WYNY (107.1 FM), the closest thing to an areawide country station in New York the last five years, is dropping the format and switching to something else, though exactly what else and when has not been announced.

WYNY deejays started saying goodbye on Friday. The station may continue to play country without hosts for a few days until, by some reports, it will switch to a Spanish format May 5 (Cinco de Mayo).

A quadrocast of four previously separate suburban stations that all had the same frequency, WYNY switched to country in December 1996, 10 months after the old WYNY became WKTU.

But Big City Radio, which owns WYNY, focuses on Hispanic media, so there had been rumors for years it would eventually change 'YNY to a Spanish format — particularly since Big City is in big financial trouble. Last year it had to sell stations to raise cash.

Still, some sources in the company say the final decision to change the WYNY format wasn't made until about a year ago, around the time Big City decided not to keep Jim Kerr as the morning host.

Several other jocks have left in the last year, including J. Cruze and Amy Paige, and some timeslots have run without hosts. Morning host Ray Rossi and mid-day host Eric James said goodbye on Friday, while program director/afternoon host Marty Mitchell was not on the air.

Brian Britain said goodbye on his "Saturday Night Dance Party."

Hosts played some requests, some personal favorites and a few tongue-in-cheek sets like Merle Haggard's "Big City" followed by Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It."

WYNY had signal problems for much of its country life, with many areas unable to receive it clearly. That's considered a major reason the station didn't match the listenership of the previous WYNY, whose clear signal drew more than a million listeners a week.

The current WYNY has averaged about 400,000 listeners a week in the New York area, and about 650,000 counting outlying counties. Ironically, that was still enough so several smaller suburban stations dropped country during its run, and now the area has only one country station: WKMB (1070 AM) in Stirling, N.J., which has great music, but a limited signal. It also only operates in the daytime.

Major radio companies that own large city stations have shown little interest in country, feeling the audience, while sizeable and fiercely loyal, isn't hot enough. With so much money invested in radio stations today, the big players want a station that can create buzz for promotional and advertising purposes.

Ironically, a major component of country listenership is women from the suburbs — who are a major reason pop-and-rock WPLJ has thrived for many years.

Listeners jammed the WYNY phone lines all weekend to say goodbye and ask what they could do next.

"My friends and I are country dancers and are very concerned about the future of country in the area," says listener Fran Hecht. "We need help in keeping it alive."

"I was extremely disappointed to hear the format is changing," says listener Dawn Gavenas. "What will it take to bring a country station to New York? Do I have to move down South?"