The Infinite Dial

So it looks like CBS Radio wasn't willing to give the legacy of heritage rocker WNEW-FM New York to Emmis and the WRXP people after all. Since its February launch, WRXP has been pretty overtly trying to answer the question, "What would WNEW-FM have sounded like if it had carried on through today?" Now, CBS is trying to answer that question itself with the launch of WNEW.com as a Website and as the HD-2 channel on the station's former frequency, 102.7, now the home of AC WWFS.

Programmed by WXRT Chicago's Norm Winer (who has also put in an appearance or two as "Norm" in the last hour), the station will be tied in to CBS's Last FM and will also use listeners as "staff" to introduce segments. (There is no mention in the station release of how it will be tied into CBS' new AOL Radio initiative.) On its first moning, Winer and the "staff" were taking turns setting up live performances and interviews from the station's archives, including one of the late Scott Muni, WNEW's longtime PD and best known staffer, and Aerosmith.

Here's what makes sense about the WNEW move: While the need to buy a HD Radio or stream Triple-A has been reduced for New Yorkers in recent months, it's still a well-loved brand and one with national potential on The Infinite Dial (if more for expatriate New Yorkers than others).

The flipside to going after the WNEW legacy, of course, is that even unscoped airchecks of the station from 1978 would have a hard time living up to its most fervent listeners' memories of the station. The other problem is that those fervent listeners are remembering the station from its most specialized era. The most successful WNEW-FM from a ratings standpoint was the late '80s/early '90s version that was a typically conservative response to the rise of Classic Rock. And if there's any station that demands that you bring back some of the former staffers in actuality, and not just in actualities, it's this one. And many of those personalities are now working elsewhere.

But it's an intriguing idea and one that made my co-workers look up from their desks this morning. And here's hoping that Winer receives the resources a station like this would need to work on an ongoing basis.

Here is an hour of WNEW.com at 10:20 this morning:

Elvis Costello, "Less Than Zero (Live)"
Peter Gabriel, "Solsbury Hill (Live)"
Wallflowers, "One Headlight"
Aerosmith, "Love In An Elevator" (preceded by an interview clip with Scott Muni)
The Band, "Up On Cripple Creek (Live)"
Beatles, "She Said She Said"
Bob Marley & Wailers, "Could You Be Loved"
Goo Goo Dolls, "Slide"
White Stripes, "My Doorbell"
Snow Patrol, "Chasing Cars"
Stevie Wonder, "Living For The City"
Led Zeppelin, "Trampled Under Foot"
U2, "I Will Follow"
Soul Asylum, "Black Gold"
Wilco, "Walken"