WNEW Turning 75

[kevinsealy]

February 13 will mark the 75th aniversary of the WNEW call letters that first came to life here in New York on 1250AM from a studio in New Jersey.

Without going through a long history of WNEW AM & FM, with WNEW-AM I believe in the early 1970's they were one of the first stations to become what we know as the AC format when they were playing the music of The Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, The Fifth Demension and their like sprinkling in their traditional pop singers Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett.

If WNEW-AM was on the air today in 2009, they may be more like a Lite AC station mixing in Pop Standards and playing some of today's artists who are recording standards like, Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, Barry Manilow and even Queen Latifa has recorded a jazz CD of standards. WNEW may sound like WHLI 1100AM on Long Island.

Some are hoping to see a return of the WNEW-FM call signs back to New York. But for this to happen WRXP may have to cease to exist.


Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[fybush]

Some are hoping to see a return of the WNEW-FM call signs back to New York. But for this to happen WRXP may have to cease to exist.

WRXP is owned by Emmis. The WNEW calls are still being parked by CBS down in Florida. How would WRXP's disappearance lead to a return of the WNEW calls?

 

[kevinsealy]

If Emmis drops the rock format from WRXP, this makes the rock field less competitive and opens up the door for the posibility of CBS moving K-Rock's format to 102.7 and move Fresh to 92.3. This has been dicussed on the NYRMB.

And New York can't support three rock stations. The last time we had three successful three rock stations was over 25 years ago.

The WKTU call letters were brought back to New York, so why not WNEW.


Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[DToTheJ]

WRXP is owned by Emmis. The WNEW calls are still being parked by CBS down in Florida. How would WRXP's disappearance lead to a return of the WNEW calls?

And when I saw the recent West Palm 12+ preview and WNEW in the Top 5, it looked kinda weird, looking at it as a New Yorker...

 

[neo11]

If Emmis drops the rock format from WRXP, this makes the rock field less competitive and opens up the door for the posibility of CBS moving K-Rock's format to 102.7 and move Fresh to 92.3. This has been dicussed on the NYRMB.

And New York can't support three rock stations. The last time we had three successful three rock stations was over 25 years ago.

The WKTU call letters were brought back to New York, so why not WNEW.


Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

This keeps being brought up. WHY would they move Fresh, a format they've worked hard to establish and make successful, from 102.7 to 92.3? Just because a station with the call letters "WNEW" once existed on 102.7? That was over 10 years ago!

A "new" WNEW would have just as much of a chance to succeed on 92.3 as it would on 102.7 or any other frequency. Not to mention that WNEW didn't exactly set the world on fire in the ratings as a rock station on 102.7 in its latter years, much the same way K-Rock isn't going anywhere with its current classic rock-leaning format.

You mention KTU's return in 1996, but remember that the original KTU was on 92.3. The "new" KTU returned on 103.5. In 1996, when KTU returned, around 10 years had gone by since the original KTU went off the air. However, the station didn't seem to be hurt by the new frequency. The same would be the case with WNEW, if it ever returned as a rock station (which, IMO, is doubtful).

 

[BruceS8852]

Since CBS has "recreated" WNEW-FM on wnew.com and 102.7 HD2, would they do the same thing with WNEW (AM) on an internet stream?

Bruce

 

[videokilledtheradiostar]

Bring back the good old days when WNEW AM 1130 was "The Greatest Station in the Nation" Great on air personalities like William B. Williams host of "Make Believe Ballroom" , Ted Brown, Jonathon Schwartz , Julias LaRosa, Marty Wilson, the hit parade goes on and on. That was when radio was for real.