When I lived in New York, there were 3 stations that I could choose from to listen to rock music; 92.3 K-Rock, Q104.3 Classic Rock and 101.1 Jack FM. When I left NY, May 2007, K-Rock wasn’t too stable. They disappointed me by deciding to turn the station into talk radio, and then they brought the rock music back a little over a year later. That was the situation when I left.
I know it is a little late, but I recently found out that Q104.3 is the only station in New York that plays rock. What happened? Is rock dead in New York?
92.3 K-Rock
March 11, 2009 alternative rock came to an end at 5pm EST. “Right Now” by Van Halen was the last song played on 92.3 K-Rock. After a clock ticking and a flat line sound, 92.3 Now FM was born. They started off with “Boom Boom Pow” by Black Eyed Peas. 92.3 Now FM is another top hits station like Z-100. At least they kept K-Rock2, internet-only radio station that plays alternative rock and mainstream rock.
101.1 Jack FM
Jack FM was put off the radio air waves on July 12, 2007. Jack FM played what ever they want when they want. They mostly played 80’s rock and pop music. The station did not do very well. In fact, it is known as one of the greatest failures in NY radio history. They brought back the oldies station, WCBS-FM 101.1. This time instead of playing hits from 1955 to 1963, they now play hits from 1964 to 1989. Now known as New York’s Greatest Hits.
Q104.3 Classic Rock
Well, I guess Q104.3 is the last survivor. Too bad they only play classic rock.
G106.3 G-Rock
Thanks to my friend, Lee, I was able to add this station to the list. Broadcasting from New Jersey, G106.3 G-Rock played modern alternative rock. With no warning, on January 19, 2009, G-Rock suddenly changed to another Top 40 hits radio station. Like there isn’t enough of those kinds of stations in NY.
I feel bad for the rockers in New York City. Their selection is limited and they are probably forced to listen to satellite radio, hd radio or their ipod. It breaks my heart to know that there is only one station in NY that plays rock.
On April 23, 2009 my husband, Gil, and I decided to take a trip to Hollywood to try to see Depeche Mode. Gil is a huge Depeche Mode fan, so he was psyched. He has seen them live twice in the past, Music of the Masses at Madison Square Garden NYC and Violator Tour at Jones Beach Long Island. I on the other hand, never saw them live. I was so excited at the slight opportunity to check them out live. I have always enjoyed their songs and now to see them live! I was super excited. However, I was still uncertain if we were going to have a chance to see this free concert provided by Jimmy Kimmel. According to news reports, they were expecting 10,000 people to show up and we did not have tickets. I was not too sure of our chances, but I figured why not. If we get to see them, awesome! If not, we are in Hollywood, we still can have fun. Let’s go!
After driving about 50 miles from Fontana to get to the Metro Red Line, we parked and rode. Now we do not have to worry about finding a parking spot in the expected chaos in Hollywood. We were amazed at the beauty of the train station. First thing we saw, rows of brown leather looking seats in a room with a high ceiling and tremendous antique looking chandeliers hanging down. We found the machines to purchase the tickets. Those machines were similar to the MetroCard machines in the NYC train stations. Just a little tip, make sure you have cash because that machine could not read any of our credit cards. Anyway, it was a good thing we had cash. It was a short ride, about 15 minutes and we were there in the Hollywood / Vine train station. The first thing I noticed when we were going up the escalator was the ceiling. The entire ceiling was decorated with a copper color metal, sculpted into a pattern of old fashioned film wheels. What a beautiful station.
We arrived at Hollywood around 1PM. As soon as we stepped outside we were able to see the event preparations going on. We easily found the stage and the VIP section, which was fenced in. There were random security guards that directed people in the right direction to get in line. We walked around the entire closed off section for the event. The section was gigantic, enough to fit a few thousand people. The line formed was already about a large block long (roughly 200 to 300 people).
We situated ourselves at the end of the line, which happened to be right in front of a bar. This bar had an outside porch where you can relax and have a drink. Those people that arrived in big groups took turns holding the spot in line and chillin’ on the porch for a quick drink. Too bad there was only two of us, so we were unable to take advantage of being in front of a bar. At 3PM a squad of police officers arrived to help control the line and the line started to move up. The line stopped in front of an apartment building complex. There were about 5 items of garbage in front of this apartment complex and the owner of the building starting bitchin’ and whining about the small pile of garbage. “This is a big event. Do you expect 10,000 people to obey your petty house rules?” I thought to myself. He threatened to call the cops while holding his cordless phone and several people on line said, “Go right ahead” and pointed at the squad of cops he can choose from. Litter is always expected in events like this. He should be thankful that the crowd was calm and behaved. Then a tow truck and a police vehicle arrived and they started to tow away every car parked on that street. I am sure glad that is not my car.
Five o’ clock rolls around and they started to let some ticket holders in. Everyone had to have their IDs and tickets ready. They let a good amount of people in and stopped. All those people were held in another section, but they were inside. Then Depeche Mode started to rehearse one of their new songs called “Wrong.” Then a little while later they began to rehearse “Personal Jesus.” A while later after that they rehearsed “Never Let Down Again.” What a nice little plus to be entertained by Depeche Mode while waiting on line.
Our first reaction was to run in trying to get as close as possible to the stage. We were squashed like sardines and all I can see are the backs of people’s heads. At around 8:30PM an announcer came on stage to let the crowd inside and outside of the closed off area that there is room for more people and they will be opening an additional gate to let more people in from the streets. That is good news, which means our friends on line will be getting in after all. I was happy for them. Standing there uncomfortable with barley any room to move, my back began to hurt on top of my already aching feet. “This is torture!” I told my husband. He agreed as he was in just as much pain as me. “Never again, I prefer to pay for seated tickets,” I suggested. My point was well taken. They decided to torture us even more by making us all scream one too many times. It was getting sickening. Well except the one brief moment the camera hung right over us. I screamed and waved with excitement at the chance of being on TV. One last bit of torture, they decided to do a practice run introducing Depeche Mode. It sounded so real that even though they told us it was just practice, I was disappointed not to hear Depeche Mode next. “Ha ha ha,” I laughed to myself. The crowds reaction insured me that I was not the only one fooled. Finally, the real introduction came.
Gil felt that playing too much video games may damage her eyes. I on the other hand was not sure about that. Considering she is only three years old I became concerned about it as well. So I looked it up.
