Join the Discussion Discuss in the Forum

Related Resources •  The Fall and Rise of Opie and Anthony •  Opie and Anthony Fallout •  Opie and Anthony Fired! •  Bad Rap For Opie and Anthony Or About Time? •  Opie and Anthony Fans Keep The Spirit •  Opie and Anthony Reprised •  Blink Banks On Big Bucks Beginning •  More WNEW Fallout, Local Internet Radio and A Paranormal Stream

Elsewhere on the Web • 102.7 Blink FM

Earlier in its history, WNEW-FM was an icon in Rock programming featuring legendary DJs like Scott Muni, Rosko, Vin Scelsa, Pat St. John, Allison Steele, Dick Summer and many others. But, that sparkling history is fading fast. Now, WNEW-FM, or "Blink 102.7" as it's called - at least for the moment - is in serious trouble. Up until a year ago, it at least had a little respectability. That is, until it cut Opie & Anthony loose. You remember those guys: the ones with the ratings in the afternoon?

Their controversial "Sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral" stunt seemed to generate too much heat for WNEW's parent company so they asked the boys to stay home and collect on their multi-million dollar contract while watching TV and heating up frozen pizzas.

When O&A were discarded, the programming gurus tried to find a hole in the New York market the station could pull some audience out of. After much discussion (or maybe none for all we know) someone decided they would design a Radio station that was more like "Entertainment Tonight" or "E!". But, in a classic flaw in reasoning, they figured if it was going to be more like a TV entertainment magazine program, they should probably hire TV people to program it.

This is akin to putting a McDonald's fry guy in charge of a Ruth's Chris Steak House. Yeah, it's still the restaurant business but baby, sometimes you're just out of your league.

Radio and TV are still both media, but they are so different in presentation and perception, you would be a fool to think they are interchangeable.

(Will the fool who thought this please step forward and accept your award?)

After about a year, "Blink 102.7" is embarassing Infinity Broadcasting. A recent column in the New York Daily News reported the station had garnered a mere .7% of the Radio a audience, putting it in the back of the pack of the major stations in the Big Apple.

Today, Radio is very segmented and most stations try to serve a very slim demographic: females, 18-34 or males, 25-54 or men, 18-49, etc. Once a station finds an audience, it protects it with its life and cowers at the thought of a competitor coming in and trying to lure that audience away. Some stations are simply happy with whatever scraps are left over.

The real problem here is a lack of guts. Instead of trying to figure out where the "hole" is in a market, Radio companies with resources should declare war on the station in their market that already holds the audience desired.

For instance, you want the Classic Rock demo? Make a better Classic Rock station. If you wanna' be the head of the gang, you challenge the gang leader and land a nice, square left hook on him. When he hits the pavement, you become the new boss.

Three things make a great Radio station: Mornings, Music and Marketing. Infinity Broadcasting has the money to put all three in place yet they waste millions of dollars entrusting a legendary Radio property to TV heads.

The idea of finding "holes" in markets is just settling for less. Great Radio companies take what they want.

At least they used to.

- Corey Deitz

Subscribe to the About.com Radio Newsletter for weekly site updates!

Previous Articles