Format Flip

CENTRAL NEW YORK — As the year winds down to a close, it’s time to begin our annual look back at 2013.  We have a four-part series of Year in Review which stretches from today, right up to New Year’s Eve.  In part one, we recap the many changes in terms of station ownership (especially in […]

Updated 11pm– SYRACUSE — As expected, two radio stations that launched an all-Christmas format on the unusually early date of October 5 have changed their tune.  The former “Holly-FM” stations 103.9 (WNDR Mexico) and 95.3 (W237AY DeWitt) are now playing non-stop Beatles tunes.  And it looks WMBO 1340 Auburn is joining the two FMs in […]

Updated 12/24 — SYRACUSE — There’s finally a hint as to what could be happening after Christmas on Holly-FM 95.3 and 103.9.  According to RadioInsight.com, a national radio industry news site, the domain name dinosaurradio.com was registered earlier this month by Holly-FM station manager Sam Furco.

Updated 3:35pm — SYRACUSE — Could heritage rocker 95X (WAQX) be flipping from rock to country?  Or is someone out there just playing a prank on the interwebs?  A new website — along with a newly-launched and suddenly-removed Twitter account — is raising question as to whether Cumulus Media is bringing it’s “Nash” country music […]

CENTRAL NEW YORK — Although there were plenty of changes among personnel and programming in local radio during 2012, there weren’t very many “format flips” this year, in the three markets covered by CNYRadio.com.  But, nobody ever said you need to have a significant quantity of format flips to make it a memorable year.  In […]

FULTON — There’s a new choice for country music fans on local radio.  Over the weekend, WOSW 1300 replaced its children-focused Radio Disney feed with classic country, under the banner “Real Country AM 1300.”  The station, located in Fulton, transmits with 1,000 watts of power during the day, and 40 watts at night.

Updated 7/23 — UTICA-ROME — Roser Communications Network’s 95.5FM (W238CA), 1550 WUTQ and 1480 WRCK have broken away from simulcasting the news/talk/music format of 100.7 WUTQ-FM. Several signs point to the three stations flipping to a new sports talk format. While 100.7 will keep the WUTQ-FM calls, it appears 1550 WUTQ(AM) will be changing to […]

Updated 1:10pm — SYRACUSE — There’s another choice for rock radio in Central New York.  Cumulus Media killed “105.9 The Big Talker” this morning… and after a few hours of stunting, “105.9 The Rebel” launched at 1:05pm.  Cumulus Ops Manager Tom Mitchell says the station was inspired by “hundreds of rock music fans throughout Central […]

Minor updates 1/3 at 5:00pm. SYRACUSE — It’s been expected for quite some time now, and at 7:00 this evening, it happened: Clear Channel heritage news/talker 570 WSYR is now being simulcast on the FM dial.  But you’d almost think it was the other way around — with new liners and a new logo branding […]

SYRACUSE — There’s no confirmation yet from Clear Channel, but signs point toward a possible FM simulcast for news/talker WSYR in the near future.  One national radio industry website says it found registrations for five — count ’em, five — new internet domain names that suggest that WSYR could be moving to the FM dial, […]