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.

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

Fond Farewells

Though they couldn't be more different, two events happened this week that marked the passage of time, the end of eras in the history of NYC culture.

First, the passing of legendary stage, screen and TV actress Angela Lansbury. What can one say about this amazing talent who could sing and act like no one else, whose career spanned from roughly 1944 to 2018, who appeared in brilliant films like Gaslight (1944), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971, one of my wife's favorites), a decade-plus run on TV with Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) -- and multiple roles on Broadway including Mame, Sweeney Todd, and Blithe Spirit (amongst many others) that won her a total of 5 Tony Awards? She was an acting legend's legend, someone who made Broadway the truly "great" White Way, and we'll probably never see her likes again -- we only got to enjoy her talent for almost 80 years. 

Second, the news that the "news" will be replacing the music on that spot on the NYC radio dial 92.3 FM. It's been a music station for decades starting in the 1940s, and in the 1970s it became an all-disco station (WKTU) before becoming K-ROCK, a classic rock station in 1980s -- the station that thrust Howard Stern into the cultural firmament of NYC, then the rest of the country (I blogged about this in 2019). Howard went to satellite in 2006, and K-ROCK floundered, changing formats to "hot talk" then back to music, finally becoming "Alt 92.3" -- but now the station will dump music altogether and instead simulcast its sister station 1010 WINS, the "all news, all the time" station that keeps NYC moving (plus they "give you the world" in 22 minutes). K-ROCK was also the station of Allison Steele, Vin Scelsa, and lots of great music so it's sad to see it vanish into the ether, to become essentially an FM-offshoot of an all-news station -- but in this era of podcasting, streaming, etc. radio is in decline, and this just proves it. RIP 92.3 FM, and thanks for the memories.