Hot 97 is a hip hop station. It is also the #1 station in New York, which in turn, makes it the #1 station in North America. Why should we care about Hot 97? Because it's the only station on the dial which represents a lifestyle. They walk the walk and talk the talk about hip hop, and the fans love it. They have real hip hop DJs playing real hip hop on the air. WKTU, on the other hand, has lots of listeners who could give a shit about the station. To them, it's background music. It's not a lifestyle. What sort of lifestyle does Z-100 represent? Besides a person who has bad taste in music, nothing. That is what makes dance music/Electronica so good for WLIR. WLIR used to represent a lifestyle: People who rebelled against the mainstream who loved and represented for their music so much, that people who were not within range of the staton bought a special adaptor to get it in. They put the bumper stickers on their cars and went to station promotions to meet Donna Donna, The Mighty Max and Malabu Sue. Bands such as Depeche Mode had to play three concerts at Jones Beach in a row just to satisfy the demand for their music on Long Island -- after they sold out Madison Square Garden and The Meadowlands. This can happen again -- and even bigger and better than before with a reprogrammed WLIR. People will be talking about how cool WLIR is with this new format. There is nothing cool about what WLIR has been doing for the past year. That is why the ratings have not gone up. By and large, nobody cares about the station because it's not special like it used to be when it played different music. I bet Tex is rolling in his grave when WLIR plays "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty the five times a day they play it. That does not represent a lifestyle, and thus, the stations ratings will most likely never grow.
WHAT LIFESTYLE DO 'DANCE' PEOPLE LEAD?
Dance music has been regarded as the 'rainbow coalition' of musics. Be it black,white, gay, straight, or whatever, people are into the music. Dance people are very proud of their music, and much like hip hop, will represent for it. 'Represent' is a hip hop term for people who will support what supports them. They WILL patronise advertisers. If there is a club that plays the format we're aiming for, the listeners will show up en masse. A hair salon will do better by advertising on this station than throwing an ad on Z-100. By and large, people who are into this music are worldly, educated 18-24 (possibly 34 or even higher depending on how far you go back with the recurrents and oldies) with plenty of expendable income. Not the market who's out to buy a home, but anything that WLIR/WDRE used to sell could easily be sold with this format, and the listeners will support those advertisers as they did in the WLIR days of the '80's.
OK, THEN, DAVE THE WAVE...WHO MADE YOU THE AUTHORITY?
Or, 'Why do I want to be the PD of WLIR'? Because my lack of experience will sound refreshing over the air. Throw a lot of the conventional radio wisdom out the door. All these consultants stations use are what is quickly hurting the radio business. Sure, some stations need consultants, but WLIR doesn't. It just needs a cool team of people to carry it over to the tons of people out there who want something new.