Country Returns

After stunting with a “wheel of formats” all weekend, 94.7 unveiled their new format this morning:

A loud cheer from Country music fans was heard at 9:47a this morning, as their format returned to the #1 market on CUMULUS WRXP/NEW YORK as 94.7 NASH-FM “America’s Country Station.”

For country music fans, this is a good thing.  Country left the New York City airwaves in 1996 when 103.5 flipped to the New KTU.  Shortly thereafter, 107.1 in Briarcliffe Manor flipped to country as Y-107.  Other stations located at 107.1 FM joined in this simulcast (on Long Island, North Jersey, and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley) and ultimately created a quadcast.  This would not last long, as in 2002, all four stations would flip to a Spanish format.

Long Island country fans can now add 94.7 FM to their car radio presets, but might find it difficult to hold on to the signal as they drive out east.  Fortunately, there are other options.  96.1 WJVC (“My Country 96.1″) recently celebrated two years of playing country music with a concert.  They provide decent coverage of Suffolk county, where Nash-FM has a hard time reaching.  WALK-FM 97.5 HD2 is another choice, for the lucky HD radio owners.  Finally, there’s 92.5 WWYZ (“Country 92-5″) in Hartford, CT, which has been playing country since 1988.  While not based on Long Island, the signal does have a fair reach across the sound.

I don’t see Cumulus hanging on to the WRXP call letters for very long, as they’ve been previously associated with a rock format (twice).  Cumulus already has WNSH in Minnesota, so they can be moved here.

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