Y100 signs off its alternative platform

MELISSA STEVEN ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR

MS727@CABRINI EDU

Philadelphia’s only alternative rock station, WPLY-FM, Y100, was taken off the air on Thursday, Feb. 24. In its place is WPHIFM, 103.9 “The Beat.” Y100 sent out an e-mail notifying their listeners that after 12 years at 100.3 FM, the station was ending.

“A little birdie told me around 7:30 a.m. the day the station was flipped. I had no idea I would be given my severance last Thursday Kind of a weird feeling, being in that office, knowing what’s up and having to go through the formality of it all,” Casey Foster, producer of the Preston and Steve morning show on WPLY-FM, said.

“I was heading home for spring break when I turned on Y100 to only hear some rap music playing,” Jennifer Smith, sophomore marketing and Spanish major, said. “I was thinking it might have been an advertise- ment or some kind of sick joke, a fluke. As I continued to listen, rap and R&B kept playing. I was thinking this can’t be happening.”

Andy Gradel, an adjunct communications teacher who worked as a DJ at WPLY-FM from 1998 to 2000, said, “I told my class at the start of this semester that Y100 would be gone before the spring, because of the impending departure of Preston & Steve. Radio One is the largest company specifically targeting black listeners in the entire country with over 60 hip-hop, gospel and R&B stations, making Y100 the proverbial white sheep in their portfolio,” Gradel said.

Krista Mazzeo, general manager of 89.1 WYBF-FM at Cabrini College, said, “What people have to remember, however, is that these decisions are always made for financial reasons. If the station isn’t getting good enough ratings, they can’t charge a lot of money for advertising time. If they can’t charge enough money for ad time, then they can’t supposedly pay their staff, and then the owner of the station, in this case, Radio One, sees the station as a drain on their overall profits.”

According to Gradel, the staff at WPLY-FM was not officially told that they were being let go until that Thursday morning when their morning show was doing their final show. “As coldhearted at as it may seem, it’s in the radio station’s owner ’s best interest to make their moves swiftly as possible, because what’s to stop a DJ who knows he is losing his job in a week from saying and playing things that may be obscene on the air?” he said.

Mazzeo said that now a lot of college radio stations and Philadelphia stations like WMMR-FM and WYSP-FM will have to alter their format slightly to integrate some of the WPLY-FM’s modern rock music.

Gradel said, “Alot of the bands will still receive airplay on other similarly formatted stations such as WXPN as well WYSPand WMMR. The way they are presented won’t be the same.”

Now that there are no alternative rock stations in Philadelphia, they now have three rap stations, leaving radio listeners in the Philadelphia area less of a variety than they previously had. Mazzeo said, “It is a shame that Philly radio is becoming more and more urban because it does alienate listeners, such as myself, who totally despise rap and who are not particularly fond of R&B. But I do understand that Radio One has decided to target a more urban audience who they feel may respond better to advertisements than the previous listener ship of Y100.”

“It’s not like rap has taken over the city, it’s just that alternative is dead here. I worked with all of those guys at ‘The Beat,’and I wish them the best of luck, in this funny business,”

Foster said.

“There’s no variety on the radio. Y100 provided a different range of music,” Smith said. “Granted they did play popular rock songs, but at least it was only one station, not three.”

“I was definitely disappointed to see the station change formats, especially since I look at those three years on the air there as some of the most fun I’ve had while getting paid,” Gradel said.

Mazzeo said, “The best thing that listeners can do is react. Signing petitions is not going to return Y100 to Philadelphia. Deciding not to listen to the new 100.3 will cause a more desired effect. If consumers don’t like what a particular company has done, the best way to be heard is by voting with your wallet.”

The ex-staff members at WPLY-FM have set up a website, Y100rocks.com, where fans can sign a petition, listen on web radio to music from the old station and e-mail old DJs.