Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site houxm.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!houxm!gregbo From: gregbo@houxm.UUCP (Greg Skinner) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Top 40 radio in New York Message-ID: <1031@houxm.UUCP> Date: Sat, 15-Dec-84 10:25:49 EST Article-I.D.: houxm.1031 Posted: Sat Dec 15 10:25:49 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 16-Dec-84 05:49:50 EST References: <2624@dartvax.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 74 > From: merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) >> A question on the side: With as many people as there are around here, >> why are all the radio stations so much the same? >> -Warren Moe >> houxf!wrmoe Simple. They are all competing for the same audience -- 18-35. > Well, now that I am working down in New York (it's a loooong story) > I was wondering about that, too. Also, most of the Top 40 outlets > are so far behind that it is rediculous! Now, I don't dislike Top 40, > but I can see why people down here do: Every Top 40 station in the > area is basically a Top 10 station that plays the same stuff over > and over again! They never even come CLOSE to the lower lower end of > the 40. Argh! This is a sad fact of New York radio. It has been like this ever since I can remember -- even back in the glory days of WABC. A New York Times article of a few years back criticized WABC of really being a Top 18 station which filled the rest of their airtime with music which had been out for more than three months. Judging from WHTZ (Z-100's) hit lists, I tend to agree, since out of their top 30 at least 10 have either fallen off the real top 40 or are about to. > Two stations that sound exactly the same to me are WAPP and WPLJ. > I haven't seen arbitrons for ages, but I would assume these two > are battling it out. There's also Z-100, which I just find to be > obnoxious. "The Morning Zoo" likes to scream and yell and carry > on. I hate people yelling at me in the morning. I haven't seen any Arbitrons lately either (I won't get bitten on this one again -- remember "Is Springsteen losing it?") but WHTZ claims that they are New York's #1 radio station. As Peter says, they are also New York's #1 ob- noxious station. They have gotten in lots of trouble over the past year for things they have said on the air. > But enough of this random prattle. If you don't like the music > in New York, there are three stations that I have found to be > very good: ... he describes WLIR, WNEW and WYNY ... I would like to add WKTU (was once known as Disco 92) to this list. They play a wider variety of music than the standard top 40 stations in NYC, and they also get good hits earlier. (Example -- they were playing "Hello Again" by The Cars over a month ago, and no other top 40 NYC station is playing it yet.) > Other then that, you have the standard KISS station for a more > "Urban Contemporary" sound. WRKS. Mostly r&b/dance music. I don't listen to it much, but some people I know claim it is good. We've also forgotten a station which was tops in NYC for a long time -- WBLS, which also plays r&b/dance music. I read another newspaper article once in which the programming directors of WPLJ and WHTZ explained their reasons for not playing most of the real top 40. They claimed that in order to keep their ratings up they had to play music that was pretty much guaranteed to be popular -- that they couldn't take many chances. They admitted to taking a few chances and premiering some singles, one of these, "Sea of Love" by the Honeydrippers actually turned out to be a major hit, but mostly they wait until songs reach a certain level of popularity and then they play them. One more quickie -- I don't know how popular Bruce Springsteen's stuff was outside of the NYC area, but they play it to death around here. Was "Jersey Girl" played anywhere else? Springsteen may be losing it, but he was defin- itely winning around NYC. -- Baby tie your hair back in a long white bow ... Meet me in the field, behind the dynamo ... Greg Skinner (gregbo) {allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!houxm!gregbo