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Booker Back at Alt92.3

T

TheBigA

This was a surprise! In the midst of all the Entercom layoffs, they bring back Booker to Alt92.3 for afternoons.

I see no print information on this, but while listening to the station today, Booker comes on and says "It's Booker, it's my first day on the job." The afternoon slot has been open for a while. Nothing on the website or anywhere else.

He's been back and forth with Alt for many years. He most recently did mornings at Entercom's KAMP in LA, but was let go in April.
 
Anyone else find it ironic that 92.3 was one of the most active rock leaning alternative stations in the late 90’s/early 00’s and is now probably one of the most pop leaning?
 
p_herring said:
Anyone else find it ironic that 92.3 was one of the most active rock leaning alternative stations in the late 90’s/early 00’s and is now probably one of the most pop leaning?
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The music has really moved in this direction, especially with the success of Billie Eilish. They could stick with what they did, or reinvent.
 
TheBigA said:
The music has really moved in this direction, especially with the success of Billie Eilish. They could stick with what they did, or reinvent.
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Right and I agree with the direction they should have moved on. As someone who grew up with K-Rock, I was often irritated we couldn’t have a proper modern rock station in town since they often ignored many of the softer Alt hits for nu metal as well as, oddly enough, playing classic rock.
 
The thing is ALT is not K Rock...There is some overlap but Alt 92.3 is far more pop leaning than K Rock was or even WPLJ from 1999 to 2003 was or Z 100 was 1994 to late in 1996. Alt today plays more pop today than Z 100 played in 1995. ALT even plays a few R & B songs you would not expect to find on an Alternative Station like Mood by 24 K and My Ex's Best Friend by Machine Gun Kelly. Most of the other alternative music of today sounds fairly soft. The soft rock of today seems to be alternative music. The format itself has moved that way.

In Los Angeles 98.7 KYSR had this type of mix from 1998 to the present and until about 2009 reported as a Hot AC. Many pop leaning alternative stations reported that way. Star 98.7 realy never changed their format but did become an alternative reporter by 2010 but really kept their core artists the same. K ROck 106.7 Los Angeles had somewhat of a rock lean but still not as hard as the 96 to 2005 New York K Rock which did become more active rock by 2000. Still Alt 92.3 wants listeners to get K Rock out of their mind. This station has different DNA than K Rock had with little musical overlap.
 
Markd said:
The thing is ALT is not K Rock...There is some overlap but Alt 92.3 is far more pop leaning than K Rock was
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But that's because the current alt music is more pop. If they want to play currents, that's kind of what they have to do. Otherwise, they can be Classic Alt and play all 90s.
 
TheBigA said:
But that's because the current alt music is more pop.
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It only seems that way because that's what the two biggest radio consolidators turned it into overnight. There's plenty of great harder rocking alternative music that's not getting played at Entercom or iHeart's Alt brands, but can still be heard on a few stations left in the country not run by radio's gorillas. Hubbard's KPNT, for example, is pulling a very respectable 6 share in St. Louis with its alternative rock mix, emphasis on the "rock", making it a top-5 station in that market.

in New York, K-Rock was still running on the 92.3-HD2 side channel as a jockless, alternative rock format at the time Entercom flipped the main channel to Alt 92.3. For a brief time, they were both running at the same time and the musical difference was obvious. I much preferred the the K-Rock version which was a holdover from the pre-Entercom era and showed that current alternative music wasn't just pop. But Entercom made the decision to take its Alt brand in a pop direction and iHeart pretty much followed suit with its own Alt stations. It's not like all the good alternative rock bands suddenly quit, but when the two biggest radio broadcasters in the nation decide to transform Alt into a pop music brand then that's what everyone will think it has become.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
It only seems that way because that's what the two biggest radio consolidators turned it into overnight.
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And that only happened because Billie Eilish swept the Grammy awards. Radio isn't in a position where it can force people to listen to music they don't like. So before radio stations take a chance on music, they need to have a sense that it will attract a large enough audience. Otherwise, they'll play Garth Brooks or Backstreet Boys.

My point is that RADIO didn't make it popular. They're just following the crowd. The MUSIC has the power to make what they do popular.
 
TheBigA said:
And that only happened because Billie Eilish swept the Grammy awards. Radio isn't in a position where it can force people to listen to music they don't like. So before radio stations take a chance on music, they need to have a sense that it will attract a large enough audience. Otherwise, they'll play Garth Brooks or Backstreet Boys.

My point is that RADIO didn't make it popular. They're just following the crowd. The MUSIC has the power to make what they do popular.
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Radio follows the crowd within the boundaries of the format it has decided to run. In Entercom's case that format is alt-pop which is what the corporate programming heads decided they wanted it to be, so they're not following the crowd that wants to hear rock. Billie Eilish appeals to a female audience which is what Entercom seems to want. Hubbard isn't forcing people to listen to its harder alternative rock format and yet it's doing very well with it, probably much better with men than Entercom is at its Alt stations.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Hubbard isn't forcing people to listen to its harder alternative rock format and yet it's doing very well with it, probably much better with men than Entercom is at its Alt stations.
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In very different cities with different music communities and different competition.

With very different talent as well. A radio station is more than just music.

You're trying to make this into some kind of conspiracy theory where radio companies are scheming to ruin music. That's not happening.
 
After just four months at WNYL, Booker has announced he's leaving for Alt98.7 in LA. That also means he's leaving Entercom for iHeart:

https://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=c41031
 
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