The Syndicate Blog

At 4pm today, New York City lost a smooth jazz station (sorry Kenny G.) but gained a rock station as CD 101.9 pulled the plug on its dentist-office friendly format that it had been playing for the last 20 years and unveiled WRXP, “The New York Rock Experience.”

Considering that the New York rock experience has, for the last decade or so, consisted of Lenny Kravitz, Foo Fighters, Green Day and Nirvana, we weren’t expecting much. However, the station’s website showed their first hour of music, and for the most part, it’s pretty impressive. For a market that’s been a lot more likely to play Velvet Revolver than the Velvet Underground, it was both risky and exhilarating to have heard Lou Reed’s voice emanating out of the Syn stereo. Then to follow up it up with R.E.M.’s “Supernatural Suerserious,” a song that isn’t even out yet, was a nice one-two combo to start off a new station. Here’s the rest of the first hour, which, with the exception of Nickelback, we’re pretty ok with.

The Velvet Underground – Rock And Roll
R.E.M – Supernatural Suerserious
Elvis Costello – Pump It Up
Tom Petty – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Blondie – Call Me
The Bravery – Believe
Bruce Springsteen – Blinded By The Light
The Flaming Lips – Do You Realize
U2 – Angel Of Harlem
Nickelback – Rockstar
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Zephyr Song
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
The Killers – Somebody Told Me