Classical music station WNIB-FM 97.1, the longtime home of Strauss and Stravinsky, went all-Streisand at 12:25 this morning.
Without comment, aside from an hourly station identification, the station was playing only Barbra Streisand songs today.
The change could provide a clue to the new format coming to WNIB or Streisand could be a ruse to fool competitors. But officials at Bonneville International Corp., which assumed control of WNIB and sister station WNIZ-FM 96.9 at 12:01 a.m., weren’t saying.
Barry James, station manager at Bonneville-owned WTMX-FM 101.9 FM, said that WNIB’s listeners could expect something different soon. “If it’s Tuesday, I can guarantee it won’t be all-Yentl,” he said. James added that the format change could come as early as the end of the week or as late as the end of the month. “When all the pieces are together 100 percent, we’ll be ready,” he said.
Also today, WNIZ stopped simulcasting WNIB’s signal and began instead simulcasting WTMX, “The Mix”.
James said the WNIZ simulcast of WTMX’s adult-contemporary format would continue “full time” from now on.
Sonia Florian, who with her husband Bill sold Bonneville the two stations for $165 million — one of the largest price tags in radio history — said she “didn’t have a clue” what the new owners were planning. But she joked that all-Streisand is “better than all-Kiss.” Florian said that she and her husband would pay all 12 of the employees under their ownership six-figure severance packages by the end of this week.
Continuity director Richard Covello, one of two employees to be retained by Bonneville, was manning the phones at WNIB today. An employee since 1982, he said he had fielded a “couple of dozen” calls about the continuous Streisand music, but said the station was “inundated” with calls over the weekend, as some of the station’s on-air personalities made their farewells to listeners.
Attempts to reach Bonneville spokespersons in Chicago and at the company’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, for comment were unsuccessful.
