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The pop cultural phenomenon that was WLIR

Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:10 pm
by MARV
How did this radio station get so succesful? Get such a LOYAL following? I live on Long Island and to this day, I talk to people who miss this station. I think it's safe to say that LIR was responsible for giving all the old L.I. New Wave clubs their heyday in the eighties. But how and why did this obscure little station start playing music that no one heard of? How did it catch on? I mean let's face it, even during New Wave's pinnacle, it was still largely underground across the nation. Every now and then you had a New Wave band that made the top forty. But that was the exception. New York radio is R&B, rap, dance, pop, rock, easy listening, etc. Never risk taking. But how and why did LIR do it in the suburbs no less, hardly the kind of fertile ground for mostly overseas, highly unusual, unorthodox, avant garde music?

Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:23 pm
by MartiniHoudini
[quote]Originally posted by marvymarv
[br]How did this radio station get so succesful? Get such a LOYAL following? I live on Long Is

Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:31 pm
by marie3
Hey Marvymarv, go to the search area and look up the old topic "92.7 WLIR/WDRE" You will find some interesting info from Hockeybird who was DJ Bird on WLIR. This was probably posted before you joined the boards. [:D] For some reason I can't link it to

Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:26 pm
by eight6
We have a station here, CFNY, whose beginnings mirror that of WLIR's perfectly. It's been through many format changes since but the loyalty of it's listeners was legendary. If memory serves, at one point it was announced that the station was going under u

Posted:
Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:43 pm
by 2Nu
[/i]<br><blink><font size=3>[b] FYI </blink></font>[/b] <a href="http://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=785" target="blank">Here</a> is a NWO forum link roundup on the topic [;)]
BTW: WLIR is STILL on the air, albeit from waaay out of LI's

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 12:07 am
by raserx
I actually remember WLIR before the new wave format when it was a rock station. When it changed format , I listened to that station morning , noon and night. It was a big part of my life back then. I was lucky enough to go up to the station one day during

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:21 am
by MartiniHoudini
Here are some great WLIR photos:
http://www.wlir.fm/photos.htm

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:34 am
by patchyfogg
'LIR was located just close enough, but just far enough from the City, and it had the advantage of being in a rather affluent suburban environment, so that kids (I'll call them kids) could use some disposable income on the latest imports (etc.) Also, the

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:59 am
by MARV
[quote][i]Originally posted by patchyfogg[/i]
<br>'LIR was located just close enough, but just far enough from the City, and it had the adv

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 7:38 am
by Darkwave
[quote][i]Originally posted by eight6[/i]
<br>We have a station here, CFNY, whose beginnings mirror that of WLIR's perfectly. It's been through many format changes since but the loyalty of it's listeners was legendary. If memory serves, at one point it w

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 8:05 am
by KYYX4ever
[quote]Originally posted by marvymarv
[br]How did this radio station get so succesful? Get such a LOYAL following? I live on Long Is

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:31 am
by ghosty
[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]
<br>[quote]Originally posted by marvymarv
because they [i]played what we wanted to hear ALL THE TIME[/i].
{quote]
And with the current state of radio I don't think we'll see the likes of WLIR aga

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 12:20 pm
by geoffolehane
I never had a chance to hear WLIR even though I've lived in New England all my life. But the signal was too far away.
In 1983, I lived in Southern Maine and WHEB in Portsmouth, New Hampshire went all New Wave/New Music. I listened to them as much as

Posted:
Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:08 pm
by knowitallrecs
In the Philippines, we had WXB-102. Wow, what a station was. Two others - NU-107 and BM-105 - followed, but XB was incomparable:
http://www.wxb102forever.com/

Posted:
Sun Apr 24, 2005 2:17 am
by Darkwave
Does anyone know of any good European New Wave stations that were around during the 80's ? and are there any charts available anywhere on the web.