The Decline of Infinity - NY - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

musicradio77 · 12-13-2005, 07:40 PM

Here is a story about how Infinity won't get its act together written by Smoke at Radio-Info:

Opie and Anthony have been ranting (a little too much) lately on their years at Infinity Radio. However, if anyone should be blaming Howard and Mel K for anything, it should be for not standing up for the shareholders' intrests over Stern's demands and putting O&A on K-Rock instead of slowly turning WNEW into Hot Talk.

Had they had:
Stern in the morning
Leslie Gold middays (or whoever)
O&A in the afternoons
Ron and Fez @ Night
K-Rock would have been able to survive and even thrive without Howard.

Instead, they intentionally crippled WNEW for years because Stern (alledgedly) had a clause in his contract that prevented Infinity from competing against him for "his demographic." So WXRK and WNEW were still fighting for the same listeners but without a larger strategy, and left both stations so weak that losing the biggest star on each destroys them.

Not to mention in the process they destroyed WNEW's heritage status of being "The Rock of New York." Granted rock radio has been in decline for years, esp. in NYC, but even WNEW's worst days as a rock station (pre-O&A) were better than anything they've tried on it post-O&A.

At some point Q104 flipped to classic rock and have been successful with that, even attempting to get some younger listeners with Leslie Gold. She was a good co-host in Boston when she wasn't trying to be the female Stern.

Infinity could have had 3 strong stations in New York:
WXRK - Hot Talk - Young men demo, very lucritive.
WNEW - Classic Rock - Could have moved younger with newer music added in.
WCBS-FM - Oldies - A steady money earner.

Granted Mel K left before they destroyed another heritage station but like WNEW pre-O&A, it was still making more than it is as the format-of-the-year Jack FM.

So instead Infinity now has:
WXRK - Going to Hot Talk in Jan. with the unproven David Lee Roth and other lesser known hosts. Ratings will tank without Stern regardless of format.
WNEW - Blink failed, but we got some humor out of Frankie Blue, but after years of tweaking and retweaking the station isn't a success.
WCBS-FM - Went from 11th to 20th or so.

In other words, Infinity New York has nothing good on it's FM stations, even as it's AM stations do well. That's not a legacy to be proud of for Mel K or Stern.

Steve M. · 12-13-2005, 11:14 PM

Infinity must die!

musicradio77 · 12-22-2005, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve M.

Infinity must die!

You mean CBS Radio, the broadcasting outlet is what they calling it now? As I mentioned last week, Infinity Broadcasting was renamed as CBS Radio.

12-13-2005, 07:40 PM	#1
musicradio77 Disney Expert Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 14, 2003 Location: Brooklyn, NY USA Posts: 6,475	The Decline of Infinity - NY Here is a story about how Infinity won't get its act together written by Smoke at Radio-Info: Opie and Anthony have been ranting (a little too much) lately on their years at Infinity Radio. However, if anyone should be blaming Howard and Mel K for anything, it should be for not standing up for the shareholders' intrests over Stern's demands and putting O&A on K-Rock instead of slowly turning WNEW into Hot Talk. Had they had: Stern in the morning Leslie Gold middays (or whoever) O&A in the afternoons Ron and Fez @ Night K-Rock would have been able to survive and even thrive without Howard. Instead, they intentionally crippled WNEW for years because Stern (alledgedly) had a clause in his contract that prevented Infinity from competing against him for "his demographic." So WXRK and WNEW were still fighting for the same listeners but without a larger strategy, and left both stations so weak that losing the biggest star on each destroys them. Not to mention in the process they destroyed WNEW's heritage status of being "The Rock of New York." Granted rock radio has been in decline for years, esp. in NYC, but even WNEW's worst days as a rock station (pre-O&A) were better than anything they've tried on it post-O&A. At some point Q104 flipped to classic rock and have been successful with that, even attempting to get some younger listeners with Leslie Gold. She was a good co-host in Boston when she wasn't trying to be the female Stern. Infinity could have had 3 strong stations in New York: WXRK - Hot Talk - Young men demo, very lucritive. WNEW - Classic Rock - Could have moved younger with newer music added in. WCBS-FM - Oldies - A steady money earner. Granted Mel K left before they destroyed another heritage station but like WNEW pre-O&A, it was still making more than it is as the format-of-the-year Jack FM. So instead Infinity now has: WXRK - Going to Hot Talk in Jan. with the unproven David Lee Roth and other lesser known hosts. Ratings will tank without Stern regardless of format. WNEW - Blink failed, but we got some humor out of Frankie Blue, but after years of tweaking and retweaking the station isn't a success. WCBS-FM - Went from 11th to 20th or so. In other words, Infinity New York has nothing good on it's FM stations, even as it's AM stations do well. That's not a legacy to be proud of for Mel K or Stern.
	__________________ Musicradio77 Productions

12-13-2005, 11:14 PM	#2
Steve M. Back on the road to reality Forum Superstar Join Date: Nov 07, 2003 Location: New Jersey Posts: 33,307	Infinity must die!
	__________________ I don't really get out a lot. When I do go out, I couldn't be happier. I love being in a nice milieu. I'm as happy as a clam. Just as long as I'm not in some club playing hip-hop. You hear that sort of thing in a lot of places. That's not my milieu. Rock and roll is good-time music. I love rock. So did my parents.