Radio 103.9, new R&B radio station aimed at African-American women, to hit NYC airwaves July 4th



New R&B radio station, Radio 103.9 to hit NYC airwaves on July 4th, aimed at African-American women - Erykah-Badu


New York City is about to get a new R&B station on a part of the radio dial few New Yorkers visit: What will be called Radio 103.9 will flip to the urban adult format July 4, with the station officially launching July 7. Parent company Cumulus Media is announcing the new format Thursday morning.

The station, currently known as WFAS-FM, broadcasts out of Westchester and plays adult contemporary music, similar to the soft rock of Lite-FM. Along with the format change, 103.9 will move its broadcasting operation to the Bronx and its on-air talent to the studios of Cumulus Media in midtown Manhattan.



The flip to R&B is only the latest move from Cumulus. The Atlanta-based radio operator launched New York's only country station, Nash-FM, on 94.7 FM in January 2013, and has been remaking talk radio station WABC-AM and soft rock station WPLJ-FM, to mixed results.
Ratings plunged at WABC after hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity moved to WOR-AM in January. WPLJ saw a ratings drop this spring after longtime morning host Scott Shannon left for classic rock station WCBS-FM.
Radio 103.9, which was welcomed to New York Wednesday night with a party at Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, will be going up against one of the city's top stations, WBLS-FM. New York's oldest urban station has been on a roll since its younger-skewing rival WRKS-FM, long-branded as Kiss-FM, went off the air in 2012 and WBLS took some of both its talent and its audience.
Read rest of the article here at its source: Crains New York