K-Wrecked

A few months ago I commented on how New York was no longer really a rock and roll town but how it at least had three rock stations to offer to its metropolitan radio audience. Well, someone poring over the Arbitron ratings must have taken note of the former point, because the latter point is no longer true.

New York's alternative rock station WXRK-FM (K-Rock), broadcasting at 92.3 on the FM dial, went off the air once before in favor of a short-lived talk format station - WFNY-FM - but came back. It's gone again, having been replaced by a Top 40 station with the call letters WNOW-FM (WNOW? sounds familiar!), an attempt by its owner CBS Radio to compete with legendary Top 40 FM station WHTZ-FM (Z100), which has been on the air since 1983. This time the change looks to be permanent.

A friend of mine alerted me to this change when we went to lunch, and when I got back to my car, I turned on the radio before I started the ignition (you can do that in a Volkswagen) and I heard that annoying mellow R&B tune that goes "And I don't want to go to bed (without you) . . . And I don't want you to go to bed (without me). . . And I don't want to go to bed (without you) . . . And I don't want you to go to bed (without me) . . .  And I don't want to go to bed (without you). . . And I don't want you to go to bed (without me) . . ." over and over until you just want to break out in song!

Or just break out.

Except for a brief period in the eighties when Springsteen and Prince had hit singles, rock and roll hasn't really been a vital part of the Top 40, with most rock artists preferring to concentrate on the more lucrative album-radio formats. But those formats are less relevant with each passing year, as post-rock pop forms - *cough-cough*, hip-hop, *cough-cough* - continue to dominate the music scene.

Alternative rock didn't want to go to bed in New York, but that's pretty much what happened. Go to WRXP-FM in New York, or a rock station in the suburbs where all the fans live, or hit the 'Net for online music programming.

There's your alternative.