Post by musicradio77 on Oct 19, 2005 21:18:43 GMT -5
By JOHN MAINELLI
Reports surfaced yesterday that Howard Stern’s station, K-Rock (WXRK/92.3 FM), will switch to all-talk after he leaves for satellite radio.
And if it the modest-rated rock station adopts a talk format in January, it probably won’t sound anything like traditional AM-band talkers WABC, WOR and WLIB.
Talk on the new WXRK would likely be racy, hip, non-political and aggressively anti-P.C., based on people station-owner Infinity Broadcasting has auditioned for Stern’s and other gigs -- and what the company did with WNEW before the Opie & Anthony scandal.
In short, a radio version of the so-called “lad mags”: magazines that appeal to young males -- an always-moving target that advertisers pay dearly to reach.
That type of talk is a good fit for the FM band, which attracts younger listeners than AM -- a band that many under-40s barely know exists.
Although a spokeswoman for Infinity declined late yesterday to comment on “rumor and speculation,” Inside Radio says the Viacom unit has registered the Internet address “923FreeFM.com,” a tip off to what the new talk station might be called.
The industry Website AllAccess.com says WFAN programmer Mark Chernoff is one of several programmers involved in a “company-wide effort” to flip several anemic FMs to talk.
As The Post reported last summer, front-runners for Stern’s slot include former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and comedian Adam Carolla.
Infinity has also auditioned or signed outspoken comedian Colin Quinn, dark magician Penn Jillette, Boston “Extreme Games” talker Jay Severin, and actor David Cassidy -- although it is not known on which stations in the national chain they will appear.
Ironically, most radio observers think the best of personalities for an FM talk station would be Opie & Anthony.
“They could replace Stern’s audience without missing a beat,” said a radio researcher. “But, of course, it’s out of the question.”
Opie & Anthony, currently on bleep-free XM Satellite Radio, were canned by Infinity three years ago after their infamous “sex in St. Pat’s” scandal.
That resulted in Infinity shutting down all the talk shows on WNEW.
But the current execs at Infinity have no memory of that -- they all arrived after August, 2002.
Radio giant Clear Channel is also jumping on the FM talk bandwagon in several cities, seeding new stations with its own programs, like Rush Limbaugh and George Noory.
But many experts think Clear Channel’s five New York FMs are making too much money with music to change.
Reports surfaced yesterday that Howard Stern’s station, K-Rock (WXRK/92.3 FM), will switch to all-talk after he leaves for satellite radio.
And if it the modest-rated rock station adopts a talk format in January, it probably won’t sound anything like traditional AM-band talkers WABC, WOR and WLIB.
Talk on the new WXRK would likely be racy, hip, non-political and aggressively anti-P.C., based on people station-owner Infinity Broadcasting has auditioned for Stern’s and other gigs -- and what the company did with WNEW before the Opie & Anthony scandal.
In short, a radio version of the so-called “lad mags”: magazines that appeal to young males -- an always-moving target that advertisers pay dearly to reach.
That type of talk is a good fit for the FM band, which attracts younger listeners than AM -- a band that many under-40s barely know exists.
Although a spokeswoman for Infinity declined late yesterday to comment on “rumor and speculation,” Inside Radio says the Viacom unit has registered the Internet address “923FreeFM.com,” a tip off to what the new talk station might be called.
The industry Website AllAccess.com says WFAN programmer Mark Chernoff is one of several programmers involved in a “company-wide effort” to flip several anemic FMs to talk.
As The Post reported last summer, front-runners for Stern’s slot include former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and comedian Adam Carolla.
Infinity has also auditioned or signed outspoken comedian Colin Quinn, dark magician Penn Jillette, Boston “Extreme Games” talker Jay Severin, and actor David Cassidy -- although it is not known on which stations in the national chain they will appear.
Ironically, most radio observers think the best of personalities for an FM talk station would be Opie & Anthony.
“They could replace Stern’s audience without missing a beat,” said a radio researcher. “But, of course, it’s out of the question.”
Opie & Anthony, currently on bleep-free XM Satellite Radio, were canned by Infinity three years ago after their infamous “sex in St. Pat’s” scandal.
That resulted in Infinity shutting down all the talk shows on WNEW.
But the current execs at Infinity have no memory of that -- they all arrived after August, 2002.
Radio giant Clear Channel is also jumping on the FM talk bandwagon in several cities, seeding new stations with its own programs, like Rush Limbaugh and George Noory.
But many experts think Clear Channel’s five New York FMs are making too much money with music to change.