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Wave Goodbye To The WBMP...

It really won't matter since the station will still brand with ALT 92.3. They only have to use the calls at the top of the hour.
 
Say hello to WNYL.

I almost already said goodbye to the station with the uptick in all that old crap from the 90s that are the most beat to death songs on radio, particularly Green Day. They had a good thing going with the new music. Such a shame they are wrecking the station with the played out oldies.

Even if you are a very casual listener to the genre, I really cannot see anyone that would want to tolerate listening to the most over played oldie songs on radio. It is one thing to do that with new music since they are not played out and it gets people used to hearing it, but not with songs that have already been beaten to death for the last 30 years.

One may say well look at CBS-FM, well CBS-FM is playing from a large historical library of oldies. They are not simply repeating 12 of the most over played songs from the 90s.
 
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Should they add 70's Punk, 80's Alternative and 90's Grunge, plus new music of the 2000's.

If they are going to call their station "New Alternative" then they should at least stick to the last year in heavy rotation and then mix in the last 5-10 years. There is a wealth of alternative hits including crossovers they could chose from the last 5-10 years rather than have to go back to those same few played out hit songs from the 90s. I am not saying never play the 90s, but those same songs in that heavy rotation were already like nails on the chalkboard they are so played out but even worse is taking them and playing them in very heavy rotation.

I think they should drop anything before 2000 or at least not play those same old songs in such heavy rotation. There are plenty of other 90s Alternative they could play if they insist on oldies from the 90s. Anything before that belongs on a classic rock station and in 2018 I do not think the classic rock listener is going to give a damn. Some of what 92.3 plays from back then is already being played on q1043 and the lighter Green Day stuff shows up everywhere.
 
There is a wealth of alternative hits including crossovers they could chose from the last 5-10 years

"Alternative hits?" That's a contradiction. If they play the crossovers, that will tick off the purists.

The old songs are there to help the ratings. There are a very limited number of consensus recent songs they can play.
 
If the station mirrors at all at what happened at their alt station in Miami, it will start out as a very pop alternative and, over time, start adding other more unfamiliar songs. It makes sense. If you're not much of an alternative listener and tune in, you'll recognize most of the music and stick with the station.
 
Questions: What do the time-spent-listening scorecards say about Alternative stations ?
Compared to other forms of relatively modern music stations, I mean .... WQHT, WAXQ, WHTZ.

And how does a station such as that in 2018 measure up to the TSL to the WNEW-FM of the Scott Muni era?
 
"Alternative hits?" That's a contradiction. If they play the crossovers, that will tick off the purists.

The old songs are there to help the ratings. There are a very limited number of consensus recent songs they can play.

For lack of a better word I was calling a hit anything that did well on the Alternative charts at one time over the last 10 years. I would think those who listen to "Today's Alternative" are nothing like the AOR purists from the 70-80s, since this new alternative has a very popish sound for the last 10 years and crosses over frequently, unlike AOR. Besides purists are not going to listen to a station that plays those same completely worn out old Alternative songs from the 90s. If they do not want today's Alternative they will stick to streaming the classics or find those same few songs on the Q.

I suppose that could be the strategy, hoping the people that sit around waiting to hear those played out Alternative sounds they hear on the Q and other stations will come over to 92.3. Alt stations come and go since that strategy never ends well. With competition from streaming the only way I see music radio surviving is bringing something new to the table.
 
With competition from streaming the only way I see music radio surviving is bringing something new to the table.

Only if the music is good, and there are CONSENSUS alternative artists and songs. That's what works in mass media, and it unfortunately doesn't happen any more. If it's just a bunch of artists preaching to their specific fan bases, it's better accomplished on the internet. If an artist really wants to reach a mass audience, they tend to leave the genre and cross over to pop, where the infrastructure supports them in terms of radio promotion. But that is the problem, that artists and labels don't promote current alternative music to traditional radio. They prefer to put their bands in a van, and have them play non-stop shows in small venues. As long as that happens, the format will be the way it is.

Sure you can hear those 90s songs on the Q, but that's ALL you hear there. For people who want a mix of the old and new, there's ALT. That's the difference.
 
It's appears that most music stations in major markets such as this one tend to have rather small playlists. Clearly that tight focus works in terms of bringing in the PPM ratings.
Though it is AAA rather than alternative, I find that The Peak 107.1 is an exception, perhaps due to their limited suburban signal. They play a wide variety of old and new rock, including some alternative. The AAA format may allow for more variety than very niche ones such as Alternative.
 
It's appears that most music stations in major markets such as this one tend to have rather small playlists. Clearly that tight focus works in terms of bringing in the PPM ratings.
Though it is AAA rather than alternative, I find that The Peak 107.1 is an exception, perhaps due to their limited suburban signal. They play a wide variety of old and new rock, including some alternative. The AAA format may allow for more variety than very niche ones such as Alternative.

Even though I prefer newer music, I find myself going back to listening to 107.1 quite a bit since it is just too annoying to hear the repetitive played 90s stuff on 92.3. But unfortunately "The Peak" seems to have dialed the newer music back quite a bit (maybe because of 92.3) except for some very popular tracks from the last 18 years. At least if it is something I have not heard in awhile it will keep me tuned in before getting fed up, trying 92.3 again, getting fed up again hearing another played out 90s song and then going back to streaming for newer music.

I had pretty much abandoned streaming during the winter months with the convenience of solely listening to radio because of mainly 92.3 and having 107.1 as a secondary choice.
 
Only if the music is good, and there are CONSENSUS alternative artists and songs. That's what works in mass media, and it unfortunately doesn't happen any more. If it's just a bunch of artists preaching to their specific fan bases, it's better accomplished on the internet. If an artist really wants to reach a mass audience, they tend to leave the genre and cross over to pop, where the infrastructure supports them in terms of radio promotion. But that is the problem, that artists and labels don't promote current alternative music to traditional radio. They prefer to put their bands in a van, and have them play non-stop shows in small venues. As long as that happens, the format will be the way it is.

Sure you can hear those 90s songs on the Q, but that's ALL you hear there. For people who want a mix of the old and new, there's ALT. That's the difference.

You do not have to follow artists preaching to specific fan bases. All one or a station has to do is use something like the Billboard Triple-AAA or Alternative charts for their playlist for new music and for the last 10 years. All the various streaming services have Alternative channels that appear to do exactly that considering their playlists are very close to the new and historical charts. While radio does not offer that, at least barely with 92.3.

People that are not familiar with the music will eventually be familiar with it after it is in heavy rotation. It is how average people learn about new music and new artists, even it is just a one hit wonder that charts. It was radio that made them known since average people are not going to spend their time researching or following bands.
 
Questions: What do the time-spent-listening scorecards say about Alternative stations ?
Compared to other forms of relatively modern music stations, I mean .... WQHT, WAXQ, WHTZ.

And how does a station such as that in 2018 measure up to the TSL to the WNEW-FM of the Scott Muni era?

You can’t compare TSL pre-2008 with today’s PPM TSL. The PPM caused time using radio (PUR) to instantly decline by nearly 40%, so any view of NYC TSL today has to account for that.
 
You do not have to follow artists preaching to specific fan bases. All one or a station has to do is use something like the Billboard Triple-AAA or Alternative charts for their playlist for new music and for the last 10 years.

Mike Kaplan of WBMP reports to the Mediabase Alternative chart. So that chart reflects the airplay of WBMP.

People that are not familiar with the music will eventually be familiar with it after it is in heavy rotation.

Maybe, but typically alternative audiences are not that tolerant of new songs they don't like. Once again, the reason the older songs are being played is because that's what attracts the audience. If they play a lot of unfamiliar music or artists, the alternative audience will go someplace else.
 
Here in Philly, RFF is playing that horrible soccer mom remake of Africa by Weezer at least once an hour, is this what the Alternative format is evolving into, much different than years back, when Better than Ezra, Screaming Trees and the Flys were on the airwaves...
 
Here in Philly, RFF is playing that horrible soccer mom remake of Africa by Weezer at least once an hour, is this what the Alternative format is evolving into, much different than years back, when Better than Ezra, Screaming Trees and the Flys were on the airwaves...

27 spins on WRFF in the past 7 days. So approximately 4 spins per day. Or once every 6 hours. Well below the top spins it's getting on WLUM at 52x this week.
 
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