Why Ask Y?

Philadelphia's best morning radio show -- I know what you're thinking, and believe me, in this case I'm not damning with faint praise; these guys are good -- is on the move. Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison were to have aired their final show on Y-100 tomorrow, then take six months off, as mandated by their contract, before resurfacing on WMMR later this summer. The Inquirer's Michael Klein reports today, though, that Y-100 dumped its DJs at noon today in anticipation of a format change. Preston and Steve apparently won't get to do that last show, and Y-100 soon will switch from its usually tiresome modern rock format to that of sister station 103.9, whose urban sound is equally unappealing to me. I can't say I'll miss nonstop Good Charlotte and Limp Bizkit, but replacing them with Snoop Dogg, Usher, and P. Diddy is hardly my idea of a good listen.

No matter. The bigger loss is that of Preston and Steve for half a year. They say they'll keep us up to date during their hiatus, but that's not going to help my morning commute between now and September. Steve's Michael Jackson riffing brings tears to the eyes, and with Jacko's kiddie molestation trial about to start, that's an awful lot of radio gold that, sadly, isn't going to happen. Hurry back soon, guys.

Comments

[Jeff "Moose"]

I know that "nonstop Good Charlotte and Limp Bizkit" isn't appealing to you, but Y-100 has been one of the best radio stations that my generation has -- sorry, TD, we're of different ages, it's time to admit it.

I am equally irked at the overplaying of some of the lesser artists, but Y-100 has done an outstanding job, especially over the past few years, of bringing new rock to the forefront. It was truly Philadelphia's alternative station. Without it, I'd have never learned the wonders of Jimmy Eat World, Coldplay, Modest Mouse, and dozens of other quality bands.

It's going to be sad attending a Jimmy Eat World concert this April and seeing the Y100 balloons everywhere -- they are the sponsor, and I've seen defunct stations come out for their sponsored shows before. It will remind me of a time when I could switch to 100.3 and have the best chances of any other stations of hearing something decent. I'm going to miss it.

Hurry back, indeed, Preston and Steve. I'll certainly tune to MMR in the mornings for you. But let's hope that, through the efforts of protests and petitions, Y-100 comes back too.

[Mrs. SC]

Maybe this format change will break their non-compete and they'll be on MMR earlier than expected. As for Steve's impressions, with the recent news from the Vatican, there's more gold we'll be missing.

[Tom G]

Sounds like an XM subscription might be in your future...

[gr]

y-100 did a nice job with local music, with the show and the tuesday night music club at the grape street. they did about as much "non-commercial" type stuff that a commercial radio station can do. its just the marketplace currently. just a few weeks ago, DC lost the likewise dc101 to a spanish/cuban/latino format.

[Mark]

If they were smart, WMMR would take this opportunity to become more modern rock and stop trying to be WYSP (what a sad irony for those of us remember the pre-Stern days when it was 'YSP trying to be like 'MMR). 'MMR should be preparing themselves for when Stern leaves for pay-radio and 'YSP's loyal listeners stop being so loyal.

Speaking of pre-Stern-era 'MMR, Mark "the Shark" Drucker died this week, and I haven't seen or heard much about it on the local news (I saw it on the KYW - where he was working recently - website). In retrospect the Morning Zoo was corny, but during my high school years I thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

[Tom]

Great comments, all. Jeff, you're right about Y-100's good stuff -- as much as I lament much of their playlist, they also spun a lot of good stuff that no one else in the area really did. Greg, my brother was telling me about the departure of 'HFS -- the rumor up here is that the local "mix" station may go moder rock. And Mark, I did indeed see about Mark the Shark -- De Bella was never my cup of tea, but Shark seemed to have been well liked.

[Dave Thomer]

The irony for me about this is that this is both history repeating itself and a closing of the circle. I remember when 103.9 was WDRE, a modern rock station simulcasting out of New York. It was easily my favorite station in high school in the early 90s. As alternative hit the mainstream, Y100 went modern rock, and while I never liked it as much as DRE, I was apparently alone in that - Y100 started eating DRE's lunch. Eventually 103.9 got sold and my modern rock station got replaced by The Beat, and a lot of the DRE folks moved down to Y100.

Fast forward a few years, and the company that bought 103.9 buys Y100 and eventually moves the former down the dial to replace the latter. So now one dance station has managed to kill not one, but TWO modern rock stations in ten years. Amazing.

If WXPN ever goes dance, I'm heading for the clock tower.

[Bill]

I am not going to miss Y-100 either Tom...though I love Preston and Steve. I do agree with one of the comments that this is a good chance for MMR to reinvent themselves. Stop trying to be YSP...they should be more MGK with some current stuff mixed in. Why not relive some of the glory days of the 80s and play 80s rock?

I wrote a little on Mark the Shark on my blog. I agree that it was cheesier than Kraft Mac and Cheese but I loved it. I do remember getting swayed a bit over to Eagle 106 and Barsky for a time but the Zoo always brought me back!