The pop cultural phenomenon that was WLIR

[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?

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[MartiniHoudini]

Here are some great WLIR photos:

http://www.wlir.fm/photos.htm

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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/

[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.