AND THE WINNER IS....

[radioguy39nj]

The ill-conceived FM News 101.9 is gone and not a moment too soon.  WINS and WCBS soldier on on the AM band.  Alternative rock fans are rejoicing because they have a station once again.  Some even think spoken word on FM in New York is dead.

When Merlin purchased 101.9, it was speculated that the format would be a hybrid news/talk, focusing on the tri-state New York area.  Good choice, since there's a huge format hole in the NY market for that.  Instead of running a freight train through the obvious format hole, Merlin chose to compete against CBS' long-established two headed news hydra, WINS and WCBS-AM.

The winner is WABC, Cumulus and Premiere Networks.  After all, WABC with Rush & Sean have such high ratings in New York that no one can compete against them (NOT!!!!).  No one's even trying.  WABC and it's 50 kWs of wall-to-wall syndication continue on with no competition.  IMHO, WOR and WNYM are knock-offs of WABC, not true competitors.

Talk radio in market #1 will remain the worst in the country!  Local or mostly local talk stations can be found in many top 20 markets.  Not New York!  New York is forced to make do with wall-to-wall syndication, just like Miami and Las Vegas.

DISGRACEFUL!!!!

[XCountry285]

I want Yankees on FM & AM. Put them on 101.9 at night!

[DavidEduardo]

Miami's #1 talker for the last twenty-some years is totally live and local with zero syndication.

[TimeIsTight]

I want Yankees on FM & AM. Put them on 101.9 at night!

@XCountry285: I am getting a real charge out of your reaction to what happened today.  If there was one guy on this board who was endlessly calling for Alternative to be returned to the NYC FM band, and back on 101.9 you were that guy!

Then in your first post on the day that your wish comes true, you want Alternative music replaced in the evenings by the spoken word play-by-play of Yankees baseball!!!!!  Huh,     

I'm with you on Alternative music, and Yankees baseball actually might be heard on NYC FM next year, but let's hope, and its not likely, that it is NOT heard on 101.9.

Cheers to all the fans of Alternative who got what they wanted today.      Just make sure you support the format, and tell your friends to do the same.  Merlin just might have a Plan-C in mind if this isn't a quick success.

[DToTheJ]

Hey, if the Green Bay Packers' flagship radio station is a CHR FM, anything is possible...

@RadioGuy39NJ: The talk radio situation withstanding, I suppose this market should be proud that it can support a "two headed news hydra" (I like that term, btw) whereas most markets offer a maximum of one all-news station.

[Steve Green NEPA]

For the longest while,  85 or so miles SE of us,  WYSP had been running Eagles football games during their classic rock weekends.    It seemed to have no adverse impact on their ratings. So I'm guessing here that Alternative is a largely male-youth thing?    On that theory,  hence;  certainly so would be football.

Eagles football up this way,  maybe 35 miles west,  also is heard L&C from WEGH in Sunbury.    That station is another rocker (albeit a Classic Rocker).     Yeah,  of course,  the station being 'Eagle 107' and all,   the association was probably more organic than reactive when choosing time came.   Still,   the hybrid of rock and football does not seem to've disturbed any society.

The feeling here is that football,  not baseball,   would be the better choice with which a NYC rock station could interrupt the music flow.     The clash of formats,  like some sort of day-parting,  actually has worked in some form since the mid-70s.    That was when a Lee Abrams station in North Carolina found itself contractually-bound to carry the games of some college team in between its Alice Cooper and Allman Brothers and Ed Zeppelin college-age music -- Army?   The Tar Heels?   Wolfpack?
That symbionism goes back over 35 years. 

[Bob1370]

Radioguy39nj hit the nail on the head--there is a HUGE hole in the NYC market for a locally programmed English-lanmguage talker with a younger skew that's in synch with how the market thinks. Why hasn't anyone stepped in and filled it? There's enough available listeners to make a 4 or 5 share in 6+ AQH, heavy on 35-54 prime listeners, and not aligned strongly to any existing signal, just waiting for the first station to jump in, fill the niche and make that audience its own. Doesn't anyone want those listeners?

It's one of several voids in the NYC market that make no sense--another one being modern country, with its ability to attract suburban and outer-borough 25-54 men and women.

The NYC market, at least among English language stations, makes less sense right now than almost anywhere else in the U.S. radio business.

[mikerock]

The flow of music format should NEVER be interrupted by sports or spoken word.  Leave the games to all sports stations ESPN or WFAN.

[TimeIsTight]

-there is a HUGE hole in the NYC market for a locally programmed English-language talker with a younger skew that's in synch with how the market thinks.

It's possible that Merlin was thinking about doing that kind of format when it gave, what appeared to be, on-air auditions in the mid-day Rush slot on its new Philly talker, while it was waiting for Rush's contract with WPHT to run out.

Many of those auditioned were former NJ-101.5 talk hosts, who "might" have fit at Merlin stations across the Delaware or Hudson from New Jersey.  Judging by what has happened since, those "auditions" did not go well, or Merlin is in "expense reduction mode" and is opting for the cheapest way to fill its airtime, and syndicated talkers managed by a computer, or a music format run completely by computer may just be cheaper than having live and local people do anything.

[radioguy39nj]

Miami's #1 talker for the last twenty-some years is totally live and local with zero syndication.

What station is that?