As an update to the whole situation with 101.9 FM in NYC, not much has changed since my post over the weekend. As of Friday at 5pm, the RXP rock format left the airwaves and continues to ‘rock’ (if that’s what you want to call it) at 1019rxp.com. The FM signal however, took a format change. To be more specific, the station is currently ‘stunting’ (radio jargon for ‘filler programming until the real format is ready for air’).
However, the stunting has been interesting (to us radio dorks, anyway). With all of the rumors that 101.9 FM will be flipping to a female-oriented FM talk station, the current format on the air has been leaning to that in an odd way. After flipping the switch last Friday at 5pm eastern, 101.9 has been playing a very tight-playlisted rock leaning Modern AC format of music (artists such as Nickelback, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Jason Mraz, Sugar Ray, Eddie Money, Bruce Springsteen, Rick Springfield, to name a few) interspliced with soundbytes of women identifying the station as ’101-9 FM New’ and talking about womenly things (shoes, their families, kids, and even chocolate) as well as a few jingles tossed in for good measure. While the music has been pretty good (to me, anyway) providing a nice variety, the soundbytes have been a bit puzzling. Is 101.9 making fun of AC-based stations such as Fresh 102.7 and 106.7 Lite FM, or is it a hint of what’s to come… OR, are the new owners at Merlin Media just putting up a smokescreen to throw us in an entirely different direction with the new format?
(Right click and save the .mp3 file, streaming didn’t work for me)
To be honest, any of those questions could be valid. It’s been interesting that a few former news people from area news talk stations have been hired by Merlin, to be part of the new format at 101.9. All bets are on some form of news/talk hybrid coming to the dial with a younger approach than what’s on AM. The rumors have also been speculating that the new format at 101.9 will be similar to what’s on the air at NJ101.5. Some of the people in charge of the new 101.9 have previously worked at NJ101.5, helping to lead some credence to those rumors.
Whatever is going to happen is still up in the air. No one is talking, but everyone on the Internet has their opinions. Ideas, opinions and rumors have been running rampant on the various radio trade sites, message boards and other spots on the Internet. Officially, nothing is concrete… but in the end, that’s one thing that’s for sure about radio… is that NOTHING is for sure.
I’ll be posting more about the situation as 101.9 FM in NYC as things happen, so stay tuned.
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