1st look at the revamped East Village Radio studio on 1st Avenue

As you may have heard, East Village Radio is returning.

The station signed off last May 23 after 11 years. Ultimately, East Village Radio's popularity did them in. The Internet station was averaging more than 1 million listeners worldwide a month.

"Every time we get a new listener, it costs us more money with licensing fees and Internet costs," East Village Radio CEO Frank Prisinzano told us last May. "After doing some projections, we see that it is going to be very, very difficult for us to continue to break even."

The comeback was made possible by the recently launched Dash Radio network. (Brooklyn Vegan had the scoop on the return last November.) East Village Radio and a new sister station — Brooklyn Radio, which will operate from a storefront studio in Williamsburg — are now part of the Dash family.

East Village Radio is expected to be up and running in less than two weeks. (Keep an eye on the station's Twitter feed for more relaunching info.)

So why is this time different for the station?

"We have an infrastructure that we didn't have before," Peter Ferraro, the general manager/head of programming at East Village Radio, told us during a telephone interview. "Last time it was us trying to really bootstrap it … I don't know if we had the team in place. Now we have someone looking after the licensing situation for us. We have a good team of radio people, and people who know the music business and the media landscape."

Said Prisinzano, the chef who owns neighborhood restaurants Frank, Lil Frankies, Supper and Sauce: "I'm so happy to give it back to the neighborhood. I'm excited that we figured it out."

In recent weeks, workers have revamped the small studio space at 19 First Ave. between East First Street and East Second Street. Workers upgraded the heat and air conditioning, among other things.

"And we've upgraded the equipment," Ferraro said. "It's a significant investment in the equipment and the platform."

Ferraro invited EVG contributor James Maher inside the storefront studio to check out the new equipment … and new look.











On Wednesday, Ferraro did the first test in the studio with returning DJs Chances with Wolves.

First day of testing out the new setup with @ChanceswWolves .. pic.twitter.com/EKmLNo0fjt

— East Village Radio (@EVRadio) April 15, 2015

Aside from some returning favorites, Ferraro said that there will be new live and recorded shows and programming as well as some produced specials. He stressed that there won't be as many shows on the schedule as when they signed off last May — at least initially.

"In the beginning, anyone tuning in expecting it to be actually the way it was … it won't," he said. "It will get to what it was — 10-12 hours of live programming, then re-streams and pre-recorded stuff. We really want to ramp it up slowly and do it right."

We asked Prisinzano what he missed the most about East Village Radio.

"The music! We missed East Village Radio just as much as everyone else. We get to be listening again. We can't wait."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: East Village Radio is signing off after 11 years; final day of broadcasting is May 23 (53 comments)

East Village Radio says goodbye with Johnny Thunders

Signs of life at East Village Radio, but what does it mean?