RBR+TVBR INFOCUS
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. — It’s 9:19am on the last day of broadcasting for a radio station that has dutifully served three generations of pop and rock music fans across the New York Tri-State area.
The sounds of Jon Bon Jovi can be heard, with the still-immensely popular singer in these parts belting out the lyrics to the summer 1990 No. 1 hit “Blaze of Glory.”
The track was a staple on WPLJ-FM 95.5 in New York, the ABC Radio-owned AOR-turned-CHR helmed by such legendary air talent as “Fast Jimi” Roberts and morning hosts Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein.
In that era, the station was “Power 95.” Today, WPLJ is a Hot AC … counting down to its final sign-off at 7pm Eastern today.
At the same time, another AOR-turned-CHR-turned Hot AC station with its own legendary status in its market will say goodbye to listeners. It’s the former ABC Radio-owned WRQX-FM 107.3 in Washington, D.C.
Both stations have been owned by Cumulus Media. Once 7pm hits in the Nation’s Capital, “Mix 107.3” will join WPLJ in the annals of radio history.
The industry is listening, and perhaps shedding a tear as FM radio enters its next era — not only in Washington, D.C., and in New York but across the entire U.S.
