Being in the Penthouse of the Imperial Square Building, we could walk out onto the, roof. Mind you, gas was 34 cents a gallon. WLIR/WBON/WDRE SOLD | Page 2 | RadioDiscussions A place to go. With alternating call letters, from WLIR (Long Island Rocks) to WDRE (Dare) and an eventual move up the dial to a new frequency, the station's luster gradually faded, culminating in the sale of its frequency rights for $60 million to Spanish language Univision in October 2003. New Order, Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Yazoo and Blancmange were early staples of the new music format. Ken wanted. Next obvious question how did Malibu Sue become someone who keeps the air, land and sea traffic moving smoothly in the Tristate area? With alternating call letters, from WLIR (Long Island Rocks) to WDRE (Dare) and an eventual move up the dial to a new frequency, the station's luster gradually . But the life goal was to get to Broadway? [citation needed], The station became known for playing new artists, and occasionally playing singles before other stations. The pin below, if I recall, was from the time Erasure did a WDRE-sponsored album party for Chorus at the club Industry referenced here: WLIR/WDRE New York's True New Wave Radio Station The station also began its long-running series of live concert broadcasts from the nearby Ultrasonic Recording Studios and later from local clubs such as My Father's Place and The Ritz. I will then qualify for food stamps!
He shortened our air shift hours from 6 to 4 hours per shift, and raised our salaries several dollars above what we were being paid. I was definitely more into the quirky and dark. [8] Although adult contemporary seemed commercially appealing, new music was chosen because it was more in step with the "dare to be different" campaign being used to promote the new format and it was more "fun". Things changed, but for the better. Cameron left LIR in 79 to join the ill-fated WQIV in NYC where he did AM-drive. Among our stalwart band
The synthpop-based music on which much of the station's playlist was based was now out of fashion. When the first draft lottery happened, we played it live on the air, but with sound effects of machine guns and bombs, and anti-war songs fading in and out. [9] The station arranged with a record store in London to get same-day air delivery of new records (years before this was the norm) from Heathrow Airport; WLIR music director Rosie Pisani would drive the 12 miles (19km) to nearby JFK on Thursday afternoons to pick up the records. On January 9th, 2004 at 12 noon Univision completed its purchase of the 92.7 frequency and began simulcasting its Spanish language station WCAA. ), WLIR became WDRE during the 90s, before becoming WLIR again (with WDRE becoming the simulcast Suffolk county station). Ben Manillas (Progressive News Network) syndicated News Blimps, were similarly complex and fresh. We didnt know what we didnt know, which tends to make anything possible. Muzak had done very intensive research into the aesthetics of programming music. The station originally broadcast from studios at the Garden City Hotel in Garden City, New York, then 175 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, New York, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Westbury, New York, and finally, 1103 Stewart Avenue, East Garden City, New York, with its transmitter located at the North Shore Towers in Floral Park, New York. FM certainly wasnt new just ignored bandwidth for over a half century. Page 2 of 3 < Prev 1 2 3 Next > George P Notable Member Thread Starter. After a time there was a live radio concert every week from the club! In 1995, WDRE created the first alternative rock network, known as the "Underground Network"[13][14] and consisting of the following stations: Four years after WIBF became WDRE's first affiliate, the Underground Network was disbanded. All these jocks had gone into the business because they thought they'd be able to play what they loved [then] were given a playlist and guideline. The DJ staff was making nothing. WLIR's Death | RadioDiscussions Most people in emergency management are first responders and I've learned a whole lot from them. Alternative rock artists which used to be played almost exclusively on the station were now being played on many rock and pop music stations. WLIR owner, John Reiger, (a very conservative elderly gentleman who denied belonging to the extreme right wing John Birch Society, but definitely received their magazine each month, for we would find it around the office with his address on it), made his now famous deal. Except for the tuxedos and evening gowns it could have been Ultra Sonic circa 1973. On January 21, 2008, WLIR-FM became an ESPN Radio affiliate via an LMA with New York City radio station WEPN (1050 AM). What is a "strategic communications analyst" anyway? For the Hampton Bays, New York radio station at 107.1 FM, see WLIR-FM. [citation needed], As the 1970s went on, many rock stations drifted toward more commercial album-oriented rock formats. In addition, with the new format, the station would run commercial-free during the day, with the actual airtime during this period paid for by advertisers. 12 talking about this. While a few other New York stations flirted with the format, none had the deep catalog or intimate knowledge of the music. Clearly, it was more for love than money that we worked at LIR. Administrator Login. The legal battle escalated when the station became more valuable, with new entities (not involved in the original 1972 battle) getting involved after 1982, culminating with the FCC revoking Phoenix Medias 15-year "temporary" license in 1987. Douglas Wilder - Britannica On August 2 the format switch occurred. Music intensive rocumentaries, and the consuming Watergate affair were all in the mix. They were jealous of us because we got to do what we wanted to do.
On February 17, 2011, Holding Out Hope Church assigned the agreement to Livingstone Broadcasting, Inc. On May 25, 2011 the sale of WLIR-FM to Livingstone Broadcasting Inc was completed. It didn't matter who you were or how you identified it was you're 'free to be me '. They were struggling to compete in the worlds largest media market with a suburban FM prior to Long Island becoming an imbedded Arbitron market and long before LI was more than just a series of bedroom communities. It is truly a phenomenon the effect one radio station has had on so many lives. He and Richard Neer created one of the nations legendary FM stations with a true free form format. The Wrench made it happen. Susan "Malibu Sue" McCaskie at her Brooklyn home posing next to a poster advertising one of her personal appearances on behalf of WLIR. ", Malibu Sue posing at a charity event with baseball star Darryl Strawberry. [citation needed], 107.1 WLIR-FM, which hadn't broadcast alternative music since 2008, was sold to Red Apple Media Inc., and began simulcasting most of WABC's programming. WLIR - A Brief History - WDARE 2023 To name-check a few, they included Ben Manilla, Donna Donna, Larry "The Duck" Dunn and the late Ray White. God bless Mike Harrison. WLIR was founded in 1959 by John R. Rieger. Denis McNamara - Long Island Music Hall of Fame Its transmitter is currently located near East Quogue, New York. Weimar Republic: Definition, Inflation & Collapse - Watch Full Episodes Bragging? We had big dreams; we wanted the melon to be a national forum, interspersing calls with pre-produced segments. Somehow, and more often than not, a sense of intuition led to many synchronistic segues. then remembered the one I had from my dance days: Malibu Sue. When the FM band started gaining popularity in the late 60s and early 70s it became a place where experimentation and free form was the dominant format. The WLIR 107.1/ESPN Logo used from January 2008 thru July 2011. This was the first station that GTM and I worked at but we ended up hiring each other for years. Who knew? There were new media consumers to feed a whole new kind of radio. On August 1, 2011, WLIR-FM began broadcasting Christian programming as part of the WLIX Hope radio network. I really just wanted his advice on how to get into radio but he called me in for an interview. "Dare To Be Different"World Famous for their underground music screamer/shreek of the week. Phoenix Media also took the "Dare To Be Different" slogan as intellectual property, so WDRE's moniker became "New Music First". Quora - A place to share knowledge and better understand the world The personalities of the disc jockeys became much more upbeat. WDRE was still the leader in the alternative. WDRE originally started out as 103.9 WIBF-FM Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, which was owned by Fox Broadcasting (not related to the current Fox Broadcasting television network). This Wantagh native now answers to Susan McCaskie. While WDRE never became a true mainstream radio station in the Philadelphia radio market, the station gained a cult status in the Philadelphia area, and as a result, events like the station's music festival held in (known as "DREfest") sold out to a crowd of over 25,000 people. [9][32] After the premiere, A Flock of Seagulls, the Beat's Dave Wakeling and the Alarm played live sets.[33][34]. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WLIR (WLIR.FM) is an internet radio station that plays the new music/modern rock that was originally heard on WLIR/WDRE (92.7FM, 98.5 FM, and 107.1 FM) in the 1980s and 1990s, along with the alternative rock of the 2000s to the present. Create your own list of music and share it with the world. While WDRE never became a true mainstream radio station in the Philadelphia radio market, the station gained a cult status in the Philadelphia area, and as a result, events like the station's music festival held in (known as "DREfest") sold out to a crowd of over 25,000 people. Other DJs went to other radio stations and a few of the crew went back to WLIR when there was an interim manager. I still remember going "wait WHAT?" 11 aj1337h 1 yr. ago Nope I Forgot Abt Dre toss_it_out_tomorrow 1 yr. ago It was the only station that played real alternative rock and it's exactly where I was introduced to a lot of good bands. We, would always ask each other if we had any, "roofing materials." Not only does it continue to live and grow online, but Hollywood has stepped into the picture with an upcoming documentary about "The station that dares." Screenshot of the WLIR.FM homepageWLIR.FM We introduced Long Island to Bruce Springsteen, Hall and Oats, Charlie Daniels, Jackson Browne broadcasting over 200 LIVE radio concert. For other uses, see WLIR (disambiguation). Watch on WLIR - A Brief History Thanks to Ken Kohl, Jim Cameron, Joel Moss, Fred Blue Fox, and Heather Schoen for their conributions on the early years. No idea where he ended up. Listener response was sensational and WLIR became the birthplace of careers. There was so much crazy stuff but it all happened for a reason. [4] In 1984, Eddie Simon along with his brother, singer Paul Simon, purchased the station. [Laughs] Everyone thinks that. DJs used to hang out at the station for hours just because of the energy and excitement, even if their shift was over or it was a day they werent on the air at all. Editing quarter-inch strips of magnetic tape (with a precious mylar backing that preserved the recording for decades) on a cheap consumer grade tape recorder (not even a tape deck). In the past few years artists such as Moby, William Orbit, and Fatboy Slim added an alternative dance edge as the format continued to evolve. WLIR continued to broadcast on 107.1 in Hampton Bays on eastern Long Island for about a year before being sold. Great Wikipedia has got greater. Editing quarter-inch strips of magnetic tape (with a precious mylar backing that preserved the recording for decades) on a cheap consumer grade tape recorder (not even a tape deck). Bob Wilson, longtime WLIR employee and historian, created the website WDAREFM.COM (Dare FM), which maintains the spirit of the original WLIR. Within weeks, he invoked Article 48 of the . Many of these artists, such as the Police, the Pretenders and U-2 eventually forced their way into the mainstream. We'd find music from every which way and every direction, and go through the bins at TSS [Times Square Stores, which filed for bankruptcy in 1990] looking for cassettes, then bring them back and listen to them and say, 'how about this?' . Administrator Login. We just wanted to play good music, and not have it part of some marketing plan that was presented to us. The owners agreed to a partial format change initially and gave birth to the LIR of the 70s 80s and 90s. Dare To Be Different Documentary Hails WLIR's Radio Revolution | Long I do notice that you still don't have a Long Island accent. John Reiger had enough of the lease arrangement, and all of a sudden he was back. The new WLIR created a modern rock sound mixing established heritage and alternative music with current emerging artists.. Also revived at this time was a commitment to live music. One had to be a really decent board op to keep the continuity. We couldn't compete with those huge New York City stations and had to do something. We found that when it connected it always sounded good. Radio today, for the most part, is mostly a juke box of music in one genre with no aesthetic rhyme or reason to the way the music is put together. WLIR - WIKI 2. Wikipedia Republished