Is That Thunder, Or Did Lightning Strike The Hit House?
Nothing is ever final in radio. Today's most diverse commercial rock radio station in New York City is Rock 101.9, WRXP. Its frequency sits on the ashes of WPIX-FM, already mentioned on these pages as a legendarily diverse rock radio station. It only required a few decades lying fallow in the swamps of mediocrity before a new (and not entirely displeasing) rock station found its way there.
It is with some finality, however, that I view the announcement that, at 3PM on September 15, Hit 106 - the format whose abrupt displacement of G-Rock, itself carrying the distant echo of the legendary FM106.3, enraged radio fans throughout the Jersey Shore - will itself be displaced by Thunder 106. Country music once again gets a signal at the Jersey Shore.
The hit format itself moves over to B-98.5, WKMK-FM 98.5 in Ocean Acres, which is unlikely to radiate much further north than Long Branch; it will not be a competitor in Monmouth County. If it can follow in the steps of the original B-98.5 that occupied that frequency years ago, it's got a shot at being a solid, locally focused hit radio outlet, providing a strong format for Long Beach Island. It'll own its market.
Matt Knight, Hit106's outgoing Program Director, led B-98.5 years ago, but he won't be back; Hit106's faceplant appears to herald the end of Matt's tenure at Press Broadcasting. That's a shame; Matt's leadership had little to do with the station's fortunes, which had a lot more to do with the owners' decision to compete in an already saturated hit radio market. The decision to jettison alternative rock for hit radio within thirty days of a high-powered signal in New York City doing the same thing will rank with Decca Records' rejection of the Beatles on lists of legendarily bad business decisions for years to come. We have the benefit of hindsight now, though this website had the foresight to warn that this was a bad idea when it was executed.
Country, actually, was probably the right idea for the station years ago. Had the station switched to country in 2002 when the then-dominant country station in the area (Y-107 in Long Branch) gave it up, they'd have had a far better time launching the new identity than they did trying to launch Hit106 in the face of an enraged and vocal audience. Back in 2002, Press' flaccid support of Alternative Rock after the purchase of G-Rock had pretty much ensured that a format change would have been met with little more than a cynical yawn.
Tune in sometime around 2015, by which time Thunder's ratings will guarantee that they show in the New York City ratings book, some New York signal will switch to country, Thunder will collapse, and Press will flip through the list of discarded formats used on WPIX-FM (known prior to its legendary rock format as "the format of the month station) and throw a new format on the frequencies. And it will be unlistenable.
We can only hope that Press and its heavily leveraged brethren, who value money over good radio, will go bankrupt soon enough for radio signals to once again fall to a price that's affordable enough for people who actually want to do radio to buy them. Radio run by broadcasters is always better than radio run by accountants.
In the meantime, we here at altrokradio.com will continue our little experiment at Altrok 90.5 HD2, hoping you can join in the fun. Heck, maybe that'll be the format Press tries in 2015...but we're listener supported and we don't play commercials, so...Press? Good luck with that.
It is with some finality, however, that I view the announcement that, at 3PM on September 15, Hit 106 - the format whose abrupt displacement of G-Rock, itself carrying the distant echo of the legendary FM106.3, enraged radio fans throughout the Jersey Shore - will itself be displaced by Thunder 106. Country music once again gets a signal at the Jersey Shore.
The hit format itself moves over to B-98.5, WKMK-FM 98.5 in Ocean Acres, which is unlikely to radiate much further north than Long Branch; it will not be a competitor in Monmouth County. If it can follow in the steps of the original B-98.5 that occupied that frequency years ago, it's got a shot at being a solid, locally focused hit radio outlet, providing a strong format for Long Beach Island. It'll own its market.
Matt Knight, Hit106's outgoing Program Director, led B-98.5 years ago, but he won't be back; Hit106's faceplant appears to herald the end of Matt's tenure at Press Broadcasting. That's a shame; Matt's leadership had little to do with the station's fortunes, which had a lot more to do with the owners' decision to compete in an already saturated hit radio market. The decision to jettison alternative rock for hit radio within thirty days of a high-powered signal in New York City doing the same thing will rank with Decca Records' rejection of the Beatles on lists of legendarily bad business decisions for years to come. We have the benefit of hindsight now, though this website had the foresight to warn that this was a bad idea when it was executed.
Country, actually, was probably the right idea for the station years ago. Had the station switched to country in 2002 when the then-dominant country station in the area (Y-107 in Long Branch) gave it up, they'd have had a far better time launching the new identity than they did trying to launch Hit106 in the face of an enraged and vocal audience. Back in 2002, Press' flaccid support of Alternative Rock after the purchase of G-Rock had pretty much ensured that a format change would have been met with little more than a cynical yawn.
Tune in sometime around 2015, by which time Thunder's ratings will guarantee that they show in the New York City ratings book, some New York signal will switch to country, Thunder will collapse, and Press will flip through the list of discarded formats used on WPIX-FM (known prior to its legendary rock format as "the format of the month station) and throw a new format on the frequencies. And it will be unlistenable.
We can only hope that Press and its heavily leveraged brethren, who value money over good radio, will go bankrupt soon enough for radio signals to once again fall to a price that's affordable enough for people who actually want to do radio to buy them. Radio run by broadcasters is always better than radio run by accountants.
In the meantime, we here at altrokradio.com will continue our little experiment at Altrok 90.5 HD2, hoping you can join in the fun. Heck, maybe that'll be the format Press tries in 2015...but we're listener supported and we don't play commercials, so...Press? Good luck with that.
posted 9/09/2010 08:00:00 AM
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