WRXP 101.9 sold to Merlin Media

[♛ The Manticore ☯]

The New York struggling rock station (to be fair the ratings did rose a bit recently but still not that good) as well as two Chicago stations were sold to Merlin Media from Emmis Communication.

www.nydailynews.com/blogs/showandtell/2011/06/rock-could-sink-at-wrxp-with-sale-of-station-to-new-media-group

Merlin Media, which is paying $110-$130 million for a controlling interest in WRXP and two Chicago stations, made no announcement today on the format at WRXP.

It seems like some new talk radio is being hinted but I don't know. It would be nice to have a current dance based format in both cities.

[atlantaboy]

^If they flip RXP, that means New York City won't have an Alternative, Active Rock, or commercial Triple A

[friday]

I really hope they don't flip RXP, even though I don't listen to it as much as I should. It's inexcusable for New York to not have a modern rock station.

[tico]

^^

That's just not right for New York to go without a rock station, at least one that isn't classic rock.

Sadly, I could see Q101 Chicago flipping. Alternative just isn't the format that it once was. When 99X's and K-Rocks of the world are no longer around, it's almost time to play Taps.

[Rurry]

Yeah, we really need a rock station. We have enough dance-based stations.

[♛ The Manticore ☯]

Jun 21, 2011 22:49:05 GMT -5 Rurry said:

Yeah, we really need a rock station. We have enough dance-based stations.

Enough dance based stations? I don't think so. There's only six dance radio stations in the U.S. on FM.

* KNHC/Seattle (C89.5)
* WWAC/Atlantic City (Wild 102.7)
* WBZC/Pemberton, New Jersey (2AM-6PM weekdays)
* WPTY/Long Island, New York (Party 105.3)
* WCPT-FM (Evenings, during Dance Factory FM)/Chicago
* KVBE/Moapa Valley, Nevada (Vibe 94.5)

KVBE will soon be flipping to pop so that leaves 5 left. I don't consider rhythmic stations dance music and I certainly don't consider Ke$ha, Britney Spears, etc. real dance music.

Sylvia Tosun, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, Edward Maya, Gareth Emery, Afrojack, Fragma, Paul van Dyk, Martin Solveig, Avicii, Deadmau5 are real dance and are more cutting edge and electronica than the cookie cutter style of dance that is played on rhythmic and CHR's of today.

KTU used to be more of a dance station from 1996-2006. Right now although its part of the CHR family on mediabase, they are basically a rhythmic AC.

Rock had its chance in New York on a good signal with K-Rock and others but it never had a large audience. As far as I remember, Rock was a big thing during the grunge era in the 90's.

Anyways I've been reading other articles and it seems like WXRP will be a news talk radio. Not right away but shortly.

To be fair, I would like New York to have all kinds of formats so that it would have something for everyone. Unfortunatley if it doesn't have an audience or if the station isn't making any money then so be it.

[Slinky]

RXP and Q101 are both rumored to be flipping to talk-based formats.

[atlantaboy]

Jun 21, 2011 22:32:56 GMT -5 @tico said:

Alternative just isn't the format that it once was.

The thing is though, Alternative ratings right now, nationwide, are the highest they've been since the 90s - we're in a huge upswing period for the Alternative format right now, but for some reason Alt. just doesn't do well in New York

BTW as far as 99X/Atlanta, they just moved the signal to 99.1, and there's talk about them increasing signal power in about a month - but for now, it's still a low-signal simulcast of a HD2 channel - our AAA station does lean very Alternative though, and covers a good portion of those listeners

[Houster]

Here's some more detailed info from a post on the New York Radio Message Board when the news of the sale broke on June 21st:

This from Inside Radio online just a short time ago (9:50 AM ET on 6/21);

"After announcing it was seeking to sell rock WRXP, New York (101.9) and its two Chicago FMs, Emmis Communications has instead found a partner in former Jacor and Clear Channel executive Randy Michaels and the private equity firm GTCR. Their newly-formed Merlin Media has struck a deal to buy a majority stake in WRXP and Emmis’ Chicago FMs: modern rock “Q-101” WKQX and classic rock “The Loop” WLUP-FM (97.9). Emmis will still own a significant minority stake..."

What we know about Randy Michaels is that he's creative, iconoclastic and unafraid to push the envelope or bust through it. He's also controversial in his management style (which Chicago columnist Bob Feder likened to a frat-boy mentality) but that can, IF properly channeled, create an exciting and groundbreaking place to do radio. Michaels has both his fans and his critics, but there's no denying that at his best, he can make radio exciting to produce and exciting to listen to.

In recent years, of course, he's been best known for his programming work in the realms of AC and news/talk programming around the country with Jacor and later with Clear Channel and Tribune. The Chicago stations, AFAIK, are pretty well set in their current formats. WRXP, however, is a secondary player in the rock realm as things now stand. It'll be interesting to see if he tries to battle Q104 or find some other format in which to play. Anyone have ideas, or maybe suggestions?



Merlin Media is run by Randy Michaels, a long-time radio exec who most recently was the CEO of the Tribune Company in Chicago.

The word is that Michaels has hired a guy named Walter Sabo as COO of Merlin Media. Sabo developed a news/talk station called WKXW (101.5) in Trenton, New Jersey which gets good ratings statewide. Not a "hot talk" station which has failed twice in New York, but more of a lifestyle/nonpartisan political station, with 70's music on the weekends. Look for WRXP's call letters to change to WYNY.

There's little or no chance WRXP will stay a rock station, as an RXP-sponsored concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in New Jersey with Coldplay headlining was cancelled a few days ago due "circumstances beyond" RXP's control.

Something like this was tried decades ago in New York, an FM station called WNWS, which failed, but its a different time now.

I'm going to miss WRXP. It was probably doomed to failure, but I was glad while it was around Hopefully, the format will be moved to an HD channel.

Question, where can I find a good internet radio station with a current rock or AAA format in New York?

[EvanJ]

Jul 3, 2011 13:17:44 GMT -5 Houster said:

Question, where can I find a good internet radio station with a current rock or AAA format in New York?

www.webradiolist.com/radios/station.asp?webcasting=101&music

[tico]

RXP's rock format to be gone by Friday

And possibly Q101 in Chicago as well.

[friday]

I think satellite radio has spoiled me, otherwise I'd be more upset about this than I am now. A shame I probably won't get to hear the final hours since I'm out of town and don't get back until Thursday, though that article seems to imply the transition won't be totally abrupt. After that, I'll just have to settle for streaming KNDD online if I want to listen to local alternative radio (even if it's not local for me, lol)

[banet2001]

RIP Q101. :'(

Today is the last day of alternative rock before switching formats tomorrow.

[musicfanpete]

Jul 14, 2011 17:09:46 GMT -5 banet2001 said:

RIP Q101. :'(

Today is the last day of alternative rock before switching formats tomorrow.

They will still live on on Q101.com, but I doubt the on-air staff will be there.

FYI, I'm not really a fan of alternative music (I post mainly on the Hot AC page), but I hate to see a station with such a great heritage be dumped for an FM Talker of all things! Maybe the new format will succeed, but it will still leave a big void in the market for an alternative station. And the despite the low overall ratings of Q101, they still ranked ninth in the 18-34 demo. That should say something.

[blfdguy1]

from what i heard on the radio yesterday, it looks like 101.9 is going the way of 95.5, 102.7, 106.7. Because that's what NY needs...another HotAC station

[Rurry]

102.7 and 106.7 are actually AC stations (though 102.7 is one of the 'Fresh' ACs that are basically HACs). HAC's probably my favorite format so I don't mind too much lol. But we do have quite a bit of them. Coastal Jersey also gets 94.3 which is a HAC as well so that's 3 HAC-like stations. But it's better than FM talk.

[musicfanpete]

Jul 23, 2011 11:34:19 GMT -5 blfdguy1 said:

from what i heard on the radio yesterday, it looks like 101.9 is going the way of 95.5, 102.7, 106.7. Because that's what NY needs...another HotAC station

Well if that's what 101.1 in Chicago is going to do, then that would be interesting. They succeeded in getting Fresh 105.9 to flip to a simulcast of sister station WBBM AM 780, which is our powerhouse all-news station. That flip is scheduled to occur next weekend. But in scaring 105.9 of their Hot AC leaning AC format, 101.1 succeeded in elminating a potential AC competitor, though it was expected that the under performing Fresh was going to flip to the all news simulcast anyway.

The other interesting thing is that 101.1 is right next to the Mix 101.9 on the dial, so they would also be going after the powerhouse Hot AC station right next to them.

And even if they do go all news afterall, they would have an interesting battle with the longtime news station anyway.

[jPHQ]

Last Friday morning 101.1 went all-news full time after a week-and-a-half-long "soft opening" where Hot AC music was mixed with hourly test newscasts. Based on many of the posts on the Chicagoland Radio & Media message board, the station's execution has lacked a lot of preparation and professionalism. Their new website is also very sparse, and despite a LISTEN NOW link, there is no internet stream yet.

Fresh 105.9 became the FM simulcast for Newsradio shortly after 8:10 am yesterday, and the Fresh format moved to the HD2 and the Internet. The audio processing is in mono, with the exception of the commercials and the top-of-the-hour newscasts from CBS.

I understand there are markets nationwide that have had successful FM news and talk operations recently, but for some reason I still believe stations like that have no business on FM. The people on the Chicagoland Radio & Media boards were saying that it was about time and that it eliminates the problems of enduring interference on AM 780 in downtown Chicago. Well for starters I've driven through downtown Chicago among all the tall buildings and I never had problems trying to get AM radio. Secondly, the news format has been on 780 since 1968, so why is this a concern now? And thirdly, if you can't get Newsradio in your downtown office building--listen to the internet stream; put on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or CLTV (Chicago's equivalent of NY1); or hell, put on the local tv stations' newscasts--they're constantly expanding them by the half-hour. Case in point, we may complain about the oversaturation of stations of a certain genre of music, but at the same time, we're also newsed-out as well.

[tico]

^^

They may mean intereference from computers inside the buildings. Some employers may not allow their employees to stream audio on their computers. Listening on radio may be the only option (besides listening on a smart phone).

I do agree, though, about FM talk. I can see if an AM station is signally-challenged. But stations like WBBM, WWL and WSB--stations who have set up AM/FM simucasts in recent years) are powerful enough to where any real interference should be minimal. It's also another way for owners to save money. Look at how much money CBS no longer has to spend on Fresh FM DJs, promotions, etc.

[blfdguy1]

101.9 went all news this week as well after a couple of weeks of HAC/AC music.

[dth1971]

I know from 1991 to 1995 WLS 890 simucast its news/talk format with 94.7 FM Chicago.