format. In March 2009, WRXP announced that Nik Carter, formerly of WXRK, and later with VH1, joined as the station as its afternoon drive personality. On June 16, 2008, Leslie Fram, formerly of WNNX in Atlanta, was appointed Program Director. She also co-hosted the WRXP morning drive (and later midday) show with Pinfield. On November 9, 2008, Anything Anything with Rich Russo debuted on the station. Merlin Media On June 21, 2011, it was announced that majority ownership of WRXP was acquired by Merlin Media LLC, a new entity headed by veteran radio executive Randy Michaels. The sale, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved in September 2011, included two other Emmis-owned stations in Chicago, WLUP-FM and WKQX. Merlin registered several domains for what the new format of the station would be, including a return of WYNY's country music format, but many suggested an all-news radio format. All of WRXP's DJs, except for Cavalconte, were dismissed, and at 5 p.m. on July 15, 2011, WRXP's rock format ended with "Long Live Rock" by The Who. WRXP's website (MyRXP.com) continued operation after the station left the airwaves, offering its music format via streaming online audio and later a Spotify playlist (with occasional new songs added) until Merlin acquired the domain name. After a brief period of dead air, WRXP (whose call sign was changed to WEMP on July 21) switched to a stunt of adult contemporary music branded as "101.9 FM New," which served as a transition to the station's new format. The first song on "FM New" was "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock. "101.9 FM New" featured a live morning show that began at 6:00 a.m. on July 18, hosted by Paul Cavalconte (who had been with 101.9 since 1998), with Jeff McKay (a New York traffic reporter formerly of Shadow Traffic and WINS) providing traffic reports and weather updates (until the next day, when meteorologist Scott Derek began). News reports and news blocks were gradually introduced beginning with a 3 p.m. newscast on July 25, 2011, anchored by Dave Packer and Mike Barker. FM News 101.9 On August 12, 2011, the station ended its adult contemporary stunt and became an all-news station as "FM News 101.9." It followed in the footsteps of its Chicago sister station WWWN (the former and current WKQX), which flipped to all-news on July 29. As conceived by Merlin's then-COO, Walter Sabo, "FM News"