• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

95.9 The River now Chicago's classic "alternative"

CMNTMXR57

CMNTMXR57

I turned on the radio in the garage yesterday morning while prepping to do my yard duties, the last preset I had it on was 95.9 The River, and hear some music that is an answer to a question no one asked... An alternative rock classic station. Think of it as a mix of 90's - 00's WTMX and Q101 is the best way to describe it. Again, an answer to a question no one asked for. They must've switched late Friday night (midnight maybe).

I don't care about the research or target dems answers one will give. The way it was, was a very popular station around here in the western burbs. I go in to auto parts stores, 95.9 the river, hear it on harley's cruising, hear it everywhere. Classic rock may be tired and played out, but even if you don't care for something, it's still acceptable. Hearing Marcy Playground Sex and Candy (for example), no! That will never be a "classic" no matter how you slice it.

I know I will be told that I am out of their target demo or research window, yada, yada, as is my wife, who also turned it off in her van right away. Regardless, we are a basic mathematical piece of statistics that have turned the channel off. Good Job Alpha/WERV.
 
In some respects I can see the genre. That was a popular thing back then. I think it is just too narrow of a niche.
 
Going against Q101 is a risky move, but indeed the music is a good choice. It won’t make much of a dent I don’t think but another choice in the western burbs.
 
There was a time not terribly long ago when WERV would show up with a 0.7 or 0.8 share in the full market 6+ Nielsen survey on a somewhat routine basis.

I think they've recently been hovering around a 0.3 share.

I'm thrilled with the choice of new format; hopefully it performs better than I'm anticipating.

I'm a little surprised they didn't flip it to classic rock.
 
I'm a 30-something white guy from the SW burbs, and while not in the Chicago market anymore, Q101 was one of the stations I grew up on... the playlist on WERV looks excellent IMO. Their previous format was easily found on WDRV, and to an extent WLS and WXRT, so I'd say this is a nice change. Who knows if it'll actually do well long-term, but I hope it does and will be adding it to my rotation of stations to stream at work.
 
tb_ said:
I'm a 30-something white guy from the SW burbs, and while not in the Chicago market anymore, Q101 was one of the stations I grew up on... the playlist on WERV looks excellent IMO. Their previous format was easily found on WDRV, and to an extent WLS and WXRT, so I'd say this is a nice change. Who knows if it'll actually do well long-term, but I hope it does and will be adding it to my rotation of stations to stream at work.
Click to expand...
You haven't listened to it in the last 6 months or so then, because is sounds, well sounded, nothing like WDRV or WXRT before this change. WLS yes, there is some natural cross-over between the two, but there were playing Dokken "in my dreams", Brother Cane "and fools shine on", Switchfoot "dare you to move", various Matchbox 20, Robert Palmer "digging in the dirt" and heck, I want to say even Audioslave I may have heard one day. And I know I'm probably forgetting a few.
 
CMNTMXR57 said:
You haven't listened to it in the last 6 months or so then, because is sounds, well sounded, nothing like WDRV or WXRT before this change. WLS yes, there is some natural cross-over between the two, but there were playing Dokken "in my dreams", Brother Cane "and fools shine on", Switchfoot "dare you to move", various Matchbox 20, Robert Palmer "digging in the dirt" and heck, I want to say even Audioslave I may have heard one day. And I know I'm probably forgetting a few.
Click to expand...
Admittedly, I haven't... the last time I listened to 95.9 prior to these tweaks was about 10 years ago when I lived up there, but most of my rock radio listening was to either WDRV or WLUP, or one of the Sirius channels. 95.9's signal just wasn't that good when I moved into the city, but I did enjoy the "old" format when I could pick it up.
 
Don't get me wrong, they still had the standard classic recurrents for the format, but they were going in to deeper cuts and artists. As I got to think about it more, there was Yes's "Love will find a way" too. But yea, I was stoked when Dokken came on that one day (and they played it regularly too) .
 
Could they combine with 95.1 WIIL up north. I believe they are both Alpha stations playing similar music. Kind of what they did with the Star Stations and Free Country.
 
CMNTMXR57 said:
I don't care about the research or target dems answers one will give. The way it was, was a very popular station around here in the western burbs. I go in to auto parts stores, 95.9 the river, hear it on harley's cruising, hear it everywhere. Classic rock may be tired and played out, but even if you don't care for something, it's still acceptable. Hearing Marcy Playground Sex and Candy (for example), no! That will never be a "classic" no matter how you slice it.
Click to expand...
Hilariously when I went to investigate the song that was playing was indeed “Sex and Candy”. And even if you don’t like it, it was not only one of the biggest rock and alternative songs of 1998, but one of the biggest songs in general from that year. It was a gargantuan pop hit. Any classic rock or alternative station worth their salt pretty much has to play it. Even WXRT, no fan of post-grunge music, features it as one of the more common gold tracks in its playlist.
 
As someone who's lived in the area most of his life, I do feel like I can give more informed analysis here. OP here isn't wrong that the River was a popular choice for auto body shops and storefronts who couldn't afford their own muzaks. But its grip on the local stores had been slipping the past few years. The ACE hardware store near where I live switched from the River to SiriusXM's all-70's channel a couple years ago as a prime example. Another local store who I will not name for privacy concerns had switched to Rock 95.5. Not to mention that the ratings have been slipping for a while. The old formula wasn't going to work any longer; they needed to make a change, and Millennials like myself who still have some attachment to FM radio are probably the only long-term play left for them.

Another factor is the signal strength. 93XRT and Q101 don't reach out to this neck of the woods as well as The Drive and Rock 95.5 do. The River's old playlist was clearly in The Drive's territory as well as WLS, the more "adult contemporary" leaning side of Rock 95.5, and finally a bit of 93XRT thrown in there. The new sound leans in hard on 93XRT's territory with a side of Q101, they seem to be emphasizing the likes of Blondie and U2 who were part of the old formula to help transition the station and the listeners over to the new sound of the station, which I think is a wise move. 93XRT and Q101 having weaker signals out this far (they can get outright static-y on bad days) while The River intrudes on their territory could help this station regain their market share in the months ahead.

The playlist seems to be covering approximately 1977-2016, as "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People, "Ride" by Twenty-One Pilots, and "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk played earlier today during my scan. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if this is a short-term format and they're going to start slipping currents into the mix later this year (most likely safe choices and veterans if they do so). For now, the playlist sounds quite strong and is straddling the WXRT/Q101 line in a safe yet pleasant way. My only personal issue is a lack of local flavoring; I haven’t heard The Smashing Pumpkins yet much less Chevelle, Local H, Rise Against, and other Chicago bands that were big from the era they’re covering, but that’s a nitpick.
 
Last edited:
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom