WQCD

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This article is about the New York City radio station WQCD, formerly named WPIX-FM. For the NYC television station called WPIX, see WPIX.

WQCD
Broadcast area	New York City
First air date	1988
Frequency	101.9 MHz
Format	Smooth jazz
Owner	Emmis Communications
Website	cd1019.com

WQCD, known on-air as "CD 101.9", is a New York City radio station located at 101.9 FM. The station has a smooth jazz format.

[edit] Station History

The station first went on the air in 1945 as WGHF, named after its original owner, William G.H. Finch, and moved to the 101.9 frequency in 1947. In late 1948, it became the New York City affiliate of the farm-oriented Rural Radio Network based in Ithaca, New York, which owned a group of upstate stations that would later associate with WQXR. In 1955, its then-owner, Muzak, changed the call letters to WBFM (currently used by a Sheboygan, Wisconsin country music station). After the station was purchased by the New York Daily News in late 1963, it adopted the WPIX-FM call letters, as the station was co-owned with Channel 11 WPIX-TV.

In the years that the station used the WPIX-FM call letters, it was famous for not being able to settle on a format for any real length of time, and was derisively nicknamed "The format of the month station" by many in the New York City radio industry. During that time, the station went through the following formats:

• 1975: Disco. The New York Times reported, "Characterized by a strong bass, a simple melody, and terse repetitive lyrics..."Disco," as this music is called...is becoming increasingly popular on AM and FM radio stations. WPIX-FM recently switched several hours of its nightly programming over to "disco."
• Early to late 1970s: Top 40, rock, disco.^[1]
• 1978-1980: Punk/New Wave Rock
• Mark Simone launches "The Simone Phone" a pioneering FM comedy talk show that contained many popular features like "Dial-A-Date", that were later borrowed by other radio shows.
• March 1980-1981: Rock-based adult top 40 According to The New York Times, a station spokesperson said the station was "modifying the format to improve the product to make it more mass acceptable."^[2]
• 1981-1982: Album-oriented rock
• January-March 1982: CHR
• March 1982: adult contemporary "Nothing But Love Songs"
• 1985: "The Ballads and Beat of New York"
• August 16, 1986: "The Bright and Lively Sound of New York"^[3]

Notable air personalities of this period included Mark Simone, Jim Kerr, Alan Colmes, Meg Griffin, Dan Neer. Another of its disc jockeys, Jerry Carroll (a.k.a. "Dr. Jerry"), would gain fame as commercial spokesperson for the Crazy Eddie retail chain.

The station gave up on quickly on both the Disco and Punk/New Wave formats to see both genres of music become popular several years later.

WPIX-FM then stayed as an adult contemporary station for a few years, as its ratings during this period were pretty good. By 1985, the station began mixing a number of eclectic songs into its adult contemporary format, and was known as "the ballads and the beat of New York."

Also in 1985, the station was running a nightime show called "The PIX Penthouse", which played R&B and soul songs. It was also used through the 1960s as the station's tagline for an easy-listening format. ("The PIX Penthouse Party" had been originally used as a program title during WPIX-FM's Punk/New Wave era and was notable for playing 1960s music that influenced Punk and New Wave Rock.)

By 1987, the station started to play contemporary jazz at night, as its ratings were on the decline. Then, on August 10, 1988 the station adopted a full-time smooth jazz format, as it rebranded to "CD 101.9" with the call letters WQCD.^[4] The station has more or less stayed with the format since the change, despite eventually adding some songs more suited for an adult contemporary format.

WQCD also ran an experiment from November 22, 2004 until August 2005, when the station's playlist included chill music, a form of relaxing music based on the music found in the beaches of Ibiza. Their ratings were not satisfactory, and the experiment ended. The station retained the tagline, CD101.9, Your Chill-Out Station during it's successful transition back to the standard Smooth Jazz format..

Even after the Daily News changed ownership in 1991, WQCD was retained by the News's former parent, the Tribune Company, until the late 1990s, when it was sold to Emmis Communications. WQCD was the lone radio tenant of The Daily News architecturaly important building headquarters on 42nd Street. In 1997, Emmis moved CD101.9, along with sister stations HOT97 (WQHT) and Kiss FM (WRKS) to a common facility at 395 Hudson Street, at the meeting point of lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village and Soho neighborhoods. The complex was the first of it's kind in the increasingly consolidated radio world.

WQCD's on-air staff has remained unusually stable in the generally volatile radio climate, with Morning Host Dennis Quinn having worked at nearly all incarnations of 101.9 since 1972! Midday Host Deborah Rath has been with parent company Emmis since 1988, as a veteran of both Kiss and WQHT's original incarnation "Hot 103.5". Afternoon Drive Host Paul Cavalconte is a veteran of New York jazz, classical and rock stations, including CD101.9's generational predecessor WNEW-AM. Evening host Sharon Davis has called WQCD home for nearly a decade as well.

Despite constant pressure from the business world to attract younger audiences, WQCD's Smooth Jazz format remains stable, with a fair balance of age groups and ethnicity ensuring a sustainable niche.

[edit] References

• (Change of call letters from WGHF to WBFM) — The New York Times, November 17, 1955.
• WPIX Buys Radio Station – The New York Times, December 10, 1963.

1. ^ "The 'Hustle' Restores New Touch To Old Dancing", New York Times, July 12, 1975. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
2. ^ "The Pop Life", New York Times, March 21, 1980. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
3. ^ Kevin Goldman. "Radio Format Changes Signal a Hot Contest", Newsday (Melville, NY), August 15, 1986. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
4. ^ "WPIX: New Format, New Letters", Newsday (Melville, NY), August 9, 1988. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.

[edit] External link

• CD 101.9

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