WNEW

HOW TO KILL A RADIO STATION The Death of WNEW-FM - a cautionary tale. Monday, March 3, 2003 NEW YORK (AP) -- For 32 years, it was the place where rock lived. WNEW-FM once ruled as the nation's premier rock station, boasting an influence that extended far beyond its Manhattan-based signal. 'NEW was rock 'n' roll: John Lennon stopped by to spin records, the Grateful Dead played cards in the studio, and new music from the Rolling Stones to the Ramones to the Replacements was championed. The venerable station has gone from free-form to free fall, barely registering an Arbitron rating and dumping its most recent format -- talk -- last month. That decision followed a scandal that threatened the station's license: two shock jocks broadcast a pair of listeners allegedly having sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral. The station plans to reincarnate itself, with a new format debuting this spring, said Dana McClintock, spokesman for station owner Infinity Broadcasting Corp. (a part of the media conglomerate Viacom, which also owns CBS, MTV, VH1, UPN, Paramount, Simon & Schuster and other properties). Shock jocks airing lurid stunts? When WNEW switched to album-oriented rock in 1967, such things didn't exist. "It's a different station now," says Richard Neer, a disc jockey who spent 28 years at WNEW. "The unfortunate thing is that it still bears the same call letters. It's like a disreputable pretender using your identity."