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WLIR To Return to Streaming Soon (February 17, 2005)The best alternative rock radio station in America, the legendary WLIR in New York, will soon be returning to streaming on the Internet.Once on 92.7, WLIR is broadcasting on 107.1 from Long Island, playing basically the kind of genres that are not heard on the other stations, even playing some of the more fun songs that the other alternative stations are eschewing in favor of corporate sounding rock. Source: wlir.fm It started out in 1971 when WLIR switched formats from a sleepy "beautiful music" format nobody was listingin to into a free-form rock fomrat playing anything the programmers liked and were not restricted to playlists, formats, sponsors, or ratings. Adelphi University student and part time announcer Michael Harrison convinced WLIR owner John Rieger to switch formats, and along with his partner Richard Neer, created one of the nation’s legendary FM stations with a true free form format in the sub-basement of the Garden City Hotel. WLIR in the great music decade of the 1980s played most of the songs that were part of the so-called generic title of "New Wave", but whatever it was, I like it. 'LIR, as it was often called, began adding songs from acts such as Blondie, Talking Heads, and the Ramones to the latest Rolling Stones or Neil Young album cuts in the late ‘70’s In early 1980 the Screamers of the Week (best new song as voted by the listeners) included new songs by the Kinks, Hall and Oats, Bruce Springsteen, and even Manfred Mann, along with emerging artists such as the Clash, Joan Jett, and Elvis Costello. It became apparent there was a new music scene and enough artists that were being ignored by traditional radio to build a new format. In 1982 program director Denis McNamara decided WLIR would be one of the first stations in the nation (actually, KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles was the first in 1978) to be the outlet for all of this “new wave” of music. WLIR was the only place to hear the Police, the B-52’s, Duran Duran, the Cure, and many others. Listener response was sensational and WLIR became the birthplace of careers. In 1983, 91X in San Diego launched a similar format. Many of these artists, such as the Police, the Pretenders and U-2 eventually forced their way into the mainstream, mostly thanks to MTV video airplay, but the ‘LIR listener is familiar with so much more of their catalog that never became “hits”. WLIR was even the first station to play Madonna, George Michael, and Prince, artists who went on to make their mark in other formats. During the 80’s as other new wave stations sprang up around the country WLIR became a force in the music industry as it was tracked by all the trades as the leader in discovering and breaking new music. While a few other New York stations flirted with the format, none had the deep catalog or intimate knowledge of the music. You could only hear the Smiths, Depeche Mode, or the Clash on WLIR. In 1987, after a lengthy battle for the 92.7 license, under the new ownership of the Morey Organization, the call letters were changed to WDRE, as in, Dr. Dre? In 1991 new program director Tom Calderone took the station in a different direction introducing Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and a more guitar oriented sound. WDRE was still the leader in the alternative format. While that then new-sound of grunge was gaining traction, the kind of new wave and synth pop music I grew up with in the 80s began to disappear from the airwaves as alternative took a more dark and depressing tone, while new stuff that would have gotten airplay just didn't get onto the alternative rock stations at all, no thanks to grunge. The decision was made in 1996 to return to the WLIR call letters that mean so much to people who grew up in New York. Alternative rock in the past five years was becoming a narrow format with an almost exclusive guitar edge which was boring. Stations like 91X in San Diego also went down the tubes with more guitar and grunge sounds while competetor The Flash in its heyday in 1996 under Bryan Jones played Ace of Base, Hadaway, and other pop alternative songs that 91X wasn't playing. The new WLIR in 1996 created a modern rock sound mixing established heritage and alternative music with current emerging artists. In the past few years artists such as Moby, William Orbit, and Fatboy Slim added an alternative dance edge as the format continued to evolve, which 91X unfortunately under the inept control of the then music director, ignored, as the popularity of guitar-based grunge and hard rock as part of the alternative rock format ebbed in favor of a more dance-leaning synth sound being heard on Groove 103.1 in Santa Monica as a new wave of the era of electronica gained traction as a cult following including myself as a fan of the then-new genre. On January 9th, 2004 at 12 noon, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision completed its purchase of the 92.7 frequency and began simulcasting its Spanish language station WCAA. WLIR continues to broadcast on 107.1 in Hampton Bays on eastern Long Island. From the free form rock of the 70’s, the new wave of the 80’s, alternative grunge guitar 90’s, to the pop, electronica, and dance of today, 92.7 was always the frequency to find “Songs You Can’t Hear Anywhere Else”. Plans are in the works to find another outlet for the current “classic LIR” format which still introduces new artists mixed with the heritage music that made ‘LIR World Famous. Hopefully our listeners in the metropolitan area will be able to find WLIR on-line, on satellite, or even somewhere on the FM dial soon. Some of the notable "Screamers" of the week from 1980-1997 include What Does Sex Mean To Me - Human Sexual Response 3-Nov-80, I Know What Boys Like - Waitresses 1-Dec-80, I Love Rock & Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts 1-Apr-81, Private Eyes - Hall & Oates 3-Aug-81, Under Pressure - David Bowie & Queen 4-Oct-81, Take Off - Bob & Doug McKenzie 2-Dec-81, Pretty Woman - Van Halen 1-Feb-82, I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow 3-Apr-82, Valley Girl - Frank & Moon Zappa 3-May-82, If You See Kay (I'm not kidding) - April Wine 1-Jul-82, Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran 1-Aug-82, Pass The Dutchie - Musical Youth 1-Nov-82, 99 Luftballons - Nena 3-Jul-83, Drop Your Pants - Hilary 4-Aug-83, The Reflex - Duran Duran 4-Nov-83, Bag Lady - Ebn-Ozn 4-Jan-84, When Doves Cry - Prince 4-May-84, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham! 2-Sep-84, Do They Know It’s Christmas? - Band Aid 1-Dec-84, Rock Me Amadeus - Falco 5-May-85, Hit That Perfect Beat - Bronski Beat 4-Nov-85, MTV Get Off The Air - Dead Kennedys 4-Dec-85 (never heard that one, but it's very appropriate today), La Bamba Los Lobos - 2-Jul-87, Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants 4-Dec-88, Punk Rock Girl - Dead Milkmen 1-Jan-89, This Is Ponderous - 2 NU 1-Dec-90, Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana 4-Oct-91, Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B. Hawkins May-92, Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm - Crash Test Dummies Feb-94, Girls & Boys - Blur Jun-94, and One Headlight - Wallflowers Dec-96
Visit wlir.fm for the complete Screamer list.
Eifflel 65 - "Blue (Da Ba Dee)"
Huh? These are modern rock records? Sounds like dance to me.
Listen for yourself at their streaming audio website:
http://www.wlir.com and you need Windows Media Player to listen (too bad, I prefer Real Audio).
In recent weeks, WLIR has thrown in some of the music more familiar to the modern dance
genre heard on Christian B.'s "Full Frequency" radio show on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles.
Music with some techno, rock/rap, rave, new wave, and 80's-esque synth sounds that are a throwback
to the days when modern rockers such as KROQ and 91X were adventurous enough to play
alongside their staple of punk, ska, reggae, rock/rap and electronic.
Eighties Dance/New Wave such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Tears For Fears, INXS, Duran Duran,
Heaven 17, Sparks, Squeeze, Bananarama, Boomtown Rats, Thompson Twins,
Pet Shop Boys, ABC, and New Order once
received regular airplay back when the alternative rockers really knew how to sound different
than Top 40 stations such as KIIS-FM, KS-103, KIQQ, 13K, and the Mighty 690 (which was a sister
station of 91X through 1984 until it changed formats like the preceding three did).
Nowadays, when you tune in 91X, you hear hard rock, grunge, metal, some reggae and AAA, but
nothing like new wave/modern dance/rock that WLIR is playing.
Besides the addition of more dance music, usually titles with some trance or techno leanings,
WLIR ankled away from many of the harder modern rock titles such as Alice in Chains,
Tool, and Marilyn Manson, and added songs such as
Savage Garden's "Crash and Burn" that would normally be heard on modern ACers such as Star
98.7 or Top 40, but not on a modern rock station.
WLIR's recent foray into dance is similar to those of the other longtime modern rock
outlets such as WFNX in Boston http://www.wfnx.com
and KTCL Denver http://www.ktcl.com (all are streaming
live). Those three knwon stations date back to the 80's era when the dance rock
acts I just mentioned above were their core acts and when off dance records such as
M/A/R/R/S "Pump Off the Volume" and Yellow's "Oh Yea!" were also common fare.
KTCL Denver, in addition of modern rock, is streaming a separate electronica channel
on their website.
Nowadays, some dance/modern rock hybrids such as Prodigy and Fatboy Slim (Praise You,
Rockafeller Skank) receive regular airplay, but not as extreme as Alice Deejay, but
records such as "Blue" and another Eiffel 65 tune "Move Your Body" and Jaxx's "Rendex-Vu"
represent another level of the underground electronica boom heard in San Diego locally
on MORE-FM 98.9, a Spanish rock station that plays rock, dance, electronic, and 80's-esque
sounds, some in English, in regular rotation and even some old modern rock songs that fit the format.
MORE-FM has been playing the rock en Español format for almost ten years and has given
San Diego listeners first exposure to "Blue" back in October during one of its Friday night
"Rewire" dance mix shows while Channel 933 picked up on it the following month and Star
was tardy with it in April; by the time Star finally picked up the song, "Move Your Body"
was among the most-requested followups of Eiffel 65. Even 91X as of late has lagged
way behind as the station once known as the cutting edge of rock has 91X is sitting out
the new wave Euro pop/rock boom in favor of hard rock better suited for
Clear Channel's sister station Rock 105.3 instead.
So what is WLIR classified as today?
Is it mainstream top 40? There's dance music, so it's got to be Top 40, right? You are
so wrong, Alan Freed breath!
There's no bland soft R&B music, cookie-cutter boy bands, bubblegum cracking teen girl
soloists, syrupy Celine Dion clones, Americanized Latin-pop ripoffs, urban hip-hop,
gangsta, or chick folkies.
Some of us like modern rock, Euro dance, etc, but
not the other genres heard on Top 40 ad nauseum today such as Channel 933.
Is it modern AC? Nope. Sure there's "Blue". but modern AC doesn't play most of the dancier
Euro pop and modern rock songs such as Pet Shop Boys' "New York City Boy" or Filter's
"The Best Things".
There are some overlaps of modern rock songs that get played on both the modern AC, AAA,
dance and modern rock outlets such as Filter's "Take My Picture" that have a regular
rock mix and a remixed dance version suited for the different formats the radio station
is programming. The old Power 106 in Los Angeles used to regularily play remixed dancable
modern rock songs whose regular versions are heard on modern rocker KROQ 106.7, and back
then Power 106 was a hybrid CHR/R&B station, so it not only played the dance songs
from the R&B genre, it played the dance versions of the modern rock and pop hits such
as Janet Jackson (R&B), Debbie Gibson (pop), and Depeche Mode (modern rock) while shunning
the slower songs from Kenny G and Anita Baker along the way. All killer, no filler.
That's how you program a radio station!
There is a library of 80's retro songs that's not heard on most modern AC's because they're
simply not familiar enough to be programmed during the 80's blocks on Top 40 stations
such as Star 100.7. Some modern rock oldies songs are known only to longtime modern rock
radio station listeners. Steve West plays many of them on his Resurrection Sunday from 6am-noon
on 91X.
So, is WLIR a modern rock or a dance station? Some label representatives who represent
modern rock with a hard grunge or heavy metal leaning are
saying that since hard alternative isn't being played on WLIR, then it can't be a Modern
Rock station anymore. With dance music and Savage Garden programmed, it sounds like a pop
station, so is it a pop station? No.
In the early days of 92.5 The Flash in 1993, which sounded better before a new programmer
destroyed it in late 1996, once signed on with dance-rock such as Ace of Base and
Hadaway (What is Love), but when it went to the route of hard rock, dumped the dance/rock
Saturday night Flash Zone mix, and lost its sense of humor, the ratings went south.
WLIR program director Gary Lee says that WLIR hasn't changed formats but everybody else has.
A lot of modern rockers such as 91X (modern) and Rock 105.3 (active) have overlapping styles of rock that
sounds like part active rock and part modern rock, suggesting that those two stations
sound too much alike to be distinct on its own. One staiton playing the hard modern and
active rock fused together would better serve San Diego than two competeting formats with
basically the same kind of rock.
WLIR is doing what the other modern rock stations are not doing, that is, playing the kind
of cool modern music that isn't just guitars but also keyboard based; WLIR is simply using
the variety that alternative rock used when the genre began over 20 years ago.
Punk rock, ska, electronic, techno, reggae, new wave, Euro, and many other styles were
representative of the alternaive rock sound that gave it a unique distinction from its
top 40 competetors I named above and also its rock and roll competetors such as KMET,
KLOS, KGB, and KPRI.
Artists on WLIR as of May 15 include the following sampled from their online playlist:
"Alternative should embrace and not penalize", says Program Director Gary Lee.
"It's not going back to the days of disco."
WLIR is giving its format a more Europop flavor that they're looking for, a modern feel
that other programmers such as those of 91X and KROQ have forgotten. "We can't let this
alternative rock format turn into hard rock/heavy metal for the 2000's", Lee says.
Universal senior VP of promotion Steve Leeds is quoted "If you're truly alternative,
you play the unpredictable."
And for modern rock to be unpredictable, it has to be truly variety, not all just
ska, reggae, punk, grunge, and old 80's alternative.
True modern rock thrives on variety, embracing all the major compatable genres while
throwing in other genres that also work.
Modern rock's mission is to bring underground movements closer to the mainstream.
It happened in the early 90's with grunge, notably Nirvana. The lastest movements
are being led by Fatboy Slim, Moby, and Eiffel 65, doing the same with rave and
getting the genre exposed on the better modern rock stations.
Commercial pop stations like WHTZ Z100 in New York, WFLZ in Tampa Bay, KIIS, and others
started playing them after modern rocker WLIR did, but only if the dance/rock fits
their formats. The "playlist robbing" from the modern rockers has gone on for over 20
years and isn't going to stop as these Top 40 stations are making the underground
hits into mainstream smashes while modern rockers should be getting the credit for
breaking them out in the first place.
References: Billboard Magazine May 20, 2000
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