CD 101.9 is gone forever

[David Tomm]

Several reasons.  The station has been in decline in both ratings and  
revenue for quite some time.  I don't think the station was even in  
the top ten in the 25-54 demo.  That's the kiss of death in an agency- 
driven ad market like New York.  Many smooth jazz stations around the  
country have relied on Urban AC crossovers in recent years to stay  
viable.  Emmis already has an Urban AC in the market with WRKS, so  
many of their listeners will wind up there.  If anything, WQCD may  
have drawn potential listeners away from WRKS, so this move gets it  
out of Kiss' way.  Smooth Jazz was always a niche format in New York  
and struggled for ratings even at it's peak of popularity.  Now that  
the format is in decline nationally, it makes sense that CD101.9  
would abandon the format so quickly.

Actually, there is a rock hole to be filled in New York.  Unlike  
Boston that has various strains of rock on the radio (WBCN, WAAF,  
WBOS, WXRV, WROR, WZLX, WFNX) , New York really doesn't.  It has K- 
rock which is more alternative and Q104.3 playing classic rock.   
That's it.  WRXP is looking to be that format in between the two,   
targeting an adult audience without being too aggressive or too old.   
Which leads to the final reason for the switch.  The meter.  Arbitron  
wants to roll out the Personal People Meter in the market later this  
year to replace diaries.  In the test markets of Philadelphia and  
Houston, rock stations have done extremely well with the meter.   
Philadelphia has seen two stations flip to rock based formats in less  
than a year because of this.  Oldies/Classic hits stations also do  
well with PPM, which is why WCBS-FM dumped Jack and returned to an  
updated version of their oldies format not too long ago.

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"


On Feb 7, 2008, at 9:32 AM, Nickolas Noseworthy wrote:

> I just got word from a friend on long island this morning that the  
> wonderful CD101.9 WQCD in NYC has been changed to some morphed out  
> rocker WRXP!? Playing classic rock, alternative, New Music and  
> Local Rock. Right, NYC needs another rock station. CD 101.9 was one  
> of my favorites in Manhatten, and look what they turn it into.
> Can anyone shed some light as to why this was done?
>
> -very unhappy Nick N
>