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The death of rock radio in NYC...again...


thelastonealive

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Tonight's the last night for 101.9 WRXP. They'll be off-air permanently as of 10 PM tonight. Much as they annoyed me with the song selection some times (I really don't need to hear Red Hot Chili Peppers every hour), it's sad that there's once again nowhere to find good new alt rock music on the radio in this area.

That said, check them out over the next two hours, the DJs are breaking playlists and playing some solid stuff, and they're giving away a sh!t ton of concert tickets. Enjoy it while it lasts, gang. :evilcry:

Edited by thelastonealive
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I really don't like DHA's mix. They play too much of the Nickleback/Kid Rock style of rock that I just really don't care much for.

Really, I'm down to my iPod and not much else. This area needs another FM106.3, really. Someone without much expectations, that can grow an audience from the ground up.

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I'm really bummed about this. Music is my passion and I really rely on it to get it through my work day. I listen to a lot of genres but my favorite stuff is definitely alt and indie rock, new and old.

I browse a radio forum from time to time so when I got the feeling something was up about a month ago I saw that the writing was on the wall for RXP. Even though I knew all week this would be the end, it didn't hit me until today at work. While they played too much classic rock for my liking (Q1043 and DHA cover that quite well) I really enjoyed their mix of 90's and new music. I also loved when they would get artist like Richard Ashcroft, Scott Lucas from Local H, etc. for studio sessions.

DHA will probably be my main station despite the fact I don't really listen to a lot of classic rock (nor do I care for their DJ personalities, they seem really outdated) since they do play some bands I like. SOU is always good for hearing bands that are underground (though you have to love different genres of metal). I remember being bummed about KROK leaving a few years ago and using RXP as my new crutch. Sucks that rock is close to dead in New York radio. At least they had the decency to tell listeners unlike when GRock switched in the middle of the day with no warning.

I wish there was a viable alt/indie rock station out there to turn to....or even a dubstep station, that would be sick!

Edited by thefiestygoat
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is 95.9 WRAT still out there??? I dunno...local radio is dead to me since I got XM

WRAT is still around, but the signal sucks up here. Also, I don't really care much for RAT's playlists anyway, personally.

I usually listen to my iPod in my car, but the radio at home. Gonna miss this station.

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They just played "It's the world as we know it," at least they're having some sense of humor about this :(

Foo Fighters now. :wub:

Edit: Bittersweet Symphony is the final song ever played on RXP

Edited by RSC
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GOD DAMN IT! A few months ago I predicted this would happen but not so soon. Great, no more good radio stations left. 89.5 plays some stuff I like once in a while but usually it is just a lot of screaming metalcore garbage, and 104.3 plays the same tired list of songs every single day, even moreso than all the other stations (with the exception of Z100 and stations of that ilk).

I really only listened to the radio at one of my jobs but that place went out of business two weeks ago so I don't really listen to the radio much at all anymore, but still...this sucks.

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Just buy Sirius XM. Worth every penny.

I left Sirius XM after being a customer of them from 2006-2010. Had some serious issues with their pricing (I did yearly plan where the first year with taxes and such was about $110 in 2006 to about $175 in 2010) and customer service.

Their quality on every level went down the toilet as soon as they merged. Channels got shut down, variety on a lot of the decade channels decreased and the reason I got the damn thing, Howard, is now on his second contract where he only has to work 3 days a week now for 4 hours each. I really do not like any of the wrap-up shows and other content on his channels and add this to the already 150 days a year he takes off (not including weekends) and enough is enough.

Also since part of the stimpulation from the govt to approve their merger, they can't hike susbcriptions. But they managed to do that by adding fees and raising others. Listening to the internet used to be free and now it is an additional cost per month. Using it on your phone is extra too. Everything is friggin extra.

But I do miss some of the music stations. Loved First Wave, Classic Rewind, 80's, 90's.

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fvck, this sucks. I'm listening to the end. And DHA just isn't the same, too much Nickelback-esque music.

There's pretty much just one rock station that comes in clearly down here, and this is all they play. It's like Nickelback gave birth to a litter of little Nickelbacks, and they all have exclusive airtime rights.

The only radio station I tune in to anymore is the one my iPod is set to. Sad.

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How is it off air? Everyone I know who listened to this station loved it.. I'm shocked

Something about a new owner coming in and changing formats. Rumors are it is either going to be a talk/news format or more likely a country music format.

Rock stations are hard to come by more and more these days that do not play Nickelback-esque rock. If you remember there was a resurgence in stations going back to the rock format a few years ago, but that was due to the whole big Arbitron finding (in a nutshell, they discovered that people writing in the old journal-way of Arbitron ratings were full of it and when they switched over to the wireless device arbitron recorder, more people listened to rock than originally thought). Now I guess the tide is turning back.

Edited by DevsMan84
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A country music station would actually make a ton of sense as there isn't a country presense in New York, yet there are a suprising amount people in this area who enjoy it. That, along with the fact modern country music is twangy pop anyway, and it would do decently.

Shame about the death of rock radio but it's a sign of the times, especially in big markets like NYC. Problem is, radio survives on advertisers and perks from record labels. Labels used to support stations by the way of concert tickets, promotional CD's, etc and in return, the stations would play that label's music. Not quite the "payola / playola" issue from the eighties, but similar. Problem is, the record industry is hemmoraging money, so there isn't as much cash to promote artists via the radio anymore, especially when you can promote via social networking for a fraction of the cost.

Less giveaways lead to less incentive for people to turn off satelite radio, iPods and CD to listen to the radio. Less people listening leads to fewer advertisers paying for spots which means less money for the sation to pay for DJ's, FCC fees, etc. As for playing the same crap over and over again, the stations are all owned by major corporations who don't care what you want to listen to. All they care about is what songs keep people listening long enough to sit through the commercials. Also, ever notice how it seems like whenever a station goes to commercials, all the stations go to commercials? That isn't an accident! So, if having a spot that says, "Lady Gaga will be on in 60 seconds" keeps people listening, they're not changing that for Death Cab For Cutie.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, but I love radio or I should say, "the potential of radio". The further away you get from major markets, the better it gets but American radio in general is a dying business model. Radio needs to become more listener supported not corporation supported, much like PBS. Keep costs down, put programming on your listeners want to hear and radio could see a resurgence.

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A country music station would actually make a ton of sense as there isn't a country presense in New York, yet there are a suprising amount people in this area who enjoy it. That, along with the fact modern country music is twangy pop anyway, and it would do decently.

Shame about the death of rock radio but it's a sign of the times, especially in big markets like NYC. Problem is, radio survives on advertisers and perks from record labels. Labels used to support stations by the way of concert tickets, promotional CD's, etc and in return, the stations would play that label's music. Not quite the "payola / playola" issue from the eighties, but similar. Problem is, the record industry is hemmoraging money, so there isn't as much cash to promote artists via the radio anymore, especially when you can promote via social networking for a fraction of the cost.

Less giveaways lead to less incentive for people to turn off satelite radio, iPods and CD to listen to the radio. Less people listening leads to fewer advertisers paying for spots which means less money for the sation to pay for DJ's, FCC fees, etc. As for playing the same crap over and over again, the stations are all owned by major corporations who don't care what you want to listen to. All they care about is what songs keep people listening long enough to sit through the commercials. Also, ever notice how it seems like whenever a station goes to commercials, all the stations go to commercials? That isn't an accident! So, if having a spot that says, "Lady Gaga will be on in 60 seconds" keeps people listening, they're not changing that for Death Cab For Cutie.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, but I love radio or I should say, "the potential of radio". The further away you get from major markets, the better it gets but American radio in general is a dying business model. Radio needs to become more listener supported not corporation supported, much like PBS. Keep costs down, put programming on your listeners want to hear and radio could see a resurgence.

Good post, thanks for shedding light on what's happening behind the scenes. A listener-run radio station would be interesting, but I wonder if enough people would support it for it to stay afloat.

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Good post, thanks for shedding light on what's happening behind the scenes. A listener-run radio station would be interesting, but I wonder if enough people would support it for it to stay afloat.

It could, but without some sort of corporate support, it wont work in a major market. Problem is, the wider your range of broadcast, the more expensive the licensing fees get. For listener supported radio to work, they would have to limit the range of the stations. This would naturally lead to more variety, but you'ld get more frustration for listeners as their favorite station wouldn't have the range of the major stations now. Plus, instead of commercials, you'ld have donation drives, much like you do on public TV. Not the worst thing in the world, but again you're competing with CD's, iPods, satellite and other mobile entertainment. Again, it would have to be a fine balance but if could work.

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Tonight's the last night for 101.9 WRXP. They'll be off-air permanently as of 10 PM tonight. Much as they annoyed me with the song selection some times (I really don't need to here Red Hot Chili Peppers every hour), it's sad that there's once again nowhere to find good new alt rock music on the radio in this area.

That said, check them out over the next two hours, the DJs are breaking playlists and playing some solid stuff, and they're giving away a sh!t ton of concert tickets. Enjoy it while it lasts, gang. :evilcry:

you can tell how much i listen to the radio when i thought that was cd 101.9 or maybe a cool/light jazz station

i only listen to 101.5 on fm :unsure:

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