Web replay of WQHT's dance glory
RADIO DIAL
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, March 29th 2007, 4:00 AM
Taylor Dayne was a staple of Hot 103.5 when the station debuted in the '80s.
Joel Salkowitz, who programmed WQHT when it was a dance station, is another radio person who thinks the city could use one of those now.
In fact, he's running one - over the Internet, at
www.originalhot97.com.
It's a cool site for New York radio fans, because it not only plays dance music, but features the original jingles, production and identifiers from the station that debuted in August 1986 as "Hot 103.5" and two years later became "Hot 97."
"From the top, top, top of the World Trade Center," were its first words, at 6 p.m. on Aug. 16, 1986. "103.5 WQHT New York. ... Hot 103.5."
The station featured artists like Seduction,
Paula Abdul,
Taylor Dayne, the Cover Girls and
Debbie Gibson, mixers like
Glen Friscia, a show by C+C Music Factory, and a blizzard of live club remotes like "Saturday Night Dance Party."
"It was the hottest thing in town," says Salkowitz. "We beat Z-100 and WPLJ."
He recently decided to revive it on the 'Net, he says, "as just kind of fun thing to do, a pet project. But once I heard how it sounded when it came together, I started thinking, 'Wow, this could work today.' "
He'd love for some station to pick up the idea or at least consider it for an HD channel - those second and third channels of programming that can be sent out on the same frequency as a "regular" station.
Since terrestrial radio is pushing HD as a counter to the multiple formats available on satellite radio, Salkowitz suggests it would be a perfect fit.
Meanwhile, fans can listen online - though there's a potential problem there.
The Copyright Royalty Board just issued a ruling that raises Internet music royalty rates well beyond what most Internet radio operators say they can now pay.
"This blows my mind," says Salkowitz. "It's insane. I hope they work something out, or this could kick me off the air."
If that gets settled, Salkowitz is hopeful.
"The original Hot had a million and a half listeners," he says. "I'd be happy just to find a few thousand of them."
HALL OF FAME NOMINEES:
Bob Grant, Dan Ingram and Dr.
Laura Schlessinger are among the nominees for induction Nov. 3 into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.
The full nominee list:
Contemporary Network or Syndicated:
Art Bell, Bob Kingsley, Marian McPartland, Dr. Laura.
Pioneer Network or Syndicated: Jimmy Durante, "The Great Gildersleeve," Phil Harris & Alice Faye, "Lum & Abner."
Contemporary Local or Regional:
Jerry Coleman of San Diego, Grant,
Ronn Owens of San Francisco,
Donnie Simpson of Washington, D.C.
Pioneer Local or Regional: Bob Collins of Chicago, Ingram,
Bob Sievers of Fort Wayne, Rufus Thomas of Memphis.
Winners will be named the week of Aug. 6. ABC Radio will carry the inductions.
AROUND THE DIAL:
Morgan Prue of WLTW (106.7 FM) has been promoted from music director to assistant program director. Lite also named
Amanda Karman promotions director. ... XM Satellite Radio has four days of baseball specials as a runup to the start of this season's every-game play-by-play coverage. ... Sirius Satellite Radio is rerunning a roundtable at 4 p.m. Saturday among "Sopranos" characters who got whacked:
Vincent Pastore, Drea de Matteo, Steve Buscemi and others. ...
Christine Nagy of WLTW and
Danielle Monaro of WHTZ (100.3 FM) host the Musicians on Call charity concert and auction tomorrow at Sotheby's. ... Faustino Oramas, known as "El Guayabero" and one of the last surviving members of the Cuban band the Buena Vista Social Club, died Tuesday in Havana, age 95.
