New York City Got K-Rock Back and Lost It Again

[EvanJ]

92.3 in New York City has changed from Free FM WFNY to K-Rock and will go back to old call letters WXRK. WXRK Cleveland will become WKRI. According to www.yes.com/log/?station=WFNY 92.3's first nine songs played of the new format were by Nirvana, AC/DC, Linkin Park, Guns N' Roses, The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, U2, Tool, and The Offspring. "What I've Done" by Linkin Park and "The Pot" by Tool are the most recently released songs out of the nine.

[Crushcrushchris]

Yes, yes, hell yes!!@$!@!%

I KNEW this was going to happen. I can't wait until the ball starts rolling again. I missed K-Rock. I remember when I started hearing speculation about it changing formats at their "Fan Appreciation" show. They changed it slightly in late '05 to a "Jack" like format..but I miss the old active/alternative that played everything from the Stripes to Breaking Benjamin and Killswitch Engage (at one point) and everything in between.

This was a welcome change considering the wonderful, blossoming musical period we have right now with Linkin Park, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, Velvet Revolver.

They have a lot of catching up to do lol.

[tico]

Now that New York and San Francisco have abandoned Free FM, I wonder how soon it will be until the other Frees such as Chicago and San Diego abandon ship.

[reception]

May 24, 6:45 PM EDT
Farewell to Free FM

By LARRY McSHANE
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- With a blast of Nirvana's "All Apologies," the 17-month effort to establish a talk station at New York's 92.3 FM ended abruptly Thursday afternoon with the return of K-Rock - the station's identity before Howard Stern departed for satellite radio in January 2006.

The new format is billed as "The Rock of New York," and returns the station to the familiar musical ground of bands such as Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Linkin Park. The station will remain anchored by the oft-disciplined morning drive-time pairing of Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, said station general manager Tom Chiusano.

The Free FM format was billed as "Talk that Rocks" when it debuted with much fanfare, but it failed to generate good ratings. In the most recent Arbitron numbers, the station was not in the Top 20 overall in the nation's largest radio market.

"Free had not hit the stride we had hoped for," said Chiusano. "And K-Rock was still waiting there for us to grab it back. We know what we left behind, and the audience for the radio station (and its music) was significantly larger than the audience we had currently."

Besides changing formats, the station swapped its call letters from WFNY-FM to its former WXRK-FM.

The format change ends a failed experiment that briefly converted David Lee Roth from rocker to radio host with a show that lasted barely three months after Stern left the CBS Radio station. Opie and Anthony quickly stepped in, doing three hours on Free FM before moving over to XM Satellite Radio for the rest of their show.

Two weeks ago, the station dumped "The Dog House with JV and Elvis" program after its co-hosts made a prank phone call rife with offensive Asian stereotypes. For its Memorial Day weekend launch, K-Rock will air without DJs, although a search for on-air talent would occur in the next few weeks, CBS Radio said.

Before its 2006 move to Free FM, K-Rock was a rock station for 20 years.

[EvanJ]

tico said:

Now that New York and San Francisco have abandoned Free FM, I wonder how soon it will be until the other Frees such as Chicago and San Diego abandon ship.

WCKG Chicago no longer calls itself Free FM.

[Crushcrushchris]

WXRK is now on the Mediabase Active Rock panel.

[Pipa]

Yeah, it's been there for a while. Doesn't have a very big playlist though.

[dth1971]

What could be next in New York City with Free FM gone back to that stations old rock format? Maybe WCBS Jack FM 101 switching back to WCBS Oldies 101 FM or WPLJ dropping Hot AC for the Scott Shannon owned True Oldies Channel?

[Crushcrushchris]

Well, the first thing that you mentioned actually already happened heh.

[atlantaboy]

dth1971 said:

What could be next in New York City WPLJ dropping Hot AC for the Scott Shannon owned True Oldies Channel?

That's not gonna happen - isn't WPLJ one of the highest grossing revenue stations in the country (b/c apparently Hot AC appeals in general to wealthier listeners and so advertisers invest tons of $$$ in it even though its ratings aren't that great, at least in the city itself)

If PLJ were to collapse, so would Hot AC, and right now, too many big artists (Rob Thomas, Goo Goo Dolls etc.) are being separated from CHR and invested in Hot AC - if Hot AC collapsed, CHR (Z100) would have to go back to playing Goo Goo Dolls and T-Pain back to back IMO

[Slinky]

PLJ's not going anywhere. Even with low ratings, revenue is through the roof. You might see some tweaking to better compete with Fresh and Z100, but it will continue to be a Hot AC.

PLJ will also benefit from the demise of Jack. Many of the 80's and 90's titles shared by Jack and PLJ can only be heard on PLJ now.

[nanie]

yeah!!It has existed for a long time

________________________
tomorrow is another day

iphone video converter

[Houster]

CBS-FM is playing lots of 80's songs, but you are right about those 90's songs -- I don't expect PLJ to start playing The Cure or Morrissey anytime soon, however.

[Deleted]

K-Rock will be switching to Now FM (CHR/Pop) on Wednesday.

[tico]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but will this be Z100's first real CHR competitor since WPLJ switched to hot AC? I don't count WNEW's stint at CHR a few years ago since that wasn't gonna be permanent.

[blfdguy1]

I heard it for a while this evening. All I can say is that they played Pink's "Sober" 3 times between 6 & 10. They speed up there records like PLJ used to. Britney's "Circus" sounded like she was on helium....more than usual..lol.

So far....not even close to being impressed.

[atlantaboy]

Mar 9, 2009 19:24:48 GMT -5 @rebirthxperience said:

K-Rock will be switching to Now FM (CHR/Pop) on Wednesday.

Aww no - bad sign ("Now-FM" slogan) cause that's the same slogan WNOU/Indianapolis used when it came on in late 90s - pretty sure "now" slogan means completely teen-focused (prob. rhythmic/pop), nothing less than a year old, and really high song rotations

Z100 is so well-established though...hard to imagine why teens would turn to a different station, unless the station were completely pop/rhythmic (i. e. no Fray, Nickelback, Matt Nathanson, Coldplay, etc.)

[atlantaboy]

Mar 10, 2009 15:38:22 GMT -5 @tico said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but will this be Z100's first real CHR competitor since WPLJ switched to hot AC? I don't count WNEW's stint at CHR a few years ago since that wasn't gonna be permanent.

Def. remember when rhythmic/dance station (WKTU I think) signed on in the mid-90s as a direct competitor to Z100 (which was then leaning really Alternative) - in response to the new station's really high ratings, Z100 adjusted itself back to the center (and even leaned dance for a while in '96-'97 I think)

[tico]

KTU wasn't designed as a CHR/pop station. That's why I didn't count it.

[EvanJ]

Mar 12, 2009 9:04:50 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

Z100 is so well-established though...hard to imagine why teens would turn to a different station, unless the station were completely pop/rhythmic (i. e. no Fray, Nickelback, Matt Nathanson, Coldplay, etc.)

People can like two stations that are the same format and listen to 92.3 play 10,000 songs in a row while Z100 is in commercial.
In Pittsburgh CBS Radio made WBZW to challenge Clear Channel CHR-Pop WKST. WBZW doesn't have a great rating now but it isn't too far behind WKST.
In Nassau-Suffolk where I live, Z100 and WBLI 106.1 (licensed to Patchogue in Suffolk County) have gone back and forth for the top rated CHR-Pop station in the market. Now 92.3 could affect that battle if it takes more listeners from Z100 than WBLI or vice versa.
I'll edit the topic title.

[friday]

Wow, haven't gotten a chance to hear this yet, but it's gonna be so weird hearing Britney Spears come out of a radio tuned to 92.3 in New York.

[EvanJ]

player.play.it/player/aolPlayer.html?v=4.3.10&ur=1&us=1&id= is AOL Radio and you can listen to this station under the Pop category.

[Walking Contradiction]

The station is very rhythmic leaning - the only song on their playlist that could be considered "rock" is AAR's "Gives You Hell", and even that has a dancy beat.

Can't say I'm upset about the loss of K-Rock - the station was sounding very stale. And this will only benefit WRXP, a station I enjoy a heck of a lot more, though I do think it could stand to be a bit more focused. Van Halen, Elton John, and Sheryl Crow do not fit with the approach they're going for, IMO. But they still play a lot of great alternative music, and they're the only outlet in town for it.

[atlantaboy]

Mar 12, 2009 15:16:49 GMT -5 @tico said:

KTU wasn't designed as a CHR/pop station. That's why I didn't count it.

Oh sorry you must've meant PLJ back before it was Hot AC (thought you meant PLJ challenged Z100 after it became HAC)

[atlantaboy]

Mar 12, 2009 15:54:54 GMT -5 EvanJ said:

Mar 12, 2009 9:04:50 GMT -5 atlantaboy said:

Z100 is so well-established though...hard to imagine why teens would turn to a different station, unless the station were completely pop/rhythmic (i. e. no Fray, Nickelback, Matt Nathanson, Coldplay, etc.)

People can like two stations that are the same format and listen to 92.3 play 10,000 songs in a row while Z100 is in commercial.
In Pittsburgh CBS Radio made WBZW to challenge Clear Channel CHR-Pop WKST. WBZW doesn't have a great rating now but it isn't too far behind WKST.

Yeah the Pittsburgh thing was basically the opposite of what's goin on now in NYC - CBS "recreated" B94 as a more mainstream CHR to challenge WKST which was/is really teen-rhythmic

Was just sayin in post that new NYC station would have to be teen-rhythmic to take listeners away from Z100 (and seems like that's what it is, at least so far)