WNEW-FM

WNEW is a New York City FM radio station operating at 102.7 MHz and owned and operated by Infinity Broadcasting. Today they offer a dance oldies format.

And now for something completely different

On September 13, 1999, the station abandoned music during the week and tried an extreme "hot talk" format. For the first few months of this new format, the station was known on-air as "FM Talk @ 102.7". This new format consisted of shock jocks, such as Opie and Anthony, Don and Mike and Ron and Fez, as well as a morning "guy talk" show that revolved around sports, called The Sports Guys. On weekends, the station retained a hard rock format, as Opie and Anthony gradually stopped playing music by 2000. Also in 2000, the station's current owners, Viacom, buy the station's previous owners, CBS/Infinity Broadcasting.

Related Topics:
"hot talk" - Don and Mike - Ron and Fez - The Sports Guys - Viacom

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By 2001, WNEW added infomercials on weekends and stopped playing music altogether, with the exception of Eddie Trunk's Friday and Saturday night hard rock-oriented shows. As was the case during this period, ratings were horrible at the station outside of Opie and Anthony. Then, the Opie and Anthony show was cancelled in August 2002 for a stunt involving two people having sex within St. Patrick's Cathedral, bringing considerable bad publicity to the station. With the station's ratings falling below even those of many non-commercial stations, and the cancellation of the only show that generated significant ratings for the station, management decided that the station needed to take a new direction.

Related Topics:
Infomercials - Eddie Trunk - 2002 - St. Patrick's Cathedral

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