Amazing...

Posted by KCJackson on June 03, 2005 at 19:08:40:

...and not in a good way.

Allan's(Sniffen) headline of the board is most appropriate... "Just when you think you've heard it all."

In one fell-swoop, here's what Infinity has done:

completely surrendered the background-music market to WLTW
removed the last station that gave a lot of people their connection to the old top 40 days of WABC/WMCA/etc.
put an entire staff of personality DJs on ice
created another station with a format that no one in NYC asked for (with WNEW)
alienated a listener base that has been fiercely loyal
given industry watchers more reason to think that no one knows what they're doing at Infinity/New York

Did NYC need a Jack-type station? Maybe. Was CBS-FM the station to flip? No way. This was a panic move by Infinity, no question in my mind. Clear Channel is kicking their butt in the ratings here, and they knew if CC went Jack first, they'd not only get the buzz, but as they've shown with their other outlets, they make enough money at the corporate level that they can reduce the stopsets. Plus, WPLJ was starting to add "Jack" music to their rotation.

Yes, CBS-FM was trending down. We noted that they made a mistake by not grabbing Jim Kerr when he was available and easing the station forward in the years. Micky Dolenz was a questionable move. They alienated Harry Harrison and Dan Ingram into leaving their regular schedules. But instead of repairing the station, they junked it.

WQCD is probably the most logical choice to go oldies, as the new Chill moniker isn't doing much. Or if anyone wants to make one of the high-watt AM stations into an oldies format, I'd be happy to give them a try as long as it has that New York feel.

We say May 10 1982 is a sad day in radio history... June 3 2005 is now a straight jaw-dropper.

[John F. Porcaro's Radio History Pages]