W X L O  9 9 X  R A D I O   N E W S 

"Hear It!" Hear how WXLO 99x sounds in 1978, plus an interview with News Director Charlie Steiner.

Tuning News to Lifestyle

Holistic Programming that Includes News

Reporter Bob Slade prepares a feature tape about discos in New York.

"We try and tie in the news, in terms of  flow,  its style, its substance, with what the rest of the hour is doing. I never expected our news would be a 'tune-in'," he admits," but if we can keep it from being a 'tune out,' we've already accomplished our goal.  We try to make that five minutes per half hour as part of the program -- part of the entire hour."

99x's news department accomplishes that mission largely by looking for ways to enter and exit a newscast smoothly.

Steiner works for a station that appreciates slick, tight transitions from one form of program, to another. So morning newscasts usually include a dialogue with the disc jockey.

If there is a feature tacked onto the end of a newscast, someone will invariably find a record to match it.  When the station ran a twenty part series on discos one week, the engineer evenly segued out of each newscast/disco piece with a disco record.  Because WXLO is an FM stereo station, it  can use deeper mixes in its produced news pieces of this type.

If there is an Al Stewart interview lofted at the end of a newscast, one has a good chance of hearing it dovetailed into an Al Stewart record.  Because of such mixes, listeners can never be sure when the newscast ends, and the music picks up again.

Steiner concedes that once inside the newscast, 99x tends to "deal with the same  basic hard-news stories that everybody else does, perhaps in a shorter, more terse way..."

He will, however, forgo extensive coverage of, say, social security benefits, in favor of stories he feels are more directly related to the 18-35 audience 99x is trying to lure in.

Audience Lingo

Charlie Steiner makes last minute edits to the morning newscast in the WXLO news booth.  See "Inside the Sound Studio" below for notes about sound equalization in the studio.

One primary difference from other New York stations, lies in the news department's use of vernacular. While WXLO may carry similar stories, it would be rare to hear Yiddish slang over the air-waves of a WQXR or WOR. It is not rare to hear such things over the air on WXLO. Nor is it uncommon to hear incomplete sentences, nor non-standard grammar:  Steiner describes stage performers as "schlepping around," newsman Bob Slade uses constructions like "for you and I" (instead of "for you and me"), and judging from. the scripts for several days' worth of newscasts, the entire news team
holds a universal aversion to the use of definite and indefinite articles.

But Steiner contends that while these usages might cause problems elsewhere, loosely constrained diction may be an asset at a New York top-40 station.

"I think what you're trying to do," Steiner reflects, "you're trying to sell a product in essence. And you're trying to
do it as informally, and as easily on the ear as you possibly can."

"Within the confines of a top-40 station, which is what we are, I think it's wise to use the vernacular, the lingo, the jargon of the audience. That's how they can best relate to what you're trying to tell them about. And if it's most effective, and most comprehensive using slang or lingo, fine, go ahead and do that."

"Running, say, an all news station, where I've had a good deal of experience, you would want to hold back on
that a little. There, you can use everyday talk, because that's the best way to get the story across. But I don't know if you want to go top-heavy with it. And if you're into a middle-of-the-road, well upper demographic, you might not want to do any slang at all."

Entertaining Weather Bits

Being an  RKO station, WXLO trades actualities (sound bites) with WOR,  and  any  other  sister  station  around  the  country.  The station also utilizes the talents of WOR's weather caster. Bill Korbell, who is known to the 99x audience by name "Flash Flood."

The WXLO control room.

Korbell engages in a daily dialogue with 99x's morning jock "from the roof" (actually, from the 23rd floor). The exchange generally involves more idle conversation than it does weather.

THOMAS: 99X, this is Jay Thomas, calling the roof of 1440 Broadway.

KORBELL :And the roof is answering. . .

STEINER: Hey, flash, how are ya?

THOMAS: Well. We've got Charlie Steiner in here. This is an undue pleasure. We also have the weather.  Do you mind if we do the weather??

STEINER: No, no, no, wait a minute

KORBELL: Yeah, I'm supposed to do the weather.

STEINER: Both of you, hold on a minute. Flash, between you and me, I got something to tell ya.

KORBELL: Okay, tell me off the air. I have a feeling it's not something I want anyone else to hear.

STEINER: You have  some new competition I see. A new weather lady is coming on T.V. tonight.

THOMAS: Now Steiner, you're gonna start something personal here that you shouldn't be starting.

STEINER: Wait a minute ... what  personal??  I was gonna ask him. I see that Tex Antoine got dumped for the ump-teenth time, and I'm just wondering what you know about Linda Caroll.  Apparently, Jay knows quite a bit about her.

Inside the Sound Studio The sound absorbers seen on the wall's of WXLO's studios are there for a purpose. Small studios require painstaking equalization -- otherwise certain frequencies will be selectively reflected by walls and other objects.  A smaller operation might simply put sound absorbers everywhere in the room -- but 99x has opted for sophisticated room equalization instead. Hear 99x engineer Barry Luckwick explain the intricacies of balancing a sound studio.

Basic Information in an Entertaining Format

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