It gets back to what are those artists and their labels doing to help propel them to the next level? When you look at other genres, there more work being done to break artists rather than just throwing spaghetti against the wall. In other genres, it's more of a partnership.
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It gets back to what are those artists and their labels doing to help propel them to the next level? When you look at other genres, there more work being done to break artists rather than just throwing spaghetti against the wall. In other genres, it's more of a partnership.
"they went too far into female oriented soft rock territory in 2018 rather than what historically would sound like Alternative."
This is such a relative viewpoint however. Historically alternative had a large amount of synthpop and dance oriented, almost pop records - if you look to the early days of the format, there was a lot of Depeche Mode, New Order, and so on. There was also punk, and folk, and novelty, and guitar rock. It wasn't until the grunge era that "alternative" radio in many instances decided to lean so heavily on a male audience. Which led to the post grunge doldrums of the format which for many of us was practically unlistenable. Then came Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, and college educated adult professionals in many cases abandoned the format when it became Active Rock 2.0.
The Active Rock format itself only works in limited situations. Alternative wouldn't be wise chasing that path again. 92.3 has been there and done that with K-Rock. It may not be to your particular tastes, but they have to broaden their demographic and follow what alternative is today, not what it "used to" sound like. I would make the case that at times, it sounds more like alternative originally did than it was in the mid to late 90s. I do think that tracks like Meg Myers and St. Vincent could work for the station, but I'm sure they've looked at that in their research.
This is such a relative viewpoint however. Historically alternative had a large amount of synthpop and dance oriented, almost pop records - if you look to the early days of the format, there was a lot of Depeche Mode, New Order, and so on. There was also punk, and folk, and novelty, and guitar rock. It wasn't until the grunge era that "alternative" radio in many instances decided to lean so heavily on a male audience. Which led to the post grunge doldrums of the format which for many of us was practically unlistenable. Then came Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, and college educated adult professionals in many cases abandoned the format when it became Active Rock 2.0.
The Active Rock format itself only works in limited situations. Alternative wouldn't be wise chasing that path again. 92.3 has been there and done that with K-Rock. It may not be to your particular tastes, but they have to broaden their demographic and follow what alternative is today, not what it "used to" sound like. I would make the case that at times, it sounds more like alternative originally did than it was in the mid to late 90s. I do think that tracks like Meg Myers and St. Vincent could work for the station, but I'm sure they've looked at that in their research.
The problem is the music industry hasn't made a commitment to what alternative is today. They're waiting for something to happen big.
I agree with that for the most part but only up until 2018 where in some cases I believe the charts went too far off course. I have no issue with the move to the middle demographically or the more popish sounding it has become in recent years. Just pointing out in 2018 there are cases that I mentioned where I believe they went way too far. There are several songs that charted that I would expect to hear on a station catering to women and children. People can say what they want for the love and hate of mixing the various sub-genres of Alternative, yet they were still Adult sounding formats up until 2018 regardless of at any time leaning more male than female.
If I remember correctly there was a dip in Alt 92.3 ratings in May but then went back up a month later. What were they doing more that month? Beating the crap out of Crchves Barbie sounding hit among other things.
Next PPM should be interesting.
Not sure exactly what you're saying, but advertisers aren't usually interested in cume.
I think Alt radio lost me around 2013. They did a good job with ditching the lame-ass angst-rock bands and stale remnants of post-grunge (think Three Days Grace, Seether, etc), but they also showed diminishing returns for quality guitar-driven rock (see the recent underperformances of Foo Fighters, Chevelle, Rise Against, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam -- pretty much all of the 90s legends and some of the more objectively-liked 2000s acts) which really disappointed me. With the disappearance of that style of music came a new opportunity to make indie darlings the new chart dominaters of the format (The National, The War on Drugs, St. Vincent, Manchester Orchestra, etc.), but instead, those bands struggled hard and had to settle for being AAA juggernauts instead. Had Alt radio replaced the aggressive rock with what is dominating AAA right now, the format would be in a much better place.
But no, they had to give Judah & The Lion, AJR, and Imagine Dragons #1 hits instead. **** off.
But no, they had to give Judah & The Lion, AJR, and Imagine Dragons #1 hits instead. **** off.
Statistically the AAA audience is very small and very old.
Has any AAA station launched in the last 25 years been commercially successful?
They tend to be non-commercial.
Are "AAA" and "Alternative" the same thing? When I think of "AAA" I think of, mainly, college/public radio formats leaning toward Americana and similar genres, while "Alternative" calls to mind stations focused on non-CHR rock of the past 20 years or so with a fair amount of new music. In Boston, for example, I think of WUMB as AAA, WBOS as Alternative. Incorrect?
... for a reason!
That's correct. Also WXPN in Philly.
There is a generalization that older folks don't like new music. But those who do tend to seek out AAA stations.
I can see why older folks in Boston would seek out WUMB! The station's heritage is in folk music, and the last 2 days' playlists have old -- I mean '60s old -- Dylan, Joan Baez, and Simon & Garfunkel on them, along with the folkier sides of the Beatles, the Band and the Dead.. And a new release getting plenty of exposure is Kathy Mattea's "Pretty Bird." She was a country star in the '80s and '90s, but this, like her previous two albums, is mainly folk with a bit of blues. I could play WUMB for my 88-year-old mother and not hear a disparaging word!
Is there a stream for it or only on HD2? If there is I could not find it on radio.com or a google search.
At this point New Arrivals seems to be a very small batch of new, unfamiliar, yet-to-chart pop-alternative releases playing on shuffle with no separation rules. Some of these songs got repeated 2, 3, even 4 times in two hours.
4:00 p.m. Hour:
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Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Strait
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Yuno - No Going Back
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
Sigrid - Sucker Punch
Twenty One Pilots - Morph
Jane Holiday - Something to Believe In
Tom Morello - Every Step That I Take
Houses - Fast Talk
The 1975 - Love it If We Made It
Bloodboy - Keep Your Disease
Lil Peep & XXXTentacion - Falling Down
Roy Blair - Dennis
Kurt Vile - Loading Zones
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Treat You Better
Florence & the Machine - Patricia
5:00 p.m. Hour:
--------------
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Lala Lala - Destroyer
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
Jagwar Twin - Loser
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Bob Moses - Back Down
Tom Morello - Every Step That I Take
The 1975 - Love it If We Made It
Poppy - Time is Up
Lil Peep & XXXTentacion - Falling Down
Father John Misty - Date Night
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Treat You Better
Yuno - No Going Back
Foxing - Nearer My God
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Sigrid - Sucker Punch
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
4:00 p.m. Hour:
--------------
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Strait
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Yuno - No Going Back
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
Sigrid - Sucker Punch
Twenty One Pilots - Morph
Jane Holiday - Something to Believe In
Tom Morello - Every Step That I Take
Houses - Fast Talk
The 1975 - Love it If We Made It
Bloodboy - Keep Your Disease
Lil Peep & XXXTentacion - Falling Down
Roy Blair - Dennis
Kurt Vile - Loading Zones
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Treat You Better
Florence & the Machine - Patricia
5:00 p.m. Hour:
--------------
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Lala Lala - Destroyer
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
Jagwar Twin - Loser
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Bob Moses - Back Down
Tom Morello - Every Step That I Take
The 1975 - Love it If We Made It
Poppy - Time is Up
Lil Peep & XXXTentacion - Falling Down
Father John Misty - Date Night
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Treat You Better
Yuno - No Going Back
Foxing - Nearer My God
Twenty One Pilots - The Hype
Sigrid - Sucker Punch
morgxan f/ Walk the Moon - Home
I don't understand the point of this channel. It's none of the usual alternative format variants like college alternative, first wave alternative or 90s-based grunge. It's just 100% unfamiliar new songs on repeat. So is it meant to be a vanity channel to reinforce the station's new music brand image? Or a PR tool they can use for label relations? Because they can't possibly expect to get meaningful ratings or advertising revenue from this, can they?
As an alt music fan I'll say it's not a very good listen. I'm curious what the business model is, or if it's just a placeholder for something else to come.
As an alt music fan I'll say it's not a very good listen. I'm curious what the business model is, or if it's just a placeholder for something else to come.
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