' music. It's pretty unfair to claim you will 'squash the heck out of ignorant posts'. Really? Just because you decided to be proactive about something you like, doesn't mean you're judge and jury or better than anyone else. You're still just a fan. You're interpretation of an art form isn't any more right or wrong than anyone else's.

 

[disney fanatic]

Or maybe they should go back to some AC type format and call it "101.9 FM New" and make this a Chocolate format. Yep! Chocolate is the format of the day.

 

[mjb1124]

Tony - I have much respect for the DMC and the work you do but rants like this are confusing. You get so worked up about this every time and frankly, you're wrong. Music much like any art form is in the ear of the beholder. Who really are YOU to tell anyone what is or isn't? Are you the artist? You're arrogance wreaks through posts like this and the fact remains, MANY people agree with the original poster. You should embrace and adapt that, not mock them in the face. You remind me of many people in the EDM scene these days, like other past genres' fans that have hit mainstream at some point, that live in denial that it's not 'real xx' music. It's pretty unfair to claim you will 'squash the heck out of ignorant posts'. Really? Just because you decided to be proactive about something you like, doesn't mean you're judge and jury or better than anyone else. You're still just a fan. You're interpretation of an art form isn't any more right or wrong than anyone else's.

To defend his posts, I don't think his posts are at all about upholding some elite definition of Dance. It's just the fact of the matter that 92.3 Now and KTU are stations that serve a mainstream pop audience and are not exclusively commited to people who want to hear dance music. Reiterating my previous point, if you're going to say that Now is a Dance station just because they play David Guetta and Calvin Harris, you can also say that Fresh is an Alternative station because they play Gotye, Fun, Neon Trees, and an occasional 90's alternative hit. I'm hardly an expert on dance music, but even I know this.

 

[briancraig]

Could you really program a dance format that would be mainstream enough to generate decent ratings and would also satisfy the New York Dance Coalition?

I ask this question sincerely with all due respect to Tony and other members.

I would wonder the same about those who want alternative back in NYC. But at least with alternative, you can look at mainstream success in other markets like KROQ and WRFF.

 

[Barry]

It seems pretty clear Merlin Media is going to try to fix WEMP's news format, or perhaps transition it to news/talk, rather than change it to a music format.
As mentioned on this board, they recently hired Mark Austin Thomas, who has a background in news/talk stations, to be VP/News Director. Last week they brought in veteran WINS news reporter Terry Sheridan to be the station's newsroom manager.
Those are not the moves management would make if they were planning to flip the station to say, alternative rock.
However, if Merlin were to buy WFME 94.7, speculation of the sort that is on this thread may make sense for that station.

With regard to dance music, I still believe that even though what WKTU plays would not be considered dance by purists, it is probably fine for the masses of people that like some dance music, but don't want to hear strictly that on the radio. The dance purists are probably not a large enough group to justify changing the format of a major NYC station. But I could imagine a CHR station having a dance show for a few hours at night, such as the new KJQY Energy 103.3 in Colorado Springs, CO.

 

[ka2xuk]

Or maybe they should go back to some AC type format and call it "101.9 FM New" and make this a Chocolate format. Yep! Chocolate is the format of the day.

Or go to adult standards and make it a Prune Juice format. Hell, guys my age need that!

 

[xmradiopro]

I would like to see a country gold format...

 

[MoldaMania182]

Tony - I have much respect for the DMC and the work you do but rants like this are confusing. You get so worked up about this every time and frankly, you're wrong. Music much like any art form is in the ear of the beholder. Who really are YOU to tell anyone what is or isn't? Are you the artist? You're arrogance wreaks through posts like this and the fact remains, MANY people agree with the original poster. You should embrace and adapt that, not mock them in the face. You remind me of many people in the EDM scene these days, like other past genres' fans that have hit mainstream at some point, that live in denial that it's not 'real xx' music. It's pretty unfair to claim you will 'squash the heck out of ignorant posts'. Really? Just because you decided to be proactive about something you like, doesn't mean you're judge and jury or better than anyone else. You're still just a fan. You're interpretation of an art form isn't any more right or wrong than anyone else's.

To defend his posts, I don't think his posts are at all about upholding some elite definition of Dance. It's just the fact of the matter that 92.3 Now and KTU are stations that serve a mainstream pop audience and are not exclusively commited to people who want to hear dance music. Reiterating my previous point, if you're going to say that Now is a Dance station just because they play David Guetta and Calvin Harris, you can also say that Fresh is an Alternative station because they play Gotye, Fun, Neon Trees, and an occasional 90's alternative hit. I'm hardly an expert on dance music, but even I know this.

I agree with you, and I don't agree with the OP either, however I'm tired of reading threads of people bashing other people's musical's takes or opinions. It's not black and white and their isn't really a right or wrong. I'm sorry, Tony isn't the authority on what is dance or what constitutes the level of EDM on Top 40 radio. The collective majority does. If people want to say (and I hear this a lot) there's a lot of dance music on Top 40 radio these days, fine, so be it. They're entitled to that opinion.

 

[TonySantiago]

Tony - I have much respect for the DMC and the work you do but rants like this are confusing. You get so worked up about this every time and frankly, you're wrong. Music much like any art form is in the ear of the beholder. Who really are YOU to tell anyone what is or isn't? Are you the artist? You're arrogance wreaks through posts like this and the fact remains, MANY people agree with the original poster. You should embrace and adapt that, not mock them in the face. You remind me of many people in the EDM scene these days, like other past genres' fans that have hit mainstream at some point, that live in denial that it's not 'real xx' music. It's pretty unfair to claim you will 'squash the heck out of ignorant posts'. Really? Just because you decided to be proactive about something you like, doesn't mean you're judge and jury or better than anyone else. You're still just a fan. You're interpretation of an art form isn't any more right or wrong than anyone else's.

Before I answer this, mjb1124 - Thank you!

Thataveragejoe - ALL I AM DOING HERE is defending dance music from ignorant comments like the one XCountry285 posted (the "6AM" comment got me). And if you read very carefully, I did NOT diss alternative or country music. I clearly stated that I don't know enough about it whereas I can just spit out a generalization that if Z-100 or another station did have it on their format that it should be good enough for those fans. That's not right.

Joe, I will be the very first to tell anyone to fight for their music. I also know that there are country fans in the New York City proper area that would love a country station and hopefully they'll get one. I'm the LAST person in the world to knock ANY artist or sound down even if I am not particularly fond of it. If XCountry loves his music, that's fine. But don't come off generalizing what is on 'KTU and Now as "dance music" if you don't truly follow it. It may be a mainstream aspect of it but there's a lot more that needs to bubble. There are those that do consider themselves "elitist". And while I may be core to my tastes, I also know that radio still has to cater to a mainstream audience. Outside of that for the show that I do on the Internet, I'll go core, but even that my first hour is mainstream leaning.

I can tell if someone just really doesn't know versus someone who comes off ignorant. I'm open to education and am willing to help. I've expressed this in the past to XCountry. But if you still come off ignorant (such as MarcR does when he posts in here), then despite my best efforts then I'm going to come off in strong defense. If you don't like dance music just because you don't like it, that's one thing. But DO NOT come off bashing it. I will NEVER bash any sound because yes, music is in the ear of the beholder. I even told XCountry to find like minded fans and form a coalition. I mean, if you REALLY feel that strong about something, then you go get it. Fight for it.

Briancraig - The answer to your question is YES. And despite what people in here thought about Pulse 87 with it's low dial location and weak antenna it actually garnered enough ratings and buzz that if the station was about 92 with the powerful stick, the station would have been in the Top 5 hands down. It's not just about satisfying the NYDMC. There are plenty of dance music fans out there in this market that don't know about the coalition that would tune in. WPYM (Party 93) in Miami years ago did well with the format. If it wasn't the fact that another station flipped out of the rock format and Cox went in to fill that hole, Party 93 would have probably lasted longer because there is a listener fanbase for a dance music station in South Florida.

Yes, you have to play Rihanna, Chris Brown, Flo Rida and Pitbull to get those casual fans in. But at the same time you intersperse it with our brand of dance/EDM that no other station is going to play because they are strictly committed to branding their specific formats (92.3 Now - CHR, 'KTU - Rhythmic A/C). Granted, Party 105 and Drive FX are too far from NYC as an example in regards to an impact in NYC proper. But just the fact that these stations are still in the region (albeit the far rimshots) show that dance music does matter.

 

[briancraig]

I agree you would have to play Pitbull, Flo Rida etc. to get ratings but my friends who are into dance music don't like those artists and would consider them too pop.

If KTU added more pure dance without excluding anything they play now, would the coalition be satisfied.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Briancraig - The answer to your question is YES. And despite what people in here thought about Pulse 87 with it's low dial location and weak antenna it actually garnered enough ratings and buzz that if the station was about 92 with the powerful stick, the station would have been in the Top 5 hands down. It's not just about satisfying the NYDMC. There are plenty of dance music fans out there in this market that don't know about the coalition that would tune in. WPYM (Party 93) in Miami years ago did well with the format. If it wasn't the fact that another station flipped out of the rock format and Cox went in to fill that hole, Party 93 would have probably lasted longer because there is a listener fanbase for a dance music station in South Florida.

I disagree with Pulse being top 5 if it were north of 92MHz. It may have pulled a 2.2-2.3, but not a 6 share. Just like country, it has its fans and to everyone else it really doesn't exist.

Pulse had good numbers for its signal and dial position because the P1's went out of their way to listen, the same way people complained when the 106.3 translator came on in NYC. A small but loyal group of P1's doesn't translate into a top 5 station, mass appeal does. Dance, in the form that Tony wants isn't MASS appeal, the same way CBS-FM, Lite, Z-100, WKTU and Q-104.3 are. Period. A dance station isn't going to come close to any of those stations. It will be a high TSL, low cume format. Saying that Pulse would have been top 5 is the same as saying the Yankees are going to beat the Red Sox 89-2 because you root for the team.

 

[Jeffrey]

I wouldn't worry too much about what Xcountry posts. His posts have more to do with what he would like to hear on the radio rather than what is a viable format.
Furthermore it's unclear why he even cares as I'm quite sure that the formats he continues to promote and clamour for on NYC radio can be heard where he lives.

 

[nd2023]

Briancraig - The answer to your question is YES. And despite what people in here thought about Pulse 87 with it's low dial location and weak antenna it actually garnered enough ratings and buzz that if the station was about 92 with the powerful stick, the station would have been in the Top 5 hands down. It's not just about satisfying the NYDMC. There are plenty of dance music fans out there in this market that don't know about the coalition that would tune in. WPYM (Party 93) in Miami years ago did well with the format. If it wasn't the fact that another station flipped out of the rock format and Cox went in to fill that hole, Party 93 would have probably lasted longer because there is a listener fanbase for a dance music station in South Florida.

I disagree with Pulse being top 5 if it were north of 92MHz. It may have pulled a 2.2-2.3, but not a 6 share. Just like country, it has its fans and to everyone else it really doesn't exist.

Pulse had good numbers for its signal and dial position because the P1's went out of their way to listen, the same way people complained when the 106.3 translator came on in NYC. A small but loyal group of P1's doesn't translate into a top 5 station, mass appeal does. Dance, in the form that Tony wants isn't MASS appeal, the same way CBS-FM, Lite, Z-100, WKTU and Q-104.3 are. Period. A dance station isn't going to come close to any of those stations. It will be a high TSL, low cume format. Saying that Pulse would have been top 5 is the same as saying the Yankees are going to beat the Red Sox 89-2 because you root for the team.

Pulse had over a million cume at its peak in October '09, the last month before it went bankrupt. The online version of Pulse has enough listeners that they're airing national ads for Walmart, Geico, etc. Nevertheless, dance would certainly generate a profit for Merlin, which is better than FM News 101.9 bleeding cash. What would its investors rather have, a dance format generating a small profit, or a news station causing a large loss? It is expensive to run an all news station.