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KROQ

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As I've said in the Live 105/Dave FM thread, that format changed my life in the 80s but by the late 90s it had phased out the synth-based music I liked in favor of more of the harder stuff which used to happily co-exist- and ever since then it's been continuing to play the same overplayed songs from the 90s with some unappealing recent music that sounds the same thrown in. I was in LA a few weeks ago and tuned in KROQ to hear Pearl Jam's "Alive"- I asked out loud "Why the hell are you still playing THAT?" (I would not want them to constantly play my favorite 80s New Order tracks either, I would want to hear NEW music I haven't heard before!)

A big part of what drew me to the Rock of the 80s format wasn't just the music but the way it was programmed. I already felt insulted how the "hit music" stations doled out one song at a time from new albums, only playing the ones released as singles. These stations would play any track off the album that was good (Safety Dance by Men Without Hats was overplayed everywhere else, but you could actually hear the OTHER songs off of their album here) and sometimes would even play entire albums all the way through (the short-lived KPOP in Roseville/Sacramento did that weekly- one of my best memories was hearing all of the Eurythmics "Touch" album on Christmas morning 1983, a few weeks before the album was even released in the US! By the time it was, that station had already flipped to an awful top 40 format after only 5 months- and history now says that didn't do too well in the ratings either.)

Yes, we do need a new Rick Carroll- play the best new music that nobody else is playing, and the whole catalog of current one-hit wonders. Think outside the box and make listeners feel surprised when tuning in rather than disgusted from hearing the same songs a thousand times over. Make them say that they can't wait to find out what's playing now when they don't have a radio on. Hell, even take that approach to music I don't like but other people do.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree with a lot of what he says here. There's a point where certain formats just age out. It happened in the 80s with beautiful music. Just consider how much time, effort, and money was poured into that format. They played music, but in some cases it was original music. Music recorded by radio companies such as Bonneville to fit their format. They may have been the last radio company to do that.
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Truth, A. (y) I briefly worked at a station that used TM's Beautiful Music format (they needed someone who knew the specific automation system they inherited when they bought the station) and every instrumental reel had at least two cuts performed by the "TM Orchestra".
 
Alternative stations with higher indie music content, such as WEQX, seem to be the way forward for Alternative as a format. I especially worry about KROQ because if they go, it would be like an epic suckerpunch to the format overall. There just too much of a legacy and a value to the KROQ call sign and identity to just throw away. (But that could be said for KITS Live 105 too.)

Alternative is still where a lot of today's mainstream pop comes from. And historically, Alternative always goes through doldrums before something absolutely epic comes out of nowhere. And BOOM! Right there. It's back again. So changes like that come with major risk.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
Rick Carroll had much better music product with which to work. That is the essence of the problem.
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There is plenty of good Alternative music out there. I literally just heard a song premiere today, “in the wake of your leave”, by Gang of Youths, that has some of the best lyrics I’ve heard this decade. It goes for Alternative adds on the 25th of this month and has Warner backing. It’s an incredible song that mixes indie rock and violin. There’s a lot out there that is close to this superlative level.

The problem is that Alternative for the last couple of years placed too much emphasis on viral novelties without considering what the 20 second segment TikTok loved was attached to. Turned out there were some serious clunker songs on TikTok that the general public doesn’t enjoy. (There have also been quality songs though mind you - there’s no way to know without testing and playing).

The second issue is that Alternative tried to abandon its bread and butter in favor of sugar rushes. Pop is an effective sweetener for the format but it’s never been able to work as the main course. Every attempt to go pop-first on Alternative has backfired. The core of the format is indie rock. Trying to go pop only for Alternative just does not work because it means sacrificing the identity of the format.

Finally, I read a comment earlier about how Alternative always goes awry until a “wow” song shows up. “Hungry Like The Wolf”. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. “In The End”. “Pumped Up Kicks”. Those were the wow songs of the past - and 2021 I think brought us two.

Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” and Maneskin’s “Beggin’”. Those are the new wow songs of Alternative. And as they both combine the past and future of music in their own ways (“Heat Waves” is from the venerable synthpop genre and “Beggin’” has classic hard rock stylings), they are not mutually exclusive tracks. Zoomers seem to be yearning for the halcyon days of the past they never got to see but are spinning it in their own ways. That’s why there’s so much roots rock influence emerging on modern indie. Why so many electronic tracks summon the spirits of New Order, Soft Cell, and Depeche Mode. But they all take those trappings and do something new with those classic sounds.

And most importantly - both songs are big pop hits loved by the masses, scoring highly on callouts and streamed by millions.

Alternative is not dead but it needs to learn how to harness the moment - and figure out how to handle the fact that it has two “wow” songs to build the future of the format around and not just one.
 
Barry said:
RadioInsight has an article speculating KROQ may flip to active rock. This is based on an employment ad seeking to hire a personality familiar with the active rock format.
From RadioInsight
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A risky move considering there are less new hard rock songs compared to alternative in general. Not to mention the ethnic makeup of the market is less favorable towards new rock; likewise, New York, Miami, and Boston are less receptive towards rock. And does anyone actually think Los Angeles has a similar state of mind as cities like Houston, St Louis, or Milwaukee? But even in Dallas and Atlanta, rock radio is tepid.
 
victorres43 said:
A risky move considering there are less new hard rock songs compared to alternative in general.
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Let's put it this way: They don't have much to lose. I'm sure someone has spoken with the record labels to see if there's enough product in the pipeline. LA is a very big spread out market. There are pockets where this might get an audience. They need to tie in with the creative community and give listeners something more than just another ten in a row.
 
First thought - whomever issued that job posting simply screwed up. This is Audacy, after all.

Second thought - a case can certainly be made for such a move. Stranger things have happened! KROQ earned its best ratings in the late 90s and very early 00s when it featured a decent dose of current and recurrent hard rock in its playlist alongside the standard alternative fare.

A version of the format that blends Active Rock and alternative product together earns seemingly decent ratings in San Diego. KISW, a personality driven station featuring Active Rock, over the years has earned great ratings in Seattle.

Time to bring back the "LA and OC's only new rock" positioner perhaps. :)
 
Is KROQ Flipping To Active Rock?

Is Audacy’s legendary Alternative 106.7 KROQ Pasadena/Los Angeles about to make a musical shift?

A job posting for a new part-time host on the company’s corporate site appears to indicate KROQ will drop Alternative for Active Rock.

Two parts of the posting stick out. The posting is specifically looking for talent with knowledge of the Active Rock format and audience. While it is quite concerning that the job is part-time to host “a daily music-intensive solo show” in Los Angeles, it would make sense if the station needs to replace the nightly Alternative format shows based out of New York as they would no longer fit the format."
 
TheBigA said:
Let's put it this way: They don't have much to lose. I'm sure someone has spoken with the record labels to see if there's enough product in the pipeline. LA is a very big spread out market. There are pockets where this might get an audience. They need to tie in with the creative community and give listeners something more than just another ten in a row.
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Not entirely false, but the pockets of listeners may live in South OC or the Inland Empire, places where the KROQ signal is weak.

MarkW said:
First thought - whomever issued that job posting simply screwed up. This is Audacy, after all.

Second thought - a case can certainly be made for such a move. Stranger things have happened! KROQ earned its best ratings in the late 90s and very early 00s when it featured a decent dose of current and recurrent hard rock in its playlist alongside the standard alternative fare.

A version of the format that blends Active Rock and alternative product together earns seemingly decent ratings in San Diego. KISW, a personality driven station featuring Active Rock, over the years has earned great ratings in Seattle.

Time to bring back the "LA and OC's only new rock" positioner perhaps. :)
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But KROQ's ratings during the late 90s/early 00s collided with heavy general interest in nu-metal, etc. Nothing of that sort is occurring today.

And San Diego and Seattle are less ethnically diverse than LA. Plus, San Diego has a large conservative military population, whereas Seattle has the grunge scene (and KISW plays a lot of grunge, Seattle-born or otherwise).
 
Former KROQ OM Gene Sandbloom has put together a sound on KINK Portland that really nicely blends the "Roq of the 80s" classics with new, like-sounding fare. It sort of sounds like what KROQ ought to be in 2022. Sean Ross just named it one of his most intriguing stations of the year. A very different market, but do you think the KINK format would work on KROQ (or at least give it a bit more life)?
 
Doctah said:
Right, but this isn't necessarily a "Portland format," it's got KROQ genes (pun intended).
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Yes I know, that's why it's great for Portland. All the expats love it. That wouldn't be the case in LA.

Seems to me KROQ ran this format on HD2.
 
Barry said:
RadioInsight has an article speculating KROQ may flip to active rock. This is based on an employment ad seeking to hire a personality familiar with the active rock format.
From RadioInsight
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More amusing is that the opening specifies "part time".
 
Doctah said:
Former KROQ OM Gene Sandbloom has put together a sound on KINK Portland that really nicely blends the "Roq of the 80s" classics with new, like-sounding fare. It sort of sounds like what KROQ ought to be in 2022. Sean Ross just named it one of his most intriguing stations of the year. A very different market, but do you think the KINK format would work on KROQ (or at least give it a bit more life)?
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Not only is LA very different in social values and self-identity, it is radically different in ethnicities and origins. LA is now well over 70% ethnic (Black, Hispanic, Asian) and first generation immigrants (not just Hispanics and Asians, but Russians, Persians, Lebanese, Armenians, etc.). Most of that huge category has no background that involves rock of any kind, particularly alternative.

The problem with alternative in LA is the change in market composition. And it sure is not Portland (OR or ME).
 
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