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98.7 FM In L.A. Outcumes 106.7 K-Rock In The New PPM

C

CHRles

According to the recently released PPM ratings for the month of January, we see the new sound of 98.7 FM outcuming heritage 106.7 K-Rock in the L.A. market (though K-Rock likely has bigger cume overall when combined with the Riverside book).
KYSR 98.7 is up to its highest ratings in, well, ages, with nearly a 3 share and over 2.2 million listeners. It's known as more crossover friendly, more Hispanic friendly, and more female friendly.
Will we see more new or struggling Modern Rock stations around the country adopt this approach? Bet on it.

http://www.star987.com/main.html
 
I've wondered why modern rock radio left the female audience in the dust beginning with the raprock phenomenon of the early 2000s. The argument that Modern AC splintered the audience doesn't hold much water, as there have always been plenty of bands COUGHLadytronCOUGH that the alt. format could champion that would appeal to females. Perhaps the research suggests that if a female fronted artist is played, the male 18-34 demo would head immediately for the active rocker. Regardless, there are tons of girl bands that deserve a shot. If Luscious Jackson were to come out today they would receive zero airplay as opposed to the mid 90s when they received massive radio play. Lets hope this solid trend by LA's 98.7 will usher in a return to targeting the balanced demographics that the format went after from 1996 and earlier.
 
Saladressing said:
I've wondered why modern rock radio left the female audience in the dust beginning with the raprock phenomenon of the early 2000s. The argument that Modern AC splintered the audience doesn't hold much water, as there have always been plenty of bands COUGHLadytronCOUGH that the alt. format could champion that would appeal to females. Perhaps the research suggests that if a female fronted artist is played, the male 18-34 demo would head immediately for the active rocker. Regardless, there are tons of girl bands that deserve a shot. If Luscious Jackson were to come out today they would receive zero airplay as opposed to the mid 90s when they received massive radio play. Lets hope this solid trend by LA's 98.7 will usher in a return to targeting the balanced demographics that the format went after from 1996 and earlier.
Click to expand...

Well, to some extent it depends on the artist. I have to say that I'm happy the format moved away from the likes of Alanis Morissette and Meredith Brooks, because neither fit my definition of "alternative" and were more like the '90s equivalent of Joni Mitchell. Luscious Jackson, Hole, Veruca Salt and others are fine, and can still be heard to this day on some of the better examples of the format these days.

You do bring up a good point, though. In the last 10 years, how many female fronted acts have seen their songs reach the Top Ten on the Alt Charts? The only one I can think of is the extremely poppy Paramore, a.k.a. "Fall Out Girl" (with "Misery Business" and "Decode").

As far as Ladytron goes ... maybe if they had a significant record contract when the whole electronica thing was booming in the late '90s they could have gone somewhere, but I wouldn't say they really fit in with the lot of mainstream Alternative today.

Other female artists on the Alt format include Flyleaf, Shiny Toy Guns, and The Duke Spirit. Flyleaf is more of an Active/Alternative band, as their sound leans more toward traditional hard rock ... they're like a female-fronted Breaking Benjamin or Three Days Grace. Shiny Toy Guns have a lot of terrific songs and should be bigger than they are, and I think the fact that they haven't caught on with any huge hits (have any of their songs reached the Modern Rock Top 20 yet?) also indicates that you may be right about the format sleeping on female acts. The Duke Spirit has received airtime on a number of stations around the country, but thus far it hasn't resulted in any chart hits. They remind me of a cross between early '90s Britpop and Jefferson Airplane. In New Jersey we had a station (WHTG/WBBO, G Rock 106.3/106.5) which played a good amount of female artists that actually belonged on the format. Unfortunately the format was dropped last month for a Top 40 station, leaving most of New Jersey without an Alternative station. But hey - no shortage of hit music or dinosaur rock out here, if that's what you're into.
 
SoulCrusher said:
As far as Ladytron goes ... maybe if they had a significant record contract when the whole electronica thing was booming in the late '90s they could have gone somewhere, but I wouldn't say they really fit in with the lot of mainstream Alternative today.
Click to expand...

Agreed the band Ladytron doesn't fit in with the sound of alt. rock radio today, but that brings up a similar point which is the format is very formulaic to the point that it is rare when a song jumps out and causes the listener to say "wow what is this?" And the lack of female artists in general is definitely one of the reasons the format has sounded mundane this decade in the opinion of many, despite solid acts such as Mgmt and others that Indie helped bring to the foreground. There's a ton of Three Days Grace style "tested" sludge rock all over the place. Unlike the 90s when you had ska-influenced songs next to "industrial" acts such as Stabbing Westward next to a female artist next to Beck next to an 80s classic alternative track next to an electronic music track next to Alice In Chains next to yet another female artist. Ok, that was a rose-colored depiction of how the format sounded in the 90s, but still it's hard to argue that there wasn't a LOT more diversity in that decade. Disregarding the stuff you can hear on Indie 103.1 online etc., the only thing that has stood out in my mind in the last couple of years at alt. radio is the white boy bands doing covers of rap tunes like that "lollipop" song or whatever - not saying it's good just that it sounds different from the same old verse chorus verse. I mean when a band as great as Incubus is conjuring images of Winger and Slaughter with their latest track 'Love Hurts', something's awry! I don't think it's a stretch to state they were going for a sequel to "Drive" and looking for CHR airplay with that one :)
 
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