Gary: some of us don't live on the West Coast. OUR smooth/adult contemporary jazz station here in New York was CD101.9
which is still revered, mourned and remembered as THE singularly best radio station for all of those of us who still follow (and attend) the shows of the multiple artists who tour and draw in huge audiences. Those who somehow imagine they 'know' what's going on and try to compete with other stations always end up messing up what works. FIFTEEN solid years of a huge listening
audience with our favourite artists not only showing up to perform with the hosts on a Manhattan Street (Peter White performed with George Benson at a CD101.9 event when he was still quite young), and to this day these same artists retain their supporters
who sell out the Smooth Jazz Cruises every Spring (there are at least 2-3 - and planned years in advance). I still haven't managed to attend one, but would love to - if I knew I wouldn't get seasick, lol. There are myriad rock stations, but so few devoted to this genre which has hundreds of thousands of followers. Now my CD101.9 is 'all nooz' as if we needed more of that.
scotty
(PS: had to cut this because it was too long)
"CD101.9
WQCD's most notable logo, which was used with some changes until 2005.
Beginning with "The PIX Penthouse" in 1985, WPIX-FM started to play contemporary jazz after dark to boost its nighttime ratings, and beginning in September 1987, the station's evening programming was entirely dedicated to the genre. Then, on August 10, 1988, the station adopted a jazz-based adult contemporary format during the day and retained all jazz at night.
Later that month, on August 22, the station modified into a full-time smooth jazz radio format, with the new call letters WQCD and the new branding, "CD 101.9".[19] While the genre had varying degrees of presence on most Top 40 and AC stations at the time, New York City had not had a full-time commercial jazz station since 1980, when WRVR (106.7 FM, now WLTW) became country music station WKHK following an ownership change two years earlier. The re-launch of 101.9 was accompanied by a new television advertising campaign which featured Al Jarreau, Miles Davis, Kenny G, Bobby McFerrin and Herb Alpert[20]–all artists whose music formed the core of the new smooth jazz format, which proved successful and long-lasting for a station that had not been used to stability in its programming.
WQCD's early music blend featured contemporary jazz mixed with soft rock and urban adult contemporary, along with some new-age music (the "CD" branding came from the station promoting that it played between 70 and 80 minutes of music between commercial breaks, the length of an average compact disc). The station programmed an equal balance between vocal and instrumental music. At night the station played strictly contemporary jazz music, with a majority of it instrumental. As time went on, WQCD phased-out soft-rock cuts and became a full-time contemporary jazz station. The playlist continued to feature large amounts of instrumental jazz, with some new age, and several urban adult contemporary songs. This formula would largely be unchanged for over 15 years.
When the Daily News changed ownership in 1991, 101.9 WQCD and Channel 11 WPIX were retained by the newspaper's former corporate parent, the Tribune Company. In 1997 Tribune sold WQCD to Emmis Communications. The combination of WQCD and Emmis's two existing New York stations, WQHT (97.1 FM) and WRKS (98.7 FM, now WEPN-FM), gave the Indianapolis-based company an FM triopoly in the New York market. In 1998, Emmis moved WQCD out of the Daily News Building, and along with WQHT and WRKS into a newly constructed common facility at 395 Hudson Street.
WQCD ran an experiment from November 22, 2004, until August 2005, when the station's playlist included chill music, a relaxing sound based on the music found on the beaches of Ibiza. The ratings were not satisfactory, and the experiment ended. The station retained the tagline, "CD101.9, Your Chill-Out Station" during its successful transition back to the standard smooth jazz format. WQCD's on-air staff remained unusually stable in the generally volatile radio climate, led by morning host Dennis Quinn. Midday host Deborah Rath had been with parent company Emmis since 1988, as a veteran of both WRKS and WQHT. Afternoon drive host Paul Cavalconte was a veteran of New York jazz, classical, and rock stations, adult standards WNEW. Evening host Sharon Davis called WQCD home for nearly a decade. Rafe Gomez hosted "The Groove Boutique", a nationally syndicated groove jazz mix show that aired on Saturday nights beginning in 2003. "The Groove Boutique" was a finalist in the 2005 Best Mix Show category of the 8th annual New York Radio Market Achievements In Radio (A.I.R.) awards.[21]
101.9 RXP
On February 5, 2008, at 4:00 p.m., Emmis Communications announced a change to a rock format under the WRXP call letters and the tagline 101.9 RXP: The New York Rock Experience. The last songs played on "CD 101.9" were "Shining Star" by The Manhattans and an instrumental rendition of "Street Life" by U-Nam, while the first two songs played on "RXP" were "Rock and Roll" by Velvet Underground and "Supernatural Superserious" by R.E.M. With the exception of Paul Cavalconte, the entire WQCD air staff was released including Dennis Quinn, who had survived every other format change at 101.9 since joining the station in 1971. Only program director Blake Lawrence was retained from the previous format for WRXP. Emmis cited a declining audience for smooth jazz, which moved to the station's HD2 subchannel. (An online version of CD101.9 would eventually be launched in late summer 2015.)
