New York’s Triple-A Battle

With this week’s announcement that WNYL (Alt 92.3) will give way to a simulcast of All-News WINS at the end of the month, the discussion inevitably turns to Alternative radio’s failure to take hold in New York over the last 25 years. In New York, the “New Rock Revolution” of the mid-‘90s was diffused over at least four stations, meaning that the “Jewel to Tool” coalition never even formed. That probably informed the challenges that WRXP, then WNYL faced, in addition to all the other issues now confronting Alternative radio.

It’s also the case, however, that those of us in the Northern part of the New York metro have had something imaginable in few other markets—a Triple-A format battle between non-comm WFUV New York and suburban WXPK (107.1 the Peak) Westchester. At a moment when any brand is particularly vulnerable to radio’s vicissitudes, The Peak has endured with a niche format in a shadow market for 18 years. (The only other market where I’ve had the experience of a Triple-A punch war is Ann Arbor, where both local WQKL and CIDR [the River] Detroit were available before the latter’s change to Top 40 a few years ago.)

I remember the early Peak as very much along the lines of its “World Class Rock” model KBCO Denver. Eventually, its “past, present and future” began to sound a little different from anybody else’s version, even by Triple-A standards. It became a favorite in part because it was just eclectic enough for me, compared to WFUV. But the story of WFUV under current PD Rich McLaughlin has been the station becoming “just mainstream enough” that I now feel like I have two Triple-A choices (and a third in SiriusXM’s the Spectrum.) On Oct. 11, I took a Fresh Listen to both stations.

On the Peak, PD/middayer Chris Hermann was using the station’s heritage to tease the next day’s New Music Wednesday feature. “For 18 years, we have been playing new music. Think about it, for just a second. All the incredible new bands you would have missed in the last 18 years, if we hadn’t been paying attention.” There was also a lot of talk about “Pop-Up Peak Performances,” the live in-studio versions of songs that play several times throughout the day. Here’s the Peak just before 2 p.m.:

• Coldplay, “Fix You”
• Eric Burden & War, “Spill the Wine”
• Tedeschi Trucks Band, “Anyhow”
• Ondara, “A Nocturnal Heresy” (with a “discover new music” sweeper)
• Elvis Costello, “Watching the Detectives”
• Joan Jett & Blackhearts, “I Love Rock ‘N Roll”
• Dawes, “When My Time Comes (Peak Performance Version)”
• Kacey Musgraves, “Justified”
• Cream, “Badge”
• Michigander, “Stay Out of It”
• Collective Soul, “The World I Know”
• Inhaler, “These Are the Days”
• Arcade Fire, “Ready to Start”
• B-52’s, “Planet Claire”

In its top-of-the-hour ID, WFUV is available “on-air, on-line, and always commercial free.” That might not have rated a column mention in the past, but in the last two years, that last part has helped power strong ratings runs for stations like KEXP Seattle and KUTX Austin, Texas, that were once unlikely ratings winners. On Tuesday afternoon, p.m. driver/local rock radio veteran Dennis Elsas was talking about the return of the Holiday Cheer for FUV concert, the first since 2019, featuring Spoon, Lucius, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Here’s WFUV just before 2 p.m.:

• Ray Charles, “Mess Around”
• Killers, “Boy”
• The National f/Bon Iver, “Weird Goodbyes”
• Patti Smith, “Gloria”
• Depeche Mode, “Just Can’t Get Enough”
• Phoenix, “Tonight”
• Coldplay, “Sparks”
• Muna, “What I Want”
• Psychedelic Furs, “Love My Way”
• Broken Bells, “Saturdays”
• Rolling Stones, “Shine a Light”
• LCD Soundsystem, “New Body Rhumba”
• Grace Jones, “Pull Up to the Bumper”
• Frank Ocean, “Lost”
• Charley Crockett, “I’m Just a Clown”

Both The Peak and WFUV have, to some extent, followed Triple-A’s evolution to a more Alternative-influenced format, something that WRXP helped drive during its time as a Triple-A/Alternative hybrid. If you were an Alt 92.3 listener over the last five years, neither station is a direct substitute, but it was interesting to listen to that station the following afternoon. P.M. driver Brady was also talking about the frequency’s longstanding support for new acts (including its late-‘90s/early-‘00s “K-Rock” years). A few songs later came an “Audacy Music Discovery”—the new song from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, another band that I associate with WRXP. Here’s a Fresh Listen to Alt 92.3, along with KROQ Los Angeles and KBZT San Diego from August.