NY Radio: Except For AM Drive, WALL Flips To Hispanic

Mark West

WALL 1430 AM in Middletown, NY switched to a Spanish-language, regional Mexican music format Monday, and that switch has prompted complaints from hundreds of listeners and left morning DJ Mark West, who has hosted an oldies show on the frequency for three years, worried about his show’s future, according to the Times Herald-Record.

Townsquare Media says West and his show will remain on the air through March. Then, said Jason Finkelberg, Townsquare’s market president  says the arrangement with West will be re-evaluated.

West leases his airtime as an independent contractor.

Besides hosting his show, he sells his own ads and produces his own ad spots. He’s on 6-10 a.m. Monday-Friday with his oldies and community-oriented programming, and a satellite fills the remaining 20 hours of the broadcast day.

“I’ve got people calling saying, ‘Where the heck did my oldies go?’” said West. He said he has received 200 telephone calls and about the same number of emails.

Finkelberg said the decision to switch to the regional Mexican format is based on the fact that 20 percent of the population of the Hudson Valley is Hispanic, and the largest demographic component of that is Mexican.

He said the station’s ratings were “0.0” so Townsquare decided to try something different.