WHY NOT IN NYC??????

[TheBigA]

What gets forgotten here is that when WHN flipped from country to sports in 1987, within a month NBC flipped WYNY 97.1 from soft rock to country. That was a major broadcaster with a major signal choosing to take a format that was pretty successful on AM, and moving it to FM. It stayed on the 97.1 frequency for a year, before the frequency swap to 103.5. That signal was based in Lake Success/Nassau County, although the antenna, as I recall was the first on top of the WTC. Still it wasn't as strong as 97.1, which began the slow descent in the ratings for country in NYC. As mentioned, the triple-cast was a great idea, but not a good way to build big NYC ratings. It was successful in the smaller markets where the three transmitters were based, especially in NJ.

As I've said here before, one thing that is tough to do is launch a station with a format that's been off the air for almost 15 years, and before that wasn't too successful. It doesn't give you much real data to work with. And that's what you need to get started. The audience doesn't have the relationship with the format. And entire generation of music experience has been lost. Plus it's difficult to convince advertisers that it'll work. San Francisco is another city where there was a country void for a long time, and it's been hard to rebuild that audience and advertiser base.

 

[DToTheJ]

1987 was a different climate for radio. Back in 1987, country was still somewhat sellable in New York. We're not in 1987 anymore. It's as simple as that.

 

[TheBigA]

1987 was a different climate for radio. Back in 1987, country was still somewhat sellable in New York. We're not in 1987 anymore. It's as simple as that.

I agree 1987 was a different climate, but the main thing that's changed is that the format has been gone for a long time. It was sellable in 87 mainly because it had been a hit at WHN. There were known clients who were looking to spend money in the format. Those people are gone. Every year it's gone makes it less likely it will come back.

There are country artists who are getting airplay on other formats, like Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood, so they're not losing out on New York. But the ones who lose out are the traditional artists like Alan Jackson, George Strait, and Kenny Chesney, who've had not regular outlet other than satellite or internet. They have a fan base in NY, but they aren't growing the format the way the would if the big stars were packaged with newer ones, the way a dedicated format would.

 

[Barry]

I believe that Y107, the last country station in this area, was most successful in coastal NJ, around Toms River. Most of the commercials were for businesses located there. And that was the only region where I heard the station playing on many radios.
That area is now served by Cat Country WPUR, and Thunder Country, WKMK FM. Thunder is a very good country station. It is quick to air new songs and goes quite deep into the current country charts.

 

[davideduardo]

What gets forgotten here is that when WHN flipped from country to sports in 1987, within a month NBC flipped WYNY 97.1 from soft rock to country. That was a major broadcaster with a major signal choosing to take a format that was pretty successful on AM, and moving it to FM. It stayed on the 97.1 frequency for a year, before the frequency swap to 103.5. That signal was based in Lake Success/Nassau County, although the antenna, as I recall was the first on top of the WTC.

103.5 was indeed on top of the WTC, but on a separate mast and directional to protect the SW, in the direction of Princeton and Trenton. It was located there in 1979 when I did due diligence for a purchase option from Friendly Frost and actually saw the antenna on the roof.

Obviously, being directional lost some of the suburban areas in the metro.