"Peak" Interest

Having angrily bashed the insufferable Merlin Media mogul Randy Michaels and his desire to put an FM "news" station in every major media market - even if it means getting rid of rock radio - I have since calmed down, now that  I have discovered a pleasing alternative to the increasingly dreary commercial FM music stations in New York. And this alternative actually pre-dates WRXP-FM, which bit the dust after three short years.

WXPK-FM, "107.1 The Peak," is a rock station based in suburban White Plains in Westchester County, New York, which has been on the air since April 2004.  It's a commercial station that mixes classic rock tracks - some of them obscure, like Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" (the song that precedes "Stairway To Heaven" on Zo-So) with songs from modern rockers like the Shins and Delta Spirit.  It even plays MTV-friendly rock acts from the eighties like Tears For Fears and Wall of Voodoo, even while mixing Jeff Beck and Beck.  In short, 107.1 The Peak goes beyond what WFUV-FM offers.  Its Web site is actually easier to use then WFUV's, in fact, and it offers complete information on its playlist as well as a "save to playlist option and iTunes purchase link for every song.

There's just one drawback - the signal.  WXPK-FM is very much a local station, which means that not everyone in the metropolitan area can get the signal from its 1,900-watt antenna.  (Even the little station in Fresno where Ted Baxter got his start had more power.)  The station is so local, in fact, its antenna is located on a tower in the county prison!  This means that, where I live, it can get interference from another station broadcasting on the same frequency . . . and it does.  When I'm driving around in my car and listening to WXPK-FM, a station on 107.1 megahertz from Long Branch, New Jersey - WWZY-FM - breaks in . . . and that station plays "adult contemporary" music!  Bleccch! This isn't a problem at home, where I can get WXPK-FM quite clearly, but when I'm out and about and I need to listen to some decent music - and WFUV-FM is playing a Fordham sports game or something like that - I don't want Celine Dion bursting in on the Clash.  The irony is that I get interference from a station playing the same kind of music I listen to stations like WXPK-FM to get away from!

But when I do get WXPK-FM clearly, I appreciate it. Its slogan is "World Class Rock For New York's Backyard," and it lives up to the boast.  Now that I have a real commercial rock station to listen to again - a station that had been under my nose for eight years before  I finally discovered it - it's almost enough to make me forgive Randy Michaels.  Almost.

Yeah, one more thing about that: Merlin Media has acquired another station in Chicago on which they plan to broadcast alternative rock in order to replace the alt-rock station Merlin switched to a news format.  No such plans, to the best of my knowledge, are in store for New York.  But hey, New York is a hip-hop/disco town anyway, right? :-O