Entercom announced its entry to New York in a major way as it has flipped CHR “92.3 Amp Radio” WBMP New York to Alternative “Alt 92.3” at 10am today.
Launching with 10,000 songs commercial free, the station fills the long vacant opening in the market which hasn’t had the format in place since Merlin Media’s placeholder “New Rock 101.9” WRXP in 2012.
The move takes WBMP out of competition with iHeartMedia CHR “Z100” WHTZ. WBMP ranked 20th in the market with a 2.0 share in the October 2017 Nielsen Audio ratings, while WHTZ was eighth with a 4.8. WBMP also faced a crowded Pop/Rhythmic battlefield that included “Hot 97” WQHT, 103.5 WKTU, and 95.5 WPLJ.
Amp Radio closed out with Jay Z’s “Encore” before the launch of “Alt” with Foo Fighters “My Hero”, 30 Seconds to Mars “Walk on Water”, and MGMT “Kids”.
Entercom Communications (NYSE: ETM) today announced that alternative rock returns to radio for the first time since 2012 in the largest media market in the country with the launch of ALT 92.3 FM, New York’s New Alternative.
ALT 92.3 will give music fans a true alternative – an expertly curated playlist with local, informed discovery. Eschewing the hype of traditional radio formats, ALT 92.3 is celebrating the launch by putting the music first and kicking-in full force. Listeners will hear 10,000 songs in a row, back-to-back, 100% commercial-free starting at 10:00 a.m. today. Listeners can tune in at 92.3 FM in the New York area and around the world at alt923radio.com.
“In a city where alternative music is a way of life, we are thrilled to finally fill the void in radio in New York City,” said Pat Paxton, Entercom’s President of Programming.
“With the launch of ALT 92.3, we will cater to the passionate audience who have helped define the genre for decades – and we couldn’t be more excited to turn up the volume.” One in every 38 Americans currently lives in New York City — that’s no “alternative fact.” Radio remains the #1 medium in terms of reach (93% of the U.S. population), serving over 271 million people and conitunes to be the driving force in new music discovery.
For more information, please visit alt923radio.com.
Alt 103.7 Dallas is also live!
And K-Rock is still on 92.3 HD2 at least for now. Both Alt 92.3 & K-Rock sound different enough for them to co-exist. Alt has a bit of a pop sound, while K-Rock sounds a bit of a harder rock. Despite those differences, I think K-Rock HD2 won’t be around for long.
Are you sure? I get the beebs on amp dallas…and alt 1037 in all-be-querky?
And this http://amp1037.radio.com/
Oops, they forgot to turn off K-Rock which is still airing separate Alternative programming on 92.3 HD2.
Dallas now online too
And now 92.3 HD2 has become a simulcast of Fresh 102.7.
HD3 flipped from Radio Disney to country, though not sure if that was today
And as in Chicago, Entercom took the lowest-rated station and flipped it (they could’ve flipped Fresh, but they didn’t). And unlike Chicago, since they flipped a female-leaning format to a white male-leaning format, we don’t have the wailing and gnashing of teeth that has accompanied some of the flips of recent years (including 92.3 going from active rock to CHR) and the flip from K-Hits to Jams in Chicago. Although that will come along with the inevitable complaints about the playlist being too tight and the other inevitable complaints when Entercom flips the station to a female-friendly format in a few years time.