Interview: Allan Sniffen of the New York Radio Message Board

Long before social media conquered the Internet -- and our world -- message boards were the original go-to-places for people to debate and give their opinions on various issues online. Most of these message boards have vanished but one is still going strong – the New York Radio Message Board founded by Allan Sniffen. 

The NYRMB has faithfully tracked the ups-and-downs, and unending changes, of the NYC radio business since 1996. I discovered the message board in 2002/2003 in the aftermath of the Opie and Anthony St. Patrick’s debacle that generated headlines about how far “shock radio” would go to cross lines of decency in pursuit of ratings. What I also discovered about the message board were how many people in the radio business posted to it, and how informative and intelligent most of the discussions were. This was and remains all due to Allan’s diligent oversight and curation of the message board, -- keeping it a smart and civil platform for radio professionals and fans to congregate. 

Allan was kind enough to answer Mr. NYC questions about the NYRMB and the evolution of music and talk radio in NYC in the 21st century. And he also tells us what made him a lifelong radio fan – and how, in radio, talent is everything. 

Tell us briefly about the history of the NYRMB and what inspired you to create it?

I started the Musicradio WABC web site in 1996. I thought it would be interesting to have visitors comment on that era of WABC so I created the message board in 1997. After a few weeks it was obvious that there was only so much to discuss about a radio station that had changed its format years earlier so I decided to shift the focus to current radio topics. It needed to have a catalyst to prod response so that was the role I took on. 

Why do you think the board has lasted for as long as it has? What has made so many people in the NYC radio business flock to it for so many years? 

My conception for the NYRMB is for educated and informed commentary. I don't want poorly written, cheap shots under phony names. I have always encouraged quality over quantity of both posts and posters. 

What topics and/or radio personalities generate the most discussion -- and controversy -- on the board?

The more provocative and polarizing a personality, the more response. Bob Grant. Opie and Anthony. Rush Limbaugh. Howard Stern. They all invite (or invited) controversy so listeners tend to either love them or hate them. Consequently, they make good board topics. Radio station format changes also tend to inspire commentary especially if former formats were once very popular. WNEW-FM dropping rock. WCBS-FM becoming Jack. WRKS ("Kiss-FM") abandoning its urban format. WPLJ giving up its legacy. 

What are some of the biggest NYC radio stories it has covered since it came into being?

WNEW-FM dropping its rock format (1999), Opie and Anthony's St. Patrick’s fiasco (2003), WCBS-FM becoming Jack (2005) and returning to "Greatest Hits (2007), media consolidation (over the last two decades), lack of a country music station (up until 2012), retirements of great Top 40 DJ's (Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Dan Daniel and others), WPLJ dropping its heritage (last year). 

How has media consolidation and technology (i.e. streaming and podcasting) changed the music and talk radio landscape? 

Media Consolidation: We now have clusters of stations competing with other clusters (as with iHeart Media competing against Entercom). It used to be a single station verses other single stations. Today, you don't pick a format in a vacuum. You have to consider how it fits into your cluster and how it will compete against the other corporations' clusters. Plus, obviously, consolidation has eliminated many, many jobs. 

New Technology: 

Music formats: Streaming from Pandora, Spotify and Apple have created tremendous competition to conventional music radio. If the only thing a listener wants is his or her favorite songs, new technology is a better alternative. It can be better tailored to each listener and has no commercials. 

Talk formats: There are so many podcasts that the sheer number of alternatives has splintered off many talk radio listeners. That's especially true for young listeners. Plus radio hasn't significantly updated the talk format. It's mostly the same as it was 25 years ago on low quality sounding AM. 

In the years since the message board started, how has the radio business in NYC changed in your observation and opinion? 

Consolidation changed everything. There are fewer and fewer jobs that pay less and less money. Radio is billing only about 30% of what it used to. Any business that has a drop like that must reduce costs. Listeners frequently don't understand that and are quick to condemn their local station. Unfortunately it's a much bigger problem than a single station or manager. That said, all is not lost for conventional radio. It's not going anywhere because it has its own advantages. It's easy to receive (radios that don't drop out and no data fees). It reaches lots of people quickly and in real time. It can provide a human connection. The business of radio needs to remember those assets and use them. 

In the era of Fox News and numerous conservative web sites, is right-wing talk radio still as relevant as it used to be? Also, how will it survive with an aging and less commercially desirable demographic -- or is it more resilient than people might imagine?

Right wing talk radio has done well because it's entertaining. It's not about politics. New York City is politically liberal yet it has spawned many successful conservative talk show hosts (Bob Grant, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and more). Fox News learned that from the talk radio format. Make it entertaining and people will listen (or watch).

The problem with today's talk radio format is that it's mostly on AM and has stagnated over the last 25 years because it can't appeal to younger listeners with its poor sound quality. AM can't program "younger". The result is the same people have kept the same jobs for much longer than they would have in previous eras when they would have aged out. Media prefers younger listeners because advertisers will pay more for them. Since AM is stuck with older listeners for technical reasons the talk radio format has stayed with the same hosts for decades. That will only work until everyone, listeners and hosts, get too old. AM radio's future is not a bright one. 

It seems like shock jocks have faded into history. Opie and Anthony are no more. Don Imus is dead. Howard Stern has been on satellite for almost 15 years and is nowhere near as outrageous as he used to be. What do you think happened? 

Younger talent is not getting much opportunity on radio. The business won't pay or encourage them. At the same time, new media has spawned many podcast and streaming stars. A few have broken out as with Ben Shapiro but even he relies more on his podcast base than on his AM radio listeners. Traditional radio doesn't want to take a chance. Howard Stern cost Infinity/CBS-Radio (now Entercom) a fortune to both pay and defend. It was worth it on a business basis in the '80's and '90's but radio is not going to make that kind of investment today. Too expensive and too risky. 

What made you fall in love with radio and who are some of your favorite radio personalities? 

For me, the most fun radio ever was Top 40 radio of the sixties and seventies. Dan Ingram is my obviously my favorite but I liked almost everyone from that era on WABC, WMCA, WPLJ, WOR-FM, 99X (and others). Not all were from New York. John Landecker at WLS/Chicago. The "Real" Don Steele at KHJ/Los Angeles. The great Top 40 DJ's could generate excitement and enthusiasm over a 10 second song intro and then come back and do it again 2 minutes later. It sounded like fun because it was in real time, unscripted and fast paced. I try to create that feeling on my Rewound Radio live shows. 

Finally, what makes NYC radio so endlessly fascinating? 

Change and evaluating what works and what doesn't. Great radio ideas can fail for one of two reasons. Was the concept a bad idea or was it a good idea that was executed poorly? Figuring out which is like evaluating a baseball team and its players. That said... radio is less interesting than it used to be. It's becoming more and more homogenized with managers taking fewer and fewer risks. Personality radio is less in both quantity and quality on almost all formats. Anyone can play music or read a political press release. The talent is surrounding those basics with entertainment. 

Thanks Allan!

Shock Jocks in Winter

To follow up on my previous post about Rising and Falling, I recently saw that someone viewed a post I wrote about Opie and Anthony in 2009. 

O and A were radio shock jocks who bounced around the NYC airwaves and satellite for more than 15 years. They were a sometimes hilarious, sometimes idiotic, and always foul duo who were, after Howard Stern, easily the most popular shock jocks in NYC ever. Unlike Howard, however, who's been dominating NYC radio (both on regular radio and satellite) for nearly 40 years, O and A rose and fell relatively quickly. They actually rose and fell thrice -- once, in 2002, when they sent a couple of dopey fans in St. Patrick's Cathedral to have intercourse, then again 2009 when they were fired due to a station format change, and then they continued on satellite radio until 2014 when Anthony got fired for racist Tweets (and their relationship subsequently fell apart).

When I blogged about their firing in 2009, I wondered if they'd ever hit the NYC airwaves again. A decade later, the answer is clear -- no.

What's most interesting to me, however, is not what happened to Opie and Anthony but that the whole genre of radio they worked in -- shock radio -- is apparently on life support if not dead altogether. After Anthony got fired in 2014, I heard someone else on the radio say "The shock jock thing is dead."  

Once upon a time, radio DJs said outrageous things on the public airwaves, pushing up against the line of decency and often legality, doing crazy stunts with listeners (like the St. Patrick's thing), and getting big ratings and money in the process. Howard, O and A, and others like Tom Leikus were even syndicated, bringing their shtick to cities around the country. 

Oh, and there was lots of public hand wringing by public moralizers and media commentators. Was this the lowering of the bar for decency and cilivilty in society? What did this say about us as a country that so many people loved this naughty radio? Wasn't the fact that it was so profitable just disgusting? And on and on and on and on ...

These days, podcasts and the Internet have content that's WAY more outrageous (and obviously uncensored) than anything a shock jock might say or do. And the current POTUS is almost like a shock jock himself -- how could any guy on the radio compete?

The reign of shock jocks was relatively brief and their fall was due not to any public morality or pressure but technology. Oh sure, Howard's still around but his act is much calmer today than back in the day.

That's why you should listen to this episode from 2002 where Howard talks -- and frankly gloats -- about the firing of O and A after the St. Pat's stunt. He complains about how all of these other shock jocks are ripping off his act, how the whole radio sounds like him today. While his rant is obviously completely dated, it's always a fascinating artifact of history from a moment in time that no longer exists. 

Today, not only does the radio not sound like Howard Stern but Howard Stern doesn't even sound like Howard Stern today!

NYC radio ain't what it used to be.

UPDATE: This post appears to have been prescient -- here's a long analysis about how shock radio has moved from the airwaves to the halls of government. Something that began as entertainment is now shaping public policy. It's scary to realize this but, hey, that's America.

Remembering "Idiot's Delight"

I was obsessed with radio as a teenager -- my childhood dream was to become a hotshot DJ/personality who was as funny and wild as Howard Stern, as thoughtful and smart as an NPR host, and as souful as Allison Steele. Oh, and I wanted to play music -- lots of different kinds of music, from the Beastie Boys to Led Zepplin to James Taylor to King Missile to Mozart to Bing Crosby, whatever I thought was good or funky at the time.

Basically I wanted to be a free form radio host.

I tried my hand at it in college -- I had a short-lived free form radio show that was on at 6 AM every Tuesday. No one listened to it and, after one semester, I didn't have any more time for it (although I still have tapes -- yes, cassette tapes, remember those? -- of my old shows).

But it made me appreciate just how hard it is to do a good, entertaining radio program, free form or no. Sitting behind that microphone, talking into the ether, trying to entertain everyone and no one, might seem really easy but it's not. It's hard, brutal work, it demands everything of your brains and emotions. And knowing what kind of music to play takes some skill -- fortunately I had a friend who gave me all sorts of weird music (like Shonan Knife!) that gave my show some hipster cred. Otherwise, I was an awful DJ, a blithering, unfunny mess. It was an acid test of my total lack of natural performative talent. In part, that's why I started this blog -- it allowed me to do something creatively free form that more suited by meagre skills. 

Free form radio barely exists anymore, if it ever really did. College and non-profit radio are the only places it ever really thrived. Even 25 years ago it was a strange offbeat thing. In these days of consolidated corporate ownership and public radio mega-organizations, the idea of free form radio is more unthinkable than ever. It doesn't really exist at all.

But there used to be one huge, great exception.

For roughly forty years a guy named Vin Scelsa hosted the ultimate free form radio show in NYC -- "Idiot's Delight." This show bounced around the NYC airwaves for decades, starting at non-commercial WFMU, migrating to commercial radio at WNEW and K-ROCK, then to its natural habitat on college radio at WFUV where it ended its long run in 2015. It was the ultimate free form show -- a quiet, well-spoken, very informed guy, Vin would play lots of different kinds of music and interview singers, musicians, filmmakers, writers, cultural leaders of all stripes. The show was never about Vin -- in fact, he was very unassuming. Instead, his focus was always on the music or his guests, and that made it wonderfully rich.

I started listening to "Idiot's Delight" on K-ROCK back in high school. I remember it was through this show that I first discovered the filmmaker Kevin Smith who was promoting his first ever movie, Clerks (I didn't understand why "37" was so funny until I saw the movie!). I remember it being such a great, relaxed, extremely interesting conversation -- the kind you hear on every podcast today but was unusual to hear on the radio, or anywhere, back in 1994. In fact, the show was basically the forerunner to podcasts with long form, intelligent, in-depth interviews. 

Vin was a great host and always featured interesting guests and topics -- and he had the time to do it. On K-ROCK, the show was on Sunday nights from 8 PM until 2 AM so he had lots of time. This show was a miracle and it's unbelievable that it was ever on commercial radio -- then or now. I miss it to this day. 

I never understood, but always loved, Vin's intro to the show. He would state, simply, at the start of every show:

Respect the elders.
Embrace the new.
Encourage the impracticable and improbable.
Without bias.
This ... is "Idiot's Delight."

P.S. I actually tried to interview Vin for this blog but he never answered my emails. Maybe, if he sees this post, he'll change his mind.

Rebel Radio Ratings

The entire world has been stood on its proverbial ear during this pandemic. Here in NYC we can see a lot of it in front of us: the people wearing masks, the empty streets, the signs for COVID-19 related messages and directions and warning signs everywhere, everyone staying and working at home (if they're lucky enough still to have jobs), and all sorts of other changes. 

One thing I'm quite sure none of us thought would be radically changed by the pandemic is something we can't see at all but can all hear: the radio. Specifically, the radio ratings.

In normal times, here in NYC, there's a basic pattern to the radio ratings: Lite-FM, the soft rock station, is far ahead all others at Number 1, and CBS-FM and WSKQ (Spanish language) compete for Number 2. Then the other talk, pop and rap music, Spanish-language, and all-news station round up the Top Ten.

Not now.

Now WSKQ is way ahead in the ratings and Lite-FM and CBS-FM are competing for second place. What's interesting is what's rounding out the Top Ten now: while all-news and Spanish language are holding steady, the pop and talk stations have absolutely crashed in the ratings. Even more shocking? Public radio and classical music are now in the Top Ten! Even more bizarre? The huge music station Z-100 is almost tied in the ratings with WQXR (classical music). 

A few months ago that would have been unthinkable -- and now it's for real, now it's normal ...

I suspect Spanish speaking people who are in quarantine are enjoying listening to Spanish radio, boosting the ratings significantly. Since people are not spending a lot of time in waiting rooms and stores and other public places, the ratings for the stations most usually played in the background of them (i.e. "lite" music and oldies) have clearly seen drops. Classical music can very soothing, especially in the house, so that might explain the ratings rise there. And people want intelligent news and information, hence the boost for public radio.

But why the big declines for pop and talk radio? Well, most people can stream pop music these days and, for talk, people don't want to hear other people blither about the horror we're all living through. And talk radio is an exhausted, old-school, boring format anyway -- especially the ugly Republican politics always being discussed. If anything should scare Republicans about their prospects in November, perhaps the crash in talk radio ratings is one of the most prescient -- people are literally voting with their ears. 

The new normal of 2020 in NYC continues to surprise. 

Remembering the WMCA Good Guys

In the early days of "Top 40" pop/rock music radio, the family-owned WMCA 570 AM radio ruled the city's airwaves and ratings. It was due not only to the popular music it played but to its personality-driven DJs known as the "Good Guys." 

From 1960 to 1970, the Good Guys rocked and entertained New Yorkers with their clean-cut and family friendly (and very white male) shtick. They gave the station an identity, a brand, a community who listeners who became like friends on the radio. In the 1960s, the Good Guys were NYC music radio, the be-all, end-all of what was cool in the city's culture.

The Good Guys were, mainly, Joe O'Brien, Harry Harrison, Jack Spector, Don Davis, Jim Harrison, and others.

But then WABC music radio, with a stronger signal and a better spot on the dial (770 AM) came along. As did FM radio. By 1970 WMCA's ratings had tanked. It became a talk station (it's some kind of religious station today) and faded into radio obscurity. (WABC's time as a talk station would end about a decade or so later). 

And the WMCA Good Guys faded into radio history.

Some of these guys, most notably Harry Harrison, continued in NYC radio in later years (I think Jack Spector literally died on the air in 1994). But there would never be a line-up quite like that in NYC radio ever again.

The Best Radio Station You're Not Listening To

More and more New Yorkers aren't listening to music radio anymore; instead they tune into the literally thousands of songs that their IPods can hold. Everywhere you go, you see New Yorkers with little white buds coming out of their ears and white cords running down their necks as they ride the subways and buses, work out at the gym, stroll through the parks, or walk along the streets. Living in NYC today is like living amongst several million Secret Service agents.

But what's really wrecked havoc on music radio today is media consolidation. Here in NYC, Clear Channel owns Z100, Q104.3, WKTU, Power 105, and Lite FM. CBS Radio owns WCBS FM and AM, WFAN, 92.3 K-ROCK, 1010 WINS, and Fresh 102.7. Think about it: only two radio conglomerates own a huge swath of the airwaves in the country's biggest radio market. And most of what they play is either Top 40 or old hits, the same songs being repeated and overplayed, ad nauseam, ad infinitum. There's very little really good, interesting music to be found on the city's major airwaves today.

Except for one station: WRXP 101.9 FM "The NY Rock Experience" (yes, it used to be CD 101.9, the "smooth jazz" station that is mercifully no longer). WRXP easily plays the best music on commercial radio in this town today. It's the same station where you can hear a great old Beatles tune followed Linkin Park. They play Radiohead right after Janis Joplin and right before Bob Marley. You can hear tracks off the new Killers album and then a great Van Halen classic. It even plays good Stuff White People Like music such as R.E.M., Coldplay, and Tom Petty. It also plays some songs you won't hear on other radio stations, like Lou Reed's classic "Dirty Boulevard" or ZZ Top's "Tube Steak Boogie." It's just great music, period (heck, that could even be the station's slogan).

What really impresses me about this station is that you get the feeling the programmers respect their audience. They know that people who appreciate good music want to hear stuff they might not have heard before. WRXP also doesn't have "wacky" DJs or stupid jingles -- just straight to the point announcements and very little talk. Oh, and it doesn't have a lot of commercials either, so it's almost all music all of the time.

WRXP isn't getting very good ratings right now but hopefully that will change. But if you're feeling bummed about listening to music on the radio in NYC, give this station a listen, you might like it.

P.S. This has been a public service announcement. WRXP has in no way paid me for this plug. Wouldn't it be nice if they did though?

The Infinite Dial

Opie and Anthony Fired

Big news in NYC radio today: 92.3 K-Rock flipped its hard rock format and will now be another cookie-cutter Top 40 radio station. This has resulted in the firing of the station's morning team, Opie and Anthony.

K-Rock was the home to Howard Stern who did morning for 20 years (1985-2005) before he departed for satellite radio. In 2006, K-Rock became "Free FM", a "shock talk" station with David Lee Roth as the new morning man. "Free FM" was a ratings disaster - its lasted less than a year and a half, and Roth lasted less than five months. He was then replaced by the now departed Opie and Anthony.

Opie and Anthony have been kicking around New York radio for about a decade. They came here from Boston in 1998 and did afternoons at the old WNEW. They were very popular and very controversial, and they were fired in 2002 when they sent some dumb listeners into St. Patrick's Cathedral to have sex -- on air. They then disappeared and went to satellite radio in 2004 before being simulcast on K-Rock in 2006.

Now they're fired again. Will they return to regular radio in NYC ever again? Who knows! This morning on his satellite radio show their old predecessor and nemesis, Howard Stern, talked about their firing, his time on K-Rock, and the miserable state of New York City radio today. As always, Howard is brilliant in his commentary.

God I miss listening to him on New York radio. As he said on his last show on K-Rock, he's "the last of a dying breed."

The Fall of WABC

Just over a month ago the pop station WPLJ 95.5 FM went off the air after being sold to a Christian broadcaster; now its sister station WABC 77 AM has also been sold -- to a local businessman.

This is an interesting development. For decades WABC was owned by big corporations like Cap Cities/ABC, Disney, and, more recently, Cumulus. Now it'll be the personal possession of NYC grocery store magnate John Catsimatidis (more on him and this purchase in a moment).

WABC used to be a huge radio station in NYC. It was a ratings powerhouse and hugely influential in the life and culture of this city. In the 1960s and 1970s it was the music station in town, producing DJs like Cousin Brucie and others, and introducing new bands and singers to NYC listeners. Then, in the early 1980s, it became a talk station -- and made history: its where Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity started their nationally syndicated radio shows, almost launching the conservative media universe that now rules our country. WABC's stable of right-wing radio hosts like Bob Grant and others were (probably) responsible for the election of Governors like Christine Todd Whitman and George Pataki as well as Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the early 1990s.

In many ways, we live in the world that WABC created.

But its been left behind, rattling in the dust. Limbaugh and Hannity moved their shows from WABC many years ago. The Internet and podcasts and social media overwhelmed it, making talk radio seem quaint. It became a victim of its own success. More importantly, as the times changed, as the city it broadcasted to became more diverse, WABC remained, no pun intended, static -- it didn't change, it just devoted itself 100% to angry white male talk, and its rating fell over time. Just as importantly, it was never able to fill the ratings void that Limbaugh and Hannity left behind.

And so, after decades of ruling the NYC radio ratings and government, WABC "bent the knee" to John Catsimatidis. Who is he? He's a businessman who made a fortune running the Gristedes supermarket chain. He's invested in real estate, oil, and other industries and -- like many rich and bored guys in town -- is also interested in media and politics. He gives money to the GOP and Democrats (he's a big Trump supporter), and even has his own radio show where he hosts politicians of all stripes. He's a complete buffoon, one of these guys no one would pay any attention to if he wasn't very rich. He even ran, very unsuccessfully, for mayor back in 2013, and lost big. He's the kind of person everyone mocks behind his back but genuflects in front of -- again, only because he's rich.

What's fascinating about this sale, however, is that a station that was once a part of a huge corporation will be run by one man. It'll be interesting to see if John C. is able to make it into a vibrant local radio station, giving it a new life and relevancy -- or just erode it further. I'm especially amazed that he was able to buy it for only $12.5 million! For a once big-time station in the country's biggest radio market, that's a bargain basement, almost fire-sale price. There are apartments in NYC that cost more, a lot more, than that! It just shows how far the once high flying station has fallen, how irrelevant this once indispensable station has become.

An exhausted volcano.

Good luck, WABC.

P.S. I listened to WABC back in high school and, a short while, after college. Most of the hosts were morons but there was one I loved -- Lynn Samuels, the screechy voiced liberal loudmouth. She was NYC to the core, loud and outrageous, funny as hell, the kind of person I can't imagine being on the radio today. She was very popular and ran on WABC for many years before going off to satellite radion. Sadly, she died several years ago (I even blogged about it here). What she would made of Trump as president is anybody's guess!

The Fishko Files and the Art of the Radio Essay

Blog posts are, in many ways, a bunch of essays of varying length that are collected, chronologized, and streamlined on this platform called "da blog." In the analog world, essays usually appear in newspapers, magazines, books, or other various tactile media, usually with a similar logic applied to their aggregation.

So where does that leave the radio essay?

For decades the radio essay was ephemeral, existing only for as long as it was broadcast across the airwaves and into the minds of its listeners. Then it vanished into the ether of time. Alistair Cooke, both before and after he hosted Masterpiece Theater on PBS, produced radio essays for the BBC called Letter from America. He broadcast thousands and thousands of them, from 1946 to 2004 (!), commenting on everything from the re-election of Harry Truman to the Second Iraq War. Most of those radio essays no longer exist but more than a thousand have been rescued and now, thanks to the Internet, are easily accessible.

The radio essay is now more lively and powerful than ever!

Which brings me to The Fishko Files, a wonderful oddity in the world of present day New York City radio. Broadcast on WNYC every Friday morning, and freely available online, they are short essays by culture critic Sarah Fishko. She covers the whole swath of culture in NYC and elsewhere, both past and present -- art, architecture, music, movies, TV, even unknown or recently discovered recordings. She "writes" about Leonard Bernstein, James Dean, Woody Guthrie, Scott Joplin, Andy Warhol, the architecture of the Old Penn Station, movies about the Holocaust, the new Whitney Museum, film composers, and many, many more. It's an audio feast of culture, a compendium of cultural essays from the cultural capital of the world.

Sarah Fishko has been producing these essays for WNYC for more than 20 years and you can listen to them all now -- whenever, wherever, however you want.

The radio essay is homeless no longer. 

Remembering "The Howard Stern Interview"

In the early 1990s, radio shock jock Howard Stern was becoming a cultural force. Based in NYC, he had been syndicated around the country and was becoming a national media figure -- dubbing himself "The King of All Media."

Even though he was the star of radio, he wanted to be on television. He had done his local NYC show on Channel 9 for two years (1990-1992) but he wanted to go national. So in 1992 Howard did an interview show on E! Entertainment cable television.

It was a weird show -- it was just Howard sitting on a couch in a room with warm lighting interviewing someoone. His radio crew (Gary, Robin, Fred, etc.) wasn't there, he wasn't taking phone calls or doing bits -- it was just a stripped down, one-to-one talk show, Howard Stern without "The Howard Stern Show." 

And it was awkward to watch. Brilliant on the radio, Howard's broadcasting genius stumbled a bit on TV. He was clearly more comfortable behind a microphone and not in front of a camera. His outrageous morning radio NYC shtick didn't quite translate into this nation-wide televised mileau. It was soon cancelled and, in 1994, E! started to broadcast parts of his radio show -- and it was a big hit that lasted until 2005.

"The Howard Stern Interview" is largely forgotten in the long, incredible career of NYC's biggest radio talk show host ever. But this particular episode, where he's interviewing great NYC singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, is a great example of what this show so odd and interesting. Enjoy!

WNYC Buys WQXR

Big news today in the world of New York radio: two of the oldest stations in town are merging.

Well, sort of: public radio station WNYC and the media company Univision have bought classical music radio station WQXR from The New York Times Company. They have actually bought two radio band signals: 96.3 FM and 105.9 FM. WQXR will be moved from 96.3 FM to 105.9 FM and, presumably, 96.3 FM will become a Spanish language station.

The good news is that classical music radio in NYC will be saved. In the last couple of decades this has been an endangered species. The bad news: the 105.9 FM band isn't as strong as the 96.3 FM band and it will probably not be as easy to find or get as many listeners.

Still, we should be glad that there'll be some classical music on New York radio as opposed to none. And by having it become a public radio station, this relieves it of commercial pressures.

So now an 84 year old station (WNYC) owns a 73 year old station (WQXR). Both stations are legends. And this tribute to a former WQXR broadcaster from 1983 gives you a flavor of what an important and amazing legacy this station has.

Radio Remembrances

Over the years, I've blogged about my love for the old days of NYC radio. Heck, I realize I've blogged enough about it that I could create a whole separate blog about it all on its own! (Don't worry, I won't).

So talking about old NYC radio, I should note that this past January of 2023, one of the longest running show in NYC radio history came to an end: "Woody's Children" hosted by Bob Sherman.

Bob Sherman is an NYC radio legend, having worked at classical music station WQXR for more than 50 years. He's hosted shows like "The Listening Room" and "Young Artists Showcase" and others. At the age of 90, he's still working. His longevity is amazing.

"Woody's Children" was something different -- an American folk music show who's name was inspired by Woody Guthrie. "Woody's Children" debuted in 1969 on WQXR and ran there until 1999 when Bob Sherman moved it to WFUV. Sherman played every kind of folk music during those decades and interviewed everyone, including Pete Seeger (his first guest ever). Due to his age and other commitments, Bob has ended the show but what an incredible run!

I remember I used to listen to "Woody's Children" every so often when I was a kid. It used to be on Saturday nights at 7 PM. It was the first place where I ever heard "Alice's Restaurant". I can't say that I'm a huge folk music fan but I clearly remember this moment as being transformative for me -- where music could be funny and thoughtful, where a song could be a story unto itself. So thanks Bob Sherman, congrats on an historic achievement with "Woody's Children."

For some reason, at the same time I saw that "Woody's Children" was ending, I was remembering the weeknight radio show from my youth that used to air on Z100: "Love Phones" with Dr Judy. 

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, before the Internet and social media, call-in radio shows like this were very popular. They were, in a way, the original social media. And call-in shows about sex and relationships, airing after 10 PM in "safe harbor", where the hosts and callers would have explicit conversations, were especially popular, really being a kind of audio porn. The most popular, and longest running, was called "Lovelines" but, for whatever reason, it didn't air in NYC in the 1990s (it did, briefly, circa 2001-2003 on the ill-fated WNEW talk format).

"Love Phones" was the NYC-centric version of this show. Horny young people would call in with their weird sex experiences and questions, and Dr Judy would give wacky advice like suggesting that men write letters to their penises. They would have guests in the studio sometimes, many of whom didn't seem understand what kind of show they were on. I clearly remember one time a British guest was on and he was asked if he liked women making a lot of noise during lovemaking. His answer was rather odd: "Naw, I like 'em ratha' quiet." Eww. Anyway, this was, for that time, outrageous stuff although, by today's standards, quite tame and lame. But it was a moment in time where the exhibitionism that we see so much of in today's society was beginning to take off.

So, in remembering this show, it's easy to see today that "Love Phones" is both an artifact of its time, the kind of show that no longer exists, but also prelude of what was to ... come.

My Scott Shannon Story

In the annals of NYC morning radio, no DJ except Howard Stern (and probably Jim Kerr) is as legendary as Scott Shannon.

For nearly 40 years, he's been waking up this city with his hypnotic timber. After working in Florida, he came to NYC in 1983 and started the "Z-Morning Zoo" on Z100, a widely imitated morning radio show format of wacky phone calls, in-studio guest, stunts, and music interspersed with news and traffic. After a brief hiatus in LA, Scott returned to NYC and spent roughly 23 years at WPLJ where he co-hosted "Scott and Todd in the Morning", one of the longest running duos in morning radio history. Then, in 2014, he left WPLJ (five years before it ceased to exist) and did mornings at WCBS-FM -- and he'll be retiring from there, and from morning radio, this December.

I've blogged in years past about how, one summer in the 1990s, I was an intern at WPLJ. It was a pop music station with the forgettable slogan, "No rap, no hard stuff, no sleepy elevator music. Just the best songs on the radio!" At the time I was too ignorant to understand this dog whistle to mean, "No black stuff, no dirty stuff, no weird stuff. Just boring square white music!"

Anyhoo, Scott Shannon was in his "Scott and Todd" heyday and was a really big deal at the station. Not only was he the morning guy but he was also the program director, so he was treated as a God at the station. As a lowly intern, I had almost no contact with him -- except one day where I was given a huge stack of letters to fax (remember fax machines?) which happened to be located right next to his office. I spent the better part of this day just faxing stuff, and Scott Shannon would be in and out of his office, passing me by. He mostly ignored me but then, out of nowhere, he asked me if I "got chicks." I was a hopelessly nerdy no-girl getting shrimp so I just laughed nervously. So he started calling me "Chick Magnet!" Every time he walked in and out of the office he'd shout "Chick magnet!" For the rest of my internship, whenever I passed him by, "Chick magnet!" My only other interactions with him were when he asked me to fax something for him (I obliged) and then when he talked up and put his fingers around one of my wrists, telling me he couldn't believe how thin my wrist was. He was right, but it was weird.

Anyway, I never saw or thought about him or WPLJ for years after I left until the station went off the air in 2019. And, honestly, Mr Shannon was quite nice to me. So I congratulate him on a long career and wish him a happy retirement. His legacy in NYC radio is quite secure.  

Larry Josephson, RIP

When I was in high school, on those wild and crazy Saturday nights when I was at home, before watching Sisters and Saturday Night Live, I'd listen to a quirky show on WNYC radio called Modern Times, hosted by radio-lifer Larry Josephson.

Josephson has died at the age of 83.

Despite its august title, Modern Times was a freeform show where Josephson rifted on odd topics, occasionally playing music or comedy bits. Sometimes he'd interview people as well. Josephson's manner was calm, quiet, but funny. I remember that he played Bob & Ray's hilarious rendition of "Do you think I'm sexy?" whose career he was involved in promoting. One time I remember he told a scary but fascinating story about coming home one day and confronting a man with a knife who was going to rob him -- and instead they had a long conversation. I never heard a show like it, before or since.

Josephson had a long career in NYC radio, mostly at WBAI, and was part of the freeform radio-generation that included Joe Frank, Bob Fast and Steve Post. In many way, they were podcasters before podcasters, making radio interesting and showing what was possible with the medium of air, uncorrupted by commercial interests. He was a pioneer, and we won't see his likes on the radio ever again. RIP.

Classic Mr NYC

A few years ago I blogged about the brief mid-aughts existence of JACK FM, the DJ-less radio format that took over the oldies station WCBS 101.1 FM before the owners realized what a huge mistake they'd made -- and "jacked" it.

Therefore I was surprised to find out -- almost 20 years after the ill-fated experiment of JACK FM in NYC and almost 5 years since my original blog post --  that JACK FM is still in existence.

No, it hasn't made comeback anywhere on the NYC radio dial but the JACK FM network (or whatever it is) is still stinking up the airwaves in various radio markets across the fruited plain -- and Canada.

Egads.

What's interesting is that JACK FM was supposed to be an IPod on the radio but, funnily enough, the IPod is now even more of a museum piece than radio (literally, I once saw an IPod in the Smithsonian). Now people stream music via apps on their phones via Spotify, etc. and even stream radio stations.

So I don't know jack about what JACK FM is trying to do these days, and I don't care -- just so long as they keep it out of NYC.  

The Passing of Giants

In the last couple of weeks, two giants of NYC passed on -- the radio DJ Paco Navarro and the midtown movie theater The Paris.

Both defined an NYC that, as always, is vanishing.

So who was Paco?

He was an old-school personality DJ. He was also, in his small way, a transformative radio DJ. See, in the late 1970s he became a DJ at WKTU and made the suggestion that it switch to full-time disco music. The ratings for KTU exploded and the ratings for WABC -- up until then the king of music radio in NYC -- plunged. By 1982, WABC ceased to be a music station altogether, instead becoming a talk station, paving the way for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the revolution of Republican talk radio. Of course, by 1982, disco had also withered so KTU became a classic rock station -- WXRK or K-ROCK -- and soon became the home to Howard Stern for 20 years. So Paco was unintentionally responsible for much of the shape of NYC radio for the last four decades. He was also notorious -- in the late 1980s, he was busted for drugs and spent some time in jail before getting out and triumphantly ending his career in Spanish language radio. He was a trailblazer, an icon, and he'll be missed.

Granted, the Paris movie theater was not person but its closing feels like a death to me.

Unlike most movie theaters that are big spaceship like multiplexes, the Paris was a modest single-screen theater that reflected its upscale setting (59th street and Fifth Avenue, across from the Plaza Hotel, Central Park, and Bergdorfs). It was beautiful, elegant, understated. It had a velvet screen that would rise just before showtime, and it showed art and foreign films (Merchant Ivory, etc.) for an affluent and cultured crowed. You don't remember most of the theaters you see movies in but you never forgot seeing a movie at the Paris -- I saw Howard's End, The Remains of the Day, Life is Beautiful, and The Company there. It was always great to see a movie there at night and walk out of this magnificent theater into the starry and light-filled world of modtown Manhattan. It made you feel great to be alive. But, alas, rising rents and changing viewer habits wrecked havoc on the Paris' business model. It couldn't keep up. And so, another giant of NYC, has passed into history.

Pump Up the Volume: The Rise and Fall of Pirate Radio in NYC

As a young'un, one of my favorite movies was Pump Up the Volume. It's about a miserably lonely teenager who starts a pirate radio station out of his bedroom/parent's garage that becomes a sensation in the desolate, boring Arizona town he's just moved to with his family. 

Operating under the name "Happy Harry", he speaks directly to the emotional pain and tumult of his fellow teenagers. Unlike his regular shy, reserved self (named Mark), "Harry" is funny, outrageous, profane; he plays wild music, calls kids who write confessional letters, and even prank calls the high school's guidance counselor. His craziness quickly becomes a target by the town elders and eventually the FCC -- and it all ends dramatically. 

As a teenager this movie "spoke" to me. It was and remains the most realistic, most accurate look at what it was like to be an early 1990's teenager. And the idea of creating your own pirate radio station seemed amazing to me at the time.

Of course, these days, we'll all pirate radio broadcasters thanks to the Internet. We can create YouTube channels, Facebook Live, or podcasts -- and, of course, blogs! Pump Up the Volume reminds you of a time where the idea of young, regular person reaching hundreds, thousands of other people to broadcast their lives was a truly novel, totally strange concept.

But pirate radio was a real thing! In Brooklyn, back in the 1990s, there was an amazing pirate radio station called WBAD, a hip-hop station that quickly become a local phenomenon (I remember a guy in one of my SAT prep classes talking about it). Eventually, of course, the media and the FCC got wind of it and pursued it to its grave.

Listen to this amazing Studio 306 segment about WBAD, a piece of NYC history, and remind yourself of another time when the idea of regular people broadcasting to the masses was a truly revolutionary idea 

Introducing the All New WQXR!

A quiet revolution in NYC music radio took place this week: the almost eighty-year old station WQXR vanished from its place at 96.3 on the FM dial and reappeared at 105.9.

This up-dial change was due to the sale of WQXR from The New York Times Company to the public radio empire of WNYC earlier this year (I blogged about it at the time). Although WQXR retains its call letters, it is no longer a commercial station operating in the service of the Grey Lady. Instead, it is the 24/7 classical music subsidiary of public radio -- so that means no commercials! Just lots and lots and lots of music. And since the economic pressures have been alleviated from it, this move assures that classical music and the rich culture of music radio in NYC will continue indefinitely.

In recognition of this fact, I have updated WQXR's info and place on the right-hand side panel.

The only somewhat sad thing about this change is that the quality of the signal at that end of the dial is a bit weak. 96.3 was a piece of prime radio real estate and WQXR's residency at it was central to its identity. Now that's over. It remains but in a different form and at a different place -- so it's not the same station really. I remember that my dad use to listen this station all the time ... so this is just one more thing that makes Mr NYC feel old.

P.S. In case you were wondering, the following pictures are: an old-fashioned radio microphone, a conductor's baton, and a picture of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Somehow including them here felt appropriate.

Remembering Lynn Samuels

Ten years ago I wrote briefly about Lynn Samuels, the radio talk show host who died suddenly in late 2011 at the age of 69. 

Lynn was a rare thing -- a liberal woman in the combative world of conservative male talk radio, a rough talking broad among the fast talking dudes. But her show was more than about politics -- it was about life, it was about attitude, it was about pop culture, it was about the absurdities of living in New York City -- and Lynn was New York City to the core. Her voice was the city. More than anyone else on the radio, she defined and explained NYC to itself.

She was the closest thing ever to a stand-up comedian on the air. 

Lynn was a journey-woman radio host, migrating from the rough and tumble of non-profit radio station WBAI to the (then) powerhouse local station WABC, and finally to the behemoth of SIRIUS XM. During her WABC years she would be hired and fired many times, always in a different time slot -- weeknights, late nights, Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoons, Sunday nights, and she would fill in for just about every other host on the station as well. She'd take calls and talk to anyone, bring on psychics and all sorts of weirdos on the air, she'd sing and bang the console, she'd do anything to entertain her audience. Before podcasts, Lynn was the best thing you could possibly listen to.

I discovered Lynn's show in high school and fell in love with it. I even called into her a few times to talk about the newly elected President Clinton and movies. She was always a joy to chat with, a real character. 

This hilarious clip of Lynn reading the personal ads capture what was so special about her, and Lord know we'll never hear her likes again on the NYC airwaves. 

The Day the Music (Sorta) Died: The Short, Bizarre Life of Jack FM

On Friday June 3 2005, at around 5 PM, as the afternoon drive was getting under way, listeners to WCBS 101.1 FM turned on their radios and got a nasty shock -- their beloved oldies station, the home of legendary DJs like Cousin Brucie and Don K Reed and shows like the "Doo Wop Shop", suddenly switched formats to a creepy thing called JACK FM.

JACK was strange beast -- a pop music station but without any DJs. Instead, the music was punctuated by snarky comments from an anonymous, pre-recorded voice named JACK. JACK was a very weird, very cruel, and very unpopular commentor. It was impersonal -- in fact, that was the entire point. This station without DJs was trying to be an IPod on the radio -- and the city was outraged.

Mayor Bloomberg used obscene language to register his displeasure with the format change. The Internet blew up with complaints. Cousin Brucie himself even called into WNYC radio to exclaim how music radio was different, special, and an experience that no IPod could replicate. Outraged reigned.

No one liked JACK. JACK was wack. All boring music and no DJs made JACK a dull boy.

The ratings tanked. NYC firmly rejected JACK. The station didn't get JACK in the ratings. And, finally, in 2007, they decided to take JACK off ... the radio. (To paraphrase Fight Club, "I am JACK's total lack of ratings."). Soon enough, WCBS FM returned in all its oldies, high ratings glory.

JACK FM was an attempt to do something "cool" and "cutting edge" and it failed completely. Just a reminder that different isn't always better or more popular. And today, more than a decade, no one in NYC remembers -- or wants to remember -- JACK FM. It's like that embarrassing person you dated years ago that you want to forget and you want everyone else to forget. JACK has gone into NYC radio infamy -- gone and almost forgotten ... but not completely.