Trying To Get To You

Monday, April 14, 2008

WNEW LIves! (And I'm On It)

WNEW-FM was the New York rock radio station when I was growing up. I missed its glory years in the 70's, but it was a big part of my adolescence in the mid-80's. The station at its best was a mix of new and classic, but as the classic rock audience ossified in the late 80's and early 90's, the station became torn trying to please two very different masters. When Nirvana broke in '92, it was clear that the station could no longer be the vanguard of anything - its classic rock fans weren't that interested in new music - and expect to survive. By the late 90's, WNEW was gone.

But thanks to the magic of Internet tubes, the station is back, existing in the form of an Internet radio station and a blog, which I'll be writing for weekly. The site went live today, and I'm the lead piece tonight - my memories of the Firecracker 500.

3 comments:

Michael Verity said...

Congratulations, Ben. That's really cool...and a tribute to the quality of your writing. I listened to the stream as I was walking in and out of the room last night and it sounded pretty cool. I (having grown up in Upstate New York) used to trade airchecks with a friend in NYC...so I have so strong memories of what WNEW sounded like. Best wishes with the gig!

Eve Siegel said...

Ben - what is this video from?

Unknown said...

Ben,

Great piece/blast from the past. Thanks for bringing back some very fond memories of aimless adolescence in pre-historic NJ/NY listening to Dave Herman, Mark McEwen and the gang . . . It was great to have a radio station (and countdown) you could depend on . . .and nice to hear that it's back.

Btw, the blog looks great and glad to see you're still imparting your wisdom all of the years later.

Keep up the good work.

Gil R.