(UPDATE: I’ve added a Final Listen to Alt 92.3 and the launch of WINS-FM at the bottom of this story.)
In 1978, “Disco 92” WKTU New York made radio history. Its switch from “mellow rock” became one of the all-time station launch success stories, a 11.3 share debut rivaled only a few times since. As ratings historian Chris Huff notes, WKTU was the first time an FM had been No. 1 in New York, although R&B WBLS had recently come within a tenth of a share of Top 40 powerhouse WABC.
WKTU had numerous ripple effects. One was the 18-month boom/bust cycle for Disco radio in other markets. Disco radio already had success stories, including WKYS Washington, D.C., and WXYV (V103) Baltimore, but the format also popped up on small-market AMs or in markets less consumed by disco fever than New York. In Chicago, it was the AOR-to-Disco flip of WDAI a few months later that led to “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park, then disco backlash throughout pop radio for three years.
WKTU was also a moment from which WABC never recovered. In 1979, the station briefly responded by flooding in more disco product. By 1982, WABC had famously left the format, and all but a handful of AM Top 40s had done the same. During that time, WKTU became New York’s CHR chart reporter, but it had no reason to fill the Mainstream Top 40 hole. WKTU and WBLS traded off in the No. 1 spot from 1979-82 and only a few owners were optimistic about Top 40 in spring 1982.
Eventually, new Urban powerhouse WRKS (Kiss 98.7) shuffled the deck, then the return of Top 40 at WHTZ (Z100) and WPLJ plunged the entire market into a game of Fifty-Two Pick-up. Shortly before its switch to “K-Rock” in 1985, WKTU would make a brief run at Mainstream Top 40 under Sunny Joe White of WXKS (Kiss 108) Boston. In doing so, it became part of another programming trend—the moment when CHR was so hot that a market like New York could have four of them. That would be mirrored later as well.
When Audacy announced that the current occupant of the 92.3 frequency, “Alt 92.3” WNYL would give way to a simulcast of All-News WINS, it was certainly a sign-of-the-times format change, but also one that radio observers had been expecting for years. That announcement prompted this tweet from a Ross on Radio reader.
.@RossOnRadio Quite a change for a frequency that saw disco, classic rock, alternative and a few other formats. https://t.co/WBOph9fik0
— JP (@PumpkinGroup) October 12, 2022
That tweet crystalized for me how the 92.3 frequency had reflected radio programming history not just in 1978 or 1985, but throughout the last 45 years. The 92.3 frequency was not in constant flux—it spent eight years in Rhythmic Top 40, eight in Classic Rock, a decade as an Alternative/Active hybrid, eight years in Top 40. But over 45 years, it did mirror programming trends, and continues to with its latest.
After its change to K-Rock, 92.3 would also be:
- The station where Howard Stern, after his quick tenure in Washington, D.C., and never quite fitting on “W-NNNN-B-C,” became the dominant personality of the next 15 years, then a syndication juggernaut, paralleled by Infinity Broadcasting’s rise.
- A reflection of the mid-‘80s “grab it before somebody else does” rise of Classic Rock.
- Part of the mid-‘90s trend by Infinity’s Heritage Rock and Classic Rock stations, but also others, to join the “new rock revolution” in their market before somebody else did. But also…
The station whose 1996 flip to Alternative “changed the trajectory of the music industry for the next five years” as Radioinsight publisher Lance Venta puts it. By leaning harder, and by playing occasional Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne golds, K-Rock was a bellwether for the harder version of Alternative Rock radio that took shape over the next few years, especially on Stern affiliates. In doing so, it was also…- The station that helped prompt at least four of the five other format changes that took place in New York during 1996, including Z100’s return to Top 40 and WAXQ (Q104)’s successful Classic Rock tenure.
- In 2006, an industry bellwether again when Stern left for SiriusXM as the flagship of the Free-FM format. Free-FM was an easy industry target at the time—the place where new morning host David Lee Roth wouldn’t stop talking about Uncle Manny. A decade later, that sort of male-leaning talk would find its place with listeners, downloaded in 45-minute or two-hour segments.
The tipping point station in Top 40’s late ‘00s building boom. CBS had already rolled out insurgent Top 40s in Houston and Los Angeles, but the arrival of Now 92.3 was the impetus in most markets to claim that position. Now 92.3 would also be key in steering the CHR format to a tighter focus on rhythmic and EDM-driven pop, as well as its current practice of spinning power rotation songs more than 100x a week.- One of several format changes, by new owner Entercom and others, that signaled a resurgence of interest in the Alternative format in 2017. Entercom’s format-wide programming initiatives also made it an industry target, especially when it began to dabble in poppier titles, but if songs are still to be broken by radio in 2022, it probably needs to be on a nationwide basis. The industry understands SiriusXM’s AltNation more than Entercom (now Audacy’s) nation of “Alt FMs.”
In 1996, the changes on 92.3 sparked a market-wide chain reaction. It’s harder to imagine that now, especially since no station has moved to fill the Country hole created by WNSH’s format change last year. Both Country on 94.7 and Alternative on 92.3 were reflective of another key tenet of the format landscape—holes are often filled because a new owner is comfortable being in a format that another might consider too niche. Alternative in 1996 and Top 40 in 2009 were part of Infinity, then CBS, creating national format platforms. As the radio/music business relationship evolves, it will be interesting to see what value there is in a New York flagship.
Update: On Oct. 27, at 8 a.m., I took a Final Listen to the last hour of Alt 92.3, anchored by P.M. driver Brady, but featuring the entire airstaff and PD Mike Kaplan, as well as the launch of WINS-FM. Goodbye songs from the staff included Muse, “Knights of Cydonia”; Florence + the Machine, “Shake It Out,” Foo Fighters, “Times Like These,” the Beastie Boys, “Open Letter to NYC,” and the final song, LCD Soundsystem’s “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down.”
Listeners shared station memories. One mom who used to listen to predecessor K-Rock now listened with her daughter—just in case we think that the mother/daughter coalition only exists at Top 40. Another listener found the station just as he was moving to New York. Brad Steiner mentioned that he and the staff were now personally available to ride around with the listener in his car and talk up intros.
Many of the memories of 92.3 shared by the hosts involved the K-Rock era, or before. Omar Torres recalled stealing an advance copy of Linkin Park’s “Hybrid Theory” from K-Rock’s Cane at a station show and circulating it around his high school. Kevin Kenney remembered his mom being thrilled to meet and get a shout out from Howard Stern, until he referred to her as “an older woman.” Weekend throwbacks host Scott Lowe retold the story of WKTU’s one-time dominance (as seen above).
Kenney also mentioned that a number of label people had thrown a going away party for the station the night before. In K-Rock’s last few years, the pop lean of Alt 92.3 and Audacy’s Alternative stations in general, was a sore spot. So was the decision not to play some of the recent Foo Fighters singles. But it was inevitable that the label community wouldn’t be happy about losing Alt 92.3 either. And in the last hour there were two Foo Fighters songs and a mention of how they were associated with the station.
The last 10 minutes of the 8 a.m, hour were WINS’ Susan Richards interviewing market manager and former Stern intern Chris Oliviero, who remembered listening to WINS as a kid for the “holy grail,” snow closings. But the button was pushed by Hamilton composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose own memories were his parents listening to traffic to decide whether to drive him to school via the West Side or the East Side. There was also a “now on FM” drop from Ed Sheeran.
After a montage of audio from major news stories, WINS anchor Lee Harris gave the first teaser of the hour’s top stories. The LCD Soundsystem song was from 2007—a complaint about the safe-but-sterile New York of that era. The first headline was the current rat infestation of the city. I wonder if LCD leader James Murphy heard it and smiled.
