MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE:
NEW YORK RADIO FESTIVAL 2001: THIRTY YEARS OF 'PLJ {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. Held in New York as part of the Seventh Annual Radio Festival and moderated by radio curator Ken Mueller, this seminar celebrates the thirty-year anniversary of WPLJ-FM New York. Panelists include Dave Herman, Allen Shaw, Pat St. John, Jim Kerr, Carol Miller, John Zacherle, and Scott Shannon. (Zacherle came on as a replacement for Larry Berger and Tony Pigg who were unable to attend.) Mueller begins with a highlight tape from the last thirty years of WPLJ featuring clips of Herman, Kerr, St. John, Miller, Pigg, and Shannon. After the highlight tape, each panelist details his or her beginnings at WPLJ: Herman and Allen both discuss how WABC-FM became WPLJ, including the origins of the station's call letters; St. John, Kerr, and Miller recount how they came to the newly dubbed WPLJ, each in their early twenties. Next, Herman and Allen discuss the rivalry between WNEW-FM and WPLJ, including the apparent differences between WNEW's more "free form" style and WPLJ's "formatted" style, and the consistently higher ratings WPLJ achieved. St. John chimes in as the discussion turns to the WPLJ's shift in 1983 from an AOR (album-oriented rock) format to a CHR (contemporary hit radio) format with his experience of the change. Allen and Kerr discuss then program director Larry Berger's strategy, citing Berger's concerns about the continuing viability of the AOR format and the future demographics of the station's listeners as the reasons behind his decision to make the change. Shannon, who was about to move to the New York market and the new Z-100 at the time, claims Berger was trying to keep the station's personalities and regular listeners while developing a new "Top 40" audience. Miller, who was fired by Berger soon after the format change, remembers the "heavy metal" calls she got from listeners angered at the shift. Kerr wraps up the discussion by claiming that despite its format change, WPLJ remained from 1971 to 2001 a very "positive" station with a remarkable "brand identity" and a "long-term relationship with its audience." At this point, the panelists answer questions from the audience and cover the following topics: the signs that WPLJ was changing pre-1983 with its playing of Michael Jackson, pitting of "disco" against "rock"; continued discussion of WPLJ's audience demographics, including WNEW's appeal to professional women in the city; continued discussion of the relative freedom disc jockeys like Miller and St. John had in putting together their playlists at a station with "format" programming; ambivalent attitudes toward WFUV, a college station that employs professional disc jockeys and programs music infrequently heard on mainstream radio, but that does not give Fordham university students a chance to gain radio experience; the future of satellite radio, including its potential for innovation as well as the likelihood that it will encourage more "narrow casting" and even less "free form" radio.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: October 22, 2001 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:29:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:67226
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ken Mueller … Host
- Dave Herman … Guest
- Jim Kerr … Guest
- Carol Miller … Guest
- Scott Shannon … Guest
- Allan Shaw … Guest
- St. John, Pat … Guest
- John Zacherle … Guest
- Tony Pigg
- Larry Berger